Through Her Eyes

"Through Her Eyes," Jennifer Archer, is a surprisingly good romantic ghost story.
     Tansy Piper wishes that she could live anywhere, be anyone else.  Her life, the pathetic thing that it is, is in shambles after her move from California, the deception of her ex-best friend, her grandfather's dementia, her mother's determination to hide from the past, and the grapevine of her new small Texas town.  Tansy gets her wish after she begins to see strange, black and white photos through the lens of her camera.  She finds that she can travel through these pictures and back into the past, becoming "Bell" Martin, the sweet girl who was in love with Henry, whom Tansy knows will commit suicide before he's done with Bell, and best friends with Tansy's grandfather.  As Bell's world becomes more vibrant, and Tansy's fades to gray, Tansy must choose which she wants to inhabit -- and she'll decided with the help of the town dreamboat, the local Shakespearean nerd, and the most popular cheerleader on the squad.

This was a really good book.  I even shed a few tears at the end.  See?  So, it's a sappy horror novel.  You really don't get too many of those. Or, at least, I don't.
      The plot of the story is very interesting.  In most books, people are like "Oh, I'm being possessed by a ghost!"  But here, it's very subtle, which is a nice touch.  Tansy denies it to the end, as well.  Which, fits in perfectly with Tansy's character (our next topic, but let me ramble on here for a little while).  The reason for the haunting is quite stereotypical, but, really, can anyone think of a better reason?
     There are pretty much two main characters here:  Tansy and Henry.  Tansy is a shy girl who wants to hide and nurse her wounds, at least in the beginning of the book.  She doesn't want to go out and make friends, she doesn't want to be there, but she winds up meeting people due to circumstance and a bit of guilt. Henry is the same way, nearly the exact same character, save that he's a male.  He doesn't like people, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, but he met Bell because they're neighbors, and he talks to Danny because he feels that he's responsible for them.  To me, this is interesting because in another "romantic horror" novel that I love, the main character and the ghost have conflicting personalities and goals.  Tansy and Henry have the same personalities, and pretty much the same goals.
      You could also see it in a way that would put Henry as Tansy's darker side.  Because sometimes he turns violent and abusive to those around him, while she wants to but never gives into it.  It could be considered as half a moral to us, and half a warning to Tansy not to become what Henry became.  There is also a strong sense of irony throughout the book, because even though Henry only wants to help himself, not caring whether he hurts Tansy in the process he winds up helping her.  Oh, sorry, *SPOILER.*
      Bethyl Ann, the cheerleader girl, and the dreamboat guy (I've forgotten their names) are complex characters as well.  Actual, every character is.  Time was evidently put into each character to make them unique and well-rounded.  Nearly every one is dynamic as well, which is interesting.  Not a lot of them change dramatically, but they change within their personalities, which makes more sense and a better story than if they'd changed dramatically.  Actually, none one, not even Tansy, changes in too dramatically.  It's more about her finding who she really is.
     I already warned you that this was a bit of a sappy book.
    Another strong point of this book was the poetry.  Tansy finds a book of poems that were written by Henry, and, well, you know, sort of obsesses of them.  I would obsess of them too, if I'd found that book, because the poems were good.  Two parts creepy, two parts depressing, and all parts truth.  In my opinion, at least.  I'm a  person that is full of angst as well.
      At first, though, I thought that Henry fell off his roof.  He didn't, just so you know.  And why would it be snowing in Texas?  Was it one of those crazy whether years?  Maybe I don't know my geography well enough to answer that question.  Also, no one really explains what was going on in Henry's mind, which would've been nice to know.  There is hardly any transition between Tansy's world being colorful, and then it being gray.  The best friend from California is dropped with only a few glances back.  Some things could've been explained more, and others could've been smoother.
     It's a good ghost story, though, and a nice fall back when I'm in need of a campfire tale.  Even though I can't remember all of the character's names, Tansy's story will continue to haunt me even as my world fades to gray.