Hazy Shade of Winter

Sam is a sentinal - a guardian angel of sorts, assigned to protect and help people through their “cycle” on earth while he learns and grows in the heavenly realm. His charge this cycle is Jude, a  young woman who is both beautiful and unique, kind but tortured.  There is a problem, however.  He has been given no insight whatsoever into her life book.  This is unprecendented and incredibly frustrating.  How can he help guide her if he has no idea what her future holds?
Jude sees ghosts.  It has made her a freak all of her life and the problems it has caused have made it almost unbearable now that she’s in high school.  When the tormenting becomes more than Jude can bear, her parents agree to let her spend a year abroad as an exchange student. In England, as Jude struggles to accept and understand her “gift”, she also finds friends she can actually trust and discovers there might really be a love that never ends.
Although written as a YA novel, this story is filled with such depth and emotion that all ages will absolutely fall for, laugh with and, most assuredly, cry with Sam and Jude as they work to “find” themselves in the worlds they must navigate.  The writing is surprisingly rich and layered.  The subject matter is unique and creative.  The only drawback would be the tone, which falls into the downright hopeless at times, even the Heavenly Realm is plagued with it! Still, for sheer brilliance in storywriting, this one is a must!
TJ Mackay