A Light Amongst Shadows

4.5 stars — Well this book lived up to the spookiness I was looking for without traumatizing me! Yay! I switched between reading and listening to this one, because while I LOVED Mr. Williams narration, honestly it scared me a bit more listening than reading and I just couldn’t paralyze myself in bed at night. Something about his quiet countenance, the atmosphere, the pacing…something was just spookier somehow. I think I could control reading better as well — like if things were getting crazy, I could put it down and take a breath. Harder to do with an audio. So I highly recommend the audio, just…if you’re a big chicken like me, you might want to listen more during the day. James…James James James. Wow. I wasn’t expecting certain pieces of his story, and they broke my heart. He was such a cheeky little devil — always with the smart quips, always with such a sunny countenance. I think that made knowing he had something hard in his past just that much worse. I loved the way he saw *everyone* and often sought out the overlooked. He definitely wasn’t perfect — he had a bit of a temper at times, and he could jump to conclusions. But he felt so many things, and I loved how he was only as afraid of who he loved insomuch as society forced it upon him. He didn’t question or feel shame. It was really nice. William was a strange one indeed — so different from James, but maybe that’s what made them work. I expected him to have struggles, but they weren’t any more or less than the rest. He was just unfortunate to have been a bit bullied by strategic people, and he didn’t bother to fight rumours. But he was more down to earth, he kept James tethered in some ways. And they were pretty adorable together. This story was equal parts horror/ghost story and romance, and I delighted in the romance between these two boys. It was exactly the story balance I needed. I don’t think I knew what to expect from the horror aspect, but let me tell you it scared me! Funnily enough, it was the quieter subtler stuff that freaked me out the most. I kind of loved that there was this little bit of mystery to solve, even if it was a gruesome horrific mystery. I don’t think I necessarily had anything exactly figured out, but I didn’t mind that. LOTS of great secondary characters, and it delights me to see that other books in this series includes some of these peeps. I loved the friendships that James developed, especially with Oscar, but also with Preston and Benjamin. Interesting teachers, horrible bad guys (and a few different kinds of those). So yeah. Definitely going to have to check out the next book, though I am sad Mr. Williams is not narrating it. I understand, but I really enjoyed him.