New Covers for The Mediator series

Meg Cabot's The Mediator series has been rejacketed and bound into 3 volumes of two. Supposedly not out until May, I spotted these in WH Smiths yesterday. I've reviewed the first four in the series on audio book.
Do these covers make the series look darker than it is?

Review: The Mediator (4) Young Blood by Meg Cabot (audio)

The Mediator (4): Young Blood by Meg Cabot and narrated by Johanna Parker (April 2008, Whole Story Audio Books, ISBN: 9781407461533)

First Line:
Summer. Season of long, slow days and short, hot nights.

Notes: Young Blood is the fourth in the six-book Mediator series and was first published in 2001 as The Mediator: Darkest Hour by Jenny Carroll.

Review: Suze Simon, Mediator to ghosts with unresolved issues, is having to work her summer break at the exclusive Carmel hotel, the Pebble Beach Hotel and Golf Resort, where she is employed as a babysitter. One of her charges is the indoor-loving eight-year-old Jack. Suze finally snaps and drags Jack down to the pool and that's how she discovers the reason for his reluctance to venture out. Jack is a Mediator as well and being so young has not handled the situation very well. His parents think there's something wrong with him and he's had no support from his older brother Paul. Paul meanwhile has taken a real interest in Suze. Suze doesn't feel the same way as she's pining over Jesse, the 150-year-old ghost in her bedroom. Bring in the ghosts of Jesse's ex-fiancée and her murderous husband and an excavation in Suze's backyard which might reveal Jesse's bones, then trouble is in store.

Unlike the previous three books, this one's all about Suze and Jesse. We get some back-story on Jesse, discover the depths of Suze's feeling for him and a glimpse of the afterlife. The story is quite tense and I was desperate to reach the end to see what happened. Some new characters have been introduced and I wonder if they'll reappear in the final two books. Somehow true-love must win but I'm not sure how. I did find Suze repeated herself a bit more than necessary in this one, constant reminders on how a relationship with Jesse couldn't work laboured the point a bit.

As before, Johanna Parker's narration is enjoyable and convincing.

The next book in the series is only available on abridged audio (and by another narrator) so I'll be switching to the book for that one. It's a shame it's not available in the Whole Story Audio Books series.

Cover: The cover's in keeping with the look of the series but doesn't particularly match the book.

Review: The Mediator (3): Mean Spirits by Meg Cabot

The Mediator (3): Mean Spirits by Meg Cabot and narrated by Johanna Parker (April 2008, Whole Story Audio Books, ISBN: 9781407480190)

First Line:
"Now this," Gina said, "is the life".

Notes: Mean Spirits is the third in the six-book Mediator series and was first published in 2001 as The Mediator: Reunion by Jenny Carroll.

Review: Mean Spirits is set a few weeks after High Stakes and Suze is joined in her Carmel home by her school friend from New York, Gina, who is on her spring break. Gina's not been there long before Suze has another ghostly problem to deal with. This time a group of four teenagers from the exclusive Robert Louis Stevenson school have been killed in a car crash on the dangerous coastal road. The driver of the other car, Michael Meducci, escaped unhurt. The RLS Angels as they are dubbed in the press want revenge on Michael and it's Suze's job to protect him and send the Angels on their way to their unearthly destination. Reluctantly Suze has to go out with Michael to try and keep him safe and is ribbed mercilessly by Gina and Suze is appalled to find that Gina has attracted the attentions of both Suze's older step-brothers, Jake and Brad.

All is not what it first seems though and soon Suze's life is in danger, both from the dead and the living.

Mean Spirits is an enjoyable third entry in the series. Suze still uses her fists to try and get her way but it is proving a less successful technique in California than in New York and she has to rely on help from fellow Mediator Father Dom and her ghostly room-mate Jesse. Suze also gets some support from Gina who gets to know more about her friend's Mediator role. Suze is falling for Jesse, but a psychic has predicted that she will only have one true love and that it will last an eternity. What does that mean? How can she and Jesse ever be together? This problem is part of what keeps me glued to the series. I also like the characters, the setting is brought to life and the plots are intriguing.

As before, Johanna Parker's narration is enjoyable to listen to and her voices are consistent with those she used in the earlier books.

Cover: The cover's quite appropriate this time as there's quite a lot of beach activity.

Review: The Mediator (2) High Stakes by Meg Cabot

The Mediator (2): High Stakes by Meg Cabot and narrated by Johanna Parker (April 2008, Whole Story Audio Books, ISBN: 9781407479187)

First Line:
Nobody told me about the poison oak.

Notes: High Stakes is the second in the six-book Mediator series and was first published in 2001 as The Mediator: Ninth Key by Jenny Carroll.

Review: High Stakes carries almost straight on from Love You to Death. Our heroine, mediator Suze Simon, has another ghost to assist to "the other side". A woman has been screaming at Suze at night, demanding that Suze passes on a message to "Red". Suze doesn't get much information so she asks around as to who Red might be. She's pointed towards a wealthy, property developer - Mr Beaumont - who just happens to be the father of the gorgeous Tad, who Suze danced with at a pool party the other night.

Suze not only gets deep into trouble with the Beaumonts, but she also has her ghostly father's advice to ignore, the 'hot' ghost living in her bedroom to keep secret and a verbal sparring match with one of her new step-brothers to win.

High Stakes is darker than Love You to Death as Suze not only dishes out a few punches but receives a few herself and her life is more seriously in danger than in the first book. Though her mum seems to accept that Suze is a normal girl, I wonder how much she knows... I raced through this audio book but, as with most series, it's probably best to have a bit of a break between entries as there's quite a bit of recapping, repeated information and even the same phrases are used from time to time.

As before, Johanna Parker's narration is enjoyable to listen to and her voices are consistent with those she used in Love You to Death.

Cover: An interesting cover - I don't remember many skyscrapers (if that's what they are) ...

Review: The Mediator (1) Love You to Death by Meg Cabot

The Mediator (1): Love You to Death by Meg Cabot and narrated by Johanna Parker (April 2008, Whole Story Audio Books, ISBN: 9781407478364)

First Line:
They told me there'd be palm trees.

Review: Love You to Death is the first in the six-book Mediator series and was first published in 2000 as The Mediator: Shadowland by Jenny Carroll.

We are introduced to Suze Simon who has had to move to Carmel, California from Brooklyn, New York City to join her mother who has remarried. Suze's new family includes three step-brothers - Sleepy, Dopey and Doc aka Jake, Brad and Dave and her step-father, Andy. It soon becomes clear that Suze has something unusual about her, for one she hates old houses and panics when she learns that both her new school and home are over a hundred years old. When she gets to her new, beautiful bedroom she finds it already occupied, by a ghost. A handsome ghost called Jesse, but a ghost nonetheless. For Suze is a mediator, someone who can see and feel ghosts and who helps them on to the next place, often by force it would seem.

In Carmel, Suze's first mediator "job" is to get rid of the ghost of the girl whose place and locker Suze is taking at the school and the ghost isn't going willingly. Suze finds that her normal methods won't work and she dices with danger through the rest of the book, all the while hiding her secret(s) and becoming very popular with her new classmates.

I have read the 1-800-Missing series by Meg Cabot and enjoyed that very much. For some reason I'd the impression that this series would be darker but this one at least, wasn't. Suze puts too much emphasis on violence being the key but I can imagine that she will grow out of that approach during the course of the series. Suze is one of those characters who gets to speak the truth and answer back to bullies and win the exchange. Though she's not chuffed at being a mediator at least she's had the opportunity to start over and make friends, and it looks like a little romance will finally come her way. And she lives in Carmel! So it's not all bad.

Love You to Death is a fairly light read with characters you want to revisit, in a beautiful setting, with action and adventure and a possible romance. No wonder I've already started on #2 High Stakes.

Johanna Parker provides a narration which is pleasant to listen to with distinctive voices for each character and her Jesse does sound rather dishy.

Cover: I don't know whether it's just me but the covers seem to give the series a darker tone than they actually are and the picture is not particularly accurate, but it's attractive.