Love You to Death (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Love You to Death
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Meg Cabot
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = The Mediator series
genre = Young adult novel
publisher = Macmillan
release_date = 2004
english_release_date =
media_type = Print
pages =
isbn = ISBN 978-0-330-43737-0
preceded_by =
followed_by = High Stakes

Love You to Death is a book written by Meg Cabot for teenagers.

Plot summary

The story is about a girl named Susannah Simon, a.k.a. Suze, who can see and talk to ghosts and when necessary, hurt them. She is a mediator. Which means she spends a lot of time directing the usually unhappy dead to the afterlife. However, her job is not easy, as not all ghouls want to be guided. Everyday she is haunted by the fact that they will not leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living.

At the beginning of the story Suze moves from New York to Carmel, California, because her mom remarries Andy after Suze's father died. She gets 3 stepbrothers, which she nicknames Sleepy (a senior), Dopey (a sophomore like Suze), and Doc (12, and, according to Suze, going on 40), but to the rest of the world they're Jake, Brad, and David. When she gets to California and tries to get settled into her new room she finds Jesse. She describes him as an exceedingly hot ghost that happens to be already living there and he doesn't seem to need her help. Suze at first is annoyed with the living arrangements and tells Jesse to move on because now she is living there. Suze feels that now she is in California and she can start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of tending to lost souls. She has hardly settled in when her skills are put to the test. There is a ghost with revenge on her mind and Suze plans to stop her. Heather died because she shot herself over Bryce Martinson, who broke up with her. Heather claims Susannah is taking over the life she had. Father Dominic tries helping Suze with Heather but the most helpful person of all ends up being Jesse. In the end Suze exorcises Heather and finds out how Jesse died with help from Doc.

Characters

;Susannah Simon: - A 16 year old mediator who is very down to earth. She used to live in NYC with her single mom, but moved to Carmel, CA once her mom married Andy Ackerman. Her sense of style consists of high fashion, black, and anything you can look good in and still be able to kick some ghost butt when necessary. Suze has brown hair, green eyes, is somewhat pale-skinned, and quite attractive, according to her self description. She is in love with her male "roomie", Jesse de Silva.

;Jesse de Silva: - The totally hot, romantic, sexy, mid-nineteenth century ghost that haunts Susannah's bedroom. He is always there for her, and has saved her a few times, even. Many people have a need to go into a detailed description on his outer appearance, so here it is: Jesse, originally named Hector, is an 1850's hottie, with extremely defined abdominal muscles; a light dusting of silky black chest-hair; thick, wavy, black hair that gives the impression of being somewhat crisp; a tan complection with the Latino touch; black, inky, seemingly endless eyes; a stature of about six foot; and a scar on his eyebrow that, although it looks like it's from a heroic bandito fight, is actually a childhood dog-bite. Suze also claims that everything looks good on Jesse, unsurpassingly. His ghostly attire consists of a white, loose fitting peasant shirt that has a low neck slit, just at the perfect length to still reveal glimpses of his six-pack. Also, a pair of 'tight fitting' black leather pants; and a set of darkly dyed lace-up, knee-high boots.

Miscellaneous

*A sequel, "High Stakes" was released in 2004.
*This book is also called Shadowland in the U.S.

External links

* [http://www.megcabot.com - Meg Cabot's Official Website]
* [http://www.megcabotbookclub.com/ - Meg Cabot Book Club]