Blue Moon
by Hila Feil

    BLUE MOON by Hila Feil
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  5/1/07
    Publisher:  Harcourt
    Reviewed by:  Rebecca Wells
    Rating:  4 Stars


    At first, Julia Johnson, a teenager with  penchant for Gothic novels, is less than enthusiastic about her summer job as
    an au pair in Cape Cod. However, she quickly warms to the task once she arrives and discovers her young charge,
    Molly, a rambling old house full of oddities, and a resident ghost: Molly’s dead mother, Maria, a compelling
    photographer whose touch is still present in Molly’s life.

    As she explores the Cape over the summer, Julia quickly becomes embroiled in a conflict between Molly and her
    stepmother, Cheryl, as Cheryl attempts to renovate their old house. This project is complicated by inexplicable
    delays that Molly believes are sent by her mother in an attempt to stop the renovations, and as Julia learns more
    about the charismatic woman Maria was, she reluctantly begins to agree that something supernatural may be at
    work.

    Meanwhile, Julia also finds adventure in Sean, a local artist who asks to paint her portrait, though she soon realizes
    that a romance between them may be impossible. As the summer in Cape Cod winds to a close, Molly’s
    connection with her dead mother leads her into danger, and to save her, Julia must decide how much of her
    obsession is real – and how much may only be imagined.

    Narrated in a meandering fashion by Julia, BLUE MOON reads like a Gothic adventure laid over events that at first
    glance seem ordinary. An old house due to be remodeled becomes a stylish old mansion haunted by a ghost who
    wants nothing more than to see the renovations fail; a local artist becomes a tall, dark stranger with a potential for
    romance; and natural phenomena like the sea and storms obtain sentience. The presence of such Gothic conventions
    is interesting and refreshing, but, perhaps because of this deliberate construction, the story is sometimes simplistic,
    and there were some conflicts and events I wish the author had delved deeper into.

    However, BLUE MOON remains a compelling read because of Julia, a heroine whose thoughts are at once dark
    and romantic, and fans of Gothic literature will appreciate her references to such books as JANE EYRE,
    WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THE TURN OF THE SCREW, and REBECCA.