Jazz by Joy Lynn Goddard

Title: Jazz
Author: Joy Lynn Goddard
Average Price: $15.95
Publisher: Chestnut Publishing
Publication Date: 2008
Number of Pages: 205


Jazz hates her life!

She and her dad have moved around a lot, but this time they've gone too far. They've just moved to the middle of nowhere, and their house is old and full of creepy noises. When she complains that it's haunted, her dad pokes fun at her.

To make matters worse, practically everyone at school treats her as if she's got a contagious disease. Bailey, the most popular girl of all, is the worst. She's convinced that Jazz is interested in Luke, Bailey's boyfriend, just because Luke and Jazz have become partners at the rowing club.

When Bailey warns Jazz that she's as good as dead, Jazz doesn't take the threat seriously until it's too late!

Luke finds her unconscious on the ground and has only seconds to save her!


Personally, this is my favourite Joy Lynn Goddard book because not only is it good, but I found I could relate to it very well. Whether you've moved to a new country or simply started taking swimming lessons, we've all been "the new kid".

Joy Lynn Goddard constructed the layout of this novel very well and I thought she threw in the ghost mystery very skillfully. This little "add-in" was both interesting and it also changed the focus of the novel without distracting the reader. It simply made me madly flip the pages to find out what was going to happen next.

I thought the author also wrote the main characters' voices very well. The only thing I found annoying about them was that sometimes Joy capitalized the letters of a word to emphasize the meaning. In my opinion, that was a bit much.

Overall this is definitely a page-turner that deserves an A.

Note: If you're wondering what happened to the cover, I couldn't find one on the internet since this book was released late last year. I tried to scan my copy of the book but, well . . . use your imaginations. In other words, the results weren't good.