Review: Sheltered

Title - Sheltered
Author - Debra Chapoton
Series or standalone - Standalone
Genre - Young Adult
Publication October 2012
(Goodreads)&(Amazon)
Rating 4 out of 5

Synopsis

Living together unsupervised, five troubled teens confront demonic forces and are compelled to deal with their problems in distinctly different ways. Paranormal meets psycho meets Goth in this story of a supernatural haunting and budding love.

High school junior, Ben, hacks into his step-father's real estate holdings and provides rooms in an old two-story house to various outcasts: the schizophrenic kid, the angry Goth girl, and the homeless girl who worships him. When Megan needs a place to live she comes to the rooming house with a different set of problems and the ability to confuse and attract Ben.

One by one strange and mysterious occurrences stretch the teens’ beliefs in the supernatural. How they deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming consequences.

Opening Teaser

Friday
Chapter 1
Smoke curled past the woman’s eyes; she squinted at Ben. He held out the money and repeated his offer. “It’ll only take five minutes. Just say ‘nice to meet you, you’re welcome to stay as long as you need and then ask me to drive you to the store or a meeting or something.” He wiggled the money in the crone’s face. “I’ll bring you right back to this bar,” he promised.

Review

I received Sheltered for review in return for an honest review from the author Debra Chapoton. Sheltered is the story of five troubled teens living in a rooming house. All the teens are emancipated teens so they can live on their own yet they feel better knowing they are renting in a house with adult supervision. What some of them don't know is that they really don't have adult supervision it's a elaborate lie. The house the five live in is the house where a mother and her child were murdered by the husband so it has spooky nature.

Ben is renting the house from his step-father without his knowledge and renting it out to teens who he wanted to help. He pretends to live in the rooming house while still living at home with his mom and step-father. Living in the house is Emily a girl who woke up one morning to find her brother and mother gone. Chuck who is a schizophrenic who doesn't realize his brother Adam is dead and that all their conversations are in his head. Cori the Goth girl who works at a tattoo parlor, who has anger issues as well as develops some magical powers. Then there is Megan the new girl who is struggling to get custody of her young son. All of the teens each have their own issues and personal demons that manifest themselves as real demons.

I was impressed at how drawn in to Sheltered I was it was hard for me to put it down and I even stayed up super late or early finishing it off because I wanted to know how it would end. I found myself connecting to each of the character because each one is unique with their issues. They all stole a little piece of my heart as it went out to them as they each faced their own struggles to survive. I wanted to take Emily home and try to help her because she just seems so lost and alone. I liked the relationship between Ben and Megan they both needed someone special in their lives and they worked well for each other. I'm a mom so my heart went out for Megan I can't imagine how she was feeling being in the position she's in. I liked Cori as well, she has her own issues but she's strong enough to overcome them I think, and then there is Chuck I wanted to lock him away for his own good. I liked the story it's a story that show's you a side of teen life you don't normally get to see which might be good for some teens. I would say it’s a great story for most teens they may take something from it that will help them in the future.