Review: Unbroken (Ruined #2) by Paula Morris

I think I once again got this book from a Scholastic book fair, or maybe from one of their warehouse sales.  I enjoyed the first one in the series, Ruined, and was pleased to see a sequel to it.  And for the most part I enjoyed this book as much as the first one.

The main character again is Rebecca Morris.  While she’s living back in NYC with her dad again, in this book her dad has a business trip in New Orleans, so they go back during her spring break. This time she gets to take her best friend Ling along.  And of course she’s very excited to see Anton again.  The handsome boy that she got to know last time.  And it seems Anton is happy to see her, so much that he invites her to the school dance that will be going on while they are visiting.  He even has a friend for Ling to go with.  But it won’t all be about parties and such.  They plan to help out with some service projects in the city. Cleaning up a beach, as well as another area in the poorer part of town that is still a mess from Hurricane Katrina.  Rebecca and Ling get to participate in some New Orleans traditions, and of course see her cousin Aurelia again.  Unfortunately, another ghost shows up and asks Rebecca for help.  Rebecca isn’t sure who to talk about it this time.  She doesn’t want to worry her dad.  Her friend Ling knows nothing of that part of her life.  And when she tries to talk to Anton, who was with her for the whole Lisette episodes in the last book, it’s almost like he either doesn’t believe her, or else thinks she should not worry about it, she doesn’t need to be helping every ghost that asks.  But of course Rebecca wants to help this ghost find a locket he lost, a locket that may turn out to have a more meaningful reason to be found.  And not only is there the ghost that is trying to find it, there is the ghost that killed him trying to keep her from helping.  That’s not the only obstacle, Toby, the crazy guy from the last time she was in New Orleans, is rumored to be back in town, and looking for revenge.

I really liked the ghost story in this, and how the locket had all the different connections.  I wasn’t real keen on how Rebecca and Anton interacted, the awkwardness was a bit more than normal or easy to read about.  I love reading about New Orleans, a place that I must visit sometime soon!  And of course I’d be one that would want to go visit the graveyards, and the voodoo stuff.