I was apprehensive about Remembrance, not through any fault of its own but lately, Meg Cabot's newest additions to long-standing series have left much to be desired. The Princess Diaries' Royal Wedding was a royal mess and the Boy series' The Boy is Back was wholly unoriginal. Remembrance, however, fared slightly better. 
 Our favourite ass-kicking, potty mouth Ghost Whisperer Susannah Simon is back. It's been 6 years since the events of the last book and since then, Suze has graduated high school and is now engaged to the love of her love, Jesse. She's even gotten a job (unpaid, unfortunately) at her alma mater as a guidance counselor. But when she discovers one of her students is being haunted, things start to get messy. It doesn't help that her arch-nemesis Paul Slater is back as well, and this time, Suze just may have to make a deal with the devil if she wants to save Jesse. 
 In terms of the plot, it's a lot stronger than what I thought it would be. What seemed like a simple murder of a young child uncovers (view spoiler)[child abuse and systemic cover-ups by members of the clergy (hide spoiler)]. Given recent world events, this felt timely and it was heartbreaking seeing how the victims had to cope with what they were facing and how it revealed unexpected personality aspects of characters such as Sister Ernestine. Little things like white privilege, racism, homosexuality and feminism also found their way into the book and it made the whole story more well-rounded. 
 My biggest complaint is truly Paul Slater. I get that he's Suze's nemesis but to have him as an antagonist for SEVEN books and in each one, behaving essentially the same (i.e. wanting to get into Suze's pants) gets boring. What's extra annoying is that Suze knows not to engage with him but chooses to disregard her gut instinct every time, leaving everyone else, namely Jesse, to fix whatever mess they get into. Jesse, as always, was a highlight every time he appeared but I have to say, I honestly still don't understand why he was suddenly all ready to (view spoiler)[sleep with Suze after spending the better part of the book determined to wait for their wedding night (hide spoiler)]. It just seems out of character despite his "explanation". 
 Call me cynical but I don't think the series will end just yet. Why? (view spoiler)[As it turns out, Suze's triplet nieces are actually budding mediators, whose biological father is Paul Slater. Aunt Suze has promised to give them "lessons". Sound familiar? (hide spoiler)] I can't help but feel that this plot point was added just so Meg Cabot can come back to this series when she's bored with everything else. Still, given the recent additions to her other series, this may not entirely be a bad thing. The Mediator series may just be the only series I'd still read.