Reviews

Meh. The writing felt lazy. Timelines didn't always track (first Jess has been in the town for only a couple of days, then there's a reference to something that happened there last week, etc.) Star was scared of a skater kid who threatened her, and told her it was his block. So why didn't she move to another block? Pretty sure Denver is a fairly big city. There are a lot of references to the sparkling lake, and a huge waterfall (big enough to kill someone who falls off), and the whole town is named after the lake... but apparently the lake is only one mile around - that's basically a pond. The town is tiny, and there's no reference to any other people, stores, encounters - not once. But apparently there's a second hand clothing store, and since they eat regularly there must be a grocery store... but no one in the house has a car - things just exist when needed. And the way that through 2/3 of the story two of the main characters chalk up a WHOLE lotta paranormal weirdness to their own overactive imaginations, and to the age (and maybe quirkiness... but definitely not clairvoyance!) of their host. That seemed awfully far fetched. ("my goodness, there are small, heart shaped rocks all over this house - including on the furniture! - that I just cleaned thoroughly an hour ago. Must just be the old lady who never goes outside by herself tracking them in and not noticing them or tripping over them. I'll just clean up again.")
I know these are a whole lot of very minor things, but they added up very quickly. The story was interesting enough (although the outcome/resolution was clear to me around 3/4 of the way through) and I wanted to get to the end to find out how it all resolved... but I also wanted to get to the end so I could start reading something else - hopefully better!
On a separate note, I feel like it should be noted somewhere that SO MUCH of the book focuses on a little boy who died suddenly at age 8, and the overwhelming grief his mom and friend are left with. That's kind of a lot for some parents to read.

keross72's review against another edition

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4.0

A page turner

I can't believe this is this authors first book. I was super caught up in the novel. I am looking forward to the next

andimontgomery's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 stars. This was a bit slower-moving than “Memories in the Drift,” but it was still a very compelling story.

zhelana's review against another edition

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3.0

This book drove me a little nuts. It's a paranormal book about a ghost gathering loose ends and bringing them together so they can learn what happened the night the ghost was murdered. The first like 3/4ths of this book, the ghost's mother, Jess, refuses to believe there are ghosts even though things keep happening around her and she keeps seeing her son run around. Then in the last 1/5th of the book, Lucy is like "your son is here" and she doesn't even fight it. She's just like "oh my son is here. We need to trust him to tell us where to go to rescue Star." Anyway, the first 4/5ths of it I was able to read one chapter a day and not really think about this book as much as I do other books. Then it all came together in the last 1/5th of the book and suddenly there were life and death stakes, instead of just "when will Jess get her head out of her ass and when will Star be honest?" It was weird. There was clearly a bad guy to the entire story, but he doesn't appear until the last 1/5th of the book. I really don't know what I thought of this book overall. It had a good ending, I'm just not sure it was worth wading through the entire first 4/5ths of the book to get to that ending.

raeoflight17's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

nevenamartin's review against another edition

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5.0

Truly loved this book. I typically keep my kindle books to read during my lunch break at work but could not step away from this one during my 5-day-break from shifts. Haunting and uplifting, quirky but relatable. A real gem.

acline's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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