Tag: ghosts

Book Review: The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish, by Paula Brackston      

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish     
Author: Paula Brackston         
Genre:  Historical fiction      
Rating:   4.5 out of 5

England, 1881.

Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. But this is no ordinary collection of books. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves. The most prized artifact, however, is the medieval world map which hangs next to Hecate’s desk. Little does she know how much the curious people and mythical creatures depicted on it will come to mean to her. Nor does she suspect that there are lost souls waiting for her in the haunted cathedral. Some will become her dearest friends. Some will seek her help in finding peace. Others will put her in great peril, and, as she quickly learns, threaten the lives of everyone she loves.

I really enjoyed this read! Hecate is a fascinating character, and I loved getting to know her. This is a very atmospheric novel, and I was fully absorbed into the setting. The characters—including the ghosts—are well-done and believable, and I was eager to see where the story took them. Can’t wait to read more in this series.

Paula Brackston is a bestselling author. The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Haze, by Rebecca Crunden

haze
Image belongs to author.

Title:  Haze
Author: Rebecca Crunden
Genre:    Fiction, paranormal
Rating:  4 out of 5

When Eliza Owens gets a phone call in the middle of the night from a girl she’s never met, she doesn’t know what to think. The girl introduces herself as Paige, and says she used to date Erik Stern, Eliza’s fiancé. What’s more, she has something important to discuss.

The only problem? Paige has been dead for years.

Believing it to be a sick prank, Eliza tries to force it from her mind until Sam, Eliza’s older sister, tells her she met Paige only a few weeks before. And, according to Sam, Paige has nothing nice to say about Erik.

The fight which follows shatters the lives of everyone involved, and Erik disappears without a trace.

Five years later, Erik returns to town after his father’s death. Old wounds quickly resurface, and with them several burning questions. None the least of which is: Who spoke to Eliza and Sam if it wasn’t Paige? And why?

I’ll start with a disclaimer that normally, if I don’t like the characters in a book, I won’t continue reading it. I usually give them 10-15%, and if I’m still disliking them, I’m done with the book. DNF. In the case of Haze, I didn’t like these characters very much—and some of them I strongly disliked—but the story was interesting enough that I kept reading.

I think the author made an interesting choice to put drug use and drug dealers so casually front and center in this novel, and to make the protagonists active participants, as characters like that would normally be considered the “bad guys.” The writing is solid, although I kept getting confused over who some of the secondary characters were. The paranormal aspects didn’t come into play until the last third of the book—apart from the mysterious calls from Paige, which could have had a perfectly normal explanation (especially with Erik’s dad showing up unexpectedly at the diner—when they became the primary focus. This could be a little jarring for a reader, but the storyline ended up carrying it through.

Rebecca Crunden is a full-time student and the author of Haze.

(Galley courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Echoes Between Us, by Katie McGarry

echoes between us
Image belongs to Tor Teen.

Title:  Echoes Between Us
Author:  Katie McGarry
Genre:  YA
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Veronica is the weird girl at school. Before, she had her small circle of friends to keep her grounded, but this year, she’s alone. Veronica sees ghosts. Well, she sees her mother’s ghost. With the blinding headaches—a symptom of her benign brain tumor—she’s afraid to tell anyone she sees ghosts. She doesn’t want to speak the possibility the ghosts are something more into existence—even when the ghosts start bothering the downstairs tenants.

Sawyer is a golden boy at school:  handsome and the star swimmer on the school team. But Sawyer is hiding dark secrets. His mom is an alcoholic, so Sawyer takes care of everything at home and his little sister. And Sawyer is addicted to thrill-seeking. That’s how he broke his arm—although he’s never told anyone the truth. But when Sawyer gets to know Veronica, he realizes that maybe he’s not the only one with demons to conquer.

Veronica is such a great character! I mean, denial is clearly her modus operandi, but I can’t really blame her for that. She’s strong and feisty, yet she struggles with what she’s lost and is afraid to let anyone else in. Sawyer is just as good at keeping others out, but his secrets affect more than himself. And I love the secondary characters and their friendships with Veronica and Sawyer. I’d love to read more about these characters!

Katie McGarry is a writer and a mom. Echoes Between Us is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review.)