Being a foster kid is hard enough. Being bounced from house to house gets old. You learn to toughen up or keep getting hurt, and fosters have to look out for one another. No one gets what you are going through but the other fosters. Now add being a teenager on top, and seeing ghosts, you have a recipe for wonderful things to happen. Mattie is dealing with all above and some more.
I very much enjoyed that I was sucked in from the first page. I really liked the flow of Bakers writing at the beginning. Mattie was a tough girl with problems but most of the time she kept things in check. She is easily someone that a young adult could find something to connect with. The build up of suspense was very good in this book. I wanted to find things out, and I didn't see a lot coming this time around. The romance that Mattie was experiencing wasn't the main point and I was very happy about that. Sometimes you just need a book with less of the romance and more of the ass kicking. I did laugh when Mattie and Dan started to get comfortable around each other. The ending I love to hate, it made me stop and go "whaaaaaaaa!?!?!".
It was also a dreaded CLIFFHANGER!! I have a few bones to pick with this book so pardon me. I don't care how tough a foster kid is (I know foster kids are tough, you have to be tough to make it through life for some in that situation), however it did not need to be brought up every other page. Along with "you strike first then ask questions as a foster kid". You were not allowed to forget for a second that Mattie was a foster, not like you would seeing as that is a main characteristic for Mattie. The other characters felt flat to me. If they weren't there to build or break Mattie they weren't really needed. The Ghost Files was not scary, but then again very few books are "scary" to me anymore. And for someone who "doesn't cry" Mattie really did cry. I knew right away who Mirror Boy was once one little memory was shared. I could hit a few more things but I think people get the gist.
For a book marked "horror" it really wasn't that scary. I did enjoy reading this book, but I do not see myself bothering to reread it. I can handle having it as a ebook and not a paperback. Despite everything I didn't like, I would recommend this to a younger audience, there are a few kissy scenes but nothing I am sure the kid isn't seeing in school. If I have as much issues with other books of Bakers, I really don't want to go through the trouble of reading them. I won't hate on those that like or love this book, it just wasn't for me. I want to read the second book but at the same time I really don't.
One more thing, this book was published in 2013, on GoodReads it says "soon to be a major motion picture"......when? Or did that stop?
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Page Count: Kindle app says 277 pages.
Price: Free on Amazon
Next Book: Sweet Surrender by Maya Banks
Thank you so much for reading this, I really do appreciate it :) I hope to have a YouTube video up eventually since I got something new!
~Jade
