Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Pages: 336pgs

The Story

They say first love never dies . . .

From critically acclaimed author Kate Ellison comes a heartbreaking mystery of mental illness, unspoken love, and murder. When sixteen-year-old artist Olivia Tithe is visited by the ghost of her first love, Lucas Stern, it's only through scattered images and notes left behind that she can unravel the mystery of his death. 

There's a catch: Olivia has gone colorblind, and there's a good chance she's losing her mind completely--just like her mother did. How else to explain seeing (and falling in love all over again with) someone who isn't really there?

With the murder trial looming just nine days away, Olivia must follow her heart to the truth, no matter how painful. It's the only way she can save herself.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

NOTES FROM GHOST TOWN was really something different. I actually have quite a lot of conflicting feelings about this particular book. On one hand, I really liked how I couldn't compare any other book to this one and how it contained so much confusion and contemporary elements all into one (sometimes I like the 'what-the-hell' moments in a book), and on the other hand, I also wanted something more from the book as well. It was well-written and an okay read for me for the most part, but I just needed more from it. More depth both from the storyline and from its characters. Just more reason to care about everything going on in the book, you know?

When it comes down to it, as a mystery book I think there could have been a lot more done with it. It had a lot of potential in those mystery elements and of course there IS some mystery in the book, but there just wasn't not enough of it to make it a great mystery one. However, as a contemporary and a part-realistic fiction book, I think the author did very well in that department. There a couple of really heavy themes the characters have to physically and emotionally go through as the book slowly progresses and the author dealt with them very well, so in that aspect I enjoyed those sections of the book. Just not the mystery parts per se.

Overall, NOTES FROM GHOST TOWN is a hard book to describe to you without spoiling it. Part predictable and part confusing, on a whole I enjoyed most parts of the book only I wanted much more coming from it, especially in the mystery and character elements of the book. But I would still recommend this title because it was really interesting and really different compared to most YA books out there. And I like different.

The Rating

2 1/2 / 5 stars