Review: Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto

Sunday, August 24, 2014

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Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto


Release Date: August 26th 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Source: ebook via Netgalley

Summary (goodreads.com):  After the loss of her mother, Chloe Kennedy starts seeing the ghosts that haunted her as a young girl again. Spending time at her grandmother's country estate in the south of England is her chance to get away from her grief and the spirits that haunt her. Until she meets a mysterious stranger…

Alexander Reade is 157 years dead, with secrets darker than the lake surrounding Grange Hall and a lifelike presence that draws Chloe more strongly than any ghost before. But the bond between them awakens the vengeful spirit of Alexander's past love, Isobel. And she will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who threatens to take him from her.

To stop Isobel, Chloe must push her developing abilities to their most dangerous limits, even if it means losing Alex forever… and giving the hungry dead a chance to claim her for their own.


My Review:

I don’t normally pay attention to the reviews on goodreads until after I read and form my own opinions about a book but this time I happened to notice how harsh the reviews were before I read Ghost House. They were unnecessarily horribly cruel which just goes to prove that while reviews are sometimes useful one should make their own opinions. This book sounded really good in the summary and it was, really good I mean. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite series, The Mediator by Meg Cabot in that a girl can see ghosts and has feelings for one. However, beyond that they really cannot be compared for they are two separate series.  


Ghost House is a fast, slightly cheesy, but still very entertaining read. I have realized that I have two settings while reading a good book: so good I savored it and went slow so I could stay in the world longer and so good I read it really quickly because I just can’t stop reading. This was the latter. It was compelling not only because of Chloe’s relationship with Alex but the ways Isobel was trying to compromise their relationship. It was a story set both in the past and present through flashbacks and visions. I also really liked the setting of the English countryside. I liked how real this book was without the ghost aspects. It’s about a family that is dealing with the grief of losing someone they all love dearly. The secondary characters made this book really good though. I loved Chloe’s relationships between her grandma and her brother. I liked the amateur ghost hunters Mavis and May who knew along that something was happening.  I was also quite pleased when I discovered (or hunted down the information) that this was a first in a new series. Just before the end of the book I was okay, but slightly disappointed that this was a standalone (or so I thought) and then I read the last page and just FLIPPED OUT mad that this was the end of a standalone! I read this on my kindle and kept pressing the next button thinking that there was an epilogue. Thank the stars for goodreads and their ability to tell me that it is a series. Overall, if you liked The Mediator and similar ghost stories you will enjoy this book, I know I did. 



~Laura!

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