Middle-Grade Review: Not Quite a Ghost

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail last week that I read right away: Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu, a middle-grade spooky thriller with a twist from a favorite author and a virtual friend for over 15 years. She and I share the same chronic illness, ME/CFS, an immune disorder, and we each reached out to the other at various times, as I explain in this post on my chronic illness blog, Great Books from a CFS Author. I reviewed her first middle-grade novel, The Shadow Thieves, book one of The Cronus Chronicles, in which she cleverly worked her illness into the story of modern-day kids battling Greek gods. My son (a young teen at the time) and I both loved the action-packed, funny series. I later reviewed her middle-grade novel Breadcrumbs (and also reviewed it for Family Fun magazine), which features a ten-year-old girl dealing with real-life issues who meets fairy-tale characters in the snowy woods. I enjoyed it so much, I gave it to my niece for Christmas that year! I also enjoyed The Real Boy, about a young boy who works for a wizard and is dealing with his own challenges. I reached out to Anne recently to see how she was doing and how her health was, and she sent me a copy of her latest middle-grade novel, Not Quite a Ghost. I read it immediately and think it may be my favorite of her novels, which is saying a lot!

Eleven-year-old Violet is going through a lot of changes in her life. Her family has just moved out of their too-small house into an older house that needs some work. Violet's teen sister, Mia, is thrilled to finally have some privacy and gets her first choice of rooms, and their little brother needs to be near their parents. That leaves Violet up in the creepy attic bedroom with the ugly wallpaper all by herself. She's also starting middle school, where her closest friends suddenly seem to change and to want a bigger friend group. Then, in the first weeks of school, Violet gets sick ... and she doesn't get better. Sometimes she feels OK and tries to act normally, leading some friends to think she's faking, and other times, her body just won't work and she can't get out of bed. Spending a lot of time in the attic bedroom, Violet begins to see strange things in the weird wallpaper and suspect that she's not alone up there. She calls on her new friend, Will, who's been researching ghosts, to help her, but is there anything they can do? 

I loved this spooky, unique novel and never wanted it to end! Violet is eventually diagnosed with ME/CFS, the same illness that the author and I share. Both of my sons got it, as well (it has genetic roots), at ages 6 and 10, and it affects millions of other kids and teens all over the world--even more now since long-COVID often develops into ME/CFS. Ursu describes the disease perfectly, with all of its mysterious symptoms, seemingly random ups and downs, dismissive doctors and school personnel, and disbelieving family and friends (though Violet's family is very supportive). I felt seen. If all of that sounds like it might be depressing, it's not! 

Ursu brings her marvelous sense of humor to this novel, and I was often laughing out loud while reading it. And she writes kids so well; young readers will definitely see themselves in Violet and her friends. Plus, there is also that wonderfully creepy supernatural plotline throughout the novel. The suspense and tension crank up as the strange experiences in Violet's attic bedroom increase, and she and Will try to figure out what's happening. Ursu has created a clever parallel to what's happening in Violet's body with the house being unable to expel whatever has "invaded" it in the attic. It's a gripping, original story with a nail-biting climax that is perfect. Like I said, of all of her unique, magical, funny, suspenseful novels, this one is my new favorite.

288 pages, Walden Pond Press

HarperAudio

You can visit Anne's website for more information about her books. And to read about her inspiration for this book and her own illness experiences, see her blog post "On Hauntings" on the Nerdy Book Club blog.

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - October - Wicked Good Reads

Alphabet Soup Challenge - N

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes - Minnesota

RIP - Readers Imbibing Peril 
 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me  

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too, which showcases the humor in the story).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Teen/YA Review: Crash and Bang (Visions trilogy)

Pulling books off my shelves for my large "pile of possibilities" for the R.I.P. Challenge and Series September last month, I noticed a forgotten YA novel: Bang by Lisa McMann, book two in her Visions trilogy. Lisa McMann is an old favorite author of mine (I loved her YA series Wake, standalone Cryer's Cross, and middle-grade series The Unwanteds, links to my reviews), so I requested book one of this newer trilogy, Crash, from my library and read both of them in September. They lived up to my high expectations, and I read these gripping paranormal thrillers in record time!

Jules is sixteen and lives in Chicago but doesn't have a typical teen life. She spends her free time helping out in her family's Italian restaurant, and her best friends (only friends?) are her older brother and younger sister. They're the only ones who really understand what it's like to live with their father's severe depression and hoarding. But Jules is managing OK until she starts to see frightening visions whenever she looks at screens. In her repeated vision, she sees a snowplow jump the curb and hit a restaurant full of people, followed by a huge explosion. Her vision ends with nine body bags in the snow, and she can see a face in the last one, of her old friend and current crush, Sawyer. As her visions increase in intensity and frequency, showing up in mirrors, windows, signs, and more, she searches them for clues and figures out that it's Sawyer's family's Italian restaurant that she's seeing exploding violently. The problem? She and her siblings have been forbidden from even speaking to Sawyer and his family because of some age-old feud among the adults in the families. How can she pinpoint the exact time of the impending disaster and warm Sawyer and his family in time? Or will the increasingly violent visions make her go crazy first? What if her dad's mental illness runs in the family?

No spoilers of Crash's ending, but in book two, Bang, Jules' visions have ended, but someone close to her begins to see different--but similarly horrifying-- visions of another impending disaster. Together, they are trying to figure out what is being seen so they can stop it from happening.

As always, McMann has created a bizarre but believable paranormal premise in the midst of a very realistic situation. The tension here ramps up higher and higher as Jules' visions worsen, while she tries to navigate high school, working in her parents' restaurant, and dealing with her dad's issues. She's a fully-developed character, with wonderfully close relationships with her siblings as the three of them band together to keep their family's secrets. There is even a sense of humor in these novels; did I mention that Jules has to drive a food truck with giant meatballs on top to school? That humor is on display in the audio sample below, as Jules lists "5 Reasons Why I'm Shunned." I love the way this novel is a thriller, with great suspense, while it also has so much emotional complexity, dealing with issues like mental illness. Lisa McMann has done it again, with an original premise and engrossing page-turner, and I can't wait to read book three in the trilogy, Gasp.

Crash, 256 pages, Simon & Schuster

Bang, 272 pages, Simon & Schuster

These books fit in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge (Bang)

Diversity Reading Challenge (both)

Literary Escapes Challenge - Illinois (both)

R.I.P. Challenge (both)

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. This sample highlights the humor in the novel as well as some background about Jules and her siblings.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (there's also an audio sample here, a different one, about the visions).

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  
 

 

Fiction Review: Voyager

I finally finished my biggest book of Big Book Summer 2023, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, book three in her amazing Outlander series that begins with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber. It was 870 pages long, and I was sorry when it ended!

I will tiptoe around the description to avoid any spoilers for those who have not yet read books one and two. In the first book, WWII has just ended, and a young British woman named Claire has reunited with her husband, Frank, for a second honeymoon in Scotland. Claire worked as a nurse during the war, and Frank was a military officer. While Frank is doing some genealogical research, Claire explores a ring of ancient stones nearby. When she touches one, she finds herself instantly transported back to 1743. Lost and alone, two hundred years in the past, she eventually meets Jamie, a tall, redheaded Highlander. The rest, as they say, is history. Book two has Claire and Jamie traveling to France to try to convince King Louis XIV to support Bonnie Prince Charles in Scotland's fight for independence (we all know how that ends). Here, in book three, Jamie and Claire are apart for the first 200 pages or so, and through a series of flashbacks and story-telling, the reader finds out what has happened to each of them during the past twenty years, since book two ended. Once they are reunited, the title of the book becomes clear, as they set off on a voyage across the Atlantic.

This was my favorite of the first three books so far! I loved it so much that after reading 870 pages over a month's time, when I finally finished it, I immediately turned the page and began reading the first chapters of book four, included at the back. In fact, several days later, I am still dearly missing Claire and Jamie and the other characters. All of that is just to show you how incredibly compelling these books are. Gabaldon writes fascinating historical fiction, filled with both widely known events and the small details of everyday life. Jamie and Claire's epic, across-centuries love story is at the center of it, of course, but these books are not typical romances. Voyager, in particular, was non-stop action and adventure from cover to cover. So much happens in this novel! The characters encounter everything from prison to pirates in settings from 1960's U.S. to 1700's France to a ship in stormy seas to the jungles of the Caribbean. Tension and suspense were sustained throughout this gripping novel. It's not hyperbole to say that I stayed up much too late every single night because I just couldn't bear to put the book down ... just one more chapter ... I can't wait to read book four, Drums of Autumn.

870 pages, Dell

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif  - July: one-word title

Alphabet Soup Challenge - V

Travel the World in Books  - Scotland, France, Jamaica, Hispaniola

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!
 

Fiction Review: Be with the Dead

I rarely read whole book series, but I am completely hooked on the Ann Kinnear series by Matty Dalrymple! I just read book 6, Be with the Dead, in this gripping, engrossing series about a woman who solves mysteries by communicating with ghosts. In this novel, Ann gets involved with two different mysteries, both involving mystery/thriller authors.

Ann is settled in her cottage on the beautiful grounds of the local winery that was the site of the last book, A Serpent's Tooth. She has been asked to speak at the Gotham Crime Fiction Conference about her experiences solving mysteries by speaking with the dead. Her liaison is Darren Van Osten, an editor who has worked for years with best-selling thriller author Jock Quine. Unfortunately, Jock was killed recently in an armed robbery of his mansion in Princeton, and Darren is struggling to work with Jock's son, Alec, who is supposed to be continuing the series. Alec might not work out, so Darren is hoping to keep his editing business alive with a promising new client, Lara Seaford, whose first thriller novel is already winning awards.

Meanwhile, down in Ocean City, Maryland, cozy mystery author Marilee Forsythe is desperate to get out of her contract for another cozy "berry mystery" so that she can follow her true passion and become a thriller author. To this end, she is pressuring her son, Jeremy, and his wife, Jeanette, to repay the loan she gave them so she can buy out the rest of her contract. After Marilee is attacked leaving a reading in a local bookstore, she refuses to leave her ocean-front condo, forcing Jeanette to make repeated trips from their home in Pennsylvania to Ocean City to act as her courier and errand-runner. Jeanette is trying to be patient with her mother-in-law, but Marilee isn't the easiest person to deal with.

Ann ends up getting pulled into both of these situations, using her unique talents to unearth some secrets that would otherwise be taken to the grave. As with the other Ann Kinnear books, this one is propulsive, filled with action, danger, and unexpected twists. Besides being great thrillers, these books also feature Dalrymple's excellent writing. The characters feel real and three-dimensional (Ann and her family are practically close friends to me by now!), and she makes her settings come alive with details. I loved the subject matter here, focused on thriller writers, editing, bookstores, and the publishing industry. This is another great entry in this engaging, addictive series!

392 pages, William Kingsfield Publishers

You can also read my review of the first book in the series, A Sense of Death.

 

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - B

Literary Escapes Challenge - Maryland

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!   
   

Or start with the first book in this wonderful series, The Sense of Death:

 

Or you can order Be with the Dead from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: A Serpent's Tooth

I don't read many series completely, but I absolutely love the Ann Kinnear series by Matty Dalyrmple. I always enjoy her mysteries about a woman who can sense spirits and communicate with the dead and have previously reviewed The Sense of Death, The Sense of Reckoning, The Falcon and the Owl (which my husband is reading now), and A Furnace for Your Foe. I just finished book five in the series, A Serpent's Tooth; I loved every minute of it and was sorry when it ended.

Ann is living with her brother and brother-in-law in southeastern Pennsylvania (coincidentally, just a short drive from my home!), and they enjoy visiting a local winery, Lynch and Son. Her brother, Mike, is friends with the winemaker there, a man named Del who is married to the owner's daughter, Rowan. Rowan also works at the family winery, as the vineyard manager, and loves the family business. Rowan's older brother, Harkin, lives in Hawaii and has never had any interest in the winery. Their father, Niall, is dying, and in spite of Harkin's clear dislike of the family business, Niall is still torn over which of his children should inherit the winery. He's pretty old-school, and the winery is, after all, named Lynch and Son because his own father started it and passed it down to him. His greatest wish is to pass it on to his own son, in spite of Harkin's animosity toward both his father and the business. Soon, Niall dies and leaves behind two wills, one leaving the winery to each child, though neither will can be found. He was hoping in his last weeks to convince Harkin, who is visiting, to take over. Ann has recently moved into the guest house at the winery, and Rowan and Del hire her to try to find and communicate with Niall, to find out what happened to the two wills he told them about and what his wishes were when he died. Without either of those two recent wills, the entire business and property would go to Harkin, who plans to sell immediately.

As always with these mysteries, the situation starts out seeming fairly simple, but the more Ann learns, the more complicated things become. In addition to the mystery of the wills, there is soon another death on site (possibly murder?), a mysterious location in downtown Philadelphia, and two potential ghosts for Ann to talk to. As always, the suspense builds to an action-packed climax. Besides Dalrymple's talent for suspenseful mystery/thrillers, my husband and I both agree she's an excellent writer. When I'm in the middle of one of her novels, I can barely stand to set it aside at night to go to sleep! I also love her richly-drawn characters, both the recurring characters like Ann and Mike, and the new characters introduced in each novel. Dalrymple also has a talent for making the location of each novel come alive, including lots of great local details and lush descriptions. Both my husband and I enjoy this engrossing series of supernatural mysteries. And book 6, Be with the Dead, was just released, so I have another book to look forward to!

370 pages, William Kingsfield Publishers

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - S

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Pennsylvania

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy all the books in the series through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local! Book one:

   

 

Or you can order A Serpent's Tooth from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Reviews: Two Novels on Audio

I'm trying to catch up on my December reviews, so I can wrap up my 2022 reading! These were the last two audio books I listened to last year, two very different but gripping stories about young people that I enjoyed.

Since my husband and I both loved The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (my review at the link), I was excited to hear he had a new book out, Hidden Pictures, a supernatural thriller. Mallory has had a rough start to life, getting addicted to painkillers after an injury while on her high school cross-country team. But she's completed rehab and is pulling her life back together. With the help of her sponsor, she gets a summer job as a nanny for a family in a nice suburb. She has their guest cottage in the back of the house all to herself, and she adores their cute five-year-old, Teddy. It seems like the perfect way to get back on her feet. She gets along well with Teddy's parents, Ted and Caroline, and settles in. She and Teddy bond and spend their days drawing (one of Teddy's favorite activities), playing pretend, and swimming in the backyard pool. Then strange things begin to happen: Teddy's usually typical kid drawings take a sinister turn, Mallory hears strange noises outside at night, and Teddy's imaginary friend becomes menacing. What is really going on here? Mallory wonders if it has to do with the rumor of a long-ago murder on the property. Is there such a thing as ghosts? 

This unique thriller ratchets up the tension, as Mallory's idyllic days with Teddy turn frightening. But the truth is even stranger than she suspects, with plenty of surprises in store for the reader. I really liked Mallory and Teddy and was rooting for them, as the suspense grew. I finished this compelling story in record time.

384 pages, Flatiron Books

Macmillan Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - New Jersey

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Suzy Jackson (!), and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local! Purchase Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak.

__________

 

My last audio book of 2022 was Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. I'd enjoyed his mix of wit, warmth, and thoughtfulness in Perfect Little World and found the same in this new novel. Here, the story is framed by thirty-six-year-old Frankie Budge looking back on the summer when she was sixteen that changed her life and continues to affect her. Back then, Frankie felt as though she didn't fit into her small town in Tennessee or even with her older triplet brothers. Her father left them and their mom to start over with another woman. Then Frankie meets Zeke, a fellow loner who is staying with his grandmother for the summer with his mom because his father left them, too. The two of them bond that summer. Frankie wants to be a writer (she is working on an anti-Nancy Drew novel), and Zeke loves to draw, so they decide to create art together. When they find an old copy machine in Frankie's garage, they create a poster, with Zeke's art and Frankie's text: "The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us." They're proud of their co-creation and make copies to post all over town. But instead of people marveling at the creative artwork, the community panics and begins coming up with all kinds of crazy theories: it's a cult, it's satanists, etc. All of a sudden, their fun art project has taken on a life of its own and is out of their control. Twenty years later, a journalist contacts Frankie about The Coalfield Panic of 1996, suspecting that Frankie had something to do with it.

This is a fun, thoughtful, propulsive coming-of-age story. It's about friendship, being a teen, first love, and the power of art to change the world. As with most Kevin Wilson novels, it is a wholly unique story, with a sense of humor, even as things turn darker. It's made all the more provocative by the addition of Frankie's perspective as an adult, twenty years later. The author's note at the end makes it all the more intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, thought-provoking novel.

256 pages, Ecco

Harper Audio

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Ginnifer Goodwin, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local! Purchase Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson.

Middle-Grade Review: Denis Ever After

For my last audio book for the R.I.P Challenge in October, I chose a middle-grade novel, Denis Ever After by Tony Abbott. I loved every minute of this combination murder mystery-ghost story!

The narrator of this novel, Denis, is dead. He died when he was seven years old, and it's now been five years since he arrived in Port Haven, a sort of interim place the dead go to shed their lives and prepare to move on. He's been hanging out with GeeGee, his great-grandmother, who mentions the five-year anniversary to him one day. Startled by how much time has passed, Denis decides to look in on his twin brother, Matt, and his parents. What he sees is disturbing. They have not moved on. Matt has become obsessed with finding out what happened to Denis. All they know is that Denis was kidnapped and his body was later found at Gettysburg, on the Georgia monument there. Not knowing what happened has also torn his dad apart and caused friction between his parents. There are some negative consequences for Denis, but he decides he must pass back through the barrier between dead and living (not just look through it) to help his brother. Once Matt sees Denis, the two boys begin to investigate his death and the events leading up to it. Denis doesn't remember anything about that time. With their dad's help (though only Matt can see Denis), they return to the amusement park where Denis went missing and from there, look for clues or something that might trigger memories of that awful day. As they continue to look into it and get closer to some answers, Denis begins to have flashes of memory and passes that information onto Matt, as the boys put the pieces of the puzzle together.

While this is, at its center, a murder mystery, there is so much more to this wonderful novel. It's an in-depth look at the grief of a family, and the different ways that people cope. Denis and Matt's relationship as twin brothers is at the heart of the story, and it is filled with emotional depth. The characters here are fully formed and feel real. I loved the sections describing Port Haven and its inhabitants and the gentle process of adjustment that occurs after death, much like what their loved ones left behind are going through. As for the mystery itself, it's a suspenseful one, with plenty of surprise twists in store. The audio production was excellent and fully immersed me in the story. I enjoyed everything about this novel and look forward to reading more of Tony Abbott's books.

NOTE: This is a middle-grade novel, but some of the scenes--as Denis begins to remember and essentially relive the terror of what happened to him--might be too much for younger readers. I think that older middle-grade and young teen readers will love this book as much as I did.

320 pages, Katherine Tegen Books

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge

R.I.P. Challenge

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Kirby Heyborne, and/or download it from Audible. In the sample, Denis describes Port Haven, Gee Gee, and the tiny glimpses of memory he has from his death.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   

 

Or you can order Denis Ever After from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: A Furnace for Your Foe

Toward the end of October I plunged into the "spirit" of the season with several novels about ghosts! I first read A Furnace for Your Foe by Matty Dalrymple, book four in the Ann Kinnear Suspense series. I don't normally read many series and almost never an entire series, in order, but I love this one! I read book 3, The Falcon and the Owl, in September and books one and two, The Sense of Death and The Sense of Reckoning in past falls. I once again thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful mystery about a woman who can sense and communicate with spirits.

Ann Kinnear has been able to sense spirits since she was a little girl, though her talent has sharpened in recent years (see The Sense of Death, book one), now allowing her to actually communicate with the dead. She's put her skills to use with her business, Ann Kinnear Sensing, run by her brother, Mike. Ann appeared in a documentary, and now the filmmaker wants to make a second documentary, starring her and her colleague, Garrett Masser. Masser lives on Mount Desert Island in Maine (home of Acadia National Park), and the two worked together previously, as recounted in book 2, The Sense of Reckoning. Ann and Mike return to the island to film the documentary, timed to coincide with a recent suspicious death. A wealthy research scientist, Leo Dorn, recently fell to his death from a steep hiking trail while with his colleague and hiking partner, Shelby Kim. What's odd is that the trail was on Leo's own property, he had hiked it many times before, and the trail was dry that day. Soon after Ann arrives on the island, Shelby disappears. Though they are there to record the film, Ann also wants to help the police and the families and friends of Leo and Shelby. She speaks with Leo and goes searching for Shelby in the area where the woman disappeared.

What follows is a super-twisty, unpredictable, rollercoaster of a mystery, with secrets around every corner. I love this series in part because of the unique mix of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural. Peeking into the afterlife is endlessly fascinating to me. Just as important, though, is the excellent writing here that combines in-depth characters, family drama, and humor with the suspense. The author also provides wonderful details about the settings (here, one of my favorite places) that help to immerse the reader in the story. There were plenty of surprises in store in this novel, as well as some breathtakingly close calls for Ann and her friends. Each novel in this series just gets better and better. I can't wait to read the latest entry, book 5, A Serpent's Tooth, and I'm not waiting until next fall!

P.S. If you're wondering about the unusual title for this novel, it's from a quote from Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Matty often uses Shakespeare quotes for her titles.

339, William Kingsfield Publishers

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Challenge

R.I.P. Challenge

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Victoria Matlock Fowler, and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from the beginning of the novel, as Leo and Shelby are out on their ill-fated hike.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

 

Or you can order A Furnace for Your Foe from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.