Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts

If you missed my post yesterday, I had author K.C. Tansley on the blog talking about why she wrote a YA book. Definitely check that out! Today I'm reviewing that YA book:

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (Book 1: The Unbelieveables) - K.C. Tansley
The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (The Unbelievables, #1)
Kat Preston doesn’t believe in ghosts. Not because she’s never seen one, but because she saw one too many. Refusing to believe is the only way to protect herself from the ghost that tried to steal her life. Kat’s disbelief keeps her safe until her junior year at McTernan Academy, when a research project for an eccentric teacher takes her to a tiny, private island off the coast of Connecticut.

The site of a grisly mystery, the Isle of Acacia is no place for a girl who ignores ghosts, but the ghosts leave Kat little choice. Accompanied by her research partner, Evan Kingsley, she investigates the disappearance of Cassie Mallory and Sebastian Radcliffe on their wedding night in 1886. Evan’s scientific approach to everything leaves Kat on her own to confront a host of unbelievables: ancestral curses, powerful spells, and her strange connection to the ghosts that haunt Castle Creighton.

But that’s all before Kat’s yanked through a magic portal and Evan follows her. When the two of them awaken 129 years in the past with their souls trapped inside the bodies of two wedding guests, everything changes. Together, Kat and Evan race to stop the wedding-night murders and find a way back to their own time—and their own bodies—before their souls slip away forever.
 


I absolutely loved this book. Honestly, I'm kind of excited for Olivia to get a little bit older and read it because this is totally up her alley. We have Kat, who is highly intelligent but she also sees ghosts. It's not just seeing the ghosts, it's the fact that they are trying to possess her by stealing moments in time. Over the years Kat has developed ways to keep them at bay, but with her new project involving Castle Creighton and the double murder of a bride and her groom on their wedding night is putting her in great danger. She also can't say no because a successful completion of this project makes her a definitely shoo-in for Georgetown, where she so desperately studies. 

So after arriving at Castle Creighton, things are amiss and as she delves deeper into the mystery of the Radcliffe Curse, all of the protections she has relied on become useless. She finds herself on the other side of a mirror and getting first hand experience of the events that led up to the double murder. It's up to Kat and the rest of the team to figure out what happened to the bride and groom in the past, and how to help Joshua (the last first born Radcliffe male, who will die at age 23 unless they figure out how to lift the curse).

While the book obviously gives us some closure, it definitely leaves the door open for more books because we're left with some unanswered questions and some new players. Overall? I totally enjoyed it. It's only 243 pages, so not long at all, and it's fast paced. It doesn't take long into the book for things to happen and Kat is an endearing character. You almost feel bad for her because man, the lengths she goes to so she can be "normal" are kind of extraordinary. I also had zero idea who was behind the curse and I liked that- this book kept me on my toes! 

Although I enjoyed it as an adult, I actually like YA books in general. This would be a fun read for even middle school kids. Heck, I was reading R.L. Stine Fear Street books in middle school and those were far more disturbing as a middle-schooler! The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts is available at Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon

Happy reading! 

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