First the good; I like a young adult ghost story and this one got extra points for cooking scenes. Plus it got me out of a reading slump.

While it held my attention, it was seriously flawed. Weird pacing, plot thrown together seemingly haphazardly with details sort of sticking out in all directions ( )

Thanks to Edelweiss and Cinco Puntos Press for access to this title.

3.5 stars. This was a fun read, with a touch of gothic horror, and a good mix of romance and family relationship issues. It's more on the lighter, fluffier side, although there is a bit of a dark edge now and again. It will be interesting to see where this goes from here, and I will be watching for the next installment.

A good read for those who enjoy a small chill in their ghost stories. ( )

DNF at 70%

The story was about Penny. It's Christmas vacation and all she wanted is to spend it with her mother in their own house. Looks easy, right? Apparently it isn't. Penny's mother is a little bit different compared to other moms out there. Her mother, Vivian, wants to see ghosts and document them. She's chasing them everywhere. She's kind a passionate on this thing. Right now, she's on Idaho so she can't be with Penny.

So then she asked Gigi, her bestfriend, for help to send Penny to her another friend, Bubbles. So Penny was left without a choice really. She's going to spend a few weeks in The Black Butterfly Inn. It's located off the coast of Maine.

And so she went..

And then she meets the first boy, Blue:

"Good to meet you." He pulled a screwdriver out of his picked and began fiddling with the latches. "I don't see any problems, but I'll tighten things up just to be sure.""Great, thanks."
"All set," he said after a minute. He turned around twiddling the screwdriver between his fingers. "See you around, I guess." He smiled then and when he did, his eyes shimmered, as if backlit from behind. It threw me off guard and I didn't speak. "Right," he said and let himself out.

Crap. Speechless there, huh?

Then here's the second boy, George.

"Will you tell me about 'The Purple Agony' now?"
He remembered the title of my short story! I felt embarrassed, shy and flattered. If he was interested in my story, did that mean he was interested in me?

Double crap. Great thinking, by the way. If he's asking about your stuffs, he's definitely interested about you.

The plot:

There is almost no plot here. I mean, all there is was a ghost trying to kill Penny because she's talking to Blue. Yup. Ghosts can be jealous. And why Blue? 'Cause he happened to also be a ghost.

I tried, really. Just.. maybe this is just not for me. This is kind of boring and I can't stand annoying MCs, sorry.

I know I should've just finished this one since it's almost at the end but no. There's so many things i have to read that's definitely more interesting than this.

**ARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchanged of a honest review. ( )

DNF at 70%

The story was about Penny. It's Christmas vacation and all she wanted is to spend it with her mother in their own house. Looks easy, right? Apparently it isn't. Penny's mother is a little bit different compared to other moms out there. Her mother, Vivian, wants to see ghosts and document them. She's chasing them everywhere. She's kind a passionate on this thing. Right now, she's on Idaho so she can't be with Penny.

So then she asked Gigi, her bestfriend, for help to send Penny to her another friend, Bubbles. So Penny was left without a choice really. She's going to spend a few weeks in The Black Butterfly Inn. It's located off the coast of Maine.

And so she went..

And then she meets the first boy, Blue:

"Good to meet you." He pulled a screwdriver out of his picked and began fiddling with the latches. "I don't see any problems, but I'll tighten things up just to be sure.""Great, thanks."
"All set," he said after a minute. He turned around twiddling the screwdriver between his fingers. "See you around, I guess." He smiled then and when he did, his eyes shimmered, as if backlit from behind. It threw me off guard and I didn't speak. "Right," he said and let himself out.

Crap. Speechless there, huh?

Then here's the second boy, George.

"Will you tell me about 'The Purple Agony' now?"
He remembered the title of my short story! I felt embarrassed, shy and flattered. If he was interested in my story, did that mean he was interested in me?

Double crap. Great thinking, by the way. If he's asking about your stuffs, he's definitely interested about you.

The plot:

There is almost no plot here. I mean, all there is was a ghost trying to kill Penny because she's talking to Blue. Yup. Ghosts can be jealous. And why Blue? 'Cause he happened to also be a ghost.

I tried, really. Just.. maybe this is just not for me. This is kind of boring and I can't stand annoying MCs, sorry.

I know I should've just finished this one since it's almost at the end but no. There's so many things i have to read that's definitely more interesting than this.

**ARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchanged of a honest review. ( )