The Ghost of You (The Ghost of You #1)
Amanda Burkhard
Published: 24th February, 2015
Swoon Romance
Genre: Contemporary
Age: Young Adult
From: YA Bound Book Tours
Summary:
Emmy has everything she’s ever wanted: a hot boyfriend she adores, great friends, a promising future, and even a well-connected family. But one night rips it all away.
A car accident shatters her world, claiming the lives of her twin brother and her best friend. In the wake of the accident, her friends drift away, her family falls apart, and her boyfriend cheats.
The grief is more than she can handle, so she finds escape at the bottom of a bottle of painkillers. Taking the pills makes her brother alive again, if only in her head. Seeing and talking to her brother as if he were still alive is the only thing that keeps her going. Until Logan King moves to town.
Logan sees past the mask of pristine popularity she wears in public and he’s the only one who can tell she hasn’t moved on. His uncanny ability to read her forces her to open up and she starts to fall for him, no matter how unwilling she is to admit it. But Emmy isn’t the only one keeping secrets and when a close brush with death sparks events that bring everything to light, Emmy will have to decide what’s more important: learning how to forgive and move on, or holding onto the pills and the ghost of her past.
Content Warning: drug abuse; underage drinking; references to sex
What I liked: I liked seeing how Emmy changed over the book. It’s clear from the chapter after the funeral for her twin how she’s changed. It’s in the way she talks, the way she acts. Yet despite all that, you can see the few things that Emmy enjoys still. She still has her cousin Brayden and her best friend Skye right there for her. Even though Emmy doesn’t tell Skye everything you can see how close the two are and the connection between the two girls told me of a long friendship. Emmy made a choice that she thought was for the best for her after the accident, and maybe she was right, maybe she wasn’t with her choice to rely on drugs to help her. I don’t know her exact pain, but I do know how devastating the loss of someone close to you can be, so I understand her choice with what happened. She makes mistakes in the book, which made her relatable as a person and I really liked her. Skye was the friend she needed even when Emmy didn’t know it herself, and I liked that despite everything that had to have happened in the year following the accident that she stuck by Emmy and did what she could. True mark of a best friend right there.
What I didn’t like: I think my biggest complaint was that Emmy described the other characters that she knew before telling us their name. It just seemed like it should have been the other way around. You recognize a person by name if you know them and then remember the details that make that person stand out to you. It’s a minor thing that didn’t happen very often.
Overall Review: I love the way everything played out for the characters, it was different from what I was expecting. Logan’s past wasn’t an overshadowing, come-back-to-haunt-you thing, it was mentioned and learning about it made me understand him better as a character. Yeah he makes mistakes, but it makes him more understandable than having him be some mysterious, brooding guy with a traumatic past that he’s trying to run away from only to fail. It makes him real in a good way. Emmy’s fall was different from what I expected and the ending for her was just what I was hoping for her since she deserved it. Overall, a lovely story and I look forward to the next book!
Recommend?: Definitely! I really liked this book!
Goodreads: 4.5/5 Amazon: 5/5 Barnes&Noble: 5/5
My Rating: 4.3/5
Rated Materials:
Cover: 4.7
Idea: 3.8
Story: 4.2
Characters: 4.5
Check out the rest of the tour here!
About the Author
Amanda Burckhard grew up exploring bat caves and hunting for dinosaur bones in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When she wasn’t crossing paths with mountain lions, she was making up stories and devouring books at the library. Although, she still does that.
Amanda loves to travel and cross out things on her adrenaline packed bucket list. Some of the things she’s been able to cross out include see an active volcano erupt, ride a gondola in Venice, and pet a tiger.
She currently lives in North Sioux City, South Dakota and works as a microbiologist by day. Some of her obsessions include comic book movies, hot chocolate, sushi, sunshine, and Doctor Who.
Links:
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook
GIVEAWAY*!
*Books and Ashes is not responsible for any lost, damaged, or unreceived materials that you may win. Books and Ashes does not handle the materials, or have any input on who receives a prize. In the case of a Books and Ashes Sponsored Giveaway Random.org will choose the winner. US and international followers eligible where applicable.
booksandashes.wordpress.com 