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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely adored this book! Not only is Ghost Roast an amazing read, the illustrations are so beautiful!
Ghost Roast introduces readers to high schooler Chelsea, who tries her best to fit in & not stand out too much among her classmates. This proves hard to do, as her father is known all over New Orleans as the resident ghosthunter. So, while trying to keep her identity as "Ghost Girl" under wraps, Chelsea's parents insist she work alongside her father hunting ghosts. Is she happy about it? Not at first! It does, however, grow on her.
Filled with rich New Orleans history, ghosts, and teenage angst, Ghost Roast is a fun read that children and adults will enjoy! I appreciate the growth in Chelsea's character as well as the way the story develops as I read. I did not want to put this one down and I lowkey hope the authors give us more of Chelsea in the near future!
Many thanks to Edelweiss for the eARC of Ghost Roast in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 Stars
Ghost Roast introduces readers to high schooler Chelsea, who tries her best to fit in & not stand out too much among her classmates. This proves hard to do, as her father is known all over New Orleans as the resident ghosthunter. So, while trying to keep her identity as "Ghost Girl" under wraps, Chelsea's parents insist she work alongside her father hunting ghosts. Is she happy about it? Not at first! It does, however, grow on her.
Filled with rich New Orleans history, ghosts, and teenage angst, Ghost Roast is a fun read that children and adults will enjoy! I appreciate the growth in Chelsea's character as well as the way the story develops as I read. I did not want to put this one down and I lowkey hope the authors give us more of Chelsea in the near future!
Many thanks to Edelweiss for the eARC of Ghost Roast in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 Stars
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The artwork for this book was so cute! Chelsea’s family had the cutest nose.
Chelsea’s trying to desperately fit in with two, sometimey friends and hide her dad’s ghost-hunting business to no avail. I still think her friends sucked big time and couldn’t put up with those two sneak-dissing me all the time. But they did have some depth. They weren’t completely bad and some part of them genuinely liked Chelsea. You could tell they were insecure high schoolers and acting out because of it.
I liked the story and the New Orleans setting. New Orleanian history plays a large role in the ghosty business here. At first, I thought it was certainly a choice to have the Black lead crushing/attracted to a slave master’s son though, of course, he’s got abolitionist beliefs. I’m immediately put off by those types of dynamics, but the basis of this is pretty integral for the plot. Because… Subverted. Oliver’s passing and actually the son of a black man, unbeknownst to him. The book doesn’t skirt around the implication of slavery and acknowledges Chelsea’s uncomfortableness with Oliver’s connection to it.
The ending wrapped up nicely with a bow though I didn't care how they tried to reason with Oliver's raggedy uncle. Even the lady had to tell them the man was too far gone in racism to make any change. Boo hoo, you're a forgotten Confederate soldier, and people like your abolitionistic nephew better (and I saw those shoujo flowers – you cannot hide from me! <3) I’d read more from the authors. I feel like there could be more entries in this story – a whole series.
Chelsea’s trying to desperately fit in with two, sometimey friends and hide her dad’s ghost-hunting business to no avail. I still think her friends sucked big time and couldn’t put up with those two sneak-dissing me all the time. But they did have some depth. They weren’t completely bad and some part of them genuinely liked Chelsea. You could tell they were insecure high schoolers and acting out because of it.
I liked the story and the New Orleans setting. New Orleanian history plays a large role in the ghosty business here. At first, I thought it was certainly a choice to have the Black lead crushing/attracted to a slave master’s son though, of course, he’s got abolitionist beliefs. I’m immediately put off by those types of dynamics, but the basis of this is pretty integral for the plot. Because…
The ending wrapped up nicely with a bow though I didn't care how they tried to reason with
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I wish I could have loved this. The art was really pretty. There were a few pages in particular towards the end that were soooo gorgeous. And the story, once it finally got there, was interesting. But the first half of the story really had very little to do with the second half? Her friends are awful and there are some things brought up that are never addressed again in the story so it kinda made me wonder what the point of some things was. And that, plus this being a text-heavy graphic novel, made this feel much longer than it actually is. Then, once we finally get to the climax and are confronting the villain, it ends SO quickly. It didn’t feel like a satisfying end with all the buildup it had. Also, the MC decides not to use the ghostbusting weapon thing on the main antagonist (a slave owner) ghost who killed his own nephew and was haunting the plantation and hurt her father??? the justification for this is bc she doesn’t want to resort to violence but like…he’s a ghost and an EVIL, RACIST one at that, and her plan was to just TALK to him???? I also had some issues with the narrative itself and felt uncomfortable at some of the revelations and the casualness of them when they were such heavy topics. I realize this is YA, so going too deeply into some of these would've made it much darker, but some things simply didn't need to be included into the story and shouldn't have been if they were simply going to be glossed over. I love the idea of the Ghostbusters element mixed with the deep history of New Orleans, but the execution just wasn’t there for me.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No