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kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
Cass has reasons to be standoffish and resent the kids at school: her mom is absent (literally, she's off on assignment all the time) her sister Paige is dead, and her so-called best friend made the entire school hate her.
But that's not all. Cass sees dead people. The ghost of her sister Paige hangs around and tells her to comb her hair. Ghosts at school tell her secrets about the popular folks so she can blackmail them.
But when one of the cool kids, Tim, starts stalking her, Cass has to come out of the social shell she's built around herself and her emotions.
This book was really enjoyable, smooth reading, interesting heroine, and cool premise pulled off in a believable way. We get to see how Cass deals with talking to ghosts without being thought crazy. We get to see how Cass uses the ghosts as a crutch, instead of trying to understand the behavior of the kids around her.
Even the way she misreads Tim's behavior is completely believable.
The only reason this book didn't get the five starts is because for most of the book, the group of popular people are overwhelmingly heinous; their behavior, their callousness, and their downright evilness (tarring a locker? really?). It is hard for me to swallow that Tim's mother died and NOONE came by to see him, or that NOONE asked Cass how it felt when her sister died. While the main baddy (Cass's ex-best friend) is tempered with caring somewhat later on, I still felt like I wanted more complex characters around Cass.
The story is mostly about Cass realizing she has to learn to communicate, and in this way it is an interesting slice of emotional teenage inner life.
This book's Food Designation Rating: Taco bell tacos, because it was so fast and easy to read, fun, but after eating alot, one wishes for a tad more complex flavor...
But that's not all. Cass sees dead people. The ghost of her sister Paige hangs around and tells her to comb her hair. Ghosts at school tell her secrets about the popular folks so she can blackmail them.
But when one of the cool kids, Tim, starts stalking her, Cass has to come out of the social shell she's built around herself and her emotions.
This book was really enjoyable, smooth reading, interesting heroine, and cool premise pulled off in a believable way. We get to see how Cass deals with talking to ghosts without being thought crazy. We get to see how Cass uses the ghosts as a crutch, instead of trying to understand the behavior of the kids around her.
Even the way she misreads Tim's behavior is completely believable.
The only reason this book didn't get the five starts is because for most of the book, the group of popular people are overwhelmingly heinous; their behavior, their callousness, and their downright evilness (tarring a locker? really?). It is hard for me to swallow that Tim's mother died and NOONE came by to see him, or that NOONE asked Cass how it felt when her sister died. While the main baddy (Cass's ex-best friend) is tempered with caring somewhat later on, I still felt like I wanted more complex characters around Cass.
The story is mostly about Cass realizing she has to learn to communicate, and in this way it is an interesting slice of emotional teenage inner life.
This book's Food Designation Rating: Taco bell tacos, because it was so fast and easy to read, fun, but after eating alot, one wishes for a tad more complex flavor...
sandylovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
The blurb on the cover says "a beautiful and moving debut". Uh, no, not so much. This book started out pretty good. Lots of things going on but then just fell into nothing, then eventually picked back up. There was a time that I thought of putting it in the dnf list but I kept with it.
I liked Cass, she has a talent, a gift, but she is using it to get information about her fellow classmates and uses it against them because they think she is crazy. Well, I can understand that. Then she meets Tim. He just lost his mother and wants Cass to talk to her. I liked Tim too and felt more for him than anyone else in the book.
I think the author was trying to be serious and poignant but it just didn't come off that way. And I was hoping for a more finished ending and, yes, maybe a more hea ending. If the author would have put an epilogue letting me know what happens the next year, it may have been a better ending.
So I give this book an eh.
I liked Cass, she has a talent, a gift, but she is using it to get information about her fellow classmates and uses it against them because they think she is crazy. Well, I can understand that. Then she meets Tim. He just lost his mother and wants Cass to talk to her. I liked Tim too and felt more for him than anyone else in the book.
I think the author was trying to be serious and poignant but it just didn't come off that way. And I was hoping for a more finished ending and, yes, maybe a more hea ending. If the author would have put an epilogue letting me know what happens the next year, it may have been a better ending.
So I give this book an eh.
energyrae's review against another edition
5.0
Cass can communicate with ghosts. It would be a really cool thing if it wasn't because she had lost her sister. So when the entire school turns against her, she uses the school's lingering ghosts to get the dirt on people. She's already an outcast, why not just cement it? But things change when one of the popular kids come to her for help. Perhaps some of the angst she's feeling isn't just because people are against her. Sometimes, when we aren't open to being receptive to people, we lose out on the good in life.
This was a fun, slightly supernatural, young adult book that was well-written and engaging.
This was a fun, slightly supernatural, young adult book that was well-written and engaging.
bellatora's review against another edition
5.0
I think I've got a thing for prickly, angry, sarcastic heroines when done right. They aren't sickly sweet or blandly normal or faux action girls like a lot of heroines. They will stand up for themselves, call people on their crap, not follow along with the crowd and, in the end, learn that they can't live on bitterness alone and that eventually they have to open up and let others in.
I liked Cass and I liked that the love interest, Tim, wasn't some White Knight come to rescue her and show her the Joys of Being Social. He was equally broken and it was because he was so broken that Cass had to start looking at herself and realize that she was capable of caring about someone who wasn't dead.
I also liked the side characters, especially the ghosts, Norris, Bitzy and Paige (Cass' sister). I would love to have undead spies getting dirt on my classmates for me.
In a nut shell, I loved, loved, LOVED this book. It rang true and pulled me in completely (one sitting, didn't want to put it down, annoyed when a phone call interrupted me). I really, really hope for a sequel because I think there's still enough story to tell (we don't even know how Norris and Bitzy died!) and I would love to have Cass narrate another book.
I liked Cass and I liked that the love interest, Tim, wasn't some White Knight come to rescue her and show her the Joys of Being Social. He was equally broken and it was because he was so broken that Cass had to start looking at herself and realize that she was capable of caring about someone who wasn't dead.
I also liked the side characters, especially the ghosts, Norris, Bitzy and Paige (Cass' sister). I would love to have undead spies getting dirt on my classmates for me.
In a nut shell, I loved, loved, LOVED this book. It rang true and pulled me in completely (one sitting, didn't want to put it down, annoyed when a phone call interrupted me). I really, really hope for a sequel because I think there's still enough story to tell (we don't even know how Norris and Bitzy died!) and I would love to have Cass narrate another book.
book_hoarding_dragon's review against another edition
2.0
Let me tell you how excited I was for this book; YA supernatural books have been intriguing me for a while now. With so many different authors and mediums out there ghosts (which you can tell by the title is what this book entails) have been shown in so many different lights. Megan Crewe instead takes ghosts somewhere else, they're not trying to scare people or anything of the like instead they essentially watch them and that's where Cassie (or Cass) comes in they tell her the dirty on people and she essentially outs them when the times comes. But giving our generation penchant for reality tv, doesn't it make sense?
But she's approached by a fellow classmate for help in contacting his dead mother. But the book draws you in even though it's only around 240 pages, it's over before you really know it (and how I wished this book was longer).The characters are extremely realistic and you'll be booing for some and rooting for the others. And I really like the growth you see with Cass by the end of the book. All in all it's a very good read and I recommend it for anyone. Doesn't matter if they like Supernatural YA or realistic YA, this book will suit either one of them.
But she's approached by a fellow classmate for help in contacting his dead mother. But the book draws you in even though it's only around 240 pages, it's over before you really know it (and how I wished this book was longer).The characters are extremely realistic and you'll be booing for some and rooting for the others. And I really like the growth you see with Cass by the end of the book. All in all it's a very good read and I recommend it for anyone. Doesn't matter if they like Supernatural YA or realistic YA, this book will suit either one of them.
beckiebookworm1974's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed Give Up The Ghost by Megan Crewe. This in my opinion is aimed at a much younger audience than myself, but it was still a lovely read. I don't really want to post any spoilers so i will just say that Cass Mckenna sees ghosts, and due to a certain set of circumstances has become the strange loner at school. Along comes a certain young man who has recently lost his mother and suspects that there is something not quite right about our lovely Cass, what forms is a friendship forged in shared experience and grief and you will have to read the book to see what occurs, a sweet angst filled clean teen read that i read in one sitting.
maddiepondss's review against another edition
2.0
What the heck even was that ending?
A lot of things just didn't make sense in this book. Also, really annoying characters. Meh.
A lot of things just didn't make sense in this book. Also, really annoying characters. Meh.
bookstuff's review against another edition
2.0
Reads like an after school special. Not sure why GR kept recommending it to me.
slc333's review against another edition
3.0
This is an enjoyable YA story about loss and forgiveness, letting go, growing up and letting people in after you have been hurt. Cass was severely bullied in junior high – the campaign led by a jealous BFF. Around the same time her older sister drowns and her parents withdraw. Cass is able to see her sisters ghost and then other ghosts hanging around the school. Cass uses secrets told to her by the school ghosts to get her revenge and keep her peers honest which further alienates her from people. Her only friend is her dead sister and that is the way she likes it. Then student VP Tim who recently lost his mother figures out what she can do and convinces her to help him try to contact her. Tim & Cass gradually develop a friendship, although Cass doesn’t really know how to be friends at first. Tim & Cass need each other and are good for one another and Cass is finally able to let go of some of her resentment and anger in order to help Tim.
I would have like to see a bit more romance develop between Cass & Tim but given their issues (and particularly how messed up Tim is) the pace of their relationship in the book is probably a more healthy one.
I received a free copy from the author via instafreebie in return for an honest review.
I would have like to see a bit more romance develop between Cass & Tim but given their issues (and particularly how messed up Tim is) the pace of their relationship in the book is probably a more healthy one.
I received a free copy from the author via instafreebie in return for an honest review.
shannonleighd's review against another edition
2.0
The premise of this book was really interesting, but it ended up just being another cliché- and angst-filled young adult novel. I would give it 2 1/2 stars if I could but I decided to round down because it's not quite a 3 star book.
Cass can see and talk to ghosts. Just before she got this ability she had a huge falling out with her best friend. The best friend, the most popular girl in the school, turned the entire student body of not one, but two schools, against Cass. Now that Cass has a few ghost friends at the school that spy on everyone for her, she has all the dirt on everyone. So she's not picked on or bullied anymore and now everyone pretty much ignores her. Then one of the popular boys, Tim, asks for Cass's help in talking to his recently deceased mother. She decides to help him and slowly beings to form a friendship with someone who's actually alive.
The problem I had with this book was that the main idea seemed fresh but the execution, not so much. The fact that Cass only uses the ghosts to be vindictive and further alienate herself from her classmates is both unimaginative and petty. I understand that she's a teenager and that's how they think, but really, she's just being a jerk. Cass gets excited when she finds out that her ex-best friend is being cheated on and you start to agree with everyone else that Cass is a creepy bitch.
So obviously, I had a hard time connecting with Cass. But then again, any time I read a book about a socially awkward teen outcast I have a hard time connecting so that could just be a problem with me. I don't understand the mentality of being bullied and not standing up for yourself. Cass has no friends and no ambition in life and basically her only goal is to make everyone as miserable as she is, and I just can't fathom putting that much energy into something so negative.
Another big thing that really bothered me; why do so many teen books have to end at the prom? It's just so overdone.
I wish this book had centered more around Cass's ability and her ghosts and less about her petty vindictiveness. Thankfully, she did grow up a little toward the end, but if the author writes a sequel I don't think I'll bother with it.
Cass can see and talk to ghosts. Just before she got this ability she had a huge falling out with her best friend. The best friend, the most popular girl in the school, turned the entire student body of not one, but two schools, against Cass. Now that Cass has a few ghost friends at the school that spy on everyone for her, she has all the dirt on everyone. So she's not picked on or bullied anymore and now everyone pretty much ignores her. Then one of the popular boys, Tim, asks for Cass's help in talking to his recently deceased mother. She decides to help him and slowly beings to form a friendship with someone who's actually alive.
The problem I had with this book was that the main idea seemed fresh but the execution, not so much. The fact that Cass only uses the ghosts to be vindictive and further alienate herself from her classmates is both unimaginative and petty. I understand that she's a teenager and that's how they think, but really, she's just being a jerk. Cass gets excited when she finds out that her ex-best friend is being cheated on and you start to agree with everyone else that Cass is a creepy bitch.
So obviously, I had a hard time connecting with Cass. But then again, any time I read a book about a socially awkward teen outcast I have a hard time connecting so that could just be a problem with me. I don't understand the mentality of being bullied and not standing up for yourself. Cass has no friends and no ambition in life and basically her only goal is to make everyone as miserable as she is, and I just can't fathom putting that much energy into something so negative.
Another big thing that really bothered me; why do so many teen books have to end at the prom? It's just so overdone.
I wish this book had centered more around Cass's ability and her ghosts and less about her petty vindictiveness. Thankfully, she did grow up a little toward the end, but if the author writes a sequel I don't think I'll bother with it.