Reviews

The Ghost Files by Apryl Baker

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charlie_allin's review against another edition

4.0

I have to admit I was not expecting a lot at all from this book, when I first started though I enjoyed it I found it was very my a YA, and yes I do enjoy YA books but I felt this was going to be too focused for younger readers hence the 4 stars not 5. However, the more I got into it the more I was hooked, I could not put it down, there are so many twists and turns you don’t see coming. There were a few bits I felt were unanswered in the book but I’m hoping they get highlighted a bit in book 2. Definitely recommend if you are looking for a simple easy read that you won’t want to put down

booksandshan's review against another edition

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5.0

There are scenes of child kidnapping and abuse towards the end so be careful of that if that's a trigger warning or something you don't want to read about.

I did have to mark this as spoiler for that reason but I don't want to say anything about this book as it's more about diving into it yourself. I really enjoyed this. It was creepy and gory and scary but easy to read. The story was so interesting and the ending...WHAT ON EARTH WHAT DOES THIS MEEEEAN.

I do want to continue on with this series just don't know when

Recommend this

staceyhust88's review against another edition

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2.0

Look up any of the other 1 and 2 star reviews and you will have a list of all my complaints. I should have listened to them but I didn't. of course I didn't.

Maybe I've been reading too much NA lately so I expected too much from the characters but good grief they read like a bunch of junior highers. Mattie is supposed to be 16, I know of some immature 16 year olds so ok, I can believe her character flaws. But Officer Dan is supposed to be 20 and while he is a rookie cop I would still expect him to act more mature than a 15 year old. I can't get onto a book if the characters are not believable, it just isn't going to happen.

trisha_thomas's review against another edition

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2.0

a pretty good read that was a little creepy and spooky
but maybe I just don't spook easily

my biggest frustration was with the main character. I just found her annoying. Her "fudge pops" saying made me cringe, every time. And she seemed to get angry and fly off the handle at random things - I guess I didn't understand her.

catastra's review against another edition

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1.0

To be fair, this book is aimed at a teen audience. I was fine with that, because the ghost aspect of the story really intrigued me. But the more I read, the more the book devolved into annoying teenage angst and I had to stop reading halfway through. Mattie is not a likable character. None of the characters are likable. For a novel meant to be about ghosts, it doesn't spend NEARLY enough time focused on that subject.

Cool concept, poorly developed and unlikable characters. Probably only interesting if you're a teenager or into the immature teen angst.

haley_j_casey's review against another edition

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3.0

The pros:

Officer Dan. Yep. Love him.

Mattie's attitude. I love sarcasm, and (while I think some things could have been done differently/less explained) Mattie had a lot of it. Apryl Baker never started making her soft, didn't start out with her being sweet and turning sarcastic or vice versa; Mattie's character developed as the story went, but her personality stayed true and she was a very fun protagonist.

Mattie starts out with a boyfriend, but what I really liked was that as we learned more about Mattie so did Jake. And that complicated

Spoiler

and ruined

their relationship. It made things complex.

The relationship between Dan and Mattie. It stayed on the edge between friendship and relationship, their banter was perfect, and the fact that they still have room to grow made any scene between the two of them the best part of the book.

The cons:

The relationship between Dan and Mattie. Yes, they were fun, and yes, they had excellent banter, but it felt like Baker couldn't decide on just what age to treat Dan. Technically he's 20, and a cop, and still in college, but sometimes he seemed much older than Mattie, and sometimes he was like a high school student. And I know that college students can totally be like that, but he didn't stay consistent enough for me. It was distracting, even though I liked his character.

Every boy in the book was in love with Mattie. She was hot and could take care of herself and was mysterious, but seriously, every guy spent the whole book hitting on her.

And she couldn't make up her mind. She's in love with Jake in the beginning, then she's trying to figure out how she feels about Dan (more than once), and then she gets Mason's phone number and thinks he's so super cute, then, all of a sudden at the end, she's IN LOVE with Eric.

Spoiler

The ghost. The ghost who attacked her, who she knew for a day during which she was being tortured, the guy she didn't actually know in real life, all of a sudden, she's just freaking in love with him.

And that one seriously through me and kind of ruined the end of the book. WAY too sudden, unreal, and Baker spent the whole book building Dan up just to throw in this guy at the last second that Mattie is way too attached to, way too quickly... It didn't fit with the way the rest of the book had been going.

Overall:

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a big fan of scary stuff (horror movies, nighttime in general, getting good and truly spooked). So this book was fun: ghosts, murderers, mystery, oh my. And while the mystery was good and the ending was a surprise, there were things that were done well and then things that took away from the rest of it. Mattie's attitude was great, but the fact that the author told us more than once how sarcastic Mattie considered herself and explained the fact took away from it because it felt to me as the reader like the author thought I had to be told what sarcasm was. I loved Dan and Mattie's relationship, then then a dozen other guys jumped in and took away some of the depth. I wish it had all been more consistent, but it was still a fun read with a great protagonist and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the sequel.

2.75 stars