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A review by hollymbryan
Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker
4.0
3.5 stars (I always round up when I can't give a half star, thus the 4-star rating)
I have been really eager to read this book since I heard about it. It sounded like it would be similar to Gabrielle Zevin's ELSEWHERE, which I read at the beginning of 2013 and really enjoyed. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book from Shana at A Book Vacation -- so thank you, Shana, for giving me the chance to read it!
I was intrigued by the idea behind ASHES TO ASHES -- our main character, Callie, dies young in a tragic accident and finds herself in "the Prism," a sort of limbo, in-between place. She's no longer on Earth, clearly, but she's not in Heaven either (or, as it's called in the book, "Solus"). She is met upon her arrival in the Prism by Thatcher, who will be her Ghost Guide. It is Thatcher who is supposed to assist Callie in "haunting" her loved ones so that they will accept her death and she can move on to the next dimension, Solus. Of course Callie at first does not believe she is dead, then she becomes angry and feels intense pain at the idea that her loved ones will move on without her. Callie is no stranger to pain and grief, as we learn that her mother passed away 10 years ago, when Callie was just six. Thatcher uses that experience to try and help Callie understand the purpose of ghosts - the newly-deceased - landing in the Prism before moving to Solus; they are there to haunt their loved ones, but haunting is not what we have typically believed it to be, with poltergeists playing pranks and rattling chains and such. Rather, haunting is the process by which the ghosts will help their loved ones make peace with their deaths and accept that they are gone; then their loved ones can move past their grief and the ghosts can move past the Prism and into Solus. Thatcher explains that Callie's mother had done just this thing for Callie and her father. He says, "It doesn't mean that you forgot her. It just means that you had healed enough and accepted her death so that she could move on." (p.53 of ARC)
From this point on, we go with Callie on her journey of haunting her loved ones and trying to make sense of what happened her. We quickly learn from her interactions with other Ghost Guides and then with other ghosts that Callie is somehow different; she continues to feel very strong emotions in the Prism, which is something that very rarely happens (the Prism is designed to anesthetize them so that they may be in a calm state to effectuate their haunting). We also meet, along with Callie, a group of other ghosts (Reena, Leo, Norris, and Delia) who know Thatcher but are antagonistic to him and very different from him; they exist in the Prism, but they are neither newly-deceased ghosts nor Guides, and they look different from the rest of the ghosts. The bulk of the story is about Callie trying to reconcile her love and longing for her earthly boyfriend, Nick, and her developing feelings for Thatcher, as well as the mystery surrounding both her difference and the difference behind the other group of ghosts.
The writing in ASHES TO ASHES is very good, the plot is pretty fast-paced, and I definitely raced through the book (whenever I could sneak away from cleaning in preparation for our holiday visit from the in-laws!). I was eager to find out more about Callie's situation and what Thatcher seemed to know about it that he wasn't telling her, why Thatcher was "stuck" being a Guide in the Prism and unable to move on to Solus, how Callie would help her loved ones heal, and just what was up with Reena and her group (the rebel ghosts, as it were). Ms. Walker definitely had me hooked and I think she knows how to tell a very good story. There was a lot of teasing, I guess you could say, that kept me furiously turning those pages! She did a great job with that.
However, I felt I could only give a 3.5-star rating because there was just *something* that was missing, for me. I'm not sure if it was that I didn't connect on a deeper level with the characters - I mean, I liked Callie, but didn't necessarily identify with her or adore her - or what, exactly, but there was some elusive thing that I maybe expected but didn't get. I also had a difficult time getting my head around Callie and Thatcher's developing relationship. Now, I understand it was not the same as an earthly relationship, and I DO think that Ms. Walker did a good job of trying to explain that. Callie acknowledges that what she might feel for Thatcher is completely different from what she felt for Nick when she was alive. If one's soul/ghost can "fall in love" with another after our earthly body has ceased to exist, I think Ms. Walker came as close as I can imagine to describing what that kind of love would look like. However, there was maybe just one time too many when Callie mentioned wanting to kiss Thatcher that it just kept throwing me off. It's hard to explain, but... I'm just not sure how I felt about their relationship. Also, Thatcher was (understandably) so distant and cold for most of the book that I had a difficult time connecting with him. That had to be very hard for Ms. Walker to handle, though, because it IS perfectly understandable that he would be like that, and I think writing him any other way wouldn't have been true to the character. So I don't know how she could have done any better! But I just wasn't 100% connected with him.
Overall, I want to emphasize that a 3.5-star rating from me is good!! (I very rarely give a 5-star rating.) I really did like this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who loves paranormal reads, romance, or generally just enjoys YA fiction. I would say you should go into it with an open mind - this is not a religious book and it might not jibe with your religious beliefs about what happens to people when they die. At the same time, I find it very comforting to think that our soul or ghost would have as its purpose the easing of our loved ones' pain and grief upon our death. I really liked that aspect of the book; in fact, I liked the whole mythology behind the story and I think it's very creative. I would just urge readers to be open to what happens in the book to increase the likelihood that they'll enjoy it. Finally, I will say that I will ABSOLUTELY be reading book 2 when it releases!! And that you should be prepared to be saying the same thing once you read this ending!
Thank you again to Shana for giving me the chance to read the book! I really enjoyed it and am so glad I was able to read it just before it released. Thank you also to Ms. Walker for writing such a thoughtful, creative book and for encouraging young readers to think about death and grief in such thoughtful ways.
I have been really eager to read this book since I heard about it. It sounded like it would be similar to Gabrielle Zevin's ELSEWHERE, which I read at the beginning of 2013 and really enjoyed. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book from Shana at A Book Vacation -- so thank you, Shana, for giving me the chance to read it!
I was intrigued by the idea behind ASHES TO ASHES -- our main character, Callie, dies young in a tragic accident and finds herself in "the Prism," a sort of limbo, in-between place. She's no longer on Earth, clearly, but she's not in Heaven either (or, as it's called in the book, "Solus"). She is met upon her arrival in the Prism by Thatcher, who will be her Ghost Guide. It is Thatcher who is supposed to assist Callie in "haunting" her loved ones so that they will accept her death and she can move on to the next dimension, Solus. Of course Callie at first does not believe she is dead, then she becomes angry and feels intense pain at the idea that her loved ones will move on without her. Callie is no stranger to pain and grief, as we learn that her mother passed away 10 years ago, when Callie was just six. Thatcher uses that experience to try and help Callie understand the purpose of ghosts - the newly-deceased - landing in the Prism before moving to Solus; they are there to haunt their loved ones, but haunting is not what we have typically believed it to be, with poltergeists playing pranks and rattling chains and such. Rather, haunting is the process by which the ghosts will help their loved ones make peace with their deaths and accept that they are gone; then their loved ones can move past their grief and the ghosts can move past the Prism and into Solus. Thatcher explains that Callie's mother had done just this thing for Callie and her father. He says, "It doesn't mean that you forgot her. It just means that you had healed enough and accepted her death so that she could move on." (p.53 of ARC)
From this point on, we go with Callie on her journey of haunting her loved ones and trying to make sense of what happened her. We quickly learn from her interactions with other Ghost Guides and then with other ghosts that Callie is somehow different; she continues to feel very strong emotions in the Prism, which is something that very rarely happens (the Prism is designed to anesthetize them so that they may be in a calm state to effectuate their haunting). We also meet, along with Callie, a group of other ghosts (Reena, Leo, Norris, and Delia) who know Thatcher but are antagonistic to him and very different from him; they exist in the Prism, but they are neither newly-deceased ghosts nor Guides, and they look different from the rest of the ghosts. The bulk of the story is about Callie trying to reconcile her love and longing for her earthly boyfriend, Nick, and her developing feelings for Thatcher, as well as the mystery surrounding both her difference and the difference behind the other group of ghosts.
The writing in ASHES TO ASHES is very good, the plot is pretty fast-paced, and I definitely raced through the book (whenever I could sneak away from cleaning in preparation for our holiday visit from the in-laws!). I was eager to find out more about Callie's situation and what Thatcher seemed to know about it that he wasn't telling her, why Thatcher was "stuck" being a Guide in the Prism and unable to move on to Solus, how Callie would help her loved ones heal, and just what was up with Reena and her group (the rebel ghosts, as it were). Ms. Walker definitely had me hooked and I think she knows how to tell a very good story. There was a lot of teasing, I guess you could say, that kept me furiously turning those pages! She did a great job with that.
However, I felt I could only give a 3.5-star rating because there was just *something* that was missing, for me. I'm not sure if it was that I didn't connect on a deeper level with the characters - I mean, I liked Callie, but didn't necessarily identify with her or adore her - or what, exactly, but there was some elusive thing that I maybe expected but didn't get. I also had a difficult time getting my head around Callie and Thatcher's developing relationship. Now, I understand it was not the same as an earthly relationship, and I DO think that Ms. Walker did a good job of trying to explain that. Callie acknowledges that what she might feel for Thatcher is completely different from what she felt for Nick when she was alive. If one's soul/ghost can "fall in love" with another after our earthly body has ceased to exist, I think Ms. Walker came as close as I can imagine to describing what that kind of love would look like. However, there was maybe just one time too many when Callie mentioned wanting to kiss Thatcher that it just kept throwing me off. It's hard to explain, but... I'm just not sure how I felt about their relationship. Also, Thatcher was (understandably) so distant and cold for most of the book that I had a difficult time connecting with him. That had to be very hard for Ms. Walker to handle, though, because it IS perfectly understandable that he would be like that, and I think writing him any other way wouldn't have been true to the character. So I don't know how she could have done any better! But I just wasn't 100% connected with him.
Overall, I want to emphasize that a 3.5-star rating from me is good!! (I very rarely give a 5-star rating.) I really did like this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who loves paranormal reads, romance, or generally just enjoys YA fiction. I would say you should go into it with an open mind - this is not a religious book and it might not jibe with your religious beliefs about what happens to people when they die. At the same time, I find it very comforting to think that our soul or ghost would have as its purpose the easing of our loved ones' pain and grief upon our death. I really liked that aspect of the book; in fact, I liked the whole mythology behind the story and I think it's very creative. I would just urge readers to be open to what happens in the book to increase the likelihood that they'll enjoy it. Finally, I will say that I will ABSOLUTELY be reading book 2 when it releases!! And that you should be prepared to be saying the same thing once you read this ending!
Thank you again to Shana for giving me the chance to read the book! I really enjoyed it and am so glad I was able to read it just before it released. Thank you also to Ms. Walker for writing such a thoughtful, creative book and for encouraging young readers to think about death and grief in such thoughtful ways.