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A review by theamyleblanc
Ghosted by Sarah Ready
Did not finish book.
I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF: 31%
Once again, a beautiful cover and a whimsical premise only leads to disappointment and wasted time.
This seemed like it would be a lovely little slice of paranormal romance. A ghost acting as Jillian's dating guru to help her find her "one true love"? But then Jillian falls for the ghost? Hokey but I can suspend my disbelief and cynicism to get on board.
Unfortunately, this book rubbed me wrong from the beginning. My first issue is nit-picky and unique to me: I'm a real estate agent in NYC. I've rented plenty of sight-unseen apartments and there's not a snowball's chance I wouldn't mention that the apartment is COVERED in mirrors. And then as I kept reading, NYC as a setting didn't work for me. It didn't feel real or accurate.
The pacing absolutely drags! I skimmed whole pages and only really missed out on descriptions. Everything was given an unnecessarily elaborate description. It was annoying and desperately needed the attention of an editor.
Jillian's inability to speak to men other than her father or boss didn't have a strong enough foundation. I would've hated this less if we knew why Jillian can't speak to men. I didn't finish the book so I'm guessing but it seems like it's trauma-related? And that's fine but you need to lay the groundwork. Otherwise it seems like a weird quirk that a man is going to help her overcome (*eye roll*). It also diminishes the lived experiences of people with selective mutism.
Once I decided I wasn't continuing with this, I read some reviews to look for spoilers on what happens/how it ends. It sounds like there's some heavier emotional content that the author does a decent job with? In addition to needing another round of editing, I think this needed to be pitched differently. It might have been better served by being a new adult or contemporary fiction novel with the romance storyline playing backup.
But as it stands, this is one I'm obviously not recommending.
DNF: 31%
Once again, a beautiful cover and a whimsical premise only leads to disappointment and wasted time.
This seemed like it would be a lovely little slice of paranormal romance. A ghost acting as Jillian's dating guru to help her find her "one true love"? But then Jillian falls for the ghost? Hokey but I can suspend my disbelief and cynicism to get on board.
Unfortunately, this book rubbed me wrong from the beginning. My first issue is nit-picky and unique to me: I'm a real estate agent in NYC. I've rented plenty of sight-unseen apartments and there's not a snowball's chance I wouldn't mention that the apartment is COVERED in mirrors. And then as I kept reading, NYC as a setting didn't work for me. It didn't feel real or accurate.
The pacing absolutely drags! I skimmed whole pages and only really missed out on descriptions. Everything was given an unnecessarily elaborate description. It was annoying and desperately needed the attention of an editor.
Jillian's inability to speak to men other than her father or boss didn't have a strong enough foundation. I would've hated this less if we knew why Jillian can't speak to men. I didn't finish the book so I'm guessing but it seems like it's trauma-related? And that's fine but you need to lay the groundwork. Otherwise it seems like a weird quirk that a man is going to help her overcome (*eye roll*). It also diminishes the lived experiences of people with selective mutism.
Once I decided I wasn't continuing with this, I read some reviews to look for spoilers on what happens/how it ends. It sounds like there's some heavier emotional content that the author does a decent job with? In addition to needing another round of editing, I think this needed to be pitched differently. It might have been better served by being a new adult or contemporary fiction novel with the romance storyline playing backup.
But as it stands, this is one I'm obviously not recommending.