I received a copy from Netgalley.

Oh dear. This was a hot mess of a book. I really didn’t like it much at all. For the post part it was okay, but then something at the end made me really want to throw something at it.

This book tells the story of teenager Eileen “Echo” Stone. Echo has a pretty decent life. She has two loving parents, and her boyfriend of 2 years, Andy, practically worships the ground she walks on. Then one day Echo wakes up in a mysterious location after blacking out, a sort of boarding house/orphanage surrounded by weird and mean kids of various ages and a strict matronly type lady over seeing everything.

Echo is very confused and tries desperately to convince everyone she’s not an orphan. So with the help of the good looking Cole, the only person being nice to her, Echo manages to escape and runs home. Only to discover to her shock and horror – a car passes right through her. She’s dead. And has no memory of how she died or the last few months of her life.

The plot of the novel revolves around Echo solving the mystery of her murder and coming to terms with her memories of her life – she’s not the good sweet girl she seems to think she was. She also has to learn how to be a ghost. The place she’s stranded in is a sort of a half way point, the other kids staying there are all ghosts like her, who have been murdered. They have to find their killers and dole out justice before they can “pass over”. Each ghost has a unique ability. Echo learns this quickly on her first revenge outing with the other ghosts. Echo’s power is (unsurprisingly) the rare and unique ability to take over human’s bodies and learn their memories and secrets. Only one other ghost has been able to do this in the last ten years or so.

The plot doesn’t actually sound too bad. The different abilities of the other ghosts and their backstories were mildly interesting. The actual story telling came across to me as kind of bland and rather boring. And I can’t actually say I liked any of the characters. Echo was a brat. She came across as moody and entitled and more often than not I found myself wanting to slap her. Granted, it can’t be easy seeing people you used to know and discovering you’re not as well liked as you thought, and discovering disturbing things about yourself you had forgotten. But I really just had no sympathy for this girl.

The boyfriend was madly in love with her and is understandably heartbroken. Echo is watching him go through this, she can’t communicate with him. And his parents and everyone else are already telling him she wasn’t so great – get over it. Hard to do when you’ve been crazy in love for some time. And of course the really popular mean girl who snubbed Echo has her sites on him and Echo is jealous. Again, understandable. But after two or three interactions, she finds herself enamoured with Cole.

At the same time she’s feeling very guilty about it. You can sort of see why she might feel conflicted. She’s had the same boyfriend for years, he’s still alive and grieving, but she’s sharing smoochies and new experiences as a ghost with a hot new guy. It’s a fairly interesting predicament, love triangle with a paranormal twist. Problem for this reader is I just hated the characters and as I said earlier due to my severe dislike of Echo I had little to no sympathy for her.

The actual plot itself as Echo uncovers what happens to her, is quite intriguing and to be fair, quite surprising and disturbing when the truth about what happened is revealed. I didn’t actually guess or see it coming. The investigation is really what kept my interest as Echo and Cole with the help of the other ghost kids dig into Echo’s past and look at the suspects.

This is a bit of a big spoiler for the end of the book but it really pissed me off and I want to rant about it.

After solving the murder, Echo still hasn’t moved on. She’s decided she needs to say goodbye to the people who loved her. Mom and dad and boyfriend Andy. Okay. Makes sense. However, she’s decided the way to help Andy move on without her is find him a new girlfriend. Not to say her goodbyes, leave him alone and let him grieve, hopefully in his own time he’ll accept things, deal and move on. It’s only high school, he has his whole life ahead of him. No, Echo decides that he needs a girl to help him. He’s been flirting tentatively with Dani, the mean popular girl. So Echo decides she’s going to “help” them get together with her ghost powers.

Dani and Andy have a date. Dani has a more out-going style of dress and makeup tastes than Echo. So Echo spies on Dani as she’s getting ready. Dani’s really excited – but Echo knows Andy likes her to dress a certain way, do her make up a certain why. This really really pisses me off to no end. Why should any girl have to change their appearance to suit what their boyfriend likes if they like things done a bit differently? If he doesn’t like the way she dresses or how she does her make up, then it’s his fucking problem and he can deal with it or find someone else.

So Echo hides the clothes and makeup she knows Andy won’t like. And Dani doesn’t seem to freak out or anything. She goes on the date in the clothes and the subtle make up Echo left for her. And it’s a success. So successful that Echo with her ability of possessing people has finally hit on the idea of possessing Dani so she can be with Andy again. Why this didn’t idea didn’t circulate before in Echo’s mind is a bit beyond me. Especially since she’s been possessing people throughout the story to learn their secrets. Which would have made for a more interesting plot, with the moral implications of this decision. Which she deals with fairly rapidly.

This particular part made me really hate the book, which I already didn’t like much. It was definitely an interesting idea, the story and characters just didn’t work for me at all. It’s concluded but left with a possibility that it could be a series. I certainly wouldn’t read any more of this.

Not for me at all.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for approving my request to view the title.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Echo (Eileen) who wakes up in Middle House, unsure of how she got there. Middle House is an orphanage and Echo is very sure her parents are still alive. Unfortunately when she leaves to prove that, she instead discovers that she was (**SPOILER**) murdered, and Middle House is more of a halfway house where kid ghosts live until they can find and take revenge on their killers/ Echo misses her boyfriend Andy but from the stories we hear from when she was alive, Echo was a pretty shitty person. And now Echo has Cole at Middle House, another dead-o like her. Unfortunately Echo can't decide between them so she strings both of them along for the next few days, generally making them both miserable. And all the while her new friends are helping her discover who it was that murdered her. 
Overall I didn't particularly care for this book. The premise behind it was just a little too far-fetched for me - the thought that a kid would get to Heaven (the After) only after haunting/killing someone (even if it was their murderer) seems not right to me. Also, Echo as a person/character really was just not at all likable. The plot was not my favorite and I hated how devoted Andy and Cole were considering what a shitty person Echo was. And everything really was just so sad, Echo's parents lost their only child. And there were many pieces of the plot that just didn't feel like they really fir to me - the stuff with Mrs. Tourney and thinking Echo is someone else wasn't necessary in the plot at all and felt superfluous. Overall wasn't my favorite book but there were some creative thought to it.

This book was just fantastic. Absolutely loved it. It pulled me in from page one and I loved everything about it!! The characters were relatable, the story was fast paced and the plot was well developed!

Usually, I love a good mystery, a ghost story, and a romance. However, I couldn't do the ghost love triangle. It seemed too much like just trying to put all the stereotypical YA book elements into one disjointed story. I was sad that I didn't like it more.

Bad Girl Gone
Temple Mathews
St. Martin’s Griffin, August 2017
ISBN 978-1-250-05881-2
Hardcover

From the publisher—

Sixteen year-old Echo Stone awakens in a cold sweat in a dark room, having no idea where she is or how she got there. But she soon finds out she’s in Middle House, an orphanage filled with mysteriously troubled kids.

There’s just one problem: she’s not an orphan. Her parents are very much alive.

She explains this to everyone, but no one will listen. After befriending a sympathetic (and handsome) boy, Echo is able to escape Middle House and rush home, only to discover it sealed off by crime scene tape and covered in the evidence of a terrible and violent crime. As Echo grapples with this world-shattering information, she spots her parents driving by and rushes to flag them down. Standing in the middle of street, waving her arms to get their attention, her parents’ car drives right through her.

She was right. Her parents are alive―but she’s not.

She’s a ghost, just like all the other denizens of Middle House. Desperate to somehow get her life back and reconnect with her still-alive boyfriend, Echo embarks on a quest to solve her own murder. As the list of suspects grows, the quest evolves into a journey of self-discovery in which she learns she wasn’t quite the girl she thought she was. In a twist of fate, she’s presented with one last chance to reclaim her life and must make a decision which will either haunt her or bless her forever.­­­­

The premise of a dead person having to solve her own murder is not new but, to me, it’s intriguing and I really looked forward to seeing what Mr. Mathews would do with the idea. For the most part, I thought it was entertaining if not quite fabulous.

OK, so Echo is a ghost and is in an orphanage of sorts with a bunch of other dead kids, all murdered, and they need to solve their murders before they can move on. Some have superpowers that help them do this and Echo’s is kind of weird but ultimately useful. Along with investigating her demise, Echo will learn quite a lot about herself and how her opinions about her living self don’t exactly square with others’ views. That’s a good thing because, well, Echo isn’t the most likeable girl I’ve encountered.

This story would have been 50% better without the silly, awkward love triangle. Young adult fiction is rife with love triangles—hormones, I guess—but, as much as I dislike them, at least they’re usually normal, meaning all parties are breathing. Here we have two ghosts and a living boy. Uh-uh, doesn’t work and is not appealing. For the most part, I just sort of skimmed over the romantic parts as much as I could

Bottomline, I think the writing is a bit juvenile even with some rough language (or maybe because of it) and the story had promise that wasn’t quite delivered but I still enjoyed it to a degree. Certainly, Bad Girl Gone was not a waste of my time but I hope Mr. Mathews’ next YA novel will fit a little better in this genre.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2017.

One of those books that is easy to read and good for a rainy day or when you don't feel good but still want something in your hand and to occupy your mind.

I love the cover of this one and I think the premise was unique and brilliant. Those are the two reasons why I decided to read this book. I enjoyed the first chapters especially when Echo didn’t know she was a ghost. I kept wondering how she will find out and the aftermath of that discovery. The first chapters were poignant. My heart broke for her as she came to terms with the fact that she was dead.

Another thing that I enjoyed was the ghost haunting. I thought that was creepy and fascinating. I was spooked and since then, I keep wondering if there are spirits hanging around us. Perhaps, there is one right now standing over my shoulder as I write this review…spooky! I liked the ghost adventures especially when they tackled bullies and the bad guys.

However, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. I thought there would be some mystery around who killed Echo but I found the reveal to be quite underwhelming. For once, I wished my guess was right since I had someone else in mind. I don’t think that Echo was likeable and I don’t like love triangles even if they involve the living and the dead. Another issue that I had with the story was a plot-line about the mistress at Echo’s institution. I still don’t know what was going on with that angle. In the end, I liked the premise and parts of the books but didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

I really enjoyed several parts of this novel and the start of it was very creepy, I mean a girl who wakes up one day and finds out she's been orphaned, then her own family drives right through her on the road. This has so many qualities that I love in books, especially the paranormal and a good amount of mystery. 

Echo lead this story off by trying to find out what exactly happened to her, there enters Cole who wants to do everything he can to help her find out the truth to her existence and what it means to be part of Middle House. Even though I loved Cole's character and the friendship he created with Echo, I wasn't fond of how it quickly shifted to him feeling strongly for her having just met, or the fact that she is supposedly madly in love with her boyfriend whom she left behind. 

I did really like how the characters connected with each other in the house, becoming a family that Echo never thought she would come to appreciate and resonate with. It was interesting how the author put these "orphaned" kids together and added abilities to each of them (a special gift left with them after departing from the living world). There story was a nice little of twist, leaving a different take on resolving unfinished business.

As for the mystery part of it, the setup was very eye catching and made me get invested in the story right away. The more I read though, I didn't feel it quite lived up to what as I was expecting as some of it seemed to move in too quick of a pace and not enough of a build up on the other characters involved. That's where I found myself a little pulled in both directions as there were parts that didn't do much for the story, but many that helped keep the mystique of it all.

Much of what had me loving this novel, not including part of the main mystery, were all the other members of Middle House. They all have their own stories to tell and mysteries to solve, and the most spookiest and jaded of them all is their caretaker, mother to them all. I would have liked to glimpse even more into these characters lives, before their demise, and a little more into the history of the house and those who have passed through it. With the good and the bad, Bad Girl Gone was still an entertaining and quick read. 

***I received this copy from Thomas Dunne Book/St. Martin's Griffin via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***

BAD GIRL GONE is a a paranormal murder mystery where the ghosts are the detectives serving up justice and revenge. It’s the story of a girl who must come to grips with what happened to her, discover what kind of person she really was and what kind of person she wants to be, and find out who is to blame for her demise.

It is a story with an interesting premise - ghostly sleuths trapped in a sort of purgatory who must solve their murders in order to move on - but suffers from a number of problems with its execution, making for a read that is at times fun and entertaining and at others difficult to stay connected to.

Echo Stone thought she was a nice person, well-liked, a perfect girlfriend. But her murder revealed that she might not have been exactly who she thought she was. Even Andy, the love of her life, had suspicions about her.

With no idea who could have wanted her dead, she’ll have to find a way to fill the gaps in her memory in order to solve her murder and exact vengeance. And she’ll need help from the other residents of Middle House to do so. Including the pranksters, the bully, and the boy who seems determined to win her heart.

At under 300 pages, BAD GIRL GONE is a quick read, although the beginning dragged somewhat due to a bit too much telling and not enough showing. While the character was in the dark about her circumstances, the reader wasn’t, and so Echo’s slow recall of who she was and her discovery of where she was, told in staccato bursts of thoughts and actions, didn’t have the intended impact. But once Echo became aware of what was going on, the pace picked up and the story became easier to engage with.

The murder mystery offered up several suspects and Echo’s actions made many of them real possibilities, keeping readers in suspense for quite some time about the who and the why. The other inhabitants of Middle House with stories of their own added excitement, even if some deviations felt unnecessary to the plot. And the choices Echo was forced to make at the story’s end turned her from a not very likable character into someone with whom readers could sympathize.

But there wasn’t enough detail or depth to make Echo a truly likable character. And with some rather odd and unrealistic phrasing the author used for her thoughts and dialogue, it was a challenge to relate to her.

Another detractor was the romance between Echo and Cole, which felt forced and didn’t flow with the story as it developed. Echo's struggle with her undying love for her boyfriend and her growing feelings for Cole wasn't sufficiently established to make it believable. There was also a bit more language used in BAD GIRL GONE than is typical in YA novels, as well as some off-putting behavior by most of the adult male characters introduced, making the read uncomfortable at times.

The strengths of this story lie in its mystery, its concept, and its conclusion. There are also moments that are achingly sad and those that are hopelessly sweet. But its uneven pace and flow, lack of depth and development, and inconsistent voice, make for a read that doesn’t quite live up to all that it promised.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I thought that I was going to love this book after reading the synopsis but after getting so far into it I just couldn't do it.

*3.5 out of 5 stars*

Bad Girl Gone by Temple Mathews is the story of Echo Stone's life, death, and (sort of almost) afterlife. 

Personally, the book felt a bit jumpy, particularly the beginning, but that may have been on purpose, considering Echo wakes up in an unfamiliar and creepy place (Middle House) with no idea how she got there. Luckily, it doesn't really take her that long to learn where she is and start searching for the reason of how she got there. 

Echo's character is a bit angsty, naive and somewhat selfish. Attributes I'd not really like in real life, but as a character in a book it works by giving us a starting point to see some growth and change within 200+ pages. Her flaws add realistic depth to her character. The general concept of the story is interesting and provides a new back drop to the age old question of where people go/move on, or not, after dying. 

Bad Girl Gone, does not really get too deep, but gives us an increasingly introspective view from the main character which is influenced by her past relationship with Andy, her still alive boyfriend and Cole, a ghost, who is at Middle House with her. These two relationships give a push-and-pull dynamic to her growth as a character which works for a book that is about a ghost who is stuck in the middle of moving on.

Overall Bad Girl Gone works for what it is, a fairly direct, somewhat mysterious, fast-paced read. It doesn't try to be more than what it is and that is okay. I'd recommend for anyone looking for a light and entertaining read. 

(I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book I received for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)

I admit. I felt very love/hate with this one. For the first three chapters or so I really didn't understand why this girl was in the worst house imaginable (forgive me, I downloaded this about 3 months before reading and forgot the blurb) and went into this thoroughly annoyed. Keeping the character in the dark without her being able to learn anything, just to keep us in the dark irked me. I spent those 3 chapters going why the kids were made to work and punished in the horrible place, and what she'd done to earn that fate.

THEN when we get to main plot it picks up. Temple's writing is great, I really do enjoy it. She brings out character and feeling, which was why I felt claustrophobic for Echo but it was also so vivid I had to skip a few pages because I am very claustrophobic in real life. That sort of atmosphere transferred.

I still don't get why the kids were thrown into a house of punishment at the start. No matter their behaviour in life, what sort of punishment is that? But the rest of the story picked up enough for me to keep interested, if not skimming a few.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review Bad Girl Gone by Temple Mathews. Echo wakes up in a strange place and she's having a difficult time getting her bearings. It's too dark to make out much and as she's feeling around she touches something stringy like hair. She realizes she's not in her bedroom or even her home. She hears creepy laughing and screaming and what she thinks might be a cutting tool. She's spooked and terrified and she's told by a scary nurse/nun that she's now in Middle House. The other residents are young people also and Echo assumes that Middle House is an orphanage but the truth freaks her out even more. She learns to accept being a Middle House resident and gains friendship and help from the others as she discovers why and how she was brought to Middle House. The beginning of the book led my mind one direction and the continuation led it to a completely different direction. I don't want to give the mystery away because it's the reason I kept reading. Reminiscent of Everlost by Neal Shusterman, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and a tiny bit of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Bad Girl Gone is a supernatural romance surrounded in mystery, 4 stars.

This was a different kind of ghost story and very different from what I expected. From the title I expected Echo to be a really bad girl, and she wasn’t really. She wasn’t exactly nice, but I wouldn’t have categorized her as bad either. What she did that got her killed, might be seen as bad, but I think she was just naive and manipulated into a situation that she later regretted. Apart from all that the book was an enjoyable read.

The theme of the book centers around this group of kid ghosts who have all been murdered. They need to solve their murders and get revenge or get the perpetrators arrested for their crimes before they can move on. The group that befriends echo is an interesting group. Cole is the first one to really try to help her and becomes a love interest maybe a little too fast. Echo left a boyfriend behind when she was killed that she was ‘in love’ with. She finds herself torn between them, but eventually realizes that she can’t still have Andy anymore and turns to Cole. There have been a lot of reviews where people diss on the romance triangle and that it should have been left out of the story, but I found it sort of sweet, and it didn’t bother me that much. It did sort of bother me that Andy was easily lead to move on past her death. That seemed a little to contrived, her parents as well seemed to move on too quick.

I was able to figure out who had killed her pretty quickly although the why eluded me until it was revealed. I was still fun following this little band of ghosts around and watching them figure it all out. All of them have some type of special ability such as being able to move objects, which made their hauntings more exciting. Having it set in Kirkland, WA was also a fun twist. I recognized some of the places mentioned, but I think some may have been made up.

Overall this was a fun read for me. It seems to be one of those books that people have either hated or loved by the looks of the ratings on Goodreads. I’m falling somewhere in the middle. It had some issues, but it was still a fun read that kept me turning the pages and wanting to see how it all ended. It ended on a positive note with a possible opening for it to be a series, which could be fun.

I went into this book with high expectations, but unfortunately, Bad Girl Gone fell flat in my opinion.

One of the things I liked was the overall premise of this story. I thought the opening was extremely interesting and mysterious. I liked the way the author set up the story and the idea of ghosts trying to figure out who murdered them. I also thought the idea of some of the ghosts having paranormal powers was extremely interesting. The main character's power that she developed was really unique and I thought it added a nice twist to the plot.

Unfortunately, I didn't really like the main character, Echo. Echo came off as being extremely self-centered and it became annoying very quickly. I also hated all the nicknames she had and the ones she gave other people. For example; Echo, Rabbit, Wolfie. Those nicknames made me CRINGE.

The romance was also something I was not a big fan of. There was a love triangle that felt forced and unnecessary. The romance was a large part of this book, and I really wanted it to be more of a subplot. I think a slow burn or no romance at all would have better suited this story. I didn't really like any of the romantic interests nor did I believe the romances. I am a romance lover, but this romance didn't do for me and it wish it would have been toned down.

Overall, this book had a great premise, but I wish there would have been more murder and mystery in this book.

2 / 5 Fangs

*This ebook was given to me in exchange for an honest review. *

The writing in this one just made the book hard to get through. Parts of it were great but others parts just felt cheesy and fake. I think this one would work out as a movie for the Disney Channel as it had that feel. The story itself was fairly interesting but the characters felt just a little flat to me as well.

Not my type of book, I tried to start it but just couldn't get into anything about this book!

Sixteen year old Eileen “Echo” Stone awakens in an unknown dark room with no memory of how she got there. Trying to find out what is going on Echo finds herself surrounded by other strange kids and a surly woman that seems to run the place. Echo is told she is at Middle House, an orphanage for troubled kids and immediately argues that her parents are alive and that there has to be some kind of mistake.

With the help of a fellow resident of Middle House Echo makes her way out and to her home which is surrounded by crime scene tape and finds a gruesome bloody scene. Fearing that something has happened to her parents Echo is devastated until she see their familiar car and chases after them only to have the car pass right through her leading Echo to find that she is the actual ghost and Middle House is the in between place she will stay until she finds out who murdered her.

I have been noticing some really low reviews on Bad Girl Gone which had me a bit worried but also extremely curious picking this one up. What I found though was a pretty fun ride with Echo and company that while it’s not great literature it’s what I think it’s meant to be, a cutesy afterlife young adult mystery. I even found Echo’s descriptions of her fellow ghosts a bit Beetlejuice like if anyone recalls that waiting room scene with how they died.

The biggest complaint I’m reading about this one is the love triangle involved in the story and possibly because of being warned ahead of time by a fellow blogger I didn’t find it that horrible to be included. Echo had a real life boyfriend she can’t let go, makes a connection with fellow dead kid hence the love triangle… she’s sixteen, sixteen year olds are fickle and in love too easily so I would just say if something like that will bother people then skip this one otherwise give it a fair shot.

As far as the rest of the story, the mystery of Echo’s death as she checked off her suspects was decent enough for a young adult read. The idea behind the whole story is a bit recycled as far as the dead looking for closure with this one being they need revenge on the murderers to move on… that in itself could be argued as being realistic since for instance some killers murder more than one so how would it work if one victim got their revenge and another didn’t?

In the end though if you don’t think too hard about what seems to be meant as simply a fun, light look into the young adult afterlife and simply take it with a few laughs here and there you might just enjoy this one. I’d personally rate this one at 3.5 stars… light entertainment but still enjoyable overall.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

When I picked up this book and initially began to read it, I found that readers who enjoyed "The Cavendish Home For Boy and Girls" would like this read. Personally, for me, I didn't exactly find this book to be one of my intense liking. At times, I just felt that the main character was immature in a sense and the writing style wasn't for me.