I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I feel like I've read several similar stories to this one, and they were done better than this particular book. I thought that the characters were good and the writing was good, but I just wanted to get through the book. some points really dragged

Great story and loved the romance. Loved the cast of characters and how the story came to be. Great story and I would read this author again.

"How the Light Gets in" was my first time reading a book by Katy Upperman. I have heard of her books and I was excited to read this one! I read the synopsis and I told myself I need to add this book to my TBR. I'm happy to report that I immensely enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read other books by her.

How The Light Gets In is perfect for the reader who likes a little spooky and ghosts. Callie is a likable character who you can see yourself in. She has been through so much both emotionally and at school. When she visits her aunt she thinks the small town will help her heal. Then weird things start to happen in her dreams. Callie begins to think she is being haunted! Read How The Light Gets In and find out if Callie is being haunted! Happy Reading!

Katy Upperman does it again. I felt this book was refreshing and added a new element to this YA contemporary novel.

With the loss of her sister Chloe, Callie has completely shut herself off from the world and her personal life has been flipped upside down. Her family is a mess and she’s taking up a bad habit to help her cope. By force of her father, Callie returns to Bell Cove to help her aunt Lucy refurbish an old Victorian home. There she meets Tucker Morgan, a born and raised Bell Cove local.

Tucker and his heart of gold is truly a special character. His smile and personality brings light to Callie in ways she’s never experienced. But Tucker and his dark family history has a connection with the Victorian home she’s currently taking residence in.

With a mix of small town talk, beachy summer vibes, a strong bond between sisters and a ghost, yes I said ghost! You have yourself a beautifully written YA summer romance book filled with emotions and self discovery.

I can honestly say that this novel was so unexpected and pleasantly surprising when I read it. I did not expect this story to be about loss and the trauma that can be faced after such heartbreaking loss. The story follows Callie, who is sent to her aunts after continuously struggling with her sister’s death. Callie experiences strange reappearances of her sister’s items, hears random noises, and has haunting nightmares. With the knowledge that she may be haunted, she has to figure out why her sister has not left the world completely. I was really impressed with this story and think that anyone who struggles to move on, would love a story like this.

In How the Light Gets In Callie Ryan is still struggling with guilt and grief a year after her sister Chloe drowned. Callie, gives up swim team, academics and her dreams for the future and spends most of her time smoking pot. As summer nears, her parents give her the choice of going to grief camp or to her aunt's Victorian B&B renovation, where Chloe died. When Callie arrives at the house, strange things begin to happen, giving her the feeling that Chloe is trying to communicate with her. Although she tries to resist his charms, the landscaper Tucker Morgan breaks through her defensive attitude and helps her come to terms with her part in Chloe's death. He, too, has unresolved issues with his mother's disappearance, which is tied to the history of the house. Together, they embark upon a journey of healing and a future together.

While this book was enjoyable, it was pretty on par with most books in this category. I do really like the authors writing style though. I would recommend absolutely.

I'm a huge fan of Katy Upperman and was thrilled to read an arc of this novel. This was a beautiful and sweet story of loss, forgiveness and love, with some paranormal on the side. Callie has been dealing with the loss of her sister for the past year and has been forced to spend the summer with her Aunt Lucy, working on her bed and breakfast renovations. Callie is haunted by the loss of her sister and the roll she played in it, and she has shut herself off from everyone. When she meets Tucker, the "lawn boy" she finds herself starting to let someone in again but she isn't sure if she can share with him about the ghostly visits she has been having. I loved the way that Upperman deals with loss and the forgiveness of ones self and others. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is a story about healing, moving on, and understanding with a touch of new relationships, all while taking place in a small coastal Oregon town. It has romance, B&B renovations, ghosts, small town drama, kittens, and swimming. If you’re looking for a quick, easy book to read that gets you invested in the characters (past and present) then this is a good book for you!

I read it in a day, and loved the aesthetic of a summer beach town in Oregon combined with hauntings and renovating a Victorian B&B with a dark history. Also, there are kittens and a cute bookshop. Who doesn’t love that?

The romance is cute and I liked how they actually had to work through their issues instead of ignoring them, or breaking up because of it. Tucker is so sweet with Callie and you can really see her opening up when she’s around him.

How The Light Gets In by Katy Upperman is a good summer book and I would recommend it, especially as a quick beach read!

I feel like I find myself somewhat on the fence with regards to some of Katy Upperman’s books. I loved her debut but wasn’t all that into The Impossibility Of Us. And now, I just finished up How The Light Gets In and absolutely enjoyed it. So, 2/3 is a pretty good track record. I find myself now looking forward to whatever is next for Upperman. How The Light Gets In has excellent characterization and at heart, an unflinching look at sisterhood – good, bad, and ugly – through the lens of grief.

Callie is struggling. She’s turned to getting high and all but quit swim team. Her grades suck. And she’s distanced herself from her friends. Naturally, she is in the grieving process. After all, everyone reacts differently to the loss of a loved one. In Callie’s case, the tragic loss of her younger sister Chloe has shaken her world. And so, Callie’s father sends her to her aunt Lucy’s to assist with the renovation of her Victorian house by the sea. Her aunt Lucy hires a 19 year old named Tucker to handle the landscaping. Tucker is full of light and upbeat and exactly what Callie needs. Throughout the summer, the two develop a trust between them – especially as Callie unravels Tucker’s family history. Meanwhile, Callie is also seeing the ghost of her sister Chloe and looking for closure.

This book was just really easy to gel with. Callie doesn’t come off as TOO MUCH. In fact, she’s someone that you come to care for deeply as a reader. Plus, the relationship between her and Tucker is sweet and seems pretty realistic. Also, Tucker’s friends are wonderful to read about. The only real thing that I’d have to say I didn’t love about How The Light Gets In is just the lack of friends for Callie – like in the time before Chloe dies or even the time after. How The Light Gets In is a very quick read about grief, family, and picking yourself back up after a fall.

This was another great Swoon Reads YA Contemporary about learning to come to terms with grief and moving on after tragedy.

Callie is trying to cope with the sudden death of her sister and even though it’s been a year since they found her body in the ocean, Callie hasn’t come to terms with her grief. She’s smoking weed, failing school, and quit the swim team. When her parents send her to stay with her aunt for the summer their hope is that she’ll begin to heal. Once Callie gets to her aunts Bed N’Breakfast to help her finish the renovations, she starts to experience strange things. As she goes through the boxes left in the house by the previous owner she starts to put together a tragic love story. Not only is her sister’s death connected to the house but also two other souls. As she puts the pieces together she is confronted by a ghost that hasn’t been able to leave the property and through Callie’s connection, both her and the ghost try to find a way to let go and move forward.

Tucker works for Callie’s aunt Lucy as the designated lawn care and handy man during the renovations of the Stewart House. When he meets Callie, the crabby niece of his employer, he decides he’s going to break down the walls she’s put up and try to get to know her. Tucker is such a sweet, kind, and helpful person and no matter how much Callie tries to fight her feelings for him she finds herself making efforts to spend time with him. Little does she know, Tucker has his own connection to the house.

This story is about learning to find peace with the past and to move forward in a world that feels as if it doesn’t have anything to offer. I really enjoyed the pacing, the spookiness connected to the story as a representation of one’s unwillingness to let go of the past, and the love two people find for each other.

Callie and her younger sister used to be inseparable. They were best friends, did everything together, until last year when the tragedy struck. Her sister died.

Callie was never the same again. Feelings of guilt, remorse, and grief overcame her. She quit swimming, her grades dropped and haven't set foot in the pool since. Her father is trying to keep the family together, but with her mother drinking away all her waking hours and Callie walking down a dangerous path, he has his work cut out for him. It's time for a change.

As the summer approaches, he gives Callie two choices, military camp or her aunt's place.

Forced to pick, she goes to her aunts. She helps her renovate. During that, she discovers that the old house has many secrets, from former residents to her sister. Aunt hires a local boy, in order to help with the yard work, and he might be just what Callie needs.

Mysteries of past and present masterfully intertwined. Until it all crashed together in the end. My favorite part was the way the back story slowly tricked out in between the present one.

I loved Callie, she is my favorite characters in the book. At the start of the book, she is Deeply flawed, plagues with guilt with bad habits, and as the story progresses, the fog slowly lifts and she starts to live again. it's such good character development.

Loved it!

This was my first time reading a book by Katy Upperman. I have heard of her books and I was excited to read this one! I read the synopsis and I told myself I need to add this book to my tbr. I'm happy to report that I immensely enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read other books by her. This book has a bit of everything I love about a book. There is a mystery, romance and paranormal. The writing is beautiful. All the characters are so well written. This book made me feel all the emotions!

Haunting and gorgeously written, How the Light Gets In delivers an engrossing and heartfelt YA contemporary story with a unique paranormal twist and an adorable romance that left me reeling with so many wonderful FEELS. Katy Upperman has such a beautiful way with words and weaving all sorts of emotions in her books that make readers fall in love with her stories and characters. I always do… and this book definitely has a place in my heart.

I was incredibly smitten with Katy Upperman’s previous novels, so I had high expectations for this book. I’ll be honest… the first few chapters were a tad bit slow for me and it took me a while to get into the story. BUT, Upperman’s writing is just so lovely, compelling and addictive that I eventually and completely got hooked and never wanted the story to end. I enjoyed the paranormal aspects, the beautiful beachy small town setting, the adorable romance, and the twists and surprises throughout the book. The plot is engaging, suspenseful, intriguing, and satisfyingly emotional with just the right mix of conflict, drama, mystery, sadness, joy, hope, and love.

The characters are not always likable, but I love that they seem so real to me and I can easily sympathize with them. I think they’re fantastically fleshed-out, well-developed, complex, and interesting. I liked Callie and really felt her pain over the death of her younger sister, Chloe. I didn't always like her decisions, but I enjoyed her personal journey and seeing her finally letting herself heal, live, and love again was really satisfying. Tucker is such a sweetheart and my new favorite book boyfriend. He's dealing with his own grief and my heart ached for him in so many ways. I adored Aunt Lucy and her quirky and fun personality, and really admired her passion for what she’s doing. And Chloe… well she’s quite charming and wonderful.

The romance is deliciously slow burn and swoony. I enjoyed seeing the lovely friendship between Callie and Tucker slowly, sweetly, and perfectly turn into a believable romantic relationship. They have awkwardly cute moments that will make you smile, emotionally intense scenes that may break your heart, and endearing and flirty moments that will make you swoon and feel the warm fuzzies. They're absolutely adorable and so great together.

Upperman never ceases to amaze me and I think she’s extremely talented in creating stories that will touch your heart and give you all the FEELS. Stories that will surprise you and leave you wanting more. Stories that are sometimes sad, but also utterly sweet, fun, romantic, and affecting. Stories that feel genuine and authentic that they’ll stay with you long after you finish reading them.

With a breathtakingly engrossing writing style, an achingly touching storyline, a fun paranormal twist, and realistically flawed and relatable characters, Katy Upperman has created another beautifully poignant, thoroughly absorbing, and delightfully thrilling story that gave me all the FEELS, had me on edge, and got me teary eyed a few times. How the Light Gets In is truly a wonderful story about dealing with loss and guilt, forgiveness and healing, and learning to live and love again. I love this book and cannot recommend it enough.

If you love the small town charm, solving mysteries, paranormal elements, and an irresistibly cute romance, then add this book on your TBR.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the author and publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How the Light Gets In is another hit! Katy Upperman, I am in awe of your writing. Every liece of this book had me with the feels and on the edge of my seat to know what would happen next.
Thank you NetGalley for the privilege of reading this book early.

This was a really good story. It touched on grief and the paranormal without being a paranormal book.

Callie was adamant that she didn’t need to go to Bell Cove to spend the summer. She wanted to stay at home where she could grieve her sister in her own way. Her father had different ideas though.

It turned out to be exactly what Callie needed. She needed to be away from her grieving parents and just be. She, apparently, also needed to be contacted by her sister’s ghost. There wasn’t any big announcement when Chloe came back. It was almost swept under the rug. And I think that really tells a lot about Callie. She knew almost nobody was going to believe her, and she didn’t even tell Tucker until the second or third time.

This is the first time I’ve read a book by Katy Upperman, though I have wanted to read her other books as well. I really liked her writing style and the characterization was on point.

I really liked the suspense and the chemistry between Callie and Tucker was on fire. Of course, Katy Upperman also talked about the fact that while Chole’s ghost came back, it wasn’t Chloe and that was such an important distinguishing factor.

I really enjoyed this book.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting going into this, but I know it wasn’t what I read.

Throughout the novel I never connected to Callie or any of the other characters. It doesn’t take a lot for me to get emotionally invested, but for some reason that never occurred with this book. No one seemed captivating enough to gather my attention long enough for me to care about what would happen to them.

I wasn’t expecting the ghost aspect of the story to be as prominent as it was. Of course because of the synopsis, it was going to be present, but it was a lot and didn’t really do much for me as a reader. Maybe that is one of the reasons I never seemed to care for any of the characters, especially Callie.

The one thing I did find intriguing was the mystery surrounding Stewart house and the old, hidden away items that Callie found while working on the house. That story captured my attention instantly and I was looking forward to the moments when we would be able to learn more about the past inhabitants of Stewart House and Bell Cove.

Overall this book was just ok for me. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. I was never invested with any of the characters or their stories and come my end of the year wrap up, I probably won’t remember much.

As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for participating in the blog tour/my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

To explain this novel, spoiler free, is difficult. At its core, it is certainly a tale of grief. It's gorgeous and haunting in more ways than one. This isn't a light, easy-breezy contemporary, so proceed with caution. If you aren't keen on novels with flawed characters, jarring truths and exploration of pain, this novel is likely not for you.

Fair warning: it won't be for everyone. Fortunately, it was right up my alley and all but consumed me. I will definitely be diving further into Katy Upperman's backlist in the future. Just... wow. Wow.

What a beautifully written, thought-provoking read. How the Light Gets In is, first and foremost, a truthful novel about grief and how one lives with it, with a twist. (The twist is in the synopsis, but, I'm still not going to touch base on it in my review so you can experience it at first read.)

And, in the case of our main character, Callie, how some of us virtually shut down in the face of loss. In a lot of ways, this novel hit me in the same ways that Lurlene McDaniel's books hit me as a teenager, only this felt more raw and timely. I appreciate the frankness in it that came with.


In fact, How the Light Gets In was poignant, packed to the brim with emotionally charged moments and true-to-life characters. Tissues are essential to the reading process for this one. When it comes to How the Light Gets In, it gets down to the rougher parts of growing up and dealing with grief. Upperman allows little hints of real life into her prose and it works wonderfully with the narrative, creating a balance of something ordinary and alive.

We touch base on so much in so little time. Death of a loved one. Guilt. Drug abuse and dependency. Love. And so much more. We even have a little nod to another genre, which I won't spoil too much beyond the fact that it is in the synopsis but, well, you'll see when reading.

The struggles of Callie, and her desire to block out the pain in various ways and push everyone away, her abrupt change in personality, as she suffers from something similar to survivor's guilt, is most certainly at the forefront of the novel. It is realistic and something I found easily to connect with, considering I haven't always had the best ways of coping with tragedy myself--I was able to see parts of me in her and that's always a brilliant note to be made.

We do have light spots in between. These light spots truly usher us into Upperman's title. How the Light Gets In is exactly as described in its name, and that is a wonderful thing. I thought the entire plotline was written in a deeply compelling way. I found myself smiling at the inclusion of a softie named Tucker, who serves as Callie's love interest, and I really enjoyed the renovations that happened in this novel re: Callie's Aunt's house.

It's heartbreaking, but hopeful. It's intense, but charming. It's challenging, but it's worthwhile.

Upperman paints a crystal-clear picture of Callie and what makes her tick. Or, rather, what's made her entire life come to a screeching halt. It takes a lot for some of us to feel sympathetic towards difficult characters, but I found her acting-out-shutting-down-leave-me-alone treble to be incredibly realistic. There are so many ways to tackle grief in fiction and this is definitely an accurate representation of how someone like Callie processes it. How the Light Gets In is strong because of Callie's struggles and weaknesses, and ultimately her journey.

It is more than just a coming of age story and exploration of loss. And it's definitely a must-read.

How The Light Gets In is one of my favorite novels this year. Callie lost her sister, Chloe, and has been slowly falling apart. Her family decides that the best thing for her is to spend time with her aunt, renovating her bed and breakfast. When she arrives, strange things start happening and Callie wonders if her sister is trying to tell her something.

This book broke my heart. There was so much pain and so many things that were unsaid after Chloe’s death. They lost the light in their life and they needed something that chase away the darkness that had been plaguing them. Beautiful story.