I love this author and I couldn't wait to start this one.I find it interesting and unique.The beginning was a little bit slow for my taste but soon when it picks up , it was very good!

Both characters intrigued me from the beginning! Sawyer and Veronica have a great relationship, I feel these two were perfect.They grow together through the story.I find them sweet and cute!

Overall, it was a great read.

Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry is a standalone young adult romance with a hint of paranormal. An intriguing story that draws you in from the beginning with unexpected twists and turns with the fear of the unknown just beyond the shadows. I am a fan of McGarry's and have read all her previous books.So, I was very excited when I saw that she had a new book coming out. Echoes Between Us alternates between the two main characters point of views. Veronica and Sawyer are high school seniors and both have secrets that play a big part in the story. As their story unfolds you see the effects that addiction and health issues can take on everyone involved. In true McGarry style, you will fall in love with the characters and find them easy to relate to. They are well-written with intriguing backstories that are sure to surprise you! Echoes Between Us is a wonderful romance with just the right amount of scary paranormal that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Once again Katie McGarry has made me laugh, cry, be happy and be angry all in one book. Old characters are back and just as great as ever and her new characters are awesome as well. I'm glad we got a story about Veronica because she always intrigued me and it definitely didn't disappoint!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy to review.

Sad to say, I just didn't love this one.

While I appreciated the subject matter being addressed, I didn't feel much emotion for any of it. For me, it lacked something that would make me truly care for and connect with the characters.

just like Katie mcgarry's books. i don't think that there was one that i didn't like. This one is just another one to add to the list of ones that i love by here. I will be adding my full review closer to the release date.

Echoes Between Us is a mix of young adult and paranormal. It rotates between the POV of Veronica, a misfit girl with a brain tumor that sees ghosts, and Sawyer, a popular boy that is barely keeping it all together. I loved the social issues that were brought up in this book. And I really loved the paranormal aspect that was woven throughout the story. I didn't love the romance between the main characters and kinda wish they had just struck up a friendship instead. There was so much more going on without throwing in a romance that was underdeveloped anyway.

Well... this book left me feeling all kinds of ways.

I guess I need to form some coherent sentences then, right?

Veronica is likable. She's crazy, quirky, but on a deeper level, you can relate to her. Especially when her true feelings get broken down into how she truly sees the way her life is. I mean, she suffering from a freaking brain tumor and is fighting what she knows to be true every. single. day.

Sawyer is amazing. Of course, I have a special weakness for the blond boys. 😏😏 He's always there for his sister, he's fighting with his demons, and he's hurting for the lies he believes. His life is hard and everyone thinks he's this cool guy with a great life. Deep down he struggles with the need for an adrenaline high.

I'm a huge fan of mental health rep in books, especially when it's something not many people talk about, such as being addicted to an adrenaline rush.

Of course, this book bothered me on some things as well. For one thing, Veronica claims to be a Christian and she also is okay with the advice of a lady who's a medium of sorts. That kind of thing is condemned in the Bible. Honestly, these elements of the book bothered me, but if she hadn't been trying to relay these things to Christianity or talking about God, or even using his name in vain, I'd been fine chalking them up to being elements in a fiction story. But when you begin to try and blur the lines there... I'm not okay with that. Also, the medium, Glory, said angels were coming to talk with her... this didn't sit well with me whatsoever.

Veronica's friends often smoked her up to help with her pain and her migraines. I was not a fan of this. Eventually, they do get prescribed to use the medical stuff, which I'm indifferent about, but I didn't like their ways of doing it before.

Leo... I never really liked him at all. He was Veronica's best friend for a long time, her crush, he liked her, too. But he couldn't accept her tumor. And I understand why it might be hard for him to do so, but he didn't handle it in the best of ways.

There is a lot of kissing and making out in this book. Nothing that really bothered me, but I'm a bit lax when it comes to that sort of thing.

Sawyer's best friend is a lesbian, but she never has a lover. She doesn't need one, honestly. She's pretty cool all on her own. She came off leaning more as Ace in my opinion, but that's just me. At first, she rubbed me the wrong way with how she always sided with Sawyer's mom, but then she really came through for him. Her emotions were just as raw and as real as Sawyer's and Veronica's.

Miguel wasn't as active a role, but he is a cinnamon roll and no one can change my mind on that.

I appreciate that Sawyer and Veronica had a relationship that they called casual but wasn't about sex or being physical. It was about living and learning to love and having fun. It became so much more than casual, of course, because Sawyer (the precious bean) is a caregiver. He loves to love people even if he denies it.

So honestly, the only thing holding this book back from being five stars for me is the moral ambiguity that I really can't look past with blurring the lines of mediums and angels and God. Other than that, this book is raw and it's a good book.

Four stars.

Wow. Did not expect this from Katie McGarry but let me tell ya’ll she did not disappoint! I can’t like ghost talks kinda freak me out so starting this at night in bed wasn’t the best idea I ever had but it was nothing like I thought it would be (so not as creepy and scary as I thought it was gonna be). I was pleasantly surprised with how she put everything together + then wrapped everything up. Always goes to show you not to judge a person by their outward appearances. You never know what they’re really going through behind closed doors. Congratulations Katie! I was so thrilled that you wrote another book + received one from NetGalley to review. I throughly enjoyed it!

Echoes Between Us has a punchiness and pizazz that upon discussion with friends who are massive McGarry fans, feels like nothing she has published before. There’s the usual romance that everyone has come to expect and all the characters have their baggage – I mean it would be a Katie McGarry novel without it right – but this one is also spooky in places, so much so that my cat zooming around at 1am while I was reading the graveyard sequence made me jump more than once. It’s a contemporary that I well and truly endorse everyone to read.

What makes it so amazing though? There’s a passion to the characters that I just cant put my finger on. Veronica is such a sweet young thing who is hiding a deadly secret; although its pointed out by Glory (yes its that Glory and I’m all here for her being involved) at one point that V isn’t letting herself live, she is always down for some random stupidity or spooky expedition. Sawyer (the male MC) is a star swimmer but in private he’s drowning (you see what I did there) under responsibility with having to work, look after his younger sister and parent his alcoholic mother, all while having learning difficulties; this however doesn’t stop him from becoming intrigued by and attached to V.

Although, for the most part, this is a tale of young love and giving yourself over to another person regardless of the consequences, the supporting cast run the gamut of circumstance. Coming from a privileged background, Sawyer’s friends Sylvia and Miguel start out kind of snotty but over the course of the story become such great people that I wanted to squeeze their little cheeks for helping their friend through the giant pile of excrement that is his life. Veronica’s friends are the same as usual – Jessie is laid back in his trailer, Nazareth is his alternative Jewish self and Glory is, well, Glory in all her psychic splendour.

Now, for a book that takes place in a town that I had already read about, Echoes feels fresh and new, always changing locale so as to keep the reader intrigued with the goings on. Whether it be a dilapidated old bridge, an abandoned hospital or the local graveyard, McGarry brings atmosphere and ambiance. I loved that despite being a contemporary/romance writer, she brings some real chops to writing portions outside her usual genre. I really enjoyed the feeling that, although both V and S lived in essentially the same residence, they were always worlds apart.

I wholeheartedly adored this novel and am so thankful to the amazing peeps at Tor Teen for bringing it to my attention

I love Katie McGarry. I have read almost every one of her books. I am a sucker for them. She is a fantastic writer, and I love that she writes about kids that have had the short stick in life. This is something Katie says all the time. She writes about foster kids, kids with one or no parents, kids in low-income households/neighborhoods. And she gives these kids a story. Stories they don’t usually get-- happy ones. This is something that I love about Katie. Most of the kids in her stories don’t have money. They live in abusive households or their parent is an addict. And instead of making the story about their hardships, she makes it about something good that can happen to them. Like love. Like education. Like a break. It’s always fantastic.

With Echoes Between Us, Katie is taking a different route with the same morals at heart.

This novel is Katie’s first foray into paranormal. There’s GHOSTSSSSS! BOO!

Okay, really it isn’t “boo.” I love it because it’s about ghosts not being bad in general. Instead, it’s about letting go of the past and moving forward. She also includes a girl with a brain tumor. This is very different for her because, for the most part, she doesn’t write about “sick kids” or kids/people with terminal diseases. I thought she did fantastically. I’m not really a fan of the “sick kid” trope, but I’m sure teens with brain tumors, etc would love those books. I’m not sure. But, I really loved that Katie tried something different. And I really feel she knocked it out of the park.

Both of the main characters, Veronica and Sawyer, are completely round, just as Katie does. Every single character she writes (including the ghosts) are completely rounded. No character is flat in a Katie McGarry novel. This is so refreshing because so many times there will be a narrator in a love story that is completely flat, a trope, or just so uninteresting. The girl and boy in this story are both extremely interesting. They both have their own issues completely unrelated to their relationship.

This is a kind of slow-burn novel. Not the slowest of burn, but enough of a slow burn that I LOVED IT. This book was also a hater to lovers (YES). It was awesome when they finally got together, and I’ll let you discover it on your own.

One of the amazing things about this book was Sawyer's addiction to adrenaline. It was told so beautifully. Sawyer is addicted to jumping off things into water, which he does and breaks his arm. This sucked for him because he’s a swimming champion. So there was a lot of conjecture about how he broke his arm from the characters in the novel. Reading his struggle… It was incredibly moving. He also starts to attend AA meetings, which I just adored. He constantly felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there, but in the end, the meetings and his sponsor both helped him with his addiction. I loved this part of the story because it’s not one I encounter in books, especially teen fiction.

I always feel like a bad reviewer because I don’t write these reviews very well. I’m like, “I liked this part” and “I loved this part.” But in the end, this is basically a diary for me, which I hope gives me a bit of credibility. I know when I read a good YA book. And this is one. No surprise because Katie McGarry is a fantastic writer. I hope you all give this book a try when it comes out this January. Here are some links where you can preorder. And do yourself a favor and read this rest of her books.

Hauntingly beautiful. This book stuck with me even when I put it down, which I tried not to do often. There were moments were I was genuinely creeped out, goosebumps and all, and had to put it down. It not only questioned Sawyers’ belief in ghosts but my own. McGarry is an instant but for me, so when I saw eARCs available for Echos Between Us I immediately snagged one without reading the synopsis. Going back and reading it after I’ve finished the book makes me glad I didn’t because it’s not a subject I typically enjoy. I’m not a supernatural fan and I like my YA contemporaries to be filled with romance rather than ghosts. This was not the case with Veronica and Sawyers story.

➽ Veronica - the weird girl at school. She celebrates holidays at the wrong time of the year, doesn’t fit the typical mode with her loner friends and supposedly eats Girl Scouts for lunch.

➽ Sawyer - Mr. Popular rich boy who has a ton of friends, is the leader of his group and excels at swimming. His life seems perfect from the outside looking it.

Sawyer moves into the haunted downstairs apartment of Veronica’s house and she gets to see firsthand just how hard his life really is and the facade he has been putting on. Sawyer also gets an inside look at Veronica’s life and sees just how wrong he was about her and why she lives life the way she does. Soon a tenuous friendship with the promise of something more forms between the two as they work on their senior project: proving the other side exists.

A sweet contemporary romance with supernatural elements, Echos Between Us tugs at the heartstrings while also giving you goosebumps. Neither Veronica or Sawyer have it easy, but in drastically different ways. I don’t want to spill too much on Veronica, but I loved how Sawyer’s storyline was handled. He was an adrenaline junky that used dangerous acts of adrenaline to escape his life and responsibilities for a few moments. While there are a ton of self help groups out there available, adrenaline junky help groups like AA isn’t really a thing. AA is though and it was touching to see him taken under another guys wing and show readers how to ask for help. I think that is such an important lesson to take away from this novel. From Veronica I learned to live life to the fullest and the way you want to live it no matter what anyone thinks.

The secondary characters in this books were so important. From Veronica’s dad, to her best friends and Sawyer’s sister and mom. Everyone had their own story and we got to learn it. I’m actually hoping we get to revisit this world someday and maybe get endings to Veronica’s friends stories. I fell in love with Nazareth, Jesse, and Leo. I want to know where their stories go from here and how they end. Plus I’d like to check in on Veronica and Sawyer.

Echos Between Us was so unique to not only McGarry’s other works but anything else I’ve ever read. For moments I too believed in the supernatural like Veronica, got chills and a tad nervous about not things that go bump in the night. If you’re a non-believer like Sawyer you’ll still enjoy this book and his explanations behind residual hauntings and the spirits left behind that haunt us.

“Echoes Between Us” is a story about two teens in extremely difficult circumstances. The themes of love, self-worth, and belief were handled in honest and transparent way. This book has interesting and compelling paranormal aspects too. The relationships in the story were my favorite part. I think teens will enjoy this story.

What a pleasant surprise this story turned out to be! And so unlike any other I've read recently! This story took twists and turns I didn't see coming and had my head spinning. I'm new to Katie McGarry's books but now I'm eager to read more!

At first glance Sawyer is the typical popular guy in school. Good-looking, athletic, with lots of friends. Looking closer though, he struggles with his dyslexia and his family life and nobody sees it. His coping mechanisms are dangerous but he's addicted to the adrenaline rush so he keeps doing it. Until he gets to know fellow student Veronica whose zest for life and indifference towards their school mates' attempts at bullying captivates him.
Joy. Veronica is life and joy.

While Sawyer is the most unlikely partner for Veronica to work on a school project they get into an easy groove. What started as a partnership out of necessity soon turns into friendship and mutual respect. It was easy to see why they fell in love with each other. Sawyer is a sweet, troubled guy who loves his little sister to the moon and back and he has a warmth to him that I found immensely endearing. But his everyday life is tough - his parents are divorced and his mother is an alcoholic and leaves adulting to her barely grown-up son. Sawyer's mother was awful and made me ragey, I wanted to shake some sense into her.
I routed so hard for Sawyer, what a wonderful young man who developed so much strength and experienced so much growth from the beginning of the story to the truly beautiful end. And the love he had for Veronica was as extraordinary as it was deep. pure and mature.
"Someone once told me loving you requires sacrifice. They’re right. I want to be with you, you want to be with me, but giving in now to be happy just for a few months isn’t enough. I want more, and I want you to want more, too.”

If your life can literally end the next day you don't care about about other people's opinion if they are strangers to you. Veronica's brain tumor is a well kept secret and the poise and grace which she lives her life with is inspiring. She's fierce, outspoken, loyal and brave and resilient. And maybe a little bit in denial. But she never gives an inch and always stands her ground and true to herself. Veronica is the kind of character you won't forget easily - I loved her courageous, a little quirky nature and I admired how she stared death in the face. I adored her relationship with her dad which was based on trust and love.

ECHOES BETWEEN US is an unusual story in beautiful prose about two young people who bring out the best in each other and complement one another perfectly. Even as an adult there is a lot to learn and take away from these characters and this truly unique book. Katie McGarry is one of those authors everyone recommends when it comes to YA Romance. Now I get it.
"There’s only been one time in my life when I’ve ever felt like me and not a shadow of the person I thought people needed me to be and that is with you.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor/Forge Books for the advanced copy of Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry!

I do not read a lot of young adult contemporary because as a 30 something year old, I can never identify with the characters or stories, and I am SO HAPPY to say that this is not the case with this amazing book.

First I just want to comment on the location: I originally thought that the book took place in Saranac Lake because of the TB hospital and note up front, but there is a portion of a real diary included in the novel from a patient at the hospital. The book actually takes place somewhere in Kentucky, but I still was jumping at home being mentioned in a book at all.

I loved the characters and the lessons they learned. Veronica is dealing with a brain tumor and believes that she is living life to the fullest... or is she just waiting to die? Sawyer is a popular kid who has a whole houseful of his own issues, and the unlikely couple end up empowering each other to confront their fears.

The book revolves around a school project that Veronica and Sawyer are doing together, to prove or disprove that ghosts exist. The themes about residual hauntings are absolutely beautiful, concluding that these are caused by emotions and events too powerful to leave the mortal world, and they can haunt a person in their day to day decisions. There may or may not be evidence of other ghosts in the story, but those are part of the fun of reading.

It is not a ghost story though, I thought it was shaping up to turn into one but it really isn't, it is SO much more. The book deals with delicate and important themes like depression, alcoholism, enablers, addiction in general, and mortal illness. Poor little Lucy, Sawyer's younger sister, seems to be the wildcard in the story and I just felt so bad for that little girl.

The one part that I wasn't quite thrilled with was Sawyer's voice when we first met him, I don't really like cryptic language that usually means a poor attempt at foreshadowing. Stick with him though because it ends up making sense, and he ended up being my favorite of the dual points of view.

I think Veronica and Sawyer have a great relationship though and their groups of friends are really, truly good friends, which is shown towards the end of the book. Their dad's are also great characters, V's dad is a big amazing papa bear and I loved him, then Sawyer's dad at the end stepping up and taking care of his kids was a good message as well. I think this is a great book for young adults and teens and even adults to read, as it made me think a lot about some of the aforementioned themes.

I would totally recommend this book to ANYONE, which is rare for me. It publishes January 14th so check it out if it sounds up your alley!


Blog post can be seen at https://onenursereader.wixsite.com/onereadingnurse-1/post/echoes-between-us-by-katie-mcgarry

Also Instagram coverage at https://www.instagram.com/p/B5yTsZtAgrx/?igshid=zg5rbuqnunf2

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the ARC! <3

I was going back and forth on a rating this book for a while. A part of me just couldn't bear to give it a 4 star because I couldn't stop thinking: Is this REALLY a 4 star book? I suppose it's because I didn't expect this novel to have so many layers to appreciate. In the end I am going to give a strong 3.8/5, for the following reasons:

The good:

-Quick and entertaining! Echoes between us far exceeds the expectations one would have from just reading the blurb. If you are thinking that it will be a depressing terminal illness story and a dash of ghosts, you may be wrong. Yes, Veronica is suffering from a tumor (the same kind that took her mother) but that isn't the solely defining point of her personality. Though she would fully have the right to wallow and grieve, she instead stays positive.

-The relationship was very enjoyable. Unexpected romances are always appreciated in my little corner, and the relationship that gets established between Veronica and Sawyer is GOOD. Not riddled with toxicity. It just feels right and well done.

The not-so-good:

-I didn't really understand just how Sawyer got a reputation as a 'bad boy'. I can see what the author was going for but in all honesty he was a pretty good and respectable guy.

-As enjoyable as they were, there was still lots of clichés.

- Not as paranormal as I expected. They author still made it work and the subject was present, but be warned that it's not as intense as the blurb would make it seem.

All in all, very solid book. I think my patrons will enjoy it.

The cover is what caught my eye in the book. But I'm not sure how I felt about it. It was a good read and I would recommend it.

This was a lovely young adult novel with some paranormal twists! I am a fan of Katie McGarry and was thrilled to receive this arc of Echoes Between Us. This was a great read full of paranormal elements and romance. The author also dealt with some addiction issues and abandonment issues, as well as processing grief and dealing with health issues. Overall, this story read quickly and I found myself wondering where McGarry was going to take the story. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

When it comes to Young Adult novels, Katie McGarry is my go-to author. So, when I heard about Echoes Between Us, I just knew I had to get my hands on it. I mean, have you seen the cover for this book? It is just stunning!! I took one look at it and knew this book was going to be a winner and I was not disappointed.

Echoes Between Us follows the story of Veronica and Sawyer. Veronica is the unique outsider. She's considered weird or strange by most. However, there is more to her than meets the eye. She's fearless and makes the most out of each and every moment. She's not afraid to be her true self and isn't about to let her blinding migraines get her down. Oh, did I mention she also sees her mother's ghost? And then we have Sawyer. He's the golden boy. He's handsome, popular and an amazing swimmer. However, the pressure from having to perfect all the time and the responsibilities life has handed him has led to one crazy addiction. When times get tough, he likes to dive off cliffs. He can't get enough of the high and is afraid he won't be able to stop. His life is crazy and chaotic. His mother can't be counted on and his dad isn't really around. What happens when the weird girl and golden boy cross paths?? You're just going to have to pick up Echoes Between Us to find out...

Overall, I thought this book was a really fascinating read. As with every Katie McGarry book, this one sucks you in instantly and completely consumes you. This story intrigued me as much as it thrilled me. I loved seeing Veronica and Sawyer come together. They started off as enemies and quickly became more. Their relationship was sweet and honest. I loved how real these two were with one another. Veronica and Sawyer both had a lot of layers and I loved getting to know each of them. Their story was powerful and dealt with a lot of tough subject matter. I loved how well the author not only researched their issues, but how true she stayed to the characters.

Echoes Between Us was a consuming and heartfelt story. I devoured it easily in just one sitting. The characters were entertaining and left me hanging on every word. I enjoyed getting to know Veronica and Sawyer and had a great time getting swept up in their story.

Echoes Between Us is a young adult contemporary romance book with a paranormal twist. This novel follows a dual perspective as it common with all of McGarry’s books. Veronica, is a believer in ghosts and is living with a brain tumor, who is classified as the “weird” girl in school. Sawyer, is a popular kid, state champion swimmer with an adrenaline addiction and they end up working together on an English project.

This novel can just seem like your typical teen romance; but there is so much more to it. This is a story that deals with alcohol addiction, addiction in general, medical drug use, child abandonment, dyslexia, divorce, environmental pollution and terminal illness. I swear with each novel, McGarry dives into and explores deeper topics and I’m so in awe with how she’s handled each and every one of them. I really love that McGarry isn’t afraid to talk about deeper and harder topics in her novels – it can really open up a conversation outside of the novel. Especially since there was talk about how pollution can have an effect on our bodies, since both Veronica and her mother suffer from a brain tumor as a result from a chemical spill from a city they lived in previously. .

Another thing I really loved about this was how much research McGarry put into it. Reading all about these urban legends on Kentucky, as well as the TB hospital and Evelyn, everything was so accurate and well done. The care she obviously put into making it as real as possible, why crafting her own story and characters around it was so great.

As for Veronica and Sawyer, I love how so different they are; similar to every one of McGarry’s pairs. There’s just something I love about opposites attract and this was no different. Although, I never expected to love Veronica and Sawyer as much as I ended up. They just come from such different tracks; but at their core – they’re basically the same. They both went through a traumatic experience at eleven years old and they’ve spent years trying to deal with it. They come together, and at first they don’t get along; but they definitely bring out the best in one another. Watching their development was amazing to witness and I’m so glad that I can to read their story early.

Overall, this was another amazing novel from Katie McGarry. I feel so blessed that I’m never disappointed and I can’t wait for the finished copy to be released in January!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates and Tor Teen for the advance reader copy, Echoes Between Us by awesome YA romance author, Katie McGarry, in exchange for an honest review. I love the way this story unfolded; cool guy Sawyer and weird Veronica are new neighbors since his mom is renting the first floor of V’s house. But both of their personalities hide enormous pain in their lives; Sawyer’s divorced Mom (along with absentee Dad) have put him in the awful position as caretaker for his 6- year-old sister and his mother (she drinks on weekends) but this has caused Sawyer to develop a secret, dangerous addiction. Veronica (V to her friends) believes in ghosts; she sees and talks to her dead mother all the time. I rooted for Sawyer and Veronica! Katie McGarry has written a hard-hitting story about teens with haunting secrets; parents who don’t care (Sawyer) as opposed to a close family relationship with their teen (Veronica), and high school friendships that are fierce to their core; I loved every word in this novel! Both Sawyer and V have friends they totally depend on but these friends do not like seeing the new closeness between V and Sawyer. As they work on a class project together about the existence of ghosts; Sawyer and Veronica open up to one another, becoming very attached. This poignant, mesmerizing, gripping novel reminded me of one of my favorite Katie McGarry novels, Crash Into You, with Isaiah and Rachel, my very special protagonists. I could not stop turning the pages. Katie McGarry is a gifted writer for teens and is totally delivers with real themes, current topics, and contemporary issues they want to read! Highly recommended.