Cover Image: Come When I Call You

Come When I Call You

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

DNF-While I appreciated receiving a free galley of this from Netgalley, I could only make it 40% through this one before I had to put it down. While it started out interesting enough, it took a weird turn and almost halfway through the story something should have been happening, but it was going nowhere.

Was this review helpful?

As much as I liked this book at the beginning, I found myself being bored about 1/3rd of the way through. I finished it, but was skimming rather than reading. Just wasn't the book for me.

Was this review helpful?

I had really high hopes for this book and I was excited to read it, but sadly I really didn't enjoy it. It was marketed as adult fiction and YA, but it was definitely YA. Nothing seemed to be as developed as it could have been and that made it hard to follow/care about the story. Given that this is a ghost story set in a Victorian style boarding school over the winter break, there could have been a really creepy atmosphere from the very beginning but I just didn't find that there was - maybe because it was YA? Lots of the metaphors seemed totally bizarre to me, including one about the 15 year old girl being like a peeping Tom with her/his trousers down?? The one that really ruined it for me was when the author said that a vacant train platform was like "a concentration camp, all those threatening stoves, the empty bunks up to the ceiling, and you the only person walking through the square where all those prisoners had stood in aching rows, waiting to die." I found this completely inappropriate and honestly can't understand why the author felt like this was okay. Overall, I found the book disappointing.

Was this review helpful?

I love a good ghost story, so when I came across Come When I Call You by Shayna Krishnasamy I figured it was right up my alley. The book opens with older cousin Anna babysitting her younger cousin Lucia in their new house. She awakes to find Lucia missing and goes in pursuit of her cousin, whom she finds playing hide and seek with an unknown entity - until she sees him for herself. Anna and Lucia both have "the sight" the ability to see and interact with ghosts (although Lucia's ability seems stronger and more pronounced - perhaps it is because she seems more willing to embrace it). After this realization, the book time jumps several years to when Anna is now off at a remote boarding school and she's decided to remain on campus with a few other students during Winter Break.

When Lucia arrives unexpectedly claiming to be pursued by a violent ghost and snow-storm hits the school I expected to be on the edge of my seat - but I found myself underwhelmed. The writing style was not for me, and I didn't find myself liking the characters (except maybe Ben) so that made this a difficult read for me. But it was a short book, one that I didn't feel much resolution for once all of the events unfolded.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a free eBook of this book in exchange for an honest review. You can also find this review on Goodreads, Instagram, and most major retailers.

Was this review helpful?

Come When I Call You has an intriguing premise which it delivers on. It's the first in a series and holds your attention and intrigues you enough that you want to read more in the series. Some of the characters fell a little flat but hopefully, they will be fleshed out more in subsequent books.

Was this review helpful?

Come When I Call You is a short read following the story of Anna and the events that occur following the sudden appearance of her cousin, Lucia.

The book started off interesting, but the writing style was not for me, I found myself getting bored and the book felt dull. The main character was a bland character who we do not know much about, she has no personality and is a pushover. The side characters are more interesting than her.

The book is short but still nothing much happens in terms of the plot, which was confusing at times. I read on in hopes that the ending/reveal would be interesting but it was not.

2/5

Was this review helpful?

I really loved the premise of the book. The execution fell flat for me. A boarding school with ghosts around sounds call but I found it hard to connect to the characters.

Was this review helpful?

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a digital copy of this novel.

Actual rate: 2.50 stars

I am very undecided about this book. There are a few elements that made me like this novel. There were a few moments when reading this that this feeling of complete "silence" emerged so vividly, you could easily imagine yourself in the setting of this book: a boarding school, almost totally empty during the winter holidays, there's only you and a few of your friends, completely left alone, outside everything is covered in snow. I almost had chills. I definitely get why this novel can be considered Gothic.
On the other side, I think that there's a big issue with this book: it's writing style.
First of all, the narration was full of similes and metaphors that, truly, were either annoying or straight up didn't make any sense. They were too frequent, and they didn't add anything to the narration. A few of them were also quite...ambiguous, in a bad way (why did the author compare a certain character to an autistic kid or to a victim of domestic abuse? Seriously, what was the author thinking?).
Another problem, still related to the writing style, was the fact that some action made by the protagonist straight up lacked an explainations. On one moment she was mentally monologuing about some anecdote, and the next she was doing something and going somewhere for no reason at all, or at least for a reason that isn't explained at all. If you asked me what happened on the last 15% of the novel, I wouldn't know how to answer.
In conclusion I think this book had strong potential, but I think its execution ruined it.

Was this review helpful?