No matter how much Jake wants to fade into the background, he can’t. 1) He’s one of the only Black students at his school and 2) he can see ghosts. When he accidentally crosses paths with a vengeful ghost hellbent on hurting more people than he did when he was alive, Jake suddenly becomes the center of attention he never wanted to be.

The Taking of Jake Livingston has a lot of my favorite tropes in it. The chapters from Sawyer’s perspective were creepy AF, but also did a really good job of showing how he and Jake faced similar hardships (relentless bullying, homophobic fathers, etc.) but chose very different paths. They also did a good job of showing us how he was getting in Jake’s mind and corrupting him.

The story is dark and violent but also had a super sweet love story that I wasn’t expecting and some great supporting characters.

I would love to see a sequel to this that shows how Jake’s life changed after the decisions he made and the things he had to do during this story.

Thanks to BookishFirst and Putnam Books for this ARC!

Release date: July 13, 2021

TW // there are some graphic details about a school shooting

I wanted to love this SO BAD, but unfortunately it was a miss. There was just too much missing from the story for it to make any sense!

We’re pretty much thrown into Jake’s life and his limbo between the Alive world and Dead world, which would have been fine if, at any point, more backstory was given. But there wasn’t. The author just keeps layering more and more on, without explanation. There are ghosts, and then also ghouls—but wtf is the difference between them? Ghouls seem… worse? Idk. Auras, ectomist, astral projection… I know OF these things (mostly), but the author really does not explain them at all. And just when I was coming to terms with something, all of a sudden there were new things Jake could do or see. An ancestral sword? WHERE DID IT COME FROM? WHY??

Jake also has this random medium mentor, but we get no backstory on that either. How did he find her? I assume he needed someone to relate to, since his family acts like he’s crazy and no one really… talks about it? Is Jake the lone medium in his family? I get that he mentions trying to ignore his abilities himself, but I would have loved to hear more about his childhood and the progression of his abilities/why he feels the way he does.

We did get some background when it came to Jake’s father, who seems like the toxic root to a lot of Jake’s self-esteem issues, and why his relationship with his mom is strained. He’s also attending a school where he and his brother are the only Black kids, and he’s constantly facing microaggressions and racist shit from students and teachers. Jake seems to have anxiety, making it even harder for him to form relationships with people. Anxiety + ghosts = tough mix. It’s like we get this tiny look into Jake and his life, and we just need… more.

On top of everything, I really don’t know how to talk about the fact that the ghost terrorizing Jake was a school shooter, and we get passages from his diary and learn about his life. We learn things that make him somewhat sympathetic? But also not really? I feel like the author wanted to make sure we knew the guy was a sociopath and deserved to go to hell, but it kinda veered into nature vs nurture territory and like… what am I supposed to do with that?

Content warnings: school shootings, gun violence, suicide, abuse, sexual assault, racism, homophobia, homophobic slurs

*3.5 stars*

Okay I want to start off this review by saying that you should take all my thoughts with a grain of salt because this is definitely not a genre I typically pick up.

Some things that I really enjoyed in the book and thought were well done: The double perspectives. We mainly follow Jake Livingston who has the ability to see ghosts, as he realizes that the ghost of a school shooter, Sawyer Doon, is starting to come after him. You get the perspective of Jake who is being haunted by Sawyer and living in the aftermath of the school shooting, but you also get Sawyer's journal entries in the time leading up to the shooting. I found it so interesting to see the combination of the circumstances Sawyer is placed in, his experiences, and already fragile mental health come together to cause the shooting. It was really well done and just overall handled very well. I also thought the relationships between different characters were great. I found the relationship between Jake and his brother to be realistic, at least for my own experiences. The fears that Jake has about relationships were also so valid and relatable which I loved.

Overall I found the story to be enjoyable and thought that it was paced really well. There weren't any moments that really felt like they dragged or times that I lost interest. Obviously this book deals with some very dark topics but I didn't feel that the book left me emotionally drained like other darker books will. There were enough happy and uplifting scenes to balance out the darker elements of the story.

The biggest thing that hindered my enjoyment was confusion. There is a lot of astral projection and general ghost and haunting things that left me very confused. However if you really enjoy reading about those things then you will probably love this book. However that is just not really my thing and and I struggled to understand what was going on in those scenes. Even though I was confused, and this is not my typical genre, I still was able to enjoy the story. If you are like me and don't typically read this genre, I would still encourage you to give this book a chance!

This turned out to be a lot darker than I anticipated. I was very interested in the MC's ability to see ghosts and although some parts of it were explained, I needed more understanding of his ability and how he'd been living with this ability. Aside from that, the book deals a lot with very dark themes that might be challenging for some to read. It deals with the reality of teens who are learning about themselves in an environment that is unsupportive and violent. I enjoyed following Jake as he tries to survive and save himself and the people around him from Sawyer. I enjoyed the friendships that Jake makes and the changes that he experiences with himself and the relationships he has with the people around him. I wish there would a sequel that will explore Jake's abilities more and the ghosts and rules that he'd come to learn.

What a ride! This was spooky and so, so queer. My heart was pounding in some places, breaking in others, and swooning at the end. I loved it!

when i found out i received this arc i went bananas. black queer author, black queer main character, and ghosts? literally sign me up. i loved the parallel lives aspect of jake and sawyer and their own experiences leading up to everything that went down. jake was a very relatable and appealing main character as well, i was happy reading from his perspective. sometimes i did feel things got lost in translation (partially because i struggled with the descriptors and the scenes involving the ecto-mist and floating ghosts) but it was overall a great read. i adored jake and allister as well and wish i got more from them and their growing relationship, some stuff seemed to be “left unsaid”. a debut novel done so well and i can’t wait to read more from this author!

DNF

The pacing in this book was unbearable to me. Big events happened nearly every other page with no build up or timing in between. And so many elements were just thrown in with no backstory. Like boom! He suddenly has a medium mentor who we never meet and is never brought up again? Stuff like this happens so often and left me lost and confused

Also, I was so confused by the entire plot. The reason for why Jake can see ghosts was never given. And the world building in terms of the supernatural elements was never given. Suddenly words would be thrown out to describe the ghosts but no description of what they meant or how they worked. Like Ecto mist? What is that???

Finally, I think the handling of the school shooter needed to be handled better. The entire POV of the shooter seemed to be made to make the reader sympathize with him. Ive never been a victim of a shooting so cant speak personally, but it felt insensitive.

I love this cover and the idea, so im pretty disappointed in the actual book

Actual rating: 3.5 stars rounded up

I want to say up front that 1. I somehow didn't realize this was a posession story, which I now realize should have been kind of obvious. Regardless, I usually stay away from horror involving possession as it's not my favorite thing to read. 2. This book frequently has a dream like quality that I also don't prefer. So what I'm saying is, this was 3.5 stars for me largely because of personal reading preferences, not because I don't recommend the book to people who would be into it. Okay, that said let's get into the review!

Jake is a Black, closeted gay high school student. Oh and he can see ghosts. In fact, he's being haunted by the vengeful ghost of Sawyer Doon, a school shooter who then shot himself. The story flips between Jake's perspective and the diary entries of Sawyer who clearly needed better mental health support but instead lived in neglectful and abusive circumstances. His story is both terrifying and tragic.

This book is definitely horror and there are super creepy scenes involving ghosts, insects, and murder. It's also quite dark and intense, maybe more so than I was expecting. It deals with with difficult subjects including homophobia, abuse, attempted sexual assault of a minor, racial microagressions, bullying etc. And there are no easy answers. Because sometimes the people who should be protecting you are themselves the victims of abuse.

That said, despite how dark this gets there are bright spots, like a slow burn romance side plot that (appropriately) never takes over the story. We also get a cool scene where Jake is supported and protected by the ghosts of his ancestors. This book isn't very long, and it doesn't try to deeply address the many issues is touches on. At its heart this is a ghost story and it does what it's setting out to do. But even just the representation here is important. Talking about intersectional identities and how being gay might be hard at times, but being gay and Black comes with an additional set of challenges.

I recommend reading this review which does a great job unpacking what the author got right here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this book. Originally interested because of the horror aspect and the main character was a Black Queer kid but the ghost plot line made no sense to the story and it just didn’t flow well for me. I do love the representation for Black Queer boys.

The Taking of Jake Livingston is described as a social thriller similar to Get Out. The main character, Jake, is a queer black teen who goes to an all-white school and can see ghosts. While Jake is a medium, ghosts are a minimal part of the story. Jake essentially ignores all the ghosts up until he starts getting stalked by the ghost of a school shooter.

The author never explains Jake's backstory, how he is medium, or what it means to be a medium. At one point in the story, the reader meets Jake's mentor out of nowhere, and then the mentor promptly disappears. The story would have been more interesting if Jake had not known he was a medium and didn't understand why all of these strange occurrences were happening. The author did not fully flesh out the medium aspect of the story.

The author made the decision to have chapters from Swayer's POV. That is a decision that I did not like. His backstory was sad, and I think it could lead to people feeling sympathetic towards him. Swayer's backstory was more elaborated on than Jake's.

This book has also been described to have a lot of social commentaries. The author writes about mental health, homophobia, racism, and mental and physical abuse, but like other aspects of the book, they weren't developed enough. There was a moment where Jake was physically violent in response to the racism he is experiencing, and it was random. There were some repercussions, but they just disappeared by the end.

This book was short, less than 300 pages. The author had plenty of time to expand on details and develop different aspects of the story that were just glossed over. Overall, the book was okay. It could have been a lot better. Since it is so short, it can be a quick read if you want to give it a try.

Thank you so much Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for a honest review! I really enjoyed this book Jake is a 17 year old medium who’s mom isn’t really there for him and a brother who ignores him. Jake is haunted by a Ghoul who had been the shooter of a school shooting named Sawyer. The book goes back and forth between Jake in present day and of the months leading up to wholly Sawyer did what he did. They is LGBTQ representative in this book one being our main character Jake. This was such an incredible book I would read it over again multiple times! TW: School Shootings, Mental and Physical Abuse, Almost R*pe.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

TWs: suicide, mention of domestic abuse, bullying, racism, school shooting, homophobia, attempted sexual assault (minor), mental illness, child neglect, scenes with graphic death and violence

4/5

The Taking of Jake Livingston is a young adult paranormal horror novel and it was everything I hoped it would be. If you're looking for a fast paced, spooky, and gay (!!!!) book then this is definitely for you.

Jake Livingston is a Black teen boy, struggling with his sexuality, who has often struggled with finding his place in his predominately white school. Jake has been able to see ghosts for as long as he can remember, most of them harmless (albeit spooky). However, that changes once he meets Sawyer, the vengeful ghost of a school shooter who committed suicide a year ago.

Jake's life begins to spiral as he tries to deal with this new ghost who makes him question everything he knew about the afterlife, while also trying to deal with the racism that he faces more and more at school (that nobody in the school seems to care about).

I really enjoyed this book. Ryan Douglass's writing is beautiful - there was such descriptive imagery that added so much to the story. I was able to visualize the setting, characters, and events so well (which doesn't always happen for me in horror novels) thanks to the author's writing and descriptions. The way that the author describes Jake's paranormal experiences, and ghosts overall, is very unique. I loved the concept of the eco-mist

Douglass was able to fit such a grand story into a shorter book and I was impressed with how well this was done. For the most part, the story flowed at just the right pace. The only issue I had with pacing was near the end, where I felt like some aspects were a bit rushed.

I also wish that we were given some more background on Jake's gift. While we get to learn a little bit about how Jake started to lean more into being a medium in his teens, I would have liked to see some flashback scenes where we see Jake realize that he is different from other kids and can see or experience things that they can't.

I also thought the romance in this book was wonderful. The romance is not a main plot point, but is well developed. I appreciate that Jake's struggle with his sexuality was not thrown out the window as soon as a romantic interest was introduced. Jake he still had to grapple with this part of his identity and learn how a romantic relationship could fit in with other aspects of his identity, which is much more realistic. Jake and Allister are also so sweet together, so there's that.

Overall, this was a great, quick read. It does cover some heavy topics and social issues, however, so definitely check trigger warnings before reading. If you are a fan or horror or paranormal books, you will love this. I could also see this as being a great introduction to the horror genre overall!

There are a lot of genuine creepy parts of here, so if you're looking for quality spooks in your horror, you will not be disappointed. However there were some issues with pacing and clunky writing that didn't always work for me, especially when it came to descriptions of the other realm and Jake's powers. I feel like Douglass could've added another cumulative 20-50 pages for more magic-building as it were, which might've cleared some things up. All in all, I did enjoy it and am looking forward to what the author comes out with next.

This book was short and I loved the pacing. It dealt with Black queer trauma and microaggressions from an all white school.

The MC is able to see ghosts replay their last moments. This was a good mysterious/thriller spooky story and I can't wait to see what else the Author writes.

3.5/5 stars, an interesting tale of ghosts but also handles many important topics

This book was a fast and easy read and handled some important topics in an amazing way, not to mention the ghouls and ghosts. But some of this stuff was also the negatives of the book as well. I still really enjoyed this book for the most part, as it was super quick and had some great characters. Jake is the main character, he's a queer African American teen going to an all-white school, leaving him feeling left out. On top of that, he is also a medium and can see ghosts and interact with them. This is what really drives the plot forward and it was an interesting way to take the story.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the ghosts, it was done in a unique way that I felt could be really interpreted by the reader. I haven't read a book dealing with the paranormal in a while, and this book hit the mark on that for me. The only downside to that is I would have loved to have more background concerning this. We don't really know how Jake came around to being a medium, or how he found out. I feel like even just a little background on that would have rounded out the story even more. Sometimes the ghost/scenes felt a bit choppy toward the end, I'm not sure if that's because of what happens or that the author was rushing. I did really enjoy this aspect of the story.

There were a couple of really important topics handled here, and since I am not African American I don't have the right to say how good all the representation is. Talking to a few people about the contents makes me think it was good, at least concerning the racism aspect. I felt appalled by what was happening to Jake, and always noticed the racism and how it was portrayed in a bad light. This book also touches on homophobia, as well as mental health. The mental health part was a bit polarizing to me, but I see what the author was trying to do and I got that part. The homophobia was barely touched on in my opinion, but I will leave it to others of the LGBTQ community to decide if it was a good representation or not.

It was really amazing how so many messages and intense scenes could fit in this small book, it was such a fast read and I'm really glad. But I also wish it was a bit longer, we could have had a bit more build-up to things. Some of the topics and pieces of the story felt a bit rushed, including the character relationships. I loved Jake's friendship with Fiona and Allistar, but I would have just loved to see them together more or have Jake explain the otherworld to them more. Overall, it really wasn't a bad book and I'm for sure going to keep an eye on this author to see what else they put out!

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass is in fact a creepy ghost story. Jake is a medium, and can see ghosts, ghouls, and death all around him. However, when his neighbor is murdered, everything he thought he knew about his ability is challenged. With the murderer now setting their sights on Jake, can he learn how to fight back?

At the beginning of this story, I was completely creeped out. I made the mistake of starting it at night, and that's not really something you do with a ghost story. However, as I read on, I realized this was more about fighting the demons within ourselves as much as it was about fighting the demon that was after Jake. This book was really well written and has a diverse set of characters. It was a perfect story for showing people that they should love themselves and never let other people define who you are.

I found the writing to be a bit disjointed, like facts were introduced in a way that made me feel a little thrown off, but overall a good book. It's unique and I think my teens will enjoy it, and the great cover will help me get it in their hands!

Trigger warning for school shooting and suicide, mention of attempted sexual assault and past child abuse abuse, homophobia.
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As one of the few Black kids in his school, Jake Livingston doesn’t fit in. To make matters worse: he also sees dead people. As weird as that is, they’re usually harmless— until now. The vengeful ghost of a school shooter, Sawyer, is haunting Jake and survivors of the shooting are dying. Jake needs to figure out how to stop Sawyer’s plans before it’s too late.
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If you’re looking for YA horror, look no further. This book was creepy and intense! It was way darker than I expected. I really enjoyed the eerie paranormal moments, the progression in Jakes relationship with his brother, and the romance. One issue I did have was that there didn’t seem to be any real consequences for Jakes actions and I think that it would have added more to the story if there were. As for Sawyers story, I’m not sure how to feel about it. I found myself feeling bad for him, which I didn’t expect. Though I had a couple issues with it, I did enjoy this story, and now I’m in the mood for slasher films— add this book to your Halloween tbr!
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3.5/5 stars, THE TAKING OF JAKE LIVINGSTON by Ryan Douglas is available July 27, 2021!
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Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC to review!

The Taking of Jake Livingston isn’t the type of book I usually read--not a big supernatural horror fan--and it took me a little while to get into it, but once I did I really liked it. Jake is a very sweet character, and it’s compelling watching him find his voice in both the supernatural world and the mundane one. This book is kind of weird and very dark, so I would be mindful about recommending it to teens--there’s some pretty graphic violence. But, I think for teens who are able to handle that kind of stuff it would be a great read.

This book is creepy and full of ghosts. I found myself anxious throughout the entire book. There isn't really any explanation or backstory for the main plot. I wish it was fleshed out more.