I had really high hopes for this book. I mean, a town full of mediums and people with ulterior motives? Sounds perfect!
But I think the execution was anything but.
I really loved "We're Lost And Found" by Helene Dunbar and was expecting the same from this novel which I got, in terms of writing but unfortunately, not in other things like storytelling and characters or the plot.
I found out there was another book by the author with the same setting and one of the MCs, "Prelude for Lost Souls" and even though I didn't love the plot of that one either, I was hoping this one will be great.
You don't really have to read that one before reading this one though, I didn't feel there was anything readers ought to know before this one.
It was also sort of disappointing that even though Russ and Dec are supposed to be best friends and Russ even had feelings for Dec in the first book, he doesn't show up much in this book as Russ seems to have completely moved on in favor of Ian and Asher.
It also didn't help that most of this book seemed to just be in the characters' heads with little contact with other people. I would've DNFed it if I didn't enjoy the writing style and the first 50-60 pages.
I think people looking for one-time reads with ghost town settings might still enjoy this book.

I wondered if maybe I didn’t like this book because I’m too old for it — but no, that’s not it. I do expect a bit of a different feel from Young Adult fiction, but I’ve read quite a few excellent offerings that appeal to my older self without reservations, so I know it’s not the genre itself that didn’t work for me. In fact, I really liked Helene Dunbar’s “We Are Lost and Found”, which is why I was curious to try this book. But whatever magic the other one held for me was absent here, sadly.

By 50% in I was bored and irritated, and by the end I was simply disappointed. It wasn’t awful — it was just mediocre and completely forgettable! with very simplistic motivations for both good and bad guys and rather cardboard characters who have to overtly state their reasons and motivations since there’s little subtlety and minimal development. The protagonist is great and lovable because other characters tell us so; his ghost boyfriend is a fiery restless living-on-the-edge (pre-death) person since we are explicitly told so; the potential love interest might as well have worn a name tag identifying him as such; and the villain of the piece spells out out her evil motivations so loud and clear to us so that we have no doubt neither of the villainy nor of its justifications. It’s not just simple but simplistic.

And really, there’s not much interesting happening in the plot itself, and not enough stakes established to make me actually care about the outcome one way or another. The way the big climax of the book occurs is not just anticlimactic but again plainly uninteresting - a whimper of a resolution. And nothing really happened to make me care about the fate of a weird town filled with mediums and facing some vague threat from myth busters — nothing besides the author telling me that it should be saved. But there were no connections formed, nothing to make me root for anything in particular.

Yes, it reads easy enough, and that’s a plus, but it still dragged a lot. Good thing it’s short and while completely lackluster at least not entirely horrible.

2 stars? I’d advise reading Dunbar’s “We Are Lost and Found” instead.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After finishing The Promise of Lost Things I realised it continued the story started in Prelude for Lost Souls (2020) but I didn’t feel like I had missed anything which held the story back and the novel read fine as a standalone story. The setting of this story was outstanding, a strange little town called St. Hilaire, where everybody who lives there are Mediums and make their money contacting the dead for tourists in holiday season. However, the town has its own weird rules, rituals and lives in its own bubble and has an odd relationship with the outside world. Some believe they are the real deal, others think they are fake, whilst the town likes to play both sides against each other. But in the background there is a very powerful Guild which pulls the strings and early on we are introduced to the ‘Rules of Conduct for Mediums’ and quickly we realise ghosts are indeed real as the main character spends most of his time with one! The Promise of Lost Things obviously provides more depth to a cleverly drawn setting in the previous novel.

Although it was a very entertaining novel and has a very clever plot it lacked scares and considering the number of ghosts in the book it could have had more chills. It also has a convincing LGBTQ+ story which develops as things move on, but never particularly dominates which was a nice touch. The story is told from three points of view, Russ, Asher and Willow. Russ is a Medium of average power who sees the ghost of his dead boyfriend Ian (a very powerful Medium), Asher an outsider who is trying to understand the truth of the town and Willow a very powerful Medium who is a member of the Guild and has her own agenda. In the background the parents of Asher are television personalities who debunk the supernatural and are hoping to dish the dirt on the town of St. Hilaire, should they find a way it. The novel twists around these various plotlines and although it was enjoyable I thought it could still have had a stronger central story than the television thread. Considering the central characters did not spend much time together the friendship of Russ and Asher moved along nicely, with Asher plotting in the background. AGE RANGE 13+

So a big thank you to netgalley.com and the publisher for the pre-published copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Russ Griffin is a Medium living in a town full of Mediums. They all talk to the dead. His boyfriend, Ian, died last year and Russ is the only one that can summon Ian, much to the chagrin of Willow, one of the most powerful mediums in town, who was friends with Ian and who is now Russ’ teacher. Willow has plans for the future of their town of St. Hilaire, but so does Ian. Russ is just along for the ride, but when he answers an ad for a used car, Russ meets Asher. Asher’s parents are out to debunk all those that prey on the week minded and claim that ghosts are real. They created a show long ago called Ghost Killers. But Asher really only wants to get close to Russ, even if his parents want him to discover more about the town of Mediums. But these teens are in for a world of crazy when they hold a séance to introduce Ian to the world.
Straight up I had no clue this was going to end the way it did. The first part of the book took me a while to get into it, but by the end I actually said, what did I just read? I enjoyed the book, even with all the typos I caught through the pre-pub copy. This had me thinking of the tv show supernatural, if the show weren't so scary. All in all a book that made me sit down and think after it all came to a conclusion, and boy did it take me where I never saw coming. Ian is really good at secrets. But I will say this, I wish I knew more about the events that lead up to Ian’s death in the beginning of the book. I think that would have helped a lot with the slow start.

I was really looking forward to reading this because I'd liked Prelude for Lost Souls, so I'm very grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this arc for my review.

I'd say this was an alright addition to the story of St. Hillaire that started in Prelude for Lost Souls. I wasn't wowed, but I had a good time reading nonetheless. I'll admit that the multiple POVs kind of drove me away at first because I couldn't really remember the plot of Prelude, but I started to remember some things about a third of the way through. Russ deserved to have more character development, though. So did Ian. If the entire purpose of Russ's plan was to change the town for the better, show us that. The <spoiler>séance with Ian and Asher's parents, the climax to which we are building toward for the entire novel, lasts for less than a page and is over. For people so hellbent on destroying the town they were placated rather easily.</spoiler> I just wanted more out of it I guess. I'm not disappointed to have read this, but I don't think I'll remember much of it.

The blurb was enough to tell me this boom would be something I could enjoy. Teenagers confronting the supernatural always hits the spot but TPOLT differs are the supernatural and ghost whisperer aspect is deemed normal in the small town. The writing style is a little more juvenile and I think better suited to the lower YA field but it wasn't so basic it wasnt still enjoyable

I seem to be picking up a lot of books with ghosts in them lately (not literally) and it's been a bit hit and miss. This one just scrapes in at a three out of five for me. It has some redeeming features such as examining the motives behind why each of the characters carried out certain actions and creating two main characters who both had faults but were still likeable. But for me the pace wasn't fast enough and there was a lot of introspection. I found the concept of a ghost who can touch people too far from the usual portrayal of ghosts. Then there was the use of "serums" and herbs which was all too similar to intravenous drug use for my liking.

A lot of teens may enjoy this, probably around the 14 or 15 age bracket, but it just didn't work for me.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Upon reading the blurb, the thing that interested me most about this book was that I got a feeling that it reminded me slightly of the Witch Eyes series by Scott Tracey. That immediately drew me to the book because I love the Witch Eyes trilogy, but I wasn't sure if the feeling would carry over to the book proper.

I'm happy to say that it did, slightly at least. I love books that are set in weird small towns filled with magic and a dark underbelly, which is exactly what St. Hilaire is. I enjoyed the dichotomy of the two towns and the sort of class warfare between certain aspects of both.

I really enjoyed Russ, he was a very good, sympathetic character as our eyes into St. Hilaire and someone who wants desperately to change it. Willow was OK, though I felt she was a bit of a typical version of her character archetype.

The standout for me though was Asher, I loved him and his conflicted motivations and the way his backstory played into everything he did.

I'm not sure if this is being set up as a series, as I felt the ending was pretty well tied up, but if it does I'll certainly be interested in the next one.

Hauntingly wonderful and interesting. 
I really enjoyed this one.
Helene Dunbar, did a great job with her characters in The Promise of Lost Things.
Russ, Willow and Asher really grabbed my attention from jump.
I felt they were true, intriguing and well developed.
What I enjoyed most was the storyline. It was very interesting reading about mediums.
This was a fun, quick enjoyable story and one in had fun reading.
I loved her writing so now I'm off to buy We Are Lost And Found.

Sourcebooks Fire,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to B&N, platforms, blog and Waterstone close to pub date!

Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire, for allowing me to read The Promise of Lost Things early!

I'm not new to Dunbar's writing, having read her previous work We Are Lost and Found and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I was excited when I saw up on NetGalley her new book and promptly sent a request, especially after reading the synopsis! The Promise of Lost Things is an intriguing paranormal contemporary novel and a rather good one to boot. Lovely well fleshed-out characters and interesting plot paired with Dunbar's peculiar prose made The Promise of Lost Things a very enjoyable reading experience.