It took me a while to get into this book, but once it sunk its hooks into me, I couldn’t put it down! I love the imagery surrounded with the elements in this story, I could really visualise Olive and what her friends were experience. I like the depth of Olives experience with death and how that impacted how she continued to view life going forward. I reckon this will be one I’ll read again in the future. If you like dark supernatural stories with a minor queer subplots, this is the one I recommend giving a go.

This cover is so pretty! I enjoyed the book overall, and it was pretty spooky in parts. But the twists were not twisty enough for me.

I love spooky stories but this one was special. The friendship, the healing, the family and romance was such a warm hug.

spooky and paranormal, my favorite!

thank you netgalley and the author for providing me with an e-arc!

I really enjoyed this supernatural/urban fantasy-ish adventure. It was a really creative and interesting story that drew me in and kept me hooked from start to finish.

Here Lies Olive has it all; ghosts, haunted towns, scary asylums, lesbians, etc. I haven't read a ton of paranormal YA books, but this probably would have become my entire personality 10 years ago. Great entry in the YA canon of the 2020s.

I enjoyed this book. I wish there was more like it when I was a teenager but even as an adult I still enjoy YA

Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

DNF at 30% u wasnt vibing with the writing but I think I might try the audiobook another day. The story still intrigued me

Growing up in the dark tourism capital of the United States, sixteen-year-old Olive should be comfortable with death. But ever since an allergic reaction almost sent her to the wrong side of the grass, she’s been terrified that there is no afterlife. And after the death of her surrogate grandmother, Olive has kept everyone at arm’s length because if there’s Nothing after we die, relationships and love can only end in sorrow.

Give me a ghost story any time and I am here for it. This is a great spooky season read for someone who wants a little more depth to their ghost story. This is a cool examination of what could happen after we die and all the fear that comes with that, as well as all the unknowns.

This story captured relationships, hard questions, afterlife and of course, spookiness. And truly, what more do you need?

As a debut, I was really impressed with what Kate Anderson delivered to us - and I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with in the future! If this was her start, I see a lot of improvement and interesting ideas to come.

A witty and macabre paranormal YA book! I would have loved this as a teen and enjoyed it now, too. Would recommend to fans of the genre.

Dr. Andy’s Top 5 Reasons to read Here Lies Olive by Kate Anderson:
-Detailed themes of grief and healing at your own rate!
-Ex besties reuniting platonically!
-Existential dread and learning to cope! (I mean this in the most goth and positive way)
-Falling for the HOT overachiever girl who was big family trauma!
-Well crafted and tense murder mystery!

A Young Adult horror story with a mystery. Olive is cynical about the afterlife. She feels like there is nothing after we die. Like what is life without anything afterwards, a void. She summons someone from the dead, he is a spirit that is trapped on our plane and cannot leave. She is willing help him find his grave and in turn he helps her to find what she is looking for. Meanwhile there are deaths occurring amongst her classmates. Olive recruits others to try to solve these crimes. An entertaining story, great characters and a well throughout plot.


Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and North Star Editions/Flux for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you for letting me read an ARC of this book! I really enjoyed reading it and I felt that it was a perfect read for spooky season! The story was super fun and also deep at the same time. I also thought that the characters were well-developed and I felt a genuine connection to all of them, not only the main character. Additionally, the plot twists in the novel were absolutely crazy and always kept me hooked. Overall I liked to book a lot and would reccomend!

I actually prefer YA horror over adult horror! I love that this book features a queer protagonist and appreciate this author's style. I'm really interested to see what she will write next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the team at Flux for gifting me and ARC in exchange for my completly honest review.

Really wanted to rate this higher as I loved the tension during the asylum scenes. The first big scene within the house was so well described and unnerving ~ easily could have been pages longer, love descriptions of abandoned buildings. The setting gets one star alone, the spooky nature and characterisation get half a star each.

Unfortunately I ended up putting this book down for a few months (binge read the last 70% in one day) because: the similes.
Man, the similes really started to get me right away. Like okay we get it. I usually love over-descriptive writing. I’m even guilty of doing it in my own writing but there were times were even I felt like every action was over described constantly. Sometimes people just breathe, or sit or have emotions they don’t have to be likened to something else.
For example “made a noise in the back of my throat like a bone snapping” - I- I really don’t know how to even interpret that in my imagination because what? I get what it was going for I really do but no. (No like really, have a go - I don’t think it’s anatomically possible for us to actually make that noise with our throats). One quote I really did like however was phase “with a voice full of dirt”, that-that was eerie (and very good foreshadowing.)

Also because the repetition really got the better of me, for your reading entertainment I present the ‘Here Lies Olive Drinking Game’:

Drink everytime there’s a death pun
Drink everytime Olive brings up almost dying double points if she mentions the cause…again
Drink everytime Vanessa fondles her ribbon
Drink everytime Jay turns into part skeleton
Drink every time Maron (somehow?) twists her hair around her wrists
Drink every time the word brittle is used when describing speech
Drink every time Olive’s fillings ‘jolt’, she should really get those checked.
And lastly shot for everytime you think ‘you just openly communicated you know you’re being manipulated and then completely ignoring it a sentence later and going along with it anyway — Why?’

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for approving me to read this arc.

Since anaphylactic shock in which Olive's heart stopped beating for a few seconds the girl is terrified that there is no afterlife. But the death of her surrogate grandmother, during which older woman starts calling someone seconds before her last breath, the teenager is not so sure anymore. In order to find out she decides to summon a ghost in order to ask them about what happen after you die. Unfortunately when the ghost - Jay - that she summoned appeared, the attacks on teenagers near to the place he is tied with has started. Now Olive must help him to find peace and maybe also find one herself while searching for his grave.

I didn't expect this much fun from the book. Olive is very interesting character because she is a teenager who starts questioning meaning of life. That is not a topic very common in YA books and her journey through these thoughts is executed really well. We also have some paranormal aspects that make the story more creepy and the vibe is truly there. There is a really subtle romantic arc that is sweet and makes sense. Characters beside our main character are interesting, they all have their own journey in the book and not are just sidekicks in order to just help Olive with her mission. Overall I had a bash and I really can recommend this book to everyone who feels held captive by the description.

This book was okay. And I hate saying that about any book. It didn't engage me enough to read it on time, but the premise of it sounded so good and right up my street!

I love a good book about being able to speak to spirits/where spirits are some of the characters, but this one, unfortunately, was not for me.

I questioned whether I should DNF the book multiple times, but I pushed through, hoping it would improve. Now, I could understand if this book was directed towards the younger side of a YA audience, tackling themes of death and sexuality, but even then, the story felt hollow and slightly rushed, which was unfortunate.

I appreciate and thank the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for my honest review. I'm sorry that I ended up not being the target audience. The message and review are all my own honest opinions.

(2.5 stars rounded up to 3)

Interesting world. The last 1/8 of the book read like a totally different book.Truthfully, I don’t have a lot of feedback to give on this title. There was nothing wrong with it, it was a perfectly fine book. But, despite being initially drawn in by the premise, I was let down by the plot. It was really just… fine. I wasn’t “wowed” and I wasn’t appalled, it was just perfectly okay.