I’m going to start out by saying this book did take me a WHILE to get through. However it was an encapsulating story of self discovery, self improvement and romance. While Cara was an asshole sometimes. she was an enigma to read and I loved her snark. The side characters were well developed and interesting! A well written book!

This was beyond good. Great if I must say. I can’t wait to rave about this to everyone. If you are looking for a good book, pick this up.

The cover of thsi book is what drew me in first, followed by our description. However, I felt that the main character was too selfish for me to care abiut her and the fact that the relationship started on lies? Not into it.

I loved this. The premise is a neat one and Cara is such a realistically flawed protagonist. I could see all of the characters so clearly, and it’s a wonderful story about learning what really matters. Also, always here for more bi/pan representation, esp. in YA.

4.5 rounded up

This was SUCH a good book.

I found the first little bit before Cara and Meredith went on their first date a bit average. A combination of Cara’s attitude/outlook and Aiden’s ghost banter made me unsure if I was going to like this one.

But as we get to know Cara, everything about her starts to make so much more sense, and we get to see her grow and change with Meredith. And without Meredith, too. Her lightbulb moment towards the end about the kind of person she wants to be and the kind of life she wants to live was so great.

Meredith’s grief over her brother was palpable and painful and beautifully, delicately written. It was hanging over them everywhere, yet happiness managed to shine through.

I ended up really loving Aiden and Cara’s friendship, too. They really started to care for each other even if they were rubbish at expressing it at times. It was lovely to watch it unfold.

I can’t recommend this enough.

I absolutely loved James L. Sutters last book, darkhearts, so I was very excited when I saw he wrote another book. I appreciate netgalley for sending me an ARC for it. The story is about an eccentric ghost hunter who accidentally gets haunted by a popular boy who died the year before. It's very silly and I really enjoyed it. The line "... I'm guessing its less what comes out of her mouth than what comes in it, huh?" and everything that came after it is what really got me. I was worried about the whole dating someone for ulterior motives trope because it always end poorly, and it did, pretty badly. Cara went about it in the craziest way possible, and Aiden was not helping, they were both being pretty selfish especially Cara. I'm glad Holly let them have it because sometimes people need to hear the hard truth. I'm glad it all got resolved in the end and everyone got closure. I love the darkhearts mention and appreciate the vietnamese representation even if it's only side characters. It's rare to see someone with my last name instead of using Nguyen like most books. I also loved that Cara's favorite show was owl house, its a little foreshadowing of her soon to be relationship with Meredith, since she's like Luz and Meredith is like Amity. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is interested in a wholesome lgbt story with a hint of paranormal activity.

3.5 stars rounded up!

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I thought the premise sounded great and it delivered for the most part. BUT... I found Cara to be somewhat insufferable at points AND I did NOT love that this the entire foundation of Meredith and Cara's relationship was built on a lie. It made it hard for me to enjoy their relationship because I was constantly waiting for the lie/secrets to come to the light so it just made it unpleasant.

The cover of this book is absolutely stunning. It drew me in right away. I really liked the author's writing, I found it very easy to read and it kept me captivated from start to finish. I was happen for the growth Cara made by the end of this one. It was nice to see her find her way.

Thank you to NetGalley, SMP & Wednesday books for the egalley of The Ghost of Us.

Alright, if you're in the mood for a supernatural YA with a twist, "The Ghost of Us" will totally hit the spot. It's this quirky mix of ghost hunting and high school drama where our girl Cara is playing matchmaker to save a ghost, Aiden, and his gloomy sister, Meredith. The catch? She's got to get Meredith to prom to help Aiden rest in peace. Sounds simple, right? Nope! Cara ends up falling for Meredith for real, and things get super complicated. The whole ghost-advising-on-dating-life angle gives some genuinely funny moments, and the emotional stakes ramp up as Aiden starts fading away. It's sweet, a bit sad, and definitely pulls at the heartstrings while delivering some cool paranormal action. Definitely worth a read if you like your romance with a side of ghostly shenanigans!

3.25 stars, rounded down
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I was initially drawn to the cover of this book, and the description was enough to capture my attention. The Ghost of Us is a unique tale of love after loss.

Following two young teens, this book does a really good job of handling the cycles of grief. You can feel it emanating from the story, which is so important in a plot point that is vital to the storyline. The plot was interesting and held my attention, but the overall resolution felt sort of rushed. This book was funny, but it just wasn’t my type of humor. That’s on me. It sort of killed the seriousness of the topic for me. It was predictable at times, which took away from the uniqueness of the overall story.

The characters in this were okay at best. Cara was incredibly selfish in her personality, which sort of made sense in the context of the book, but was unbearable to read and I found I couldn’t get into her story because of it. I loved Meredith and her character. Our side characters were definitely interesting.

I definitely enjoyed this read, I just couldn’t get past the predictability and the rushed resolution.

👻The Ghost of Us👻

The Ghost of Us was described as One Last Stop meets Cemetery Boys which immediately caught my attention as I enjoyed both of those books. Cara is a 18 year old high school outcast who spends her time dreaming of being a famous ghost hunter. She spends her free time with her best friend trying to find proof of the supernatural. Much to her surprise, she stumbles upon Aidan, the ghost of a popular upperclassman who had tragically passed away the year prior. Aidan left behind his younger sister, Meredith who has been a recluse ever since his passing. Realizing he hasn’t passed on because his unfinished business is his sister’s happiness, he makes a deal with Cara. If she can get Meredith out of her shell and take her to prom, he will help Cara prove that the paranormal is real.

This was a fun, quick read that definitely had the vibes it promised while being different enough to be its own thing. The story was light and funny despite its heavy subject matter (a dead teen and his grieving sister). The idea of being a teenage girl with the ghost of a teenage boy inside her head added the perfect amount of comic relief to the story. It also was quite sweet at times and reminded me of how precious teenage love can be.

My favourite character was Meredith, she is complicated and fiercely loyal. She only got more and more interesting as the story progressed. Cara, on the other hand, the single POV of the story, kind of drove me crazy at times. She is definitely meant to be a bit unlikeable, selfish teenager but damn, there were times I wanted to give her a good shake. The way she treats her only friend, Holly.... She did not deserve her most of the time. However, I give props to the author for writing her so well that it elicited such a response. Though frustrating at times, I much prefer when teens are written like real teens. Aidan, while frustrating in his own way, was kind of forgiven for that given that he is working through being dead and is still at heart a teenage boy. I’ll never look at a bluetooth speaker the same, IYKYK 😅

Overall, The Ghost of Us was an enjoyable queer paranormal YA story. I think if you enjoyed Cemetery Boys you may enjoy this one too (though they are quite different so set expectations accordingly).

Thank you to @WednesdayBooks & @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! The Ghost of Us is out on June 11th!

⭐3.5/5 stars⭐

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book! I knew as soon as I read the description that I NEEDED to read it

I really liked this book. I wasn't expecting a book about a ghosts to be anywhere near as funny as this was.

I liked watching Cara's relationship develop with Meredith, but I find myself wanting more. I wish we had gotten more of Meredith's relationship/conversations with Aiden after she found out about his ghost. Or some chapters from her point of view to get a better idea of how she was feeling. I expected a book about a boy helping his grieving sister to make me cry alot more than this book did, and I think it would have been more emotional to get Meredith's (or even Aiden's) POV for at least part of the book.

I'd say my biggest issue with the book was Cara's selfishness. I was really annoyed with her when everything went down after Meredith found out about Aiden's ghost, both with how she made everything about her and the fights with Holly and Aiden afterword. I wish we had gotten to see the resolutions to the fights with Holly and Aiden.

In spite of the couple issues I had, I did enjoy the book. I was hard to put down and it made me laugh alot

This is definitely one of the best novels I've read this year; the style is similar to a gothic era novel. The descriptions and analogies are very well written, it makes for a thoughtful read that needs a little more attention. The main characters Cara and Meredtih were very believable as teenagers who were falling in love for the first time; all characters were very endearing with great written witty humor, it makes it a super enjoyable read. My only criticism was that I didn't feel the depth of the emotion at all times, but other than that I thought it was great.

3.75/5, round to 4/5

thank you to net galley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

this story was really sweet!! i enjoyed this story a lot, I did have some issues with it and the plot but overall, it was a quick read! I loved the romance between meredith and cara a lot, I thought the way they got on was so sweet :,) i also loved cara and Aiden’s friendship!! I do wish we had more of aiden’s character being developed outside of his mission and the quips he made. i also LOVEDDD holly she is such a good friend and extended so much grace to everyone :,) however her friendship with cara was kind of upsetting at times because cara was so very clearly using her as a doormat and funnel for her negative emotions which was. :// cara often made me wonder what it’s like to be a privileged self righteous white girl with a victim complex …. I had to rein myself in and remember cara is a high schooler and has so much to learn about friendship and grace and honesty in relationships, but she was just so selfish at times, however, I did admire her coming to that conclusion herself. i also wish there had been more development of her school plot, I think that plotline was kind of abandoned and it would’ve been nice to have a moment where she recognized that there are different paths to get to different places in life, and that is okay!

overall, I would recommend this story and had a fun time while reading it :)

As a teen ghost hunter, Cara’s goal is to find proof of the supernatural in order to get out of her small Washington town. So when she accidentally finds the ghost of Aiden, a teen who had died a year earlier, she thinks her dreams have come true. Little does she know that Aiden has an agenda of his own.

Aiden can’t move on until he knows his sister, Meredith, is okay. So in exchange for his help proving that the supernatural exists, Cara agrees to ask his sister to prom. But as Cara gets to know Meredith, she realizes that there might actually be something between them.

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter to review! The summary of the book kind of gave me Cemetery Boys vibes, so I was excited to pick this one up. Plus Sutter’s debut, Darkhearts, was a favorite of mine last year!

The relationships in this book are so well done. We have Aiden and Cara’s budding friendship, Cara’s friendship with Holly, and Cara’s slow burn romance with Meredith. There’s a wide variety of relationships here, and I think Sutter nailed them on the head. They felt authentically teen, and made it difficult to put down the book.

Despite the subject matter, this book didn’t feel too heavy or dragged down by grief. Partly because we don’t get Meredith’s point of view; we don’t get to see much of her grieving process for her brother. A dual POV could have been cool in this instance, to pull more of those emotions into the story.

There’s a nod to Sutter’s previous book in here as well, which I always find so fun. Plus, the cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous. If you’re looking for a romance to add to your TBR this summer, definitely pick this one up!

Girl meets ghost. Girl seeks to use ghost for proof of ghosts. Ghost agrees, but only if girl will take ghost's sister to prom. Girl says yes. Emotional chaos follows as girl falls in love with her date. Girl finally fesses up to plan with ghost. Angst. Date gives girl a second chance. I liked the queer representation as well as the straight, religious allies, but the characters are a little flat and the basic premise is tired. I think it'll find a wide YA audience among romantasy readers.

I had very mixed feelings about this one! I loved the premise, it's fun and messy in the best way. I also really liked Meredith and Holly's characters, and the romance development was cute. However, I didn't really like Cara at some points in the story. There was so much selfishness in her actions, and certain parts of the book gave me literal anxiety because of the impending consequences of those actions. Despite everything being resolved, I don't think I could have forgiven Cara had I been in her friends places. Overall though, it was a pretty funny and cute book and the plot was an interesting deviation from other YA books I've read recently. 3.8/5 stars rounded up.

I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about this book. It been a while since I tried into paranormal-esque book. I was pleased with how the author handled the sensitive topic of death and grief and the journey that follows. It was a fun somewhat predictable read, but overall enjoyable.

This is a ghost hunter x sister of unalived ghost brother sapphic contemporary paranormal romance that explores themes of self discovery, healing after tragedy, what it means to be a good friend, relationship growth, and learning what's more important in life.

The romantic subplot is overall sweet. The prom-posal was adorable. The first not date that was really a date was a very sweet scene sequence as well. What really stole the show for me was the rock climbing scene and the calm, support, and confidence offered instead of meeting her anxiety turn for turn. This is something that a lot of people do when someone is in anxious distress, but this FMC doesn't react but offers strength and support instead.

The friendship between ghost and ghost hunter is very well done as well. The character dynamics, the push and pull of friendship, the general honoring and respecting each other's opinions all work together beautifully. The older brother watching out for his little sister dynamic is well done as well.

Content Warning: language, explicit sapphic s*x, teenage boy d*ath off page by tragic accident

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

I thought the book's premise to be intriguing, but its execution was - uncomfortable, to say the least.

The center conflict of the book (Cara lying by omission, or directly in some cases, to Meredith) was constantly put into question by Cara and her friend, but it didn't lessen my discomfort whenever her guilt kept rising up whenever she was with Meredith. It just made me feel so bad for Meredith, who just wanted to be loved/recognized outside of her brother, and yet what brought her together with Cara was her brother. I started skimming because I thought it would lessen the blow of the inevitable reveal, but it didn't. If anything, it made me feel worse for Meredith, because she deserved so much better.

It's a shame, really, because there was a lot of charm in the dialogue between characters, and I really wished I could enjoy them. Unfortunately, the ickiness of the situation prevented me from connecting/liking the main characters, much less properly emotionally invest myself in the story.

All in all, the execution of this book wasn't my cup of tea. Meredith deserved better, and having her POV could have made my reading this more enjoyable.

Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for allowing me access to this book. Due to SMP boycott I will withhold my review until the concerns have been address and the boycott has ended.