Thanks a lot to Netgalley & Bold Strokes Books for providing me with an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Death, Ableism, Mild Homophobia

4 / 5 Stars

I can't say if the author intended to give the MC huge autistic (or neurodiverse) vibes, but by god, they did - and Astra is - and it's impossible for me to read this book any other way. It's never outright stated in text, but honestly? It might as well have been. This leads to a little bit of Internalized Ableism in some scenes - that get overcome through character development & personal growth - but that help make certain other parts - or part - of the book feel less "savior-vibe-y" & "infantilization-vibe-y". Because both people in the disscussion are disabled and struggling in their own way, turning this into "Yeah, I get it" instead of "My life is so sad, because I'm disabled and that's sad". Neurodiversity and The-Spoiler-Thing aren't the same, but the book does highlight their shared struggles and how they find companionship and understanding within and through each other.
That being said, I wish we could have gotten more insight into a certain someone's POV.
To avoid getting into heavy spoiler stuff, I won't be sayin way more on the topic. Because even though you'll probably figure it out yourself, it's still nice to go back and realise all the hints and forshadowing we had gotten about it from really early on.

Their romance is sweet and soft and beautiful and their connection feels genuine and natural. Some other characters feel a little left out at times, because the book focuses very heavily on them, but it's nothing that bothered me too much, personally. Especially since we got greatly developed and loveable main characters out of it.

Speaking of characters, this book has a great hooker, but it's mostly character driven, contemporary with magical realism/paranormal elements. So, be aware of that. It's not slow per se, because the book isn't too long either, but if you need a book to make turns left, right and left, you might walk away dissapointed.

Final Thoughts
A very pleasant read. Would reccomand.

A beautiful, touching story about not fitting in, finding your people and allowing the people who care about you to get closer to you. It's definitely a teenager/YA story though, and the simplicity of its prose doesn't try to be anything else. It's a pleasant, cozy read and it explores the main character's inner world. In fact, I found that most of the young characters are pretty well fleshed out, especially when seen through Astra's eyes. Not so much the adults, but it's a YA story so I suppose that's to be expected. Kind of like the adults in Cow and Chicken, if you're old enough to have watched those cartoons. However, you do get a good sense of Astra's mom, as seen from her point of view.
The plot felt a bit predictable at one point but I actually love what the author did with it, and it ended up being a refreshing read until the end. I wish they had explored Isla's dilemma a bit more though. The author touches on a VERY important aspect of a certain community (I'm trying to keep this review spoiler free) and it would have been interesting to have explored that in more depth. Preferably after the author had talked to several voices within that community. It lacks a certain context and further development for it to be fully considered "raising awareness", especially to young people going through that same dilemma. I think the author missed a very good opportunity to help improve the mental health of young people going through something similar.
All and all, it's definitely a book I enjoyed (even though I usually don't enjoy YA books and hadn't realised this was one when I chose it) and I'd recommend it to anyone into this genre.
A note to the editor (or whoever was meant to revise the novel): there are a lot of repetitions that should have been cut out and/or replaced. Expressions, sayings, description of actions, sentences... Maybe not everyone will notice it as much as I did, but my reading experience would have been a lot better if the writing hadn't been so repetetive. It's normal for writers to favour certain expressions and it can be difficult for them sometimes to notice they are overusing certain words/expressions. It's the job of whoever is revising (that is, a new fresh set of eyes) to point this out. I feel that a lot of times there could have been suitable alternatives, or that the same thing could have been said in a different way to avoid repetition. Probably not a big deal for most people, I don't know, but it bothered me a bit.

This is definitely a young adult supernatural/romance I would recommend to anyone who engages with the genre.

Our main character, Astra, is a very interesting young person to get into the mind of. She has strong chemistry with Isla, and I am also particularly fond of Ollie. All around, I did enjoy reading about these characters.

Without spoiling, I do think that some of the more emotional events towards the end of the book could have done with being a little longer and explored in greater depth. Whilst this book is short and never felt like it dragged, I feel like it could have dedicated some more time to certain aspects in its final third. Equally, I would have liked a little more emphasis on Isla's journey at this point in the story - of course we follow Astra, but I definitely found myself wondering more about Isla's internal plight at this stage and would have liked to see it touched on in a little more depth.

I would definitely read more of this author's work following this.

This is a very creative story about a girl with the ability to talk to ghosts. She starts talking to the ghost of a girl and then falls in love with the girl. The writing is done beautifully, but I find the idea of falling in love with a ghost a bit hard to grasp.