Grunge Gods and Graveyards

I cannot believe that I almost stopped reading this book after the fourth chapter. What the hell had I been thinking? This book was intense and so goddamn frustrating that it made me want to SCREAM. But I mean that in a good way - because it invoked such an intense reaction out of me, I was able to appreciate this book far more than I thought I would. This book centers around Lainey Bloom and her slightly complicated 'relationship' with Danny Obregon, who died just as they were going to finally be together. Everyone blames her for the death; and wherever she goes, she's ridiculed, tormented, verbally abused. I mean, seriously - it wasn't just the kids from her school - just everyone in her town treated her like a pariah and were just general assholes altogether.

The mystery that takes place in this story, as Lainey tries to find out who really killed Danny was intriguing. The ghostly elements of the Blue Lady (or was it the Lady in Blue? I forget) and Danny's spirit coming to aid her as much as possible was tantalizing - as were all the secrets that came to light throughout the book. This story was so well-written, so haunting and sad and frustrating - I enjoyed every moment of reading this book. I kind of wish the ghostly children that appeared at the beginning of the book made more frequent appearances because they intrigued me beyond belief.

All in all, and I'm trying to make this review as short as possible, but this book deserved every five-star rating it gets and then some! Kimberly is an amazing writer. She sucked me in and made me fall in love with Danny, with Lainey - hell, even with Nutley. Such a good read!

4.25 stars

*Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, so here it is:

THIS BOOK IS FREAKING FANTASTIC!!!

Goodreads description: Lainey Bloom’s high school senior year is a complete disaster. The popular clique, led by mean girl Wynter Woods, bullies her constantly. The principal threatens not to let her graduate with the class of 1997 unless she completes a major research project. And everyone blames her for the death of Wynter’s boyfriend, Danny Obregon.

Danny, a gorgeous musician, stole Lainey’s heart when he stole a kiss at a concert. But a week later, he was run down on a dangerous stretch of road. When he dies in her arms, she fears she’ll never know if he really would have broken up with Wynter to be with her.

Then his ghost shows up, begging her to solve his murder. Horrified by the dismal fate that awaits him if he never crosses over, Lainey seeks the dark truth amidst small town secrets, family strife, and divided loyalties. But every step she takes toward discovering what really happened the night Danny died pulls her further away from the beautiful boy she can never touch again.

So Lainey is our typical 90's teenager. She's rebellious, listens to grunge bands and hates the popular cliques from her school. She has her friends who are not very different from her and is in love with another woman's boyfriend. And then, all of the sudden, Danny, the boy she's in love with, gets hit by a truck and is no longer amont the living. The situation becomes thousand times stranger when Danny, as a ghost, shows up in front of her, begging her to find out who murdered him and lit down his house so he that he could rest in peace.

This book deserves a lot more attention than it has got right now. It's freaking perfect.

The extra reason I like it is because it has got all of the perfect bands in it. Also, I totally found myself in Lainey's characters. Not only do we wear same clothes and listen to same type of music, we've also got some of out mental and emotional stuff not very different.

She doesn't know what to do. How would you feel if you could see a ghost of your dead crush? Not only is she driving herself crazy but also the people from school who don't understand her are following her every step.

Danny is the only person who actually understands her but even she knows that's not right.

I felt all of the emotions in this book. The author managed to explain every one of them very well, yet everything was put out in some kind of sarcastic and funny way.

Romance was nice, since Danny and Lainey weren't snogging every single second. They expressed their love and lust in words, not in the physical way and I think that especially is important.

This book is a mix of fantasy, young adult and also, mystery. Mystery is very well written and it reminds me of those crime novels I used to read as a child and where the person who was guilty was the one that never crossed your mind.

Finally, the end. Yes, it did totally wreck me but still, I knew it had to finish in a way it did. If it finished any other way, it would be absolutely ridiculous.

So, in the end I finish this review with the sentence I repeat every single time. You should definitely read it ;)

Grunge Gods and Graveyards is a hidden gem in the young adult genre. There's nothing I didn't dislike about it, and almost everyone who has read it speaks highly of it. Quite frankly, I'm glad I discovered the book. It has a bit of everything: mystery, paranormal, and some dash of romance.

Although they were never more than friends, Lainey mourns the death of her friend Danny after he was struck and killed by a vehicle in a hit and run. Add the fact that she's picked on in school, may not graduate with the rest of her class, and that her dad is suddenly being strict and enforcing rules left and right, one can only imagine the stress she's under. One day when she's hanging out around Danny's house and sees his ghost, she questions if it's really him or if it's a hallucination. Not wanting to let Danny down, she works to dig up secrets on what really happened that night he was killed. Was it really an accident, or is there more to it?

One thing I'm really picky about (which could be because I'm a guy) is when books overdo the whole romance thing, constantly saying how much they ache for their significant other, how they make them feel on fire, the whole nine yards. Luckily for me, this book didn't overdo it - at all. Sure, the reader can clearly see how much Danny means to Lainey throughout the book, but that much is to be expected.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the book is the setting. It takes place in the 90s, when grunge was a very popular genre. Throughout the book you'll see bands and songs from the era mentioned. The book also, of course, has no cell phones, and only briefly mentions a computer - specifically Lainey's dad's, which she isn't allowed to touch. I was born in 1995 so I don't really consider myself a true '90s kid since I was so young, but even so, the story taking place in the past, back when things were a little more simple, makes a nice setting and a change from what I'm used to reading.

Finally, there's the characters. I found all of them to be really relatable and the dialogue definitely something teenagers would say, something I would say. The occasional swearing, the awkwardness, the hating people in high school. I absolutely loved the part where Lainey was about to tell everyone during lunch over the microphone to go eff themselves. Here's a gem from the story. For the record, Liz is Lainey's older sister who flunked out of college:

"I do have news," Liz said.
"You're not pregnant, are you?" Dad asked, his fork suspended in midair.
Liz looked horrified. "Ew! No."
Everyone let out a collective sigh.
Liz crossed her arms. "Seriously. Is that what you all expected me to say?"
"Well..." My voice trailed. Uncle Mike nodded.

As you can see, this novel has it all. There's also a spinoff novel, told from another character. I'll definitely be reading that sometime soon since I loved this story so much.

Lainey Bloom is an unpopular high school senior in a small town and things could not being going any worse. It is the first day of school and Lainey is still getting over the popular boy who kissed her but then died a week later in a hit and run. The popular kids at school torment her, she is failing Spanish, and might not graduate with her 1997 class. Not to mention that everyone at school blames her for the cute boys death.

When the cute boy, Danny shows up as a Ghost that only Lainey can she has to help figure out who killed him so he can cross over. As they get closer and closer to the truth Danny is closer to being gone forever.

I know the storyline seems kind of crazy but this paranormal fiction was wonderfully written while paying homage to the 90's. Each chapter is titled with a popular 90's grunge song and the characters wear concert tees, JECOs, and Dr Martens. While I don't know that today's teens will appreciate the 90's music and clothes I think it is one if the thing that make this a perfect crossover book for adults.

As far as the plot line, the mystery of what happened to Danny had me hooked.

The title is a bit misleading, as there are indeed ghosts and graveyards, but don't expect literal gods to appear, and take those (as well their songs, linked to each chapter) for what they are: a tribute of an era gone by, as short as it was intense. I think this is the kind of story whose appeal will definitely vary *a lot* depending on the people: if you were a teenager in the 90s, it will resonate a lot differently than if you were born earlier or later, and didn't approach that period the same way that we did, or didn't live through it at all. (And I say "we" because the characters in this book, should they be alive in our world right now, would be a couple of years younger than I, not more. I will confess to being highly biased, due to my own memories of those years and the bands I used to listen to as well.)

In other words, amidst the teenage angst and drama, lies nostalgia, which fits very well with how Lainey will never get back what she had with Danny—just like the Lady in Blue will never get what other younger women had, stuck in time, doomed to become more and more transparent, then vanish.

There's romance, but not too much, and it doesn't trample the actual plot: good.
There's music and a lot of name-dropping, but I thought it was well-integrated enough, and didn't feel awkward: good.
The small town setting: stifling, difficult to hide anything for long, family secrets... Good.
Strong 90s vibes (no cell phones, bands and brands from that time...): check.
The law-related side of the story: I don't know enough to US law to tell whether that part was true to actual laws or not. It seemed believable, so... good enough for me. Also, corrupt officials aren't so often a theme in YA novels: nice change.

This novel had an intense side to it, sometimes too much, in that what happened to Lainey, the way she was treated, bordered on too unbelievable to be true. It's hard to reconcile the idea of such a mean environment (not only the high school one) to what I knew when I was 17. We had cliques, and people who were more popular than others, but never did things stoop down to such a level. Maybe it does in some places, and I just happened to be in a normal enough high school? Maybe it's the way schools are shown in novels and series, because otherwise it'd just be too boring to read about and watch. There were a few moments when all the angst and drama felt like too much to bear... yet it was precisely also what elicited my reactions, even though they kept going from notsalgic to annoyed, from glad to angry. Had this story left me indifferent, it would've been something else.

There were some stereotypes: the mean queen bee, rebellious teenagers, and Lainey came off as a little dull and too tempted to easily give up at times. However, she didn't do it in the end, learnt to stick to her guns, went on when even the people closest to her seemed to have deserted her... and the clichés weren't as annoying as they are in other stories, because several characters were actually deeper than they appeared at first, and had more to their personal stories than met the eye.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars. Not exactly the novel I expected, as there were less ghosts and a more complex plot anchored in very real matters. I think that was better, all in all: it avoided veering too much into paranormal romance-only territory, which wouldn't have been as satifying for me.

Interestingly I like how it turns out.

That's my impression when I finished reading this. However I had a hard time recalling the story without cheating.

I did not cheat, I remember it now.

This is a paranormal story. (I can't come up with creative writing of this review. And I never ever did.) So it's gonna be pure side notes and all.
40%
When the story starts, I didn't hate Lainey until now. When I get to the back story part where 1 week before the accident happen, I'm starting to be furious about Lainey. Lainey's decision and action seems stupid.

45%
And I'm still thinking, was this supposed to be paranormal? Why does Lainey still didn’t meet some ghost? Except for some flickering or flashes of white or blue, but whatever.

70%
Actually, this story can really made some reader furious somehow. A lot of things could have happen if the characters were just true to themselves. For me, it felt like, why just they didn't say it for once, that they are fucking inlove with each other. Death could have been prevented, I mean, probably, if they are not that stupid to begin with.

But what I like about it is that I didn't expect it to be mystery type. I was expecting some paranormal ala Anna dress in blood. Surprise, surprise I kept guessing then guessing who the killer is and then, there’s this real villain, but a lot of people could be a suspect too.

90%
I was happy at how it was concluded. I like how the story takes the right direction. I learned something about Jewish beliefs. I like how some of the characters has been redeemed, at least.

This could be somehow frustrating, infuriating, slow-paced read, but why not give it a try; you might end up liking it like I did. But don't expect it to be so good-it hurts instead, it was just good-ok.

Also, it consists of the following:
- mean girls.
- High school drama.
- A ghost.
- Real villain.

My review is all over-the-place. Ugh.

Thanks Net Galley for this ARC.

Overall rating: 3.5/5