I hate to say that...but, to be honest, I was a little disappointed with it. I read the book for April's Vaginal Fantasy book club and I was excited - the premise looked unique and interesting and I haven't read all that much scifi romance. I'm not going to rehash the premise - I think the book's blurb on this site does a great job at presenting the basis of the book.
When I think of this book...all I think of is I WANT MORE. More character development, plot development, worldbuilding, etc... With that said [and I'll bullet point some of my issues with the book below], I did think it was an ok read. Even though it left me with a ton of questions, I'm glad I finished reading it and I'd recommend it to people who want to read sci fi romance.
Here's where the ghosts hit the fan for me [spoilers below]:
- Murphy and Elizabeth. The two main characters were very two dimensional. I found myself wanting to know MORE about them and every time their plot line moved forward I kept getting jarred out of the story with questions I had about them and their relationship.
- The Relationship. That brings me to the love story. Activate Instant Soulmate Love, Batman! I can't stand it when books have Insta-Romances...especially when there are "issues" between the main characters before the Insta-Romance explodes. I know this doesn't bug everybody...this is just one of my pet peeves when it comes to the romance genre. And my "issues" with the book probably started popping up shortly after the Insta-Romance exploded...if I am not interested with the characters before the Insta-Romance, then I tend to just ignore the romance and my focus will then shift to the plot. At the end of the day, this book seemed more of a romance than a sci fi book and the sci fi was just a little to weak to be engaging.
- The Worldbuilding. Oh man I loved this world. I thought the concept to be so unique and interesting. And, just like the main characters...I wanted MORE. MORE MORE MORE MORE. There were so many questions I had about the world and the science behind it. I felt like the author was almost teasing her readers with the science by posing theories and hinting at how things functioned/how the ghosts existed/etc but then never resolved any of it...almost like you're following this trail of breadcrumbs throughout the book expecting it to lead you to the answers - and then the book ends. No answers.
- All the Questions. I have tons of questions after finishing this book...and none of them are satisfying. Like...what happened to Aunt Maeve? She just poofed and no one seems to care after a few pages. What the heck happened there? Where do these ghosts come from? What are their purposes? Ok, we know how they detach...but what's with the sudden onset of ghost/host super powers? Where do those come from? How do they have the memories of their "previous lives" [for lack of a better term]. How are the ghosts connected to the world - we know that they can trigger environmental responses from the planet...why? And let's flesh out the whole "each ghost can trigger a unique foliage/environmental effect" like Yasmina with the Jasmine and Elizabeth with the clover [since Murphy's Irish] and the poison stalks when Elizabeth was in trouble...how does that fit in with the environment/world building? Why the gloss over of the attempted rape and MURDER...Elizabeth just kinda shrugs that off. And there is so much talk about how ghosts aren't just "ghosts" yet Elizabeth has no qualms in killing off Ardagh with the poison shrubbery...yeah, he'll get 'reborn' and all [and that element raises a whole bunch of questions too] but his memory will be wiped and he'll essentially be a 'different' Ardagh ghost.
I have more questions...but I'll stop. At the end of the book I felt as though the worldbuilding and the story were interesting and unique and could make for a fascinating and engrossing read. But, I felt as though there needed to be MORE. Maybe a sequel? Maybe a series? It felt too rushed and too disjointed - like the author had some awesome stuff but then had to cut it down for length or something.