Way too creepy for me

Like other readers who have left reviews, I am a fan of Lisa Scottoline, the mother (and often co-author) of Francesca Serritella. Because I enjoy Lisa's novels so much, I was excited to read this first novel written by her daughter. I chose to listen to the book, and it was an incredible ride!!! Such a rich examination of issues of family, suicide, mental health, challenges of attending an Ivy, and challenges of youth redefining their relationships with their parents. And in addition, a very well researched, multi-faceted and thrilling story line that explored so many universal and idiosyncratic human emotions, all effectively developed and attached to thoroughly developed characters. Many congrats Ms. Serritella, I shall be watching for your next novel!
PS I very much appreciate the additional facts in the epilogue, having studied and worked on racism for quite some time and having attended Harvard as a midcareer student and being overwhelmed by the unexamined race privilege imbued throughout. Again, many thanks!

Honestly, I was so into this book for the first half and then that’s when the cracks started to show. The writing style is great, main character likable and relatable, and nothing too out of place. Without dropping spoilers, I’ll say that the end game of the book should have been completely different. I feel like the author played it safe and it turned out very disappointing to me. Because of the ending, things that happen earlier in the book don’t add up. Overall, it’s decent but I was disappointed because going in I thought it could have been really great and something surprising and special. In the end it was pretty mediocre.

“Just because it´s my choice to go doesn´t mean I´m not heartbroken to leave you”

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions are my own and this did not affect my review in any way.

The moment I found out what this book was about I became instantly intrigued, I had no idea where the plot was going to take me but I was very excited to see what the author did with the idea.

In Ghost of Harvard we follow Cadence, who after her brother´s suicide becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about what really happened.

I could not put this book down, even though it is almost 500 pages I read it fairly quickly because I needed to know what was going to happen. The novel runs a bit long and lags a little bit in the middle, but is brought to a surprising and satisfying conclusion so I was able to look past that rocky middle part. This book is beautifully written, it is atmospheric and very well researched and I am so happy I read it.

The characters are very well developed, especially Cadence and I think that is why I was so frustrated with her. I have never been in Cadence position so I have no idea what she was going through, but she is definitely an unlikeable character. She made bad decisions after bad decisions and I understand she was acting based on her grief, but still it was hard and frustrating to read. So when she grew it was so heartwarming to read about. The Cadence from the beginning of the book is definitely not the Cadence from the end and that is what makes this book so impactful and why I was able to look past the fact that she was so unlikeable in the beginning.

Overall, this was an outstanding read, this book took the author 10 years to write and you can see how much effort and research she put into it. This was an amazing debut novel for the author and I cannot wait to see what she publishes next.

PS. This books definitely has a lot of trigger warning so please keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up.

“Adventure is only possible if you don´t spoil the ending”

Wow this was not what I was expecting at all. Based on the description, I thought it would be decent but predictable. Also I thought it would have too much description and loads of characters that would be hard to keep track of given the size of it. I am very glad to say I was mostly wrong; there were a lot of characters and sometimes I had a tiny bit of trouble keeping them straight. The main mystery led to many revelations and side mysteries which I really enjoyed. There was a lot going on but the author was very skilled at making sure it all remained relevant and was easy to follow. Even some plot points that at the time seemed trivial to me, ended up being very necessary. Very little was wasted in all these pages and I very much appreciate that. I am definitely going to seek more from this author, I am a big fan of her style.

Couldn't stop listening. Really enjoyed it. TW: suicide.

A little bit history, a little bit psychological thriller, a little bit conversation on family and relationship dynamics, a good bit discussion on mental health, great writing; the story kept me coming back for more! It also made me want to visit Harvard.

When I first heard about this novel it was described as a thriller, which to me means a fast-paced page-turner. This book was a slower read for me and I enjoyed it. I like the way Serritella weaves history with the present as well as her compassionate/realistic depiction of mental illness. This is the author's first novel and I look forward to seeing what she writes next.