This book was… fine. I don’t have many thoughts about it. For some reason, I just never fully connected with the characters, and the story never really grabbed my attention.

Natalie was a good MC. She seemed well rounded and flawed in a believable way. Seeing her deal with the grief of losing her best friend was definitely interesting.

I really liked Leander as a LI! He was smart and attentive, and his Truth Hurts articles seemed really interesting and well thought-out. I honestly would’ve liked to learn more about him.

I unfortunately didn’t like the romance. Natalie already knew of Leander before the book began, and, just like everyone at their school, she didn’t like him at all (because of his Truth Hurts articles). However, on their 1st interaction on page, Natalie immediately starts thinking about how he’s attractive. Even though she supposedly doesn’t like Leander, every single time Natalie sees him, she mentions how attractive he is, she keeps staring at him, etc etc. 🙄🙄🙄 The first time they have a positive-ish interaction, she’s already feeling “a bubbly rush of heat” on her body, simply because he laughed ONCE. 25% through and she had already accepted that she was attracted to that dude (who she ACTIVELY DISLIKED). 😑

I am so TIRED of authors not developing their romances properly!!! @ authors I SWEAR it’s better to *actually* develop your romances!!! God please free me from insta love, I’m begginggggg 😫😭. This romance would already be a bit of a hard sell, because a “rival-acquaintances to partners to friends to lovers” done in only 1 WEEK seems… too quick; I feel like it’d be hard to actually make this work in such a short period of time. But the author didn’t even TRY. 🫠 Which is a shame, because Natalie and Leander actually seemed cute together! I like the way they talked about their issues, and how they complemented each other, and worried about each other…! Overall, the characters seemed to fit well together, but I wish we’d seen more of their bond and friendship development, instead of the borderline insta-love.

The plot was… whatever. 😕 Natalie’s reasons for wanting to audition for Ghost Chasers (despite not believing in ghosts) were explained (and questioned) throughout the story, which I appreciated. Leander’s desire to expose Madame Althea (and mediums as a whole) made a lot of sense, too, and I was 100% on his side – I HATE people who take advantage of vulnerable people’s grief by selling lies. So Leander and Natalie’s partnership made sense. However, I just never fully invested in the story, you know? I was on their side (especially Leander’s), but I couldn’t bring myself to *care*. 🙁

I did like the way things wrapped up in the end! Leander’s mum explaining to him the reasons why she speaks to Madame Althea made a lot of sense. Once again, I really liked Leander and his story. Natalie coming to terms with the fact that she might not be over Imogen’s death was really interesting, and her arc was nicely woven into the story – from not believing in ghosts, to believing Madame Althea can actually speak to the dead and is communicating with Imogen, to her realizing that’s just all bullshit and Imogen is truly gone, but then accepting that the memories and impact Imogen left behind will always be there… 🥺🤧 I was actually a little emotional at the end, when Natalie thought: “I wonder if she really had been planning to stand up to her parents. Maybe she was finally going to insist that she wasn’t going to piano camp. I like thinking that she spent her last night knowing she was going to stand up for herself. It’s hard to believe, but it’s possible. And right now, that’s enough to make me smile.”. I actually almost TEARED UP when Natalie said “I believe Imogen climbed up Agnes Tree even though it scared her. I believe I can find a way to heal from Imogen’s death, to be honest about how much I’ll miss her for the rest of my life, even though that scares me. I believe I can do all the awesome, important, world-changing things I didn’t think I could.”. It was just so beautiful, and such a nice way to show someone dealing with grief. 🥺🥺🥺

Overall, while this book didn’t fully work for me, I’d still recommend it, if it seems like something you’d enjoy. I genuinely don’t think it’s bad; it just wasn’t for me.