Publisher - Orion Children's Books/Hachette
Format - Kindle
Synopsis - Joe wakes up from a deep sleep to see his family leave in a removals van. Where they've gone, he has no idea. Erin moves house and instantly feels at home in her new room. Even if it appears she isn't the only one living in it. Bit by bit, Erin and Joe discover that they have somehow found a way across the ultimate divide - life and death. Bound by their backgrounds, a love of poetry and their growing feelings for each other, they are determined to find a way to be together. Joe's brother, Olly, never cared much for poetry. He was always too busy being king of the school - but that all changed when Joe died. And when an encounter in the school corridor brings him face to face with Erin, he realises how different things really are - including the kind of girl he falls for. Two brothers. Two choices. Will Erin's decision destroy her completely, or can she save herself before she is lost forever?
When I read the description for Haunt Me I thought 2 things;
1. I've never read anything like that before.
2. It would be PERFECT for an October read.
Of course, both of those things are true. In general, I don't read a lot of paranormal books and honestly, I'm not even sure why. If somebody asked me i'd say it's one of my favourite genres but 2016 has been filled with a LOT of straight forward YA books. It's been great, but i'm trying to shake up my reading style and this was a pretty good place to start.
Upon sitting down and trying to write this review, I still don't know 100% what I think or feel about it. I really enjoyed the actual reading of the book. It was easy to read, pretty quick paced and easy to understand characters - all things you want generally. I did however hope it would be a little more complex. Exploring the idea of ghosts, the possibility of a physical relationship with other side and the emotions and trauma that would be involved seemed like such a huge task to write about in just a few short pages and....it kind of was. Though the story itself was fine, it lacked a lot of intimate details. I don't mean that kind of intimate, get your minds out of the gutter.... I mean that there was just a lot of misplaced emotion. It felt like it took Joe about 30 minutes to realise he was dead and actually be ok with it. Likewise, Erin discovers her house is haunted and she's sharing her bedroom with a ghost and she's over the moon. There's no real conversation that the reader witnesses that really explains how they feel. And of course there's the insta-love aspect that I just didn't believe in.
Ironically though, when we meet Joe's brother, now there's the emotional and that weird connection feeling in the depths of your belly. If the whole book had that feeling then i'd have found it a lot more intriguing. Like I said though, I did enjoy reading it. I will say that it did handle a lot of big, sensitive issues - more specifically mental health and drug problems. I felt they were discussed well in general terms, making reference to Erin getting help in the past for anxiety etc which was great.
Overall a solid 3 stars. It wasn't quite the chilling paranormal book I was expecting but still enjoyable and one to remember.
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