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Spoliler-Free Synopsis
Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.
The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.
But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?
As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.
MY REVIEW:
Okay, so as we know, Tiffany D. Jackson is one of my many favorite authors. Within the Acknowledgements, I also learned that this was pretty much her first book within the horror genre, and she did really well!
Our main character, Marigold, we learn that she has an intense phobia of *bedbugs, and while this may seem like some "quirk", it's a very important detail as to who she is. We enter the novel within the setting of what seems to be a road trip to their new house, which has some very creepy and disturbing things floating around. Things go missing, Mari often hears sounds, and people don't seem to believe her: No matter what she says.
Now, this is mainly because we learn within probably chapter 4, that she's from a mental hospital of some sort. This is due to her previous abuse of drugs, along with her ex-boyfriend back at her old house.
But eventually, people other than just Mari begin to notice some weird things.
AND IM SO GLAD THEY DID. Because it made me so frustrated whenever something weird and unexplainable would happen, and her mother would just blame it on her. Like, does that sound like something your child would do?
I really enjoyed this, like I really did. If there were one thing that I would complain about, it would be all of the sudden action towards the last 100 pages. Now, I know a buttload of novels do this, but maybe it's just not my style for books to do that. BUT I really enjoyed the plot, and the speed did allow for me to kinda imagine everything crystal clear, so it doesn't quite impact the review.
If there were a show I would very much compare this to, it would definitely be Euphoria (For the character development and background of Marigold) and MAYBE Smile? (Although it kinda doesn't)
Five stars from me, a really good read.
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