Lit with Leigh's Reviews > Ask for Andrea

Honda Civic Reliable 3.5 rounded up for the unique premise

One sentence review: An interesting social commentary take on haunting

SYNOPSIS

Three women. Three victims of a serial killer who finds his victim on a dating app. When they meet in the after life, they're determined to find a way to stop him from killing again.

MY OPINION

Thank you so much @rebby.reads for my gifted copy. Without her rec, I definitely wouldn't have picked this up. No shade, I'm just not into ghost stories.

It's always a good sign when I have limited notes as I'm reading LOL. The more notes = the saltier the review. This book is EXTREMELY bingeable. At 260ish pages, I devoured it in one sitting in my "reading sleigh". Unlike Hidden Pictures and Ghost Eaters, Ihli takes the time to – in a natural way – explain the abilities and limitations of the ghost powers. By doing so, I could focus on the plot instead of wondering why the ghostie didn't do xyz. Tbh Ihli did a fantastic job of addressing any potential plot holes and answering questions the reader might have. This was a HUGE plus as a reader who is always asking qs like the nosey hoe I am.

As I said in my one sentence review, this was a social commentary take on haunting. It explored the challenges and dangers of being a woman in the modern dating scene. Hindsight truly is 20/20. It's a good reminder to check yourself before victim blaming. Sometimes I think back on my college days and I thank my lucky stars I'm not dead in a ditch. Just something as simple as walking home from class with my headphones on could've ended me up in the back of a trunk. Scary tings. Anyways.

It was also a creative way to show how "normal" abusers can be. It's not the scary strangers in the bushes. It's the charming guy who opened the passenger side car door for you. It's the married man with the picture-perfect family and doting wife. And all of this makes sussing out the baddies even harder for a woman who just wants to enjoy her night without a cloak of paranoia.

I also liked the inclusion of the detectives. Again, another great display of how misogyny can be the difference between a family getting answers or forever wondering if their daughter really just dipped on them.

My main rich homie qualm was some parts dragged. The synopsis says the three girls link up, but this doesn't occur until the 60% mark. You spend a lot of time with each girl as they figure out their after life status and what they should do. This was interesting... to a point. The book is pretty short but I would've liked to spend more time with the girl gang.

All in all, an interesting and easy-to-devour read. The writing was straightforward. No turgid prose here. Another plus for me.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: interesting premise, straight forward no fluff writing, pander-free social commentary

Cons: dragged a bit in the second half - I would've liked more time with the girls together