Bloomsbury
July 17, 2012
388 pages
add to your Goodreads/buy from TBD/or Amazon
If, somehow anyone's still unconvinced, rest assured, the content will meet, exceed and then, likely, blow your expectations.
Following the aforementioned grandmother's death, her own failed suicide attempt, and her parent's separation, Rinn and her mother move to her mother's hometown in Ohio. The snow and cold weather, so different from the California she's used to is more of an issue for Rinn than the fact that the home's previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom.
With Rinn trying to stay sane, a school where nearly everyone believes a girl's ghost haunt's the locked up school pool (where she died) might not seem like the best choice, but she's determined to stay. She's found friends.
Friends who convince her to take part in a seance to contact the spirit of the dead girl.
But when things go wrong bad, horrible things start happening to those involved . . . except for Rinn. Needing to find out if she can be affected by Annaliese, the school's ghost girl, Rinn concocts crazy seeming plans and enlists the help of Nate, her neighbor - who's also the hot "Opie" she's falling for. Her plans may seem dangerous to him, but she has to know . . . she has to know if the ghost is real and find a way to stop everything.
Normally I like books set in the autumn/winter (especially those that give specific dates in the book) to be released in the same time period so that I can read them at the same time things happen. With The Unquiet, though, I absolutely didn't mind reading about snow and Halloween while it was 90 degrees outside. Despite it's blustery setting, this was a book made for summer nights. (Someone made a brilliant decision releasing it in the summer.)
It's a book that will keep you up way past your bedtime reading just a little bit more. Then just a little bit more than that. And then maybe than that.
All the while you'll be happy you're (I hope) far away from cold, long high school hallways.
The setting of The Unquiet is just about perfect. While Southern Gothic and haunted, anything Southern is vastly entertaining, I'm always up for some spooky ghost stories set in the Midwest. Maybe it's due to having lived there? Maybe not. Either way, the small town Ohio setting of The Unquiet fit the story - and the characters, who likewise fit the setting - to a tee.
Rinn had just enough 'outsider,' what-is-this-small-town-tininess, I'm-from-somewhere-developed-with-a-Nordstrom's, without having too much. It didn't get to the point of being annoying (except when it was acknowledged) or condescending and the small town wasn't mocked, either.
Rinn being bipolar adds a great layer to the story as well. Not only is there everything that's happened to her and her family that led to the move to River Hills, there's also an added level of questioning her (by Rinn, herself as well as everyone else) when it comes to things with Annaliese.
As The Unquiet unravels, slowly, slowly never quite letting you figure everything out until the end, it just gets creepier and creepier. Major points to Jeannine Garsee for a great YA psychological thriller, perfect for some late night summer reading!
Rating: 9/10
Thank you to the author for the knowledge of arc's back in the fall and to Bridget for sending me one!
and don't forget, it's a July YA New Release so it's part of my New Release Giveaway Hop giveaway here
The Unquiet sounds like a really thrilling novel. Rinn being bipolar must have been an interesting read and the plot sounds riveting.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds amazing! Thank you so much for the review.
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