Book Review (314): Notes From Ghost Town - Kate Ellison

Notes from Ghost Town

by Kate Ellison

Publication: 12th February 2013

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Pages: 336

Genre: Contemporary/Mystery/Paranormal

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Buy It: Amazon+Barnes & Noble+The Book Depository

They say first love never dies...

From critically acclaimed author Kate Ellison comes a heartbreaking mystery of mental illness, unspoken love, and murder. When sixteen-year-old artist Olivia Tithe is visited by the ghost of her first love, Lucas Stern, it’s only through scattered images and notes left behind that she can unravel the mystery of his death. 

There’s a catch: Olivia has gone colorblind, and there’s a good chance she’s losing her mind completely—just like her mother did. How else to explain seeing (and falling in love all over again with) someone who isn’t really there?

With the murder trial looming just nine days away, Olivia must follow her heart to the truth, no matter how painful. It’s the only way she can save herself.

My Thoughts.

Notes From Ghost Town is a mix of different genres, a contemporary featuring a mystery with a paranormal aspect, mixed all together with an intriguing concept to make one fantastic story.

Olivia has a Mother who is schizophrenic, ten months ago she was arrested for the murder of Olivia's best-friend Stern, with only nine days to go until her trial, the ghost of Stern appears to tell Olivia that her Mom is not his killer, of that he's sure, although he can't remember who it was exactly.

So after believing all this time that her Mom was guilty she sets out to investigate and find the truth about who set her Mom up to take the fall, but when she starts to look into it she'll find that the killer will do anything to make sure that their identity is never revealed, even if it means killing Olivia in the process.

While I did guess the killer and most of the motive, there was still a bit that I hadn't figured out myself, but still it made for a very gripping reveal once we do discover the perpetrator and their reasons why.

I do like the fact that we had a heroine with a bit of a disability in the fact that at the start of the book she goes color-blind which she never tells anyone about for nearly eleven months, the fact that she's an artist who was a student at an art school having to cope with that kind of an affliction was a nice touch, especially as she lost her sense of color during the one and only time Olivia and Stern kissed before his untimely death.

So many factors made this such an exciting book to read, amazing plot and storyline and add to that intriguing characters to help the story along.

I hope in the future to discover more of Kate's books, I really enjoyed what I read here and I'd love to read more.

Loved this book, I recommend it to everyone who likes a bit of mystery with ghostly apparitions making an appearance.

I give this 4/5 stars.

Kate Ellison spent a lot of time as a child, in Baltimore, pretending to be things she wasn't: a twin, a telekinetic, a benevolent witch with a box full of magical stones, a spy, a soccer player. She trained as an actor in Chicago and has walked across the entire country of Spain. She is a painter and jewelry-maker, and has at least one artist friend who really does keep his true name a secret from the world. He told her, but don't ask her to tell you—she's not gonna do it. Kate lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Butterfly Clues is her first novel.

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