{An ARC of this book was kindly sent to me by Harper 360*}
[Paperback: 280 pages | Publisher: Harper Teen]
Daffodil Franklin has plans for a quiet summer before her freshman year at college, and luckily, she’s found the job that can give her just that: housesitting a mansion for a wealthy couple.
But as the summer progresses and shadows lengthen, Daffodil comes to realize the house is more than it appears. The spacious home seems to close in on her, and as she takes the long road into town, she feels eyes on her the entire way, and something tugging her back.
What Daffodil doesn’t yet realize is that her job comes with a steep price. The house has a long-ago grudge it needs to settle . . . and Daffodil is the key to settling it.
This is Not a Ghost Story gave me a bittersweet ending which I adored. From the very first chapter of this YA novel, I was hooked on Daffodil's account of what happened to her in the mansion she was looking after, during her summer before heading to college. Although you can see the ending coming from a mile away if you've read this type of genre before, that doesn't sway from this hauntingly beautiful story. The fact that Daffy is an unreliable narrator and protagonist made this story even more intriguing. I wanted to know what was paranormal and what was just Daffy's imagination.
It gave me slight American Horror Story season 1 vibes and I loved it. It did not disappoint me one bit.
It's also a perfect book to re-read and be able to see all the clues leading up to the revelation at the end of the story. This isn't what I would call a strong horror story. It's a nicely paced ghost story, with creepy elements and Daffy does goes through some scary situations but it's not gory and doesn't make you want keep the lights on. It does give you a sense of dread of losing your mind while being isolated in a big house though.
It's also a perfect book to re-read and be able to see all the clues leading up to the revelation at the end of the story. This isn't what I would call a strong horror story. It's a nicely paced ghost story, with creepy elements and Daffy does goes through some scary situations but it's not gory and doesn't make you want keep the lights on. It does give you a sense of dread of losing your mind while being isolated in a big house though.
Daffy is a character I could also relate to through Portes writing. She is witty, logical and funny and it's all narrated in her point of view. At times Daffy could be seeing as annoying during her moments when she was telling herself not to leave the mansion and the fact that she took this job to pay for her college tuition but decided to stay in a haunted house because she needed the money was quite irritating and I felt like yelling at her, if I was her and paranormal things started happening in the house, I would have been outta there in a hot minute and figured a new way to get a job.
We also see glimpses of what happened before Daffy took the job at the manor and her relationship with Zander in High School and it flows nicely with the main story and I didn't find it too distracting.
I do wish we could have gotten a bit more backstory on the house and how it came to be and the other characters throughout the story, the twist at the end offered more questions then it did with answers.
This is not a Ghost Story...this was so much more than that.
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.
Do you have a favourite ghost story?
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