"If I Have to Be Haunted" by Miranda Sun

 

5 Stars!!!

I stayed up way later than I should have to finish this one. 

I'll admit, the cover really sold me on this book. I was definitely in the mood for a fall book with spooky vibes.  Well, the setting is in the fall and there are ghosts in this book but it was not what I was expecting.

I was expecting a spooky rom-com with a cute enemies to lovers style of romance. I was only partly correct, but I  really enjoyed this book.

Cara Tang knows two things:

1. Zach Coleson, the towns perfect, handsome golden boy, is the most irritating and annoying person alive.

2. She can see and talk to ghosts ( Not that she wants to).

Cara is a ghost speaker, like her mother and grandmother before her.  Her grandmother was renowned for her ability and power, but Cara's mother has spent so many years ignoring her gift that she has lost her ability to see ghosts. Now, she wants Cara to follow in her footsteps and leave the family legacy of ghost speaking far behind. 

Cara has always been the dutiful daughter, following her mother's wishes despite her grandmother's ghost constantly encouraging her to embrace her gift. But she has never come close to breaking the promise she made to her mother until she stumbles across the body of the town's golden boy in the woods near her tree house.

Zach Coleson was dead, but he wasn't gone.

If Cara thought Zach was annoying in life, it is nothing compared to him now that he is a ghost.  As the only person who can see or hear Zach's ghost, he has no one else to turn to and he is determined to convince Cara to help him.  As Cara and Zach investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his unusual demise, they discover a loophole. As a ghost speaker, Cara has the ability to resurrect Zach from the dead, but they will have to embark on a dangerous quest through a parallel world to make that happen. 

As Zach and Cara face constant dangers on their quest, they begin to realize that despite knowing each other for their entire lives, they actually don't know each other at all. Revelations come to light and suddenly they are each seeing another side of the other that they never knew existed. 

And as the danger increases, Cara and Zach will have to answer the question:

Will saving Zach cost Cara her own life? And are they each willing to take that chance?

Overall,  I loved the scenes when Cara and Zach interacted. Even when they were fighting, there was so much tension on the page that I was completely absorbed. Then, during their softer interactions, I loved how they slowly opened up to each other and learned knew aspects of each other's lives. 

Also, this book definitely had more of a fantasy feel than I was expecting. In a weird way it reminded me of the movie "Willow" because of the epic quest, all of the obstacles they had to face, and the new characters that were introduced along the way. 

Finally, the ending of this book is clearly paving the wave for more books in this series, or at least more stories set within this world. I look forward to reading the next one!

"The Prison Healer" by Lynette Noni

 Holy plot twist! I did not see that coming!

I'll admit, I read several reviews before starting "The Prison Healer" and I had seen multiple reviews mentioning a plot twist at the end, but man, I did NOT see that coming.



Kiva has been locked away in a high security prison for the past 10 years of her life, ever since she was seven years old. For the past few years, she has held the title of prison healer, caring for sick and injured inmates and processing new arrivals. She is known as many different things to many different people. Most of them are not flattering.

For the past ten years, Kiva's sole purpose has been to stay alive. She keeps her head down, she listens to the guards, she spies on the other prisoners for the warden, she burns the letter "Z" into the flesh of all the new prisoners, and she does it for one reason.

"Stay alive. We are coming."

Her family is coming for her. Over the past ten years, Kiva's family has been able to smuggle in messages telling her to stay alive and they are coming for her soon. It is the only thing that has kept Kiva going.

However, things start to change with the arrival of two new prisoners. Jaren, the new handsome and strong tunneler, seems to have taken an interest in Kiva. One that she fights against knowing that Jaren likely will not survive his first month in the prison. And Tilda, the very ill rebel queen responsible for the uprising against the ruling family, who arrives shortly after and her presence changes everything.

"Don't let her die. We are coming."

When the rebel queen is sentenced to Trial by Ordeal, her death becomes almost certain. However, Kiva must do everything in her power to keep the rebel queen alive until help can arrive, even if it means taking the queen's place in the trials. Kiva must survive the four elemental ordeals: Ordeal by Air, Ordeal by Fire, Ordeal by Water, Ordeal by Earth. However, if Kiva fails, she dies and the rebel queen will be executed with her.



With their fates now entwined, Kiva is going to need the help of her friends, both new and old, if she ever hopes to get out of the prison alive.

***

This amazing immersive story is a page turner filled with intrigue, prison riots, betrayals, secrets, budding romance and magic. I thoroughly enjoyed the budding romance between Jaren and Kiva, and Tipp is definitely one of my favorite characters.

The description of the Ordeal by Fire and the Ordeal by Water literally had my stomach twisting with anxiety. These scenes were packed with tension and I literally flew threw them.

I hated that we didn't see what happened to the warden towards the end.

That plot twist at the end though... I almost feel like I need to reread the book now and see if there were clues that I missed that pointed towards this revelation, or if it hit all readers the way it did me.

I am excited to see the story continue, but I feel like Kiva has a dark road to travel ahead of her. I think I will wait to read "The Gilded Cage" until "The Blood Traitor" comes out this summer.