Khanh the Killjoy

This is such a beautifully written book, but it is not a ghost story. This book is not for everyone. Do not expect anything creepy here.

There is a wonderfully mature main character, loveable side characters, believably flawed characters, with amazing relationships. It has the most believable, well-drawn love triangles I have ever read. I fully confess to enjoying this love triangle---and for me, that happens roughly every time Mars and Jupiter aligns.

But this is not a ghost story. It is not a mystery.

It is a contemporary romance which takes place in a small town. Nothing happens in this book. It is a book about a girl and her first foray into romance. It is a really, really well-written book.

It's just not a ghost story like I expected.

Despite the fact that there are girls going missing, getting murdered, there was absolutely nothing remotely scary about this book. If I were to estimate, I'd say that the mentions of the missing girl, the "ghost," takes up about 5% of this book. It was hardly worth mentioning, and I can't imagine why the heck the publisher chose to promote this book as a ghost story when it was so clearly not.

The Summary:

I’m part of this house, and the residents can hear me in their sleep. I rattle the dishes and creak along the floors in the dark.

The house breathes while the town is dark, but there is no one here to answer me. I’m the definition of alone.

Gill Creek is haunted by the most quiet, lonely ghost in the history of the world.

But Maggie doesn't know that. She has newly relocated here with her family, a victim of the recession. Her mother has lost her job, and they can no longer afford to live in Chicago. So the family uproots themselves to Gill Creek, to a house that's described as "rustic" but is more appropriately described as a utter wreck. It's a sad situation, but Maggie takes it in well. She has always been a good daughter, a good girl.

Her mom always said she was the world’s only teenager who never complained about anything.

The day they moved in, the newspaper headlines announced a girl's death. The first of many.

The girl had been found drowned in the lake, floating facedown with no signs of struggle, and the police were trying to figure out whether it was a suicide, an accident, or something more sinister.

Maggie meets new friends, the stunningly beautiful, genuinely nice Pauline, and her childhood friend, sweet, gentle Liam. Both Pauline and Liam are outcasts in their own way, but they invite Maggie into their duo. Maggie feels a stirring for Liam, but she knows it is a hopeless crush. Liam has been in love with Pauline since they were practically toddlers.

“What are your issues?”
“Loving an unattainable girl my entire life,” Liam said easily, without hesitation. “Who does that?” He didn’t sound embarrassed.

The "ghost" watches the teens, and the town; always an observer, never a participant.

Over the amusement park, I watch the watcher.
The cellar pulls me toward home.
I check on the teenagers on Water Street, asleep in their beds.

More girls are being killed, but it doesn't affect Liam, Pauline, or Maggie. Their parents just want them to be more careful. As the year comes to a close, the tension between the three escalate. Pauline knows Liam loves her, but she is not the type to fall in love. Maggie is falling hard for Liam, but his heart is steadfast. Will Liam be able to move on and look beyond the girl he cannot have?

"I can’t help feeling how I feel. I’m kind of a one-girl guy. I can’t help it; it’s like a curse, really. My dad was the same way, even though my mom didn’t stick around.”

Will Maggie, always the good girl, finally stand up for what she wants, to take a chance at life and love? Or will Pauline finally realize that she wants what's been there all along?

She had her hands rested on the dash, knuckle side down, palms open, as if asking for something or begging or as if something had been taken out of her hands.

Girls are still dying in Gill Creek. A shadow is always watching.

The Plot: As slow as molasses. I can tolerate that, for the beautiful writing, but the point is that nothing happens in this book. It is a romance, a coming-of-age. Nothing more than that.

The Characters: Ah, now the good. The characters and relationships are beautifully written.

Maggie: The type of main character I love. She is quiet, she is calm, she is rational. A wonderful daughter. She is so concerned about her parents, so worried about not being troublesome to them. She loves her parents, and she never wants to hurt them. She wants to take care of herself, so her parents would worry less. Maggie is the perfect daughter.

She had to do better, she knew. She had to take care of her parents just like they’d always taken care of her.

Maggie is someone who always think things through, be it romance or everything else in life. She is not nicknamed "Saint Margaret" by her old school friends without a reason.

Maggie was no saint—it was just that her friends pretended sex wasn’t complicated. Maggie wasn’t ever going to walk into anything with her eyes closed, even if all her friends were jumping in with both feet. Still, she wanted things other people wanted. She just carefully wanted them.

Maggie is a quiet fire, a fire that starts to burn when the catalyst---Liam comes into the picture.

Liam: A true gentleman.

“Do you do whatever Pauline asks you?” Maggie asked, teasing, a little touched by his devotion. It seemed old-fashioned—not like the way modern boys were.
Liam frowned thoughtfully. “I can’t help it. My dad taught me that’s what guys are supposed to do. If a girl wants something, you’re supposed to do whatever you can to give it to her."

He is a sweetheart. Completely devoted to Pauline since they were five years old. He remembers the first time he and Pauline met---he was eating baby carrots. Pauline is his life, his love, his best friend. His love for her is not a secret. And even though he is fully devoted to him, the carefree, beautiful, capricious Pauline refuses to acknowledge it.

Pauline:

Pauline, who wore everything on her sleeve, couldn’t recognize that some people had feelings that were deep and as still as glass.

In so many books, stunningly beautiful girls are portrayed as shallowly vicious bitches. I am so happy that this is not the case with Pauline. Pauline is rich, beautiful, loved by everyone. She is not a bitch in the least. She is sweet, nice, a wonderful friend. Pauline is spoiled, undoubtedly, because she is beautiful, but she is never intentionally cruel.

Maggie was used to girls like Pauline—strikingly beautiful girls—being a little aloof. Pauline was the opposite; she came across as sweet, eager, and a little lonely.

Despite her model-like appearance, Pauline has a loud, screechy laugh. Her moments of selfishness is more of childlike naiveté than anything intentionally malicious. Her relationship with Liam is incredibly complicated, and one of the things I loved most about this book.

The Romance:

“I’m not into anyone that way. I don’t know. I just, I don’t see why everyone has to pair off and fall in love and everything anyway. Why can’t we just stay the way we are?”

This is a story about learning how to love, and about growing up.

I truly loved the love triangle in this book. You guys know I hate love triangles, and it is a remarkable thing that Ms. Anderson has done to make me love the guesswork of the love triangle here. The characters are so real, their emotions so true, and I found the triangle completely understandable, and a part of their personal growth.

In the dim light from the hall, Liam walked over to the bed and laid Pauline down in it, first pulling back the covers and then bending to drape her on the bed. He pulled the blankets all the way back up to her chin, and Pauline’s eyes fluttered for a moment and then closed again. Liam touched his hand to her hair and kissed her on the forehead, and Maggie felt her heart beat faster, as if she were seeing something she shouldn’t.

The relationship, the history, the emotion behind Liam and Pauline's relationship is just remarkable. It is so complex. Her unintentionally callous dismissal and acceptance of his love, and his almost blind devotion. It is an unrequited love based on a lifetime of friendship, and seeing it from interloper Maggie's point of view makes it even more remarkable.

I love how Maggie developed through the love triangle. I love seeing how she grew, from someone almost asexual, to someone who realizes that she wants someone. Her usually calm exterior grows into something approaching fierce, into jealousy. A normally calm, gentle girl grown fierce by the fierce crush of first love.

She wondered, with building rage, if Pauline would get everything she wanted her whole life—Liam, the dress, jobs, whatever—because she was beautiful and rich. She wondered, maliciously, if Liam would even love Pauline if it weren’t for her looks. If Pauline were ugly, would Liam have left Maggie? She clung tightly and bitterly to the thought.

I truly feel like the love triangle is one of the best things about this book.

Recommended, with reservations. It is a beautiful book. It's just not a ghost story.