Book Review: The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts by K. C Tansley

Title: The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (The Unbelievables #1)
Author: K. C. Tansley
Genre: YA/paranormal
Date Read: 10/05/2015 – 25/05/2015
Rating: ★★★

Review:

I have three disclaimers for this review. First up, my ARC was received for free as the prize in a giveaway. Secondly, this book had the disadvantage of being read when my life was super busy and I was going a bit crazy with everything, so I probably wasn’t in the right mindset unfortunately. At another time, this may have totally got an extra star or two. Thirdly, because I finished the book at the end of May and am writing my review at the end of June, the review is probably also somewhat lacking, and for that I apologise.

Another thing to note: I read an ARC. The book itself comes out today and you can buy it here! Talk about timing! (I’ll make sure I schedule this post in such a way that it is Friday in most parts of the world, rather than just Australia, when it goes up).

All right, now for an actual review.

Kat Preston refuses to believe in ghosts after an experience that left her with her soul nearly torn out of her body. She’s been doing pretty well, but when a school assignment involves visiting the site of a century-old unsolved murder, suddenly she’s not only surrounded by ghosts, but due to a portal in a mirror, sucked back in time and into the body of one of the guests in the days leading up the murder. Her research partner, Evan, follows her through, and they find themselves trying both to stop a murder from happening and also find their way home before they fade away completely.

There is a lot packed into this book’s 256 pages. The book has supernatural creatures, time travel, a murder mystery and a dash of romance. I found it most interesting when Kat and Evan were sent back in time, both in terms of the plot but also the way in which the story was written. The book is in first person from Kat’s POV, but often she has no control over the body of the woman she is possessing in the past, and the narrative is almost in third person, describing that characters’ actions. This may annoy some readers, but I actually found it kept me interested.

It’s hard to say too much else without giving away important plot information, but suffice to say, even once Kat and Evan make it home, the adventure is not over. Kat is able to start learning more about her gift of seeing the dead, but the ghosts of the murder victims are not their only issue… There is enough set-up for future books in the series but enough resolution that you don’t feel like the author wrote one book and then chopped it in half at an exciting bit.

I think my main issue with the book was that apart from Kat, I never really felt that invested in any of the characters, despite everything that was happening around them. The historical characters were a bit more interesting than the modern ones, but I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of them as well.

All in all, though, this is an entertaining beginning to a series with an original concept. I look forward to more!

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