Invisible Ghosts by Robyn Schneider

Summary from Goodreads:

Rose Asher believes in ghosts. She should, since she has one for a best friend: Logan, her annoying, Netflix-addicted brother, who is forever stuck at fifteen. But Rose is growing up, and when an old friend moves back to Laguna Canyon and appears in her drama class, things get complicated.

Jamie Aldridge is charming, confident, and a painful reminder of the life Rose has been missing out on since her brother's death. She watches as Jamie easily rejoins their former friends--a group of magnificently silly theater nerds--while avoiding her so intensely that it must be deliberate.

Yet when the two of them unexpectedly cross paths, Rose learns that Jamie has a secret of his own, one that changes everything. Rose finds herself drawn back into her old life--and to Jamie. But she quickly starts to suspect that he isn't telling her the whole truth.

All Rose knows is that it's becoming harder to choose between the boy who makes her feel alive and the brother she isn't ready to lose.

Review:

This was another remarkably quick read for me. The premise intrigued me because I’m currently writing my own ghost story book. I decided to read it because of how similar a concept it was to my own story. But, I think I kept reading this book actually because of how insanely different it is.

As I said on Goodreads, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It's my first book by this author. And I think I own her other two and am super tempted to read everything now. But it's definitely one of those YA books where I wish I could slap the main character and be like, "You have to see this!""

Her brother’s ghost was controlling, manipulative, and holding her back back in so many ways. Now that I think about it, I didn’t really see too many redeeming qualities to Logan. And maybe that’s more of my problem. I get that Rose was harboring some serious guilt for his sudden death. And I get that Logan was harboring his own guilt and need to stay and watch out for her. But….their relationship was so one-sided and not healthy.

I guess it’s a different experience for me to read about an unhealthy brother/sister relationship versus a romantic one. And it’s actually the romantic interest that is like, “He’s no good for you.” That difference in YA tropes made this book stand out for me in a good way. It also kind of made the sibling relationship the center of it all, not the romantic relationship. And I liked that some things were more important than romance, things like family.

That being said, I wish I got to see more of the connection between Rose and her brother. Logan just always appeared as a nuisance or a bully. I didn’t really feel like Rose’s guilt was enough for her to be fighting for Logan as hard as she was. I needed to see the positives of the sibling relationship more than I was able to.

I liked the side plots with the school play and the two friend groups at school. I found that all to be super real and relatable. And I loved the romance. I used to dream about an old crush returning to the neighborhood and admitting his love for me. Who hasn’t?

I like that Rose finally understands some things at the end. But, it took her sooooooo long, and maybe invisible slaps from me. And then she kind of comes to terms with it all super fast. She goes from 0-60 in a second. And I’m not sure that felt real to me. I kind of think she should have gradually come to her decision over time. That would have been more believable to me.

Still though, I did enjoy this one a lot. I read it super fast. I liked the side plots. I like the ghost story. I loved the romance. I kind of wanted to like Rose more than I did. And I maybe internally slapped her while reading. I still give this an 8/10.