This still sounds super interesting to me. Will definately leave it on my radar and actually read it at some point soon. Atleast I hope I will.

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was dark and only got more grim as it went on - which I'm not generally opposed to but in this sense it felt like the focus rather than the support. Also, the story was very frenetic and jumped around so much it was not enjoyable to follow.

Whilst this book has a good premise, it was poorly executed. The main character Echo is painful to read from, with too many negative characteristics that cannot all be defended by the situation she's in. Other characters are bland and boring. Other aspects of the story that Mathews could have made their own were unoriginal and didn't really add anything new.

I really don’t like bashing books but OMG this book was painful to read. The only thing I liked about this book was the premise – I thought the whole “halfway” house for the ghosts was an interesting concept and seeking revenge for one’s death was intriguing. However, the execution was by far the worst I have ever seen.

First of all, the characters specifically Echo, the MC, was TERRIBLE. I absolutely abhorred her. I thought she was whiney, annoying, entirely too self-centered and everything else negative. Obviously I understand that when you die, you need time to come to terms with that fact; however, she was INTOLERABLE. I just found her so incredibly selfish especially with the whole Andy situation. Andy was her boyfriend (now that she’s dead) and rather than trying to let him be happy, she was basically like “no, stay away from other girls. He’s MINE” even though she was clearly dead. And while she didn’t want him to be with anyone else except for her, there she was dilly-dallying with a fellow ghost. Like seriously? You’re allowed to like someone else but you won’t give the guy you supposedly love the same courtesy? By this point, I was already like please just go away and I want this book to be over.

Second, the other characters also had no substance. All I ever read about Andy was his moping around and being all forlorn. I mean, it was to the point where he wanted to kill himself to be with Echo. Like seriously? You were both in high school – “true love” does not happen there. Echo’s fellow ghosts felt like they were just second-handed characters. Other than helping her do the hauntings, they didn’t really play any sort of role in the story. Cole, a fellow ghost, was also someone I didn’t really get. I’m not sure why he felt that attraction to Echo – I mean, what exactly did she do so far? At that point, all that happened was him meeting her and now all of a sudden, he’s super into her and would do pretty much anything. Huh??

Third, the plot was so unoriginal. There were the obvious suspects and the hauntings that the ghosts did were literally your stereotypical manifestations (i.e. banging, electricity, cold air, apparitions, etc.) that I was kind of unsurprised and not at all impressed. It was no wonder why the actual culprit for Echo’s death was so blasé about the whole situation. And while I was surprised who the murderer was, the overall ending was just meh to me. I felt that the author tried too hard to make it seem as something tragic occurred and the extent of it was just crazy to me.

Overall, this is not a book I would recommend – I really, really disliked it. I’m just glad that this book was a quick read so I didn’t have to spend too much time on it.

Maybe it's my age, but I couldn't make it through this book despite trying. And retrying. I loved the cover but what I go inside of it was unexpected.

The love story and triangle were too much and Echo was annoying. That being said, I can see there being some appeal to teenagers, which is the target audience.

This was a very interesting concept of a plot. I liked the mystery and enjoyed the unraveling of it all. Pretty solid for a YA ghost story!

Echo Stone wakes, terrified, in a dark room with no recollection of how she got there. She soon comes to realize she's a ghost and is in Middle House, where she will be able to bring her killer to justice.

The premise was interesting, but the book did not quite live up to it. The love triangle between Echo, Cole (another ghost), and Andy (her very alive boyfriend) felt tacked on for drama. There was no real flow between a lot of the characters and some of the language and dialogue felt stilted.

Cute cover design but this was unfortunately all that I liked about this book and DNF'd Thank you for the opportunity.

I tried to push myself to read as this book. I got to page 56 and just had to put it down. This book just wasn't for me.

My review can be seen at RT Book Reviews.

Wow, this book was great! I was first drawn in by the cover and the synopsis, and they really were something I hadn't expected in terms of how well they worked! I loved the characters and the story - so much fun!

This book was just not my cup of tea and I was not able to finish it. Thank you for this opportunity, though!

St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Bad Girl Gone. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

16 year old Echo Stone awakens to find herself in Middle House, although she has no recollection as to how she got there. Stuck in a creepy orphanage with a bunch of pranking kids, Echo has no choice but to listen to the explanation of those around her. Caught in the in-between, will Echo be willing to follow the advice of the other children and find out the truth?

Bad Girl Gone is a book where the title and cover art are misleading, which is potentially confusing to readers. I was not expecting the supernatural elements, but they added to the plot in a meaningful way. The mystery aspect was also interesting, but the book fell short with the characterization and the plot. With a main character that falls a little flat and a plot that has an ending not even worth mentioning, I would not recommend Bad Girl Gone to other readers.

I enjoyed this book! It was creepy, and I think you can get that from all elements of this book-the title, the cover, the synopsis, and especially the writing and the story! There was just something off, and that was so interesting!

One thing was, that we knew what was going to happen, when Echo didn't, so that took the mystery out of discovering what was going on. Sure, we didn't know the details, but it ruined it just a little bit for me!

Of course, she has to figure out who killed her. Not a pleasant quest in the least (are any quests pleasant?) There are the other kids that are with her that have their own stories, and I enjoyed meeting all of them!

How things ending? That was just the best! While Echo kinda flip flopped on the romance, it was solved, as well as her murder! And instead of going up, well, she stays here and so she can stay with the people who've become her friends, so that was just a fantastic ending!

Yeah, this was a pretty awesome book and I enjoyed reading it!

Imagine waking up in an orphanage surrounded by a strange mix of troubled kids. That’s exactly what happened to sixteen-year-old Echo Stone.
Echo doesn’t know how she’s gotten to Middle House, an orphanage, because she has parents. But Middle House is actually an “orphanage” for the ghosts of murder victims. It’s a sort of purgatory that these “in-betweeners” are living in until they can solve their murders/finish their business. Echo not only discovers she was murdered, but she visits the gruesome crime scene. With the help of Cole, another in-betweener, Echo sets about to figure out who could have disliked her enough to murder her. She also discovers she might not have been as well-liked as she’d imagined.
As the book opens I found myself as bewildered as Echo must certainly feel. What a strange place Middle House is! It took some time to get my bearings in this book and figure out what was going on. I appreciated the adventure of Echo trying to solve her own murder, dealing with the reality that her life—and those she loved—are far out of reach for her, and I found this to be a quick and easy read.
My criticisms are that I can’t say I ever really felt a connection to Echo, I was interested in the story, but didn’t develop the deep level of connection which makes me really care about the character. I also didn’t feel invested in her romance with Cole.
Overall, it’s a good, quick read for someone looking for something “light”.
*I received a copy of Bad Girl Gone from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

http://jodigallegos.com/book-review-bad-girl-gone-by-temple-mathews/

I wanted to like this. I did. The premise of having Echo Stone, who discovers she's a ghost and has a chance to reclaim her life, sounded interesting and I was ready. However, I found little emotion in the writing and couldn't connect with the characters. The plot felt like it wasn't really going anywhere, and while it wasn't my cup of tea, I do hope it's someone else's. Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this ARC.

I regret I did not finish this book at 50%. I did not like the heroine - she lacked depth and where the author attempted to portray her as having a softer disposition, it merely left a sense of lacking backbone. All the side characters were given equal space and it was difficult to appreciate who was important. I appreciate the book was written in first person and it was a harrowing situation, but the main character's emotions were almost bipolar and I couldn't keep up with how I was meant to be feeling at any one time. The writing was jerky and unfulfilling.
I shan't be writing a review.

https://thebookishdeer.wordpress.com/2017/08/02/blog-tour-bad-girl-gone-review/

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Oh dear. This was a hot mess of a book. I really didn’t like it much at all. For the post part it was okay, but then something at the end made me really want to throw something at it.

This book tells the story of teenager Eileen “Echo” Stone. Echo has a pretty decent life. She has two loving parents, and her boyfriend of 2 years, Andy, practically worships the ground she walks on. Then one day Echo wakes up in a mysterious location after blacking out, a sort of boarding house/orphanage surrounded by weird and mean kids of various ages and a strict matronly type lady over seeing everything.

Echo is very confused and tries desperately to convince everyone she’s not an orphan. So with the help of the good looking Cole, the only person being nice to her, Echo manages to escape and runs home. Only to discover to her shock and horror – a car passes right through her. She’s dead. And has no memory of how she died or the last few months of her life.

The plot of the novel revolves around Echo solving the mystery of her murder and coming to terms with her memories of her life – she’s not the good sweet girl she seems to think she was. She also has to learn how to be a ghost. The place she’s stranded in is a sort of a half way point, the other kids staying there are all ghosts like her, who have been murdered. They have to find their killers and dole out justice before they can “pass over”. Each ghost has a unique ability. Echo learns this quickly on her first revenge outing with the other ghosts. Echo’s power is (unsurprisingly) the rare and unique ability to take over human’s bodies and learn their memories and secrets. Only one other ghost has been able to do this in the last ten years or so.

The plot doesn’t actually sound too bad. The different abilities of the other ghosts and their backstories were mildly interesting. The actual story telling came across to me as kind of bland and rather boring. And I can’t actually say I liked any of the characters. Echo was a brat. She came across as moody and entitled and more often than not I found myself wanting to slap her. Granted, it can’t be easy seeing people you used to know and discovering you’re not as well liked as you thought, and discovering disturbing things about yourself you had forgotten. But I really just had no sympathy for this girl.

The boyfriend was madly in love with her and is understandably heartbroken. Echo is watching him go through this, she can’t communicate with him. And his parents and everyone else are already telling him she wasn’t so great – get over it. Hard to do when you’ve been crazy in love for some time. And of course the really popular mean girl who snubbed Echo has her sites on him and Echo is jealous. Again, understandable. But after two or three interactions, she finds herself enamoured with Cole.

At the same time she’s feeling very guilty about it. You can sort of see why she might feel conflicted. She’s had the same boyfriend for years, he’s still alive and grieving, but she’s sharing smoochies and new experiences as a ghost with a hot new guy. It’s a fairly interesting predicament, love triangle with a paranormal twist. Problem for this reader is I just hated the characters and as I said earlier due to my severe dislike of Echo I had little to no sympathy for her.

The actual plot itself as Echo uncovers what happens to her, is quite intriguing and to be fair, quite surprising and disturbing when the truth about what happened is revealed. I didn’t actually guess or see it coming. The investigation is really what kept my interest as Echo and Cole with the help of the other ghost kids dig into Echo’s past and look at the suspects.

This is a bit of a big spoiler for the end of the book but it really pissed me off and I want to rant about it.

After solving the murder, Echo still hasn’t moved on. She’s decided she needs to say goodbye to the people who loved her. Mom and dad and boyfriend Andy. Okay. Makes sense. However, she’s decided the way to help Andy move on without her is find him a new girlfriend. Not to say her goodbyes, leave him alone and let him grieve, hopefully in his own time he’ll accept things, deal and move on. It’s only high school, he has his whole life ahead of him. No, Echo decides that he needs a girl to help him. He’s been flirting tentatively with Dani, the mean popular girl. So Echo decides she’s going to “help” them get together with her ghost powers.

Dani and Andy have a date. Dani has a more out-going style of dress and makeup tastes than Echo. So Echo spies on Dani as she’s getting ready. Dani’s really excited – but Echo knows Andy likes her to dress a certain way, do her make up a certain why. This really really pisses me off to no end. Why should any girl have to change their appearance to suit what their boyfriend likes if they like things done a bit differently? If he doesn’t like the way she dresses or how she does her make up, then it’s his fucking problem and he can deal with it or find someone else.

So Echo hides the clothes and makeup she knows Andy won’t like. And Dani doesn’t seem to freak out or anything. She goes on the date in the clothes and the subtle make up Echo left for her. And it’s a success. So successful that Echo with her ability of possessing people has finally hit on the idea of possessing Dani so she can be with Andy again. Why this didn’t idea didn’t circulate before in Echo’s mind is a bit beyond me. Especially since she’s been possessing people throughout the story to learn their secrets. Which would have made for a more interesting plot, with the moral implications of this decision. Which she deals with fairly rapidly.

This particular part made me really hate the book, which I already didn’t like much. It was definitely an interesting idea, the story and characters just didn’t work for me at all. It’s concluded but left with a possibility that it could be a series. I certainly wouldn’t read any more of this.

Not for me at all.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for approving my request to view the title.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Echo (Eileen) who wakes up in Middle House, unsure of how she got there. Middle House is an orphanage and Echo is very sure her parents are still alive. Unfortunately when she leaves to prove that, she instead discovers that she was (**SPOILER**) murdered, and Middle House is more of a halfway house where kid ghosts live until they can find and take revenge on their killers/ Echo misses her boyfriend Andy but from the stories we hear from when she was alive, Echo was a pretty shitty person. And now Echo has Cole at Middle House, another dead-o like her. Unfortunately Echo can't decide between them so she strings both of them along for the next few days, generally making them both miserable. And all the while her new friends are helping her discover who it was that murdered her. 
Overall I didn't particularly care for this book. The premise behind it was just a little too far-fetched for me - the thought that a kid would get to Heaven (the After) only after haunting/killing someone (even if it was their murderer) seems not right to me. Also, Echo as a person/character really was just not at all likable. The plot was not my favorite and I hated how devoted Andy and Cole were considering what a shitty person Echo was. And everything really was just so sad, Echo's parents lost their only child. And there were many pieces of the plot that just didn't feel like they really fir to me - the stuff with Mrs. Tourney and thinking Echo is someone else wasn't necessary in the plot at all and felt superfluous. Overall wasn't my favorite book but there were some creative thought to it.