I am afraid that I DNF'd this one at about 25%. It was unreadably bad. There was a lot of basic characterisation missing, and the plot started at a running pace that didn't give me a sense of time, place, character or purpose. It was flat, lifeless, and not a book I wanted to waste any more of my time on.

I could not connect with this book. The plot summary definitely seems like something I would enjoy. I typically like dark, moody, emotional magical realism. In this case though, I could not connect with the characters and was therefor not interested in the story. The writing seemed a little choppy and abrupt to me too. I feel bad giving a review because I ultimately chose not to continue reading this book rather quickly. I was really struggling with it and decided there are too many things that I want to read to invest any more time in something I was not enjoying. I see plenty of other rave reviews for this, so I may pick it up as a finished version later... sometimes a book just has to be read at the right time in order to enjoy it.

I am always in the mood for eccentric stories with a sense of adventure, so The Life and Death Parade by Eliza Wass caught my eye immediately with the mention of a psychic and a group of charlatans.

I usually don't read stories about recovery after loss because I tend not to connect with them. However, in The Life and Death Parade, there is a great balance between playful storytelling and the emotional portrayal of death and sentiment. I was drawn into the story instantly, developing a connection with the protagonist.

"Unbelievable. You can't pay someone to tell you that you have no future."

"We pay the college."
The story takes place in England, a change of scenery from the many books I read set in America. The protagonist, Kitty, was adopted by the family her late mother used to work for and lives in a castle — one of the reasons I was so excited to get a hold of a copy of this ARC. Her childhood friend-slash-adoption brother-slash-new boyfriend had dragged her to visit a psychic, but she couldn't pull him away. As a result, Nikki found himself being told that he had no future. Then, he was dead.

Although readers don't get to see much of the romance between Kitty and Nikki, I got a good feel of their relationship together and absolutely adore them! There's perfect chemistry, despite Kitty's hesitations to get so close to him. There is also a romance —LGBTQ+-represented — that blossoms throughout the story. Although I was not as invested in it as I was with Kitty and Nikki, it was cute! It just moved a little too fast for me, and I like to savor in the chase.

"I don't believe in any of those things."

"Me?" He squeezed my hand.

I swallowed my heart to keep it from overflowing. "All right. I guess I believe in you. But don't tell anyone."
There is definitely an element of mystery in the story, and the transitions between the past and the present serve to explain what had happened with Nikki. Although the past really plays with my feels, it could have been better executed. It had me questioning if I had missed something in reading when, really, it was just something to be later revealed.

The tension in the story builds when Roan enters. He's a medium, and when he brings the subject of Nikki back into the family when he temporarily moves in with them, he also brings the subject of Kitty's mom back into the protagonist's heart. As Kitty learns more about them both, there's heartache and questions about if there really is a way to contact spirits.

Although the ending was a bit cheesy, I enjoyed the story. I was looking for a book that's different, and that's exactly what I got. I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I received this advanced reader copy from the publishing company in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very well written and I really enjoyed this one a lot.

This was an unusual book. I wasn't sure what to expect - it is a Disney book, but from the first pages did NOT have a Disney feel at all... It was much more complicated than I thought it would be, but also startlingly simple in its tale of life and death, love and missed opportunities. Kitty is tough to pin down as a character - she's vulnerable and tough and petty and older than her years all at once. Wass captures the plight of teenage girl-dom quite well in this regard. But there's also an odd agelessness to the character that I found endearing and exasperating in equal measure. She is a great focal point for this unusual story - even though nearly every scene is stolen by Nikki (even when he's not appearing in said scene). Nikki haunts the book, because of his flamboyant nature as much as his role in the plot. Even though he is not present for much of the novel, he is the linchpin upon which it all hangs - and the pinpoint upon which all the secrets ultimately unravel.

I know my review is cryptic. I DID start things by saying this was an unusual book... That was a feeling that crept up behind me early on in the story and lingered throughout the reading - a presence as surely felt as Nikki himself. That feeling was amplified as I finished the book and then sat down to capture my thoughts about it. There's a lot to think about within these pages - it's a journey of acceptance as much as anything else, and that's a lesson we can all stand to learn and relearn - and those thinks are worked into the story with a touch that shuffles between delicate and heavy-handed, balancing the two in a way that leaves no doubt that you're being schooled but (oddly) without any sense of lessons or eye-rolling. As I said, unusual. But rest assured, I enjoyed the ride, even if I can't tell you precisely why...

This was a really good book that had a lot of potential to be a great book yet it fell flat to me as what the book was said to be about ended up not being the case making it a major let down. 
Others have said that it is still a good book but this is just my own thoughts and opinions. 
The writing was beautiful but the pace felt off to me. 
The characters had average backgrounds in terms of how much info we got to know about them.

I must admit I did not like this book, but I really wanted too! It reminded me of The Diviners and The Raven Boys, but it was much darker. I can see the author was writing through pain and it is full of emotions. This is a heavy book dealing with grief and death, and not a fun fantasy. I think my problem with this book were my expectations.
I was expecting a 1920s era flapper chasing down a traveling carnival to uncover secrets and magic in hopes of bringing back her love only to find out it is impossible but falls in love with a dashing magical psychic who teaches her about faith and true love all the while she is finding power and strength in herself. I was wrong! I was way way off in my expectations.
It has a good plot, minus the feeling the reader is missing the first 5 chapters and some character development, and it is full of surprises. I was not hooked at first, but I became more curious as to what was going on so I kept reading.
I have no doubt this will find an audience, but it was not for me.

Thank you netgalley for providing this copy for an unbiased review!

Wow! This novel will stay with me. I found it hard to put down. Very bizarre plot twist that I did not see coming.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

I was torn about what star rating I should give this book, whether it was a high 3, a middle ranged 4, or if I should give it a 5. I decided to go in the middle and give it a four. It was an enjoyable read. The characters and story hooked me, and while the twists didn't always go in the direction I wanted them too, in the end I was happy I read it- if a little melancholy because it is a heavy study in grief and loss, and the sometimes callous senselessness of death.

I found the opening a little jarring, perhaps jumping in too quickly and not taking enough time to establish setting and characters. I know the age old advice is to start 3 chapters in from where you think you should and normally I like it when a book gets right down to business but in this case I think a little more setup was needed. I am not sure why, but from the opening paragraphs I thought the book was set in the Southern US- imagine my surprise when I realized it was actually set in Britain!

For the most part, Kitty frustrated me. I think mostly it is because she and I are opposites- I'm a natural believer, she is more of a skeptic. I grew annoyed very quickly of her reluctance to admit her love for Nikki, especially since it was based in her dislike of wealth and class, when Nikki was a good person. People cannot help the circumstances they are born into, and Kitty was too focused on social appearances to be willing to give in to the love she felt for a boy with a good heart who truly loved her. He saw past that she was the daughter of the help, but she could not see past his father's title and money. My heart ached for Nikki, because I really felt he truly loved her and would wait forever for her to love him back.

Roan was a very interesting character. I really enjoyed him, and was pleased with his arc and back story. I won't go into details, because some of his story actually had a twist or two that surprised me, and that is a rare find for me these days. I liked that he was complex, and you never truly knew with him what was real and what was show.

The Lord and Lady Bramley I found predictable and standard. They were a bit of a let down for me because of their stock characterness. I wish they had a little more depth to them. Same goes for the sister Holiday, and to some extent Macklin. By the end I was more impressed with Macklin's arc, but I felt like a little more could have been done with him. Perhaps if we had more of a lead up before the book took off, that would have made a difference.

I wish there had been more with the Life and Death Parade, that the book had introduced more characters from it and developed that aspect a bit more. I was left a little wanting by ending, and some other plot choices, but I get what the author was trying to say with this book, and she well accomplished it. Some stories end before we want them to, some people leave us and the hole never fills in. Not all people get a happy ending, and just because you want something badly enough to will it into existence, does not mean that it will make you happy in the way you thought it would. Life isn't fair, and neither is death.

This book completely blew me away! I was astonished how the writing was able to transport me into the story and make me feel as if I was one of the characters! It was a such a thrilling and suspenseful read, that I never wanted it to end! Hands down a must read of 2018!!

Synopsis: Kitty's amazing, eccentric boyfriend actually dies after a psychic tells him he's going to die. Kitty meets a teenage medium who might be able to help her. But what is this new boy hiding???
I was in a really happy, positive, zen place, and then I read this book, and I'm still happy, but also scared of spirits and on the verge of sobbing

This book has a DARK undertone. The title is not a joke: The Life and Death Parade is philosophically and emotionally deep. I'm going to admit outright that the prose itself wasn't extraordinarily artistic (though Eliza Wass never fails to give lovely imagery describing the sky), but the plot was written very well; you make guesses, and you KNOW things will be OK, and then you're entirely unsure.

At the beginning of each chapter, the author features lines by her late husband (and if you want to set a dark tone, that's a rather good thing to do.) But then the tone is more tragic because the verses are gorgeously written???? Just going into this knowing that someone so close to the author died, and his poetry is featured the book, is unnerving.

There are so much heavy themes tackled through the lens of magic, seances, and ghosts. Is our future predestined? Is our character our fate? What is the function of religion? How many tourist traps like the Life and Death Parade are actually semi-cults?
The Characters
Kitty:
Kitty and I got off to a rough start. Nikki is obviously the love of her life, but she mentions not wanting to be with him because he's rich and always gets what she wants, and she doesn't want to corroborate with a world that lets that happen. KITTY STOP. He's the sweetest boy in the whole world, can we get over social justice for him????? Think of him as a person, don't let him be objectified by money. But I love that you fearlessly shaved your head in grieving for him.

Roan:
The teenage psychic saint. I really liked his unwavering devotion to his boyfriend. He will, without question, always love Emmanuel. That sort of conviction makes him saint material. He may be the saint of "obsession," but why does obsession have such a negative connotation???

Also, I loved how he was gay and therefore the story didn't turn out to be a love triangle featuring Kitty's dead soulmate. Roan also loosely reminds me of one of my heroes, Sherlock Holmes; he can read people just by rearranging what they’ve said. For instance, if you say you can’t cry at home, then you might be a people pleaser. I geeked out over his conning (but relatively honest) ways.

But side note: Why was in mom's coffee the day we decided to hire this guy to be the child's nanny??????? Lesson of the day**what happened????? Always background check.

Nikki!!!!:
He's described as the Joker's angelic little brother. Which translates to the love of my life <3 For me, the plot is only good so far as it follows him. I read this book until the end because i needed to see what would become of him??? He's so lovely. He goes and asks a psychic about his future, and Kitty says NO NIKKI because he’ll believe whatever she tells him. And it's true. He's so trusting and good.

Nikki has tea parties, always tries to make other people happy, randomly hugs unhuggable people, and freely vulnerable about when he’s scared. AND HE LOVES KITTY SO MUCH. Nikki trampled on my heart just by existing.
In the end, I'm not sure what the author believes concerning fate v. free will. I think the point is, it's whatever you believe. You get to decide whether you leave or stay at the party. The mediums are literally never wrong in this book, but then again people have a weird habit of making what they think become reality.

Usually if the prose is bad, I abandon the book because my book relationship standards are ridiculously high, but Life and Death Parade is worthy because of its plot and its Nikki.

Fin.

***and thank you to the Disney Book Group (Disney-Hyperion) for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

(post being published on my blog, malanielovesfiction.wordpress.com on 2/1/2018

this was, as the critics say, <i>bad</i>.

I thought this would be amazing, but I literally started reading about an hour ago and I’m already far enough through to know that it’s time to nope my way out of here <blockquote><img src="https://m.popkey.co/a6c64f/EGWbD_f-maxage-0_s-200x150.gif" width="240" height="200" alt="description"/></blockquote>
The writing moved too quickly, I couldn’t picture anything in my head, and the love interest was already super cringe-y.

I’m too tired of pushing through bad beginnings to continue this book,,, so,,, goodbye <blockquote><img src="https://media1.tenor.com/images/f0bc603ac29b1df45b77de3c02c4c934/tenor.gif?itemid=4885317" width="240" height="200" alt="description"/></blockquote>

What I loved: I loved the unique-ness of this book. Far different from anything I've read lately, it was an enjoyable change. I loved that we see grief from several vantage points.
What I liked: Through the story, we slowly see Kitty find more and more of herself. Never sure where she belonged, she starts to find her sense of belonging as the story unfolds.
What I hated: I have a love/hate relationship with Roan. I loved and hated what he did for/to the family.
Possible read-alikes: That's a toughy...this is unique. This had some elements of Pet Sematary to it. Readers of Libba Bray may enjoy this one. Cassandra Clare and Susan Dennard readers might also enjoy this.

The Life and Death Parade may sound like the title of a best-selling Emo album from the early 2000's, but it is far more than what it appears. The Bramley family  may live in an English castle, but they feel they have lost everything.  After losing their son Nikki to a "horrible accident," his youngest sister, Holiday, has fallen into strange behaviors, Lady Bramley has given up all but holing herself up in her bedroom, Lord Bramley is keeping  stiff upper lip, and their other son Macklin often over reacts when he feels haunted or afraid. There's also Kitty, Nikki's girlfriend, who has lived with the family since her mother (their former servant) passed away. Kitty is doing all she can to cope with both the loss of NIkki and feeling as  if at any moment the Bramley's will kick her out. Nikki died shortly after visiting a psychic who told him he had no future, though no one seems to know what happened. Kitty, armed with a distinct attempt to never believe any of the spiritual practice her mother taught her, strikes out on her own to find the psychic who she believes set Nikki down the wrong path.  Instead, she comes across an attractive performer named Roan. Roan has an air of mystery about him and claims to fake seances for the right price. He is also a member of the Life and Death Parade. This group uses their talents to make money, but some may actually be able to connect in to magic and the spiritual world.  Roan offers to do a seance to calm the minds of Holiday and Lady Bramley, but soon finds himself living with the family and telling Kitty that when the Life and Death Parade return, she'll get the answers she seeks. Kitty suspects he is a charlatan, but soon discovers more about her mother and Roan than she ever thought.

The Life and Death Parade is an easy story to devour. If you have a few hours or a willful case of insomnia, its relatively easy to finish the book in one or two sittings. A word of caution: you may find yourself wishing this was a series. Eliza Wass, the author, writes a story that is both mythic and compelling. It is incredibly hard to put down once you are embroiled in the story.

If you are sensitive to stories of suicide and mental health issues, this may not be the book for you. While we later discover the reason for Nikki's behaviors, there are parts of the story which can be brutal if you're not prepared. The book is recommended for fourteen and above, and I agree with that reasoning.  The Life and Death Parade has elements that reminded me of The Night Circus and a few other teen books, but Eliza Wass has a distinct voice all her own. One can tell the writer has a distinct experience with grief, and this is confirmed when reading her notes about the book.  As someone healing from the loss of a loved one, I found myself connecting to these flashes of grief, but coming away with more understanding than sadness.

The book would make for an excellent Halloween special, not unlike a Ray Bradbury short story.  Look for the Life and Death Parade June 26, 2018 from Disney Book Group.

This book manages to combine the elements of magic, faith, grief and the power all of those things can have over you if you choose to believe.

Beginning this book I was a bit skeptical as to how it was going to play out and the beginning was a bit right on the nose for me in terms of trying to foreshadow what was to come in a way that’s been done countless times in fiction whether it be books/tv or film but once we moved pass that brief section everything else was absolutely spectacular that I couldn’t hold that part against it.

‘The Life and Death Parade’ follows a family after the death of Nikki, a son, brother and first love, as they try and fail to navigate with a hole in their life where he once was, until an unlikely character shows up offering to play his part in order to ease their suffering, only to eventually find that he has more to offer them than just parlor tricks.

The entire concept of the Life and Death parade is something that seems so unreal and almost ancient in a way that you shouldn’t be there but at the same time you can’t look away and I wish I could see it in person I loved every second we spent there as it helped develop this belief system and the consequences that comes when you push things too far and take more than you should and the ripple affect it has on those closest to you.

The twist at the end only solidified the entirety of the message and it’s so powerful that it completely transcends this novel from a simple paranormal book to something far more meaningful in that things happen for a reason and it’s not our job to know what that reasoning is.

I love this book and I absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for something new to read that offers great twists and turns, a descent into madness and the power of belief.

**thank you to netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**