Nina LaCour weaves a novel of the supernatural, life and coming of age experiences into a stunning tale.

This dark, moody and atmospheric novel has faint echoes of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. A perfect read for a wet and dreary day.

After aging out of the foster care system, Mila is offered a job as one of the teachers on a farm that fosters other children. The farm is a refuge for its young residents but is also haunted by the past traumas of all who have lived there.

I think it’s important to set the right expectations here... this is not some spooky ghost story that’ll have you afraid to turn off the lights. What it is instead is a beautiful exploration of grief and overcoming trauma through the help of found family. The word lovely doesn’t make many appearances in my daily vocab but that’s how I’m feeling compelled to describe this one.

Mila and all the other children display wonderful resiliency after living through incredibly difficult childhoods, and the gratitude and happiness they have for finally having a place to call home is so endearing. While I think it could’ve pushed a bit further emotionally, the last paragraph of this one had me tearing up and I’ll definitely be picking up whatever LaCour writes next.

Watch Over Me, like LaCour's other books, was a beautiful novel that explored a lot of really important and interesting themes, ranging from grief to family to finding your place in a world that feels otherwise incredibly precarious. This book was at times both heartwrenching-ly sad (again, something I've come to expect from LaCour--she really knows how to pull at the heartstrings) and also uplifting, giving both the characters and the readers hope.

I loved the main character, but I also loved the side characters and the way that they all functioned together. I absolutely adored the found family aspect of this novel, something which is very close to my heart, and the setting was amazing. I have told multiple people since reading this book that I want to live in this setting. I want to live on the farm, in one of the little cabins, work at the farmer's market, learn the names of the plants, walk down the ocean. It's beautiful both in its description and its function, and I could not get enough of it. I absolutely loved the concept of teaching the children the names of all the plants and having them learn about nature because it helps them understand their place in the world.

Once again, LaCour does something here that has always made me fall in love with her writing--she takes seemingly simple things, everyday things but describes them in such a way that I am captivated and want to crawl inside her beautiful writing: the glint of the light on a thin gold band, the slicing of a fresh loaf of bread, the warmth of a fireplace on your bare skin. I've always fallen all over myself over LaCour's writing, and this time is no different.

It seems at first that LaCour is going to depart from her usual MO with the inclusion of a supernatural element here in the form of the farm's ghost. I really liked the way everyone spoke about the ghosts so frankly. There was no big reveal, there was no are they or aren't they, they were just there, and everyone spoke openly about the fact that they were. Are they real, are they metaphorical? That's the best part--it doesn't matter. They are, and they serve the story so well that I never gave another thought to it.

This is an amazing read, I've already recommended it to quite a few people. It is at times heartwarming and heartbreaking, and weaves a beautiful of tale of family, friendship, and moving on to a kind and welcoming future. An easy five out of five. Anyone and everyone should read this!

the writing in this book is gorgeous, and Nina LaCour never fails to disappoint when it comes to themes of grief and trauma in her books. this is a really beautiful story, but i also felt like something was missing. maybe it's because of the short length, or maybe i was expecting the ending to be more emotionally impactful to me than it was - i'm not sure. i also felt like i was so distant from the characters in this story. that could just be a "me" thing, but i never quite bridged the gap toward feeling connected with Mila and Lee and everyone else.

the story is gripping and the prose is gorgeous, though, so i would definitely still recommend this to people!

The writing in this story is a beautiful story that is full of love, loss, and found family. It's perfectly spooky considering it's Halloween. The story is a slow build that is haunting and full of ghosts.

This book is so beautifully written, and it doesn’t hurt that it takes place along the picturesque cliffs of Mendocino, CA. The main character, Mila, has been in the foster care system since she was young, and when she finally gets a chance to make a home of her own on a farm in Mendocino, CA, she takes it. ⁣
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Mila accepts a position to intern at a farm, teaching math, English, science, and history to a young boy named Lee. She is overwhelmed by the hospitality but can’t help but notice the dancing ghosts that haunt her as she walks back to her cabin at night. I found Mila’s story to be a moving read that provides a young, yet mature perspective on longing for a place to belong. I read Watch Over Me in just a few short hours, yet Mila’s story still stays with me to this day.⁣

After leaving the foster system, Mila moves to a remote commune in search of a sense of belonging. Here, she meets characters whose questionable behaviors mirror a blurred world of the real and the spectral. As Mila confronts her ghosts, past and present, her grasping for someone to watch over her keeps the book engaging and suspenseful.

A stunning treatise on accepting grief, finding love, finding family...with ghosts. Also music and nature and FOOD. Mila's story about learning to trust herself again and heal is unforgettable. And the cover is as beautiful as Lacour's writing.

A story of healing from trauma. I enjoyed the way Nina LaCour chose to incorporate the paranormal aspect with this story, i don’t think I’ve seen it done like this before. I loved the ambience of the farm house, but i do wish we’d gotten to know some of the characters a bit more.

This book brought me in from the very first page. The voice of the main character was so strong and so vivid, that I felt like she was talking directly to me. It's a beautiful and haunting story that highlights the vulnerability of children as well as their resilience.

Absolutely gorgeous! I can see this flying off my library shelves. LaCour just keeps getting better and better.

Does your reading get spookier in October?
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If you want a book on theme, but you’re not into scary or gory, this story could be for you.
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I recently finished Nina Lacour’s Watch Over Me about a teenager who ages out of the foster care system and goes to live on a remote farm as an intern, helping to care for the many adopted children of a generous couple.
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On her first night there, she sees one of many ghosts who also live on the farm. No big deal. There are so many other odd things happening that the ghosts sort of fade into the background and feel normal.
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There are hints of something not quite right sprinkled throughout the pages, but you can never quite put your finger on it. And all these bad childhood memories start coming back to the main character, Mila.
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This is a quiet story with a slow build, and it feels a lot like the song, Someone to Watch Over Me, from which we get the book title.
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Everything came together beautifully at the end. I also loved the vivid images of ghosts lit up in the night and dancing on the farm. These images will stay with me.
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Thank you @penguinteen for the gifted book.

Beautifully written evocative novel. Nina Lacour has an incredible way with words and I really felt this book- the solitude, the sadness. This is a quiet book in the way that raw emotions can be quiet. In the way of silent tears late at night. I know I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.

A beautiful reworking of the ghost tale that focuses a bit too much on the quieter moments on the narrative.

This book was incredibly deep and full of heart. The story of trauma healing and forgiveness towards self was so incredibly well woven into this slightly unnerving setting of a remote farm full of ghosts. My wariness towards the general ~thriller~ vibes of this book kept me on my toes but every turn my fear was thwarted by another warm moment between Lee and Mila. The themes of forgiveness and trauma healing were so nicely balanced. Watching Mila be kind to everyone except herself and then eventually learning to direct that love inwards was so cathartic for me as a reader. Nina LaCour continues to deliver deep cutting stories on trauma, loss, and healing, and this book just surpassed all my already high expectations of her work!

I am always amazed at just how beautiful Nina LaCour’s writing is. I don’t think I can put into words how well she describes everything and makes you feel like you are there and can see and feel everything. This book is haunting and beautiful and I know it is going to stay stuck in my mind for a very long time. I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the ghost story and Mila’s journey..

I adore Nina LaCour's beautiful, haunted writing -- and especially after watching the Watch Over Me virtual launch event with her and Brandy Colbert, I'm also a huge fan of the author herself! So I absolutely jumped at the chance to read her newest book early.

This book still had the beautiful lyricism, pain, grief, complexity, and character growth that I loved from Everything Leads to You and We Are Okay, but this time it also has GHOSTS! I absolutely love the way Nina incorporated them into this story. This setting was wonderfully atmospheric and I was shocked to hear (at the launch event) that she didn't grow up in that setting. Clearly, her research trips paid off!

As with her other books, this story is more character-driven than plot driven, with suspense elements that make it easy to binge the book in one sitting (which I absolutely did). I loved this book. Thank you to Penguin Teen via Netgalley for a free advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Quick read that had me engrossed until the very end. There were some flaws (lack of character development and a lot of it seemed a bit rushed to me) but that’s what sometimes happens in a shorter book geared toward YA, so I didn’t mind. In fact, I kind of embraced it. Lacour writes beautiful language, descriptive scenery that I could 100% put myself into and isn’t afraid to take on tough topics-which I appreciate. Watch Over Me took me on a journey when reading during Covid has sometimes been tough for me! Have you read this one? What did you think? PS the cover 😍

Delicate trauma

From what I understand, Nina Lacour writes a lot about girls facing difficult things in life, lots of self-reflection and such. In that way, I believe you will find the same thing in this book: Mila, our main character, has been placed in the foster system as a teen, and as she starts now her first job as an adult, in an isolated farm, we will understand what brought her there. Nina Lacour does this story telling in a very unique way, alternating present Mila, who is teaching a young kid, trying to help him, while also finding her place at the farm, and past Mila, a young girl who had to go through a terrible experience and survived…. but at what cost?
It was a very immersive and raw writing, we could feel all of Mila’s emotions, almost see them, as they overpowered her sometimes. Can she move on from her past? Will she understand her insecurities and her want to belong? And when the time comes, will she accept her past, and be ready to do what it takes to embrace her future?

Animated gif about tumblr in Nemo by Cnfank on We Heart It
Why are you haunted?

What really put this book apart for me, was the setting. First, this isolated farm in the North of California: we have the ocean, we have vegetables and flowers growing on the ground, we have homemade cooking (pleeeasse I want this pumpkin soup and homemade butter!!), and that’s the kind of setting I always LOVE. Here, it was no exception. I don’t know, I’ll probably die without the internet, but I love the idea of such a simple and grounded life. We also meet several members of the adopted family, though not all of them (there are like 6 or 7 foster kids, two teachers and the adoptive parents), and it helps us really feel the atmosphere Mila is diving in.
But mostly, what I loved where the ghosts. They are there in such a strange way…. this book is definitely in our world, like real world. But ghosts exist, or at least can be seen by some people. Can follow them even. Like this strange one following Mila and dancing around. Ghosts of kids too, wandering the lands. And they are accepted for real by everyone on the farm, their existence is not questioned, they are just there. As real as you and me. That was really well done, especially as you learn more and more about who they are and why they are here, and I loved the concept behind these ghosts as a whole. Definitely my fav part of the book!

In a few words

A reflexive, melancholic story, about a young girl who lost herself years ago….and who will have to face the ghosts of the past and present to rediscover who she is. And she has homemade butter! Definitely the perfect read on a rainy Fall afternoon 😉