This book was beautiful and haunting, tackling themes of trauma, family, friendship and ultimately healing. I absoutely adored it.

Loneliness, trauma, grief so all consuming. Nina Lacour writes in such a moving way that I don’t think the chills from reading this book will leave me for the rest of the night. Hauntingly beautiful.

No surprise that the writing was absolutely incredible. Nina LaCour can do no wrong, and she is easily one of the best writers of YA. I will always love Nina LaCour, and this is a fantastic novel of hers.

This is not the book I thought I was reading, but it was still amazing! I think reading this book after reading a Rory Powers novel really got to me! I was looking out for spooky things the entire time when that isn't the intention of this novel. I kept trying to piece together the supernatural when I really should have been focusing on the growth of our wonderful main character. I think this is the only reason Watch Over Me wasn't a five star read for me. I will always be astounded at the amazing character development Nina creates in her books. I always feel like I'm going on a journey when I read LaCour's books. It was truly an epic adventure from start to finish!

“Watch Over Me” is a chilling supernatural drama that will leave your gut churning and soul hollowed.

PLOT

Mila is a woman adrift. Aged out of her foster home and desperate for connection, our protagonist receives an invitation to move to a remote farm and take on the role of teacher to a young boy. As Mila adjusts to life on the farm, the troubled teen is haunted by her past, both literally and metaphorically.

WRITING

LaCour is a gifted storyteller, who pays particular attention to details, setting, and apt metaphors without appearing heavy-handed. At times, “Watch Over Me” flows like exquisite poetry, throwing the narrator’s fragile mental state in sharp relief as her thoughts slash across the page like discordant notes.

TOPICS

“Watch Over Me” is not for the faint of heart. The novel grapples with feelings of isolation, otherness, unworthiness, and gaslighting, to name a few.

The narrator’s past trauma puts the reader in the troubling state of wondering whether her perception can be trusted, a question she herself is facing. With each passing chapter, her voice is more and more unreliable and we fall deeper and deeper into discovering the truth of her dark past.

OVERALL

I struggled to read this in one sitting (I couldn’t, in fact). LaCour’s writing left me twisted and reeling, desperate for warmth. A solid work worthy of hype.

4.5/5

Abandonment, grief, ghosts. This book is told my teenage Mila, who was raised by her young mother. Having given birth to Mila as a teenager, her mother made loads of mistakes in raising her. The biggest was that she got incolved with a man who emotionally abused both of them and had them live in squalor in what seemed to be a homeless camp. This book jumps back and forth from life with her mother and her life today. and how she deals with everything.

An emotional heart rending read, with a slight back story of ghostmired guests, leading the way to become a part of the family circle. Will Mila follow her haunted past and learn from the ghosts, will she abandon all hopes of ever belonging anywhere. Will Mila earn the prized possess-sion cherished by all other family members?

First off, thanks so much to the hosts of the SLJ Day of Dialogue which gifted us galleys of this book and holding a phenomenal virtual con.

The biggest let down of this book is the fact that I devoured it in two days. Turn of the Screw has been receiving the royal treatment lately and Nina's rendition is by far my favorite. Is there anything better than a good ghost story during a summer (or autumn when this is released) storm? For those who loved the atmospheric quiet crafted in We Are Okay, Watch Over Me provides that same lush imagery. The way she is able to so accurately write all the nuances of aloneness is beyond my comprehension. I grew up on the east coast, but in a very rural area where farmer's markets are part of the routine summer fun, wildflowers grow in everyone's yards. Terry and Julia's farm felt as though it could be just down the road from me, a short walk and I'd be there in this healing place safely tucked away from the chaos of the world right now. Even if your story is vastly different from Mila's, I feel anyone could connect to her need for growth and come out of this book tempted to face their fears head on.

Okay first of all, so excited to have won an e-ARC of Watch Over Me!! Thanks, Penguin Teen. But now to the review:

I stand by my proclamation of Nina Lacour as the queen of writing sad girls. This I thoroughly enjoyed how this book talks about grief, trauma, and finding the ability to trust and be loved afterwards. But this slow and quiet story didn’t pack the same emotional punch for me as We Are Okay. I felt like Mila’s character development went from very gradual growth to hyper speed because the book needed to end. It could have been longer and not packed so much in to the last 30 or so pages (read a galley so I’m not sure how accurate that page count is).

I loved getting to know Mila and sifting through the air of mystery that the farm held, so the setting and characters kept me engaged. However, I wish we could have spent more time getting close to other characters. It felt like while the story was actually quite slow some aspects like that were just skimmed over. My biggest issue was definitely pacing, but overall the writing was beautiful and the story idea is really interesting.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3425321071

Firstly, I would like to thank Penguin Teen for hosting a sweepstakes for a digital arch (delivered via NetGalley) of this novel. Watch Over Me is a quick read and beautifully told first-person story about a teenager trying to overcome her past and adapt to a new way of life. Having recently graduated high school, Mila comes to work as a teacher for foster kids in a North Carolina farm. She draws from her own experiences in foster care to relate to the children. Longing for a place to call home and people to call family, Mila tries to fit in while getting over her haunting visions and memories. I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Mila and her first student Lee. We see Mila grow as an educator in helping Lee overcome his fears while getting over her own reservations about trusting people. I also loved the way Nina LaCour used the tittle as a motif that echoes throughout the novel. The author does a great job at building suspense and revealing pieces of Mila’s past at select points in the book to drive the story forward. Watch Over Me is a story of a young lady finding her place in the world: overcoming her fears, coming to terms with past mistakes, and finding family in the most unexpected places. I recommend it for those looking for a quick, past paced, suspenseful read.

Nina LaCour is one of my favorite YA authors and her new novel did not disappoint! She is an exceptional writer and being from Mendocino County, this story has a special place in my heart. I can't wait to recommend this!

This story captured my interest. I was intrigued by the home Julia and Terry provided and in awe of the ghosts and the way they were received by the children. I finally understood the relationships revealed as the story unfolded. I loved this book and the way it dealt with pain and recovery.

Thanks to Penguin Teen for providing a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley for my honest review.

This book was about a young lady named Mila. She had grown up spending much of her life in foster care. Her mother was a teen mom and made a lot of poor choices. When she graduated high school she was given an opportunity to live on a farm and teach young foster children. It was a wonderful opportunity for her to join an an unconventional family and feel like she belonged. She was worried about the ghosts of her past following her.

This was a YA book but was a great story. It's about struggles and overcoming struggles. It's recommended for older students 14+. I definitely would have it in my 8th grade classroom for students to read. It kept my attention and was quick to read.

5 stars for the Setting and Atmosphere
3 stars for the story
This was moody, atmospheric, and lovely. Mila’s regrets, loneliness and desire to belong were written beautifully. I also loved the setting of this remote farm full of ghosts, and the magical realism aspect that people just accepted them. There wasn’t a lot of plot, and I don’t think that was the point, but Mila’s journey and memories did not start to feel compelling until the second half. But overall, lovely descriptions and great sense of place.

Mila has aged out of foster care and her foster parents are expecting a baby, leaving less room for her. So when she gets offered an internship at a farm, she takes it. She isn't intimidated by the fact that is remote. She won't have Internet or cell phone services. But she's lived without before. Immediately, she falls in love with Terry and Julia, the leaders, as well as the other interns and kids. But when night falls, the ghosts appear. As Mila comes to love the farm, she must eventually unravel the secret behind the ghosts and the secret she's been keeping.
Nina LaCour does a wonderful job building and using her setting. You can see, smell, and almost taste the fresh farm air, the ocean wind, the fresh flowers and produce. What sits with you, though, is the concept of tackling your own ghosts or demons. It's a great story about accepting your past, your role init, and learning to go forward as a more complete person. This doesn't sit like a typical ghost story. It isn't scary--Mila is never afraid of the ghosts. It is more psychological than that, and that is what I love about it. Don't go into it looking for your traditional haunting; go into it looking for self-exploration and you won't be disappointed..

Haunting. LaCour’s prose deftly exists in the line between reality and fantasy in which the reader can’t tell if ghosts are real, imagined-or if it matters. Is this a cult book? Is this a ghost book? I don’t have a concrete answer but I read it in one sitting regardless.

The setting was interesting, and the characters were too, the story line was slow and dragging. the writing is pretty though.

As is typical of Nina LaCour's works, Watch Over Me proved to be a beautiful, atmospheric, and haunting (literally and figuratively) piece. The bold subtlety of LaCour's writing is a must-read.

I could not put this book down, Something was creepy, eerie and unsettling about it, but what? You will care about Mila and quickly grow to love her new family so why is it so eerie? We all have our ghosts.

Nina LaCour is a hauntingly and achingly beautiful writer. She writes damaged girls searching for meaning and love. This book continues her writing trajectory, capturing the story of Mila, a young adult leaving the foster system and joining a new type of family community on a farm. There are figurative and literal ghosts confronting Mila throughout the book as she reckons with her past that haunts her.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the review copy.

Watch Over Me is a beautifully written story about Mila. Mila has finally left the foster care system and is set out for a new life as a home school teacher to a family of many who have lost their families over time. The farm is haunted and the ghosts Mila sees are not the kind of ghosts you and I might think. Struggling to make peace with her past, Mila is quickly accepted into this make shift family but can’t seem to escape the demons of her old life. LaCour writes a hauntingly, melancholic story of love, grief and acceptance..