this is what caught my eye and made me want to read this: "For fans of The Little Stranger and Never Let Me Go."

please don't do this. this is nothing like Never Let Me Go in any way shape or form (I have not read The Little Stranger so I can't speak to that).

that aside - I almost DNFd this about halfway through, but I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know what all the digressions and drama was leading up to, so the author did have me going. there was enough of a hook that made me want to turn those pages - but very much like Ruth Ware, it didn't work for me. too much of the aforementioned digressions (pages and pages and pages) along with an overabundance of simile and metaphor (if I notice it, it's too much).

the characters felt more college age than high school - although I'm not sure that distinction would have made much of a difference.

I would say if you like Ruth Ware's books, this might be a good fit for you.

Really good read. Would recommend to friends and family. I could sympathise with characters (important for any fiction novel!) and looked forward to picking it up and reading the next few chapters! Interesting plot line and a good ending. Will look out for more novels by the author. Thank you.

On the surface, "Come When I Call You" presents itself to the reader as a somewhat quirky "coming of age" story centered around two very differently spirited cousins. In the beginning we meet the main characters, Anna and Lucia, as prepubescent "frienemies." Neither has much in common with the other and yet, as family is want to do, the girls are thrown together for playdates, holidays, and the occasional sleepover weekend. As time passes, these familial interludes forge a grudging connection between the girls. Serious and pragmatically minded Anna tolerates silly, pesky little cousin Lucia. The three years in age that separate them make the younger, free-spirited rule-breaker Lucia seem intolerable to Anna. However, as Anna's mother strongly
advises, too many exasperated sighs or an overabundance of obvious eyerolls are beneath her as the more "mature" one of the duo. So Anna gives in and indulges Lucia's childish eccentricities as often as she can. This "older and wiser" persona is a status that Anna enjoys (and needs) for like many a girl at that age, her sense of self is fragile. She struggles to define herself sometimes hiding her adolescent insecurity behind mean remarks and bored indifference. Lucia, for her part, seems oblivious to her cousin's intolerance as she happily floats about annoying and occasionally conning Anna into playing her much beleaguered sidekick. Lucia, you see, seems to live in a world of her own, happily skipping and singing and annoying her most favorite person (Anna) with equal parts imp and angel. Just your regular sibling-like dynamic here. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nope. Just another example of your big kid "ying" bouncing off of my little kid "yang." Right? Well...

As Krishnasamy develops her beautifully paced tale, the reader is slowly allowed a peek or two under the surface (where most things of import often lurk), to discover a most unexpected tie that WILL bond these two together forever. A shared secret that neither can quite bring their younger selves to fully acknowledge. A hidden talent, if you will, that as time passes by both will come to, in their own way, dread. For you see, dear potential reader, both cousins can and do see...dead people!

If a slow rolling, yet wholly captivating ghost story is among the things that go BUMP in your night, then do not pass this one by!

I'd like to express my thanks to NetGalley (and Shayna Krishnasamy) for kindly scaring the lights back on at my house by providing an advanced digital copy of "Come When I Call You."

#ComeWhenICallYou
#NetGalley

Well written story. Kept me engaged the entire time. A page turner for sure! Looking forward to reading more books by this author!

Sixteen-year-old Anna is attending the Claymore Manor boarding school when her wild and unruly younger cousin Lucia appears—on the same day a fellow student is killed. With her talk of ghosts and hauntings, Lucia threatens the delicate balance Anna has struck, and forces her to interrogate the friends and friendships she thought she understood.

I requested this ARC because it gave me sort of modern-Picnic-at-Hanging-Rock vibes, but I had mixed feelings about it. I really enjoyed the character of Anna: she's an outsider, at times obsessive, and under immense and sometimes self-applied pressure that I found extremely relatable. In general, the prose was nice. The similes have their moments! But I hadn't quite realized how YA this would be, and certain turns of phrase ("stratospheric levels of hotness") felt very teenage. Which is maybe fine, if unexpected, except this is apparently meant to be a retrospective told by an adult, and the juxtaposition was odd. The narrator occasionally references how she's telling this story looking back, but these instances of retrospection are random and infrequent, rarely used for any narrative purpose. The plot was a bit contrived, the drama and spookiness a bit forced, the prologue entirely unnecessary. There was little to no suspense or intrigue, for such a mysterious premise. However, I did like it better towards the end, and I thought the changing dynamic between Lucia and Anna was interesting—probably the highlight of the whole novel. I also enjoyed Penelope, and Anna's thoughts on and relationship to her (I was rooting for Penelope and Anna to get together far more than I ever was for Anna and the love interest). And I love to see a female protagonist in dark academia! Overall, I gave this 3/5 stars. Probably best for YA readers who want something gothic and spooky.

'I envied her and I hated her and I loved her and I wanted to be rid of her. That was me and Lucia, all right, to the very end'.

Anna has a secret, a gift of sight she discovered 5 years ago and shares with her younger cousin but has kept hidden from the rest of the world. Now aged 16, Anna is finally making a new life for herself at boarding school, determined to ignore the things she sees that others cannot. But while Anna has been able to suppress her gift, Lucia has been overwhelmed by it, and a sudden visit shows how tenuous her grip on reality has become...

I love a good ghost story, especially one that has a bit of a twist. And by adding the boarding school element to the story, Krishnasamy has created a story that, while at its heart a ghost story, also has strong elements of the psychological thriller to it. Anna's relationship with Queen Bee Penelope and unrequited crush Ben has sinister tones of it's own, made even more so by the arrival of Lucia and sense of unease that she adds to the scenario.

Krishnasamy has created a book rigid with tension, building to a climax that perfectly captures the sense of fear and manic activity that is such a challenge to do well in writing. You know what I mean, like those scenes in horror films where everything happens so quickly and it's almost impossible to know what exactly is happening - that is very hard to do in writing, as often the tension is lost due to over description, leading to an imbalance in pacing. But Krishnasamy managed it, and creates a climax so tense and frantic and full of fear that it leaves you breathless.

All in all, a fantastically unique read, one that is truly unnerving and leaves you questioning every line you read. Definitely one to watch.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reading copy from NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Deep Dark Press for the arc of Come When I Call You.

This follows Anna has always been the Intelligent one out of her and her other cousin,she was and is the follower of rules. She is now 16 years of age and now she attends Claymore Manor boarding school, aschool in which girls find and lose themselves. Ben offer endless distractions for her.... Anna can ignore those things she longs to forget like the things that she sees ... and wishes she didn't or don't want to see

Anna has almost convinced herself that she’s not all that different to other people until her other cousin whom is named Lucia ends up showing up with bruises and injured from battery injurie, and she really needs help as she is at wits end....

This is so thrilling, gripping and had me engulfed right the way through the book so well done Shayna for this amazing book i recommend to all

4 stars
Recommend Highly

"For fans of The Little Stranger and Never Let Me Go comes a riveting and elegantly chilling tale of secrets, lies, and things that creep in the night.

Anna Maron has always been the clever cousin, the older one. The follower of rules. Now sixteen, she attends the prestigious Claymore Manor boarding school, a place where girls find and lose themselves, and boys like Ben offer endless distraction. Where life seems almost normal, and Anna can ignore those things she longs to forget - like the things that she sees...and wishes she didn't.

Anna has almost convinced herself that she’s not all that different, until her cousin Lucia shows up, bruised and battered, and desperate for help. Lucia, with her chilling charm and mystery. Lucia, who shares the same strange gift as Anna, but embraces it even as her hold on reality crumbles away. Now a snowstorm is moving in, and icy weather brings a reckoning of past and present...and the living and dead.

In this deliciously unnerving contemporary gothic novel, Shayna Krishnasamy draws readers into a tale that uniquely explores the ties that bind, the lies we tell ourselves, and how some secrets only come alive in the dark."

GOTHIC!!!

As children, Anna and Lucia Maron saw something that changed them forever. Flash forward and Anna is trying to fit in at the posh Claymore Manor boarding school. Lucia is a ghost of her former self, and has a tenuous grasp on reality. But when she asks for Anna’s help, Anna knows she has no choice. She takes Lucia in, and almost immediately Lucia begins to take over every area of Anna’s life, her friends, the boy she likes and the secrets that Anna has kept for all those years. A disturbing story of obsession and jealousy