The Haunted Purse was a surprise read for me because I'm a newbie to the paranormal genre. Unless you count Edgar Allen Poe, required reading when I was a kid. Kim's book falls in the YA category, one of my favorites.

What I enjoyed the most were the characters and how they were developed. They had the weaknesses and prejudices we all carry with us, no matter how we try to convince ourselves otherwise. Libby, the main character, lives by her wits with very little from her mother, truly a despicable character. However—and this credit goes to the author's skill—we feel empathy for her later in the story, despite her disregard for her daughter.

Friendship is all-important to teenagers and the story revolved around a mystery and the theme of friendship and how it plays out in our lives. Libby carries a secret even from her best friend, another layer to the story.

Another surprise? A satisfactory ending that had me tearing up and cheering at the same time. And one other thing about the haunting. It's not the kind that deprives you of sleep.

Don't be lulled into thinking you'll meet only Casper the Friendly Ghosters in this book. Because you will encounter sinister elements. I won't say more because I don't want to include any spoilers in this review.

This was a page turner, and I looked forward to reading it every night in bed, my favorite spot for relaxing.

I will also post my review on Amazon as soon as I am able.

Was hoping for more supernatural, history involved with the purse. Has potential, but could have been really interesting.

Libby Dawson never expected the adventure that awaits her when she picked up the denim purse at the thrift store. Items appear and disappear without her control. She faces embarrassment, ridicule and docked grades because of the purse but when she confesses her idea to her best friend that the purse may be haunted, they decide to try to unravel the mystery. It turns out a murdered teen from decades ago once owned the same purse and she can only communicate through Libby's purse. Can Libby discover the truth about what happened years ago or will she be the next victim?



The Haunted Purse is an unexpected young adult paranormal mystery. While the beginning feels like a fun teen paranormal (my purse ate my homework), it soon takes on a dark, ominous tone. Libby is a poor teen basically living on her own. Her flaky mother stops in from time to time to give her money before rushing off to join her wealthy boyfriend who doesn't like kids. While it's easy to feel sorry for Libby, her perspective on life and people leaves a bad taste in my mouth. She's obsessive about the flaws of everyone around her and compares her best friend's skin color to two crayons in a box. It struck me as odd and a little racist but then, maybe that is the author's point. Racism, even when you're talking about best friends, can be so ingrained, it isn't perceived by those having the thoughts. The mystery behind the purse and the murdered teen kept me turning the pages. The crush Mason had on Libby was cute and fairly realistic for teen love. Overall, this was a good young adult and I recommend it.

Trigger Warning: child abuse

My Rating: 4 stars

Thank You NetGalley Publisher & Author for this gifted e-arc.

Summary
That old denim purse Libby Dawson bought at the thrift store isn't your run-of-the-mill teenage tote. It's a bag of secrets, imbued with supernatural powers. Strange items keep turning up inside, clues to a decades-old mystery only Libby can solve.

Review
This is a YA book.
Which I ended up liking. To my surprise.
This is a creepy good book filled with twist and apprehension.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Haunted Purse in exchange for an honest review.

So, yikes. Stripped down to it's bare-bones premise, The Haunted Purse could have been really interesting. A young teen buys a purse at a thrift shop only to discover that it's haunted by a girl who died a decade earlier who can only communicate with her via taking or revealing objects in the purse? Such a unique set up for a mystery story.

Unfortunately, Libby is that worst. You can never quite tell if the narrative wants you to think Libby is above everyone else or a poor girl from a bad home who you should pity. Ever single character who isn't her ally is quick to be described as ugly or fat. It's really weird too because thrift-shop shopper Libby will walk into said thrift shop and complain about how poor everyone there looks? Wild. Anyways, Libby doesn't realize it but she's actually one of the most goregous humans to walk the earth ever (obviously).

The racial aspects of this are um... not that great. Libby's best friend is black and the book really wants to know that so instead of saying "she's black" we get a description of her 'light african american colouring' that is then followed up with Libby telling us exactly which two crayola colours she falls in between? Libby also calls herself ghetto which felt odd because 1) well Libby lives alone at 14 and is poor, she clearly goes to school in an area with a lot of really rich kids. Unless she lives in the smallest ghetto ever, she doesn't live in a ghetto. 2) it's often used outside of association with where she lives. Libby'll say things along the lines of "I look like every other ghetto kid". Libby no you do not. A ghetto is an area mainly populated by a minority. Even if you live in one, you don't look like a 'ghetto kid' because you're not a minority stop trying to be special.

The whole purse thing was also really underwhelming. Libby's stuff starts disappearing and she instantly goes "MAGIC BAG" and is frustrated when other people don't also go "MAGIC BAG". Despite being sure the bag is magic, Libby continues to put important objects in it only to be disappointed when they disappear.

I think there's a lot of potential and I quite liked the story and the mystery.
I think that some more editing would have helped to make the MC a bit less judgmental and likable.
It think it's an engrossing story.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review
Trigger warnings of child abuse
Libby was from the poor side of town with a mother who had abandoned her. While at the thrift shop with her friend Toni she comes across a denim purse. For $4 Libby couldn’t pass it up. Even though the store owner shook the bag out and found nothing Libby found a bottle of perfume in the purse which she was given for free but by the time she got home she could no longer find it. This was the first in a number of items that disappeared from the bag until a photograph showed up and this took Libby on a search for a girl who had been missing for twenty years. With the help of clues from the purse that was once owned by the missing girl Libby uncovers the dark activities of a well respected community member and a family she has longed for..
This murder mystery with a splash of the supernatural was a really easy read that had elements of what’s good and bad in the world. I loved the story of Libby and how she learned to survive on her own and never lost her own self worth Even when tempted by the high school heart throb. Her friendship with Toni was one more of convenience and proximity rather than true friendship but the crush that Toni’s brother Mason had on Libby was adorable.

I'm sorry, this is... not good. It has potential. I would read a story about a haunted purse. It just needs polishing.

I am all for a good simile or metaphor but I'm not sure the best way to describe someone's skin color is "between [a] and [b] in the jumbo crayon box" and I'm not sure that "she stuck her whole arm inside, like a farm vet birthing a calf, and groped around" is a comparison that needs to be made to... well, ANYTHING, ever. This is not the imagery I wanted in my life.

The main character is not the greatest person either. She consistently describes anyone that annoys her as fat, ugly, or a dozen other mean-spirited spur of the moment things. The main character herself is (of course) beautiful but doesn't know it (probably because her beauty is hidden by her ugly soul). She looks down on everyone shopping in the thrift store, while she herself shops in the thrift store. We know she gets her things secondhand, because we're told as much every single time any piece of clothing is mentioned. She also likes to refer to herself as ghetto... a lot. I guess because she shops at the thrift store and lives in the inner city? Either way, it's... not exactly an association that's going to go over well with readers.

Thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the advance review copy.