Tiffany Jackson has done it- she made me read (and love) a horror/thriller book. It is so good— even if it’s a little out of your genre comfort zone, give it a chance. I did, and I loved it! It’s being released in September, so it’s the perfect cozy thriller for fall 2021.

Mari and her recently blended family leave California and seek a fresh start in a Midwestern town. Mari’s mom has accepted new opportunity from the Sterling Foundation. As the foundation seeks to renovate and revitalize rundown parts of town, Mari’s family is given a newly renovated house to stay in during the program. Immediately, Mari is picking up really sketch vibes from the house- strange smells, unexplained noises, objects moving on their own, shadows and voices. As Mari learning about her new town she begins to and uncover secrets and mysteries.

Tiffany Jackson weaves together a thrilling story that will keep you up late reading in suspense while also exploring themes of family, change, gentrification, and social justice. It is not easy to pull off book that is exiting and entertaining while exploring these complex themes without coming off as preachy. I will certainly be getting a copy of this book for my classroom library, but I’m also thinking it might make a great option for literature circles!

I think I should get bonus points for reading a this book about a creepy haunted house the week we moved into our new house (built 60 years ago)! With each floor creak and dishwasher running, I wanted to jump!

I cannot recommend White Smoke enough.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

This was a pretty fun read. Jackson knows how to ramp up the creepy factor, although character development tales a back seat. I found it hard to suspend disbelief: Mari’s mom and stepdad are exceptionally obtuse, and there are lots of convenient coincidences with no nuance. And what is up with the Scott Clark channel that every household keeps their TVs tuned to?

Race issues aren’t explicitly addressed, but underpin a lot of the tension of the town.

Two and a half stars rounded up to three.

Thanks to Katherine Tegen Books and NetGalley for the electronic arc.

Tiffany D. Jackson is my favorite YA author, and I will always pick up anything she writes. This one is intriguing and definitely a departure from her other works. It’s an atmospheric Tiffany D. Jackson is my favorite YA author, and I will always pick up anything she writes. It’s an atmospheric horror/suspense novel that also tackles many issues including gentrification, racism, addiction, and mental health struggles. The ending wasn’t quite what I was looking for, as it felt a bit rushed and didn’t quite fit my expectations, but perhaps the story will continue in some way in the future. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I love all of Tiffany Jackson's books and this one was no exception. Jackson is an expert at writing hard-hitting, suspenseful stories that you can never guess the ending of. I can't wait for this one to arrive at our library so I can recommend it to our teens.

Overall, this was a fun spooky read. Parts of the story felt like it dragged out too long or were repetitive. I like the tie into social issues. Teens will enjoy the connection to The Haunting of Hill House. The ending, if you could call it that, is abrupt.

Wow! Ms. Jackson has done it again. Effortlessly weaving in relevant societal issues (i.e gentrification, Marijuana use, etc) with perfect and seamless, engrossing storytelling. I was pulled in from the first page and honestly, could have completed it in one sitting!

First, thank you to Katherine Tegan Books (Harper Collins) and NetGalley for this ARC copy. I LOVE a good horror story and White Smoke delivered! Tiffany D. Jackson is one of my favorite authors, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this title.

Mari, a 16 year old recently released from rehab, moves cross country with her blended family due to a new job opportunity for her mother. When Mari starts seeing supernatural activity in her new house, she knows she can't tell anyone because everyone will think she's getting high again.

Pros: Jackson weaved in the Detroit abandonment issues, gentrification and systemic racism into a classic haunted house story. One night after reading the book, I was too scared to turn off my lights.

Cons: I would have loved to recommend this book to my middle school and lower high school students, but the constant mention of weed and the need for it to calm anxiety isn't appropriate for younger audiences. As an adult, I definitely understand why Jackson included this aspect of the story. Also, the only reason for my 4.5 stars is the story ended WAYYY too abruptly. So many holes and issues were left unanswered. I really hope when the final book is released, Jackson will include an epilogue to explain all the loose ends.

Otherwise, I LOVED it and I will definitely be adding this book to my 12th grade recommendations page on my website. Tiffany D. Jackson is a genius author.

This is a story about the ghosts of gentrification past

This was such a solid, unsettling horror story! I could feel the dread creep in, and at one point towards the end my heart was literally pounding. I loved the exploration of the protagonists experience & the cautionary tale woven throughout. The author is brilliant & I hope she writes more scary stories. There was one particular trope that didn’t work for me- it’s why this wasn’t a 5⭐️ read, so stop reading if you want to go in totally blind

*Trope Spoiler*
I don’t enjoy the drunk/addicted woman trope in horror or thrillers. The preoccupation with marijuana in this book was overwhelming- and I think that might have been the authors way of exploring the insidious & constant nature of addiction? But it was distracting for me personally from what was otherwise a really scary book.

Thank you so much netgalley & HarperCollins Children’s !

That’s when a shadow appears in the door sill and the footsteps stop. My breath hitches. Sammy wraps his arms around me, squeezing his face into my back, and I’m nearly convulsing in fear.”
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Marigold is ready for a change. She left California in disgrace: having OD’d on bad drugs she’s ready for a fresh start. The Midwestern town of Cedarville is where her mother, little brother, new stepdad and his daughter, Piper, end up after her mom wins free rent in a once-abandoned home provided by the Sterling Foundation. Nothing seems right about the town or Maple Street. Things go missing, weird noises are a daily occurrence, foul smells, random lights going on/off and a locked basement push Mari to her breaking point. When Piper’s imaginary friend, Ms. Suga, turns out to be anything but friendly Mari has to decide if she should outrun her ghosts or stay and fight for her family.
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Hailed as Get Out meets The Haunting of Hill House (with a side of Paranormal Activity thrown in for good measure) this was by far the scariest YA book I’ve ever read. When students ask for a scary story: I will be running to the shelf for this one. White Smoke will have you sleeping with the lights on. Thank you @netgalley for an ARC. This young adult book releases 9.14. BUY IT IMMEDIATELY.

It seems the world is telling me I need to be more afraid of bedbugs...

This book was great! It follows Marigold (Mari) and her family as they move from California to the Midwest for a new beginning. They move to a nice town and get to live in a nice house for free (as long as her mom follows the contract and keeps writing her book). It seems like a great place to start over, leaving issues they had in California and learning to grow together as a family.

The only problem is that the house seemingly wants Marigold to leave. Immediately.

This is more than just a horror novel, it explores family issues, like learning to live with your father in another country and your step father and step sister taking his place (father and the family are all still very much on good terms and talk regularly).

It also shows a lot about anxiety, as we see Mari struggling with her own intrusive thoughts about bedbugs, the constant fear that they are lurking anywhere and everywhere (sounds a bit silly, but bedbugs are serious).

As a method of self medication, this book also shows Mari's relationship with drugs and the lasting effects they've had on her and her family, but also Cedarville in the wake of mass incarceration in the past.

This book was great, both on the surface of being a scary horror story (bonus points for reading alone in the dark), but also for having depth in the characters and their lives. I'd definitely recommend this book if you're looking for something a little spooky.

Tiffany Jackson’s latest is described as her take on The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out, and it is trademark Jackson, with twists, turns, and a pace that keeps you flipping pages. A ghost story, yes. A horror story, yes. A psychological mystery-thriller, yes!

It’s not just the house that haunts Mari; it’s personal struggles that got her blended family looking for a fresh start in a creepy town, in a creepy neighborhood, in a creepy house surrounded by abandoned wrecks. Mari’s demons and their effects on her interactions with people and on her perception of reality—is she delusional or is all this crazy-spooky stuff happening for real--add depth to the story, as does Mari’s edgy voice and difficult history, giving Jackson room to explore anxiety and addiction and to comment on other societal issues. I agree with readers who find some of the story’s strands underdeveloped and the ending too abrupt. I also think the religious references add little to the plot, though they might work in a movie script. Still, this novel will appeal to teen readers who, in our high school library, have already been asking for Tiffany Jackson’s next book. They’ll eat this one up.

Potential triggers: Bed bugs! If you’ve ever experienced an invasion, be prepared to relive it. Also, casual alcohol and drug use, and talk about the positive uses of marijuana (by a teenager who self-medicates and is admiringly described at one point as sounding like she has “professional" knowledge) with no mention of the potentially heightened negative impact on developing teenaged brains. The medical research on this issue is ongoing and much more complicated than the teenaged protagonist suggests, which may trip up some teen readers but also make for some good discussions. For instance, I think White Smoke would be an interesting selection for a biology class in which, among other things, the more complex story of marijuana’s effects on the teenaged brain could be researched and discussed.

Rating: 3 stars

New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson has another book coming out this September: (Amazon affiliate link) White Smoke.

Marigold is running from the secrets and anxiety of her life. When her mother is given an opportunity for a fellowship which includes a free house, Marigold finds herself being moved across country with her faithful dog, younger brother, and new little stepsister. Thrown into a nightmarish block of burned houses which have sat empty for 30 years, secrets start coming to life. Mari will have to start facing them if she hopes to save her family.

Jackson does a superb job of weaving in information from Mari’s history, as well as the history of the area, into the main story line, giving readers a peak into the past without revealing everything at once. The twists in the plot are fun for middle school age readers. However, I wish the author had gone more into detail. I was left feeling that the story was a bit flat when she could have added in a lot more detail to fully round out the plot line, characters, and history. The book ends a bit abruptly, and there are many questions left unanswered.

Overall, this is a fun, suspenseful book for younger YA audiences looking for a light read with some highlights of important social issues.

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of the book was provided by HaperCollins Children’s Books.

I really enjoyed the spookiness of this book, but I feel like there was no ending. It was so abrupt. It was still in the middle of all the action that made up the culmination of the whole plot. I love this author a lot, but I need the style of her other books please.

A remarkable thriller - keeping one wondering what will happen next!

Angst of being a teenager, unhealthy fixations, mixed with severe anxiety, add in a stepfather, a hellion of a stepsister, and a move to an unusual town where nothing is as it seems, what could possible go wrong?

I was very excited when granted an ARC of “White Smoke” as it peaked my interest from the very start. The cover alone is phenomenal, with T. Jackson delivering a fast-paced thriller; being one I did not put down.

My only criticism would be the ending felt abrupt. The need for more resolution such as Mari’s parents search for Piper, Buddy, the members of the Foundation, and most importantly Erika along with the other prisoners at the Big Ville. One can only hope for a follow-up book, however, I felt the ending here needed to have more resolution or begin setting the stage for a book #2.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed “White Smoke” and highly recommend to others. While this was my T. Jackson read, it will surely not be the last!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Katherine Tegen Books for providing me an advance copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

Tiffany D. Jackson is at it again with a riveting new tale. This time, it’s with her first horror book. We have this wonderful, exciting horror story, but there is so much else going on and more phantoms that Marigold is running away from than just the ghost in her family’s new house, which is the only one on their street that anyone even lives in now.

Recommend this one to horror fans, mystery fans, and realistic fiction fans alike.

Tiffany D. Jackson is brilliant again. This book is a horror novel about a haunted house, but Jackson weaves in a tale of a teenage girl who has issues from the past that are haunting her as her family moves to a new home to escape that past and look for a fresh start. When they move into their new home strange things begin to happen and the town's legend about her house makes her believe something paranormal is happening.

Jackson ties both parts of the story in seamlessly and you can't wait to see what is really haunting Mari's family and if her past issues will continue to pose a problem to her life and the relationships she is creating and avoiding.

I enjoyed this more than I was expecting. It was fun to read because I live outside Detroit and I loved catching references to the city that only someone who lives here or who has visited would know. The story is fantastic and I really love how the different storylines wove together. There were some parts that felt repetitive in diction and it bothered me, but most people probably would not notice. I am not a huge horror fan but this was so much fun and I had a hard time putting it down. It seemed to end in the middle of the climax so I'm not sure if my digital copy was missing some pages or if that's just how it ended but I wanted more! There are some loose ends that I need tied up! As a teacher, many of my students love the horror genre and I can't wait to tell them about this one, especially because of the setting!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced, creepy, and the characters had real, consistent perosnalities. I cared about what happened to them and I wanted Mari to be a better person by the end-the story didn't disappoint!

Things I loved: it's fast paced. Great character development. The twist about the ghosts was unexpected and very cool. By the end, I loved that Mari had essentially managed to keep her addictions, anxieties and obsessions at bay without drugs, but through connections with other people and keeping busy with other stuff. I also loved, on the flip side, that we got to see a couple times the kind of person her addictions and anxiety made her, through the bedbugs freakout and her friend Tamara calling her out for being self centered. I also loved that once she realized how self-centered she was, she was able to realize that hers was not the only trauma-that she couldn't justify what she was doing with weed and the way she acted because she had a problem-other people have trauma too. For example: Piper finding her grandma dead and having to chill with her for five hours before anyone came home, seeing Mari OD, and not having any friends-that's what she's an asshole, not just because she hates Mari. There was also the trauma of how weed had affected all her new friends in town..

Things I did not love: The ending! I really wanted a takedown of Sterling, and thought the book ended too abruptly. Laying the groundwork for releasing everyone from the for profit prisons, or a hint that other townspeople realized what was happening and turned on Sterling, or something like that would have been great. I love that Mari had a new resolve not to leave, but wished a little more had happened.

I picked up this ARC on NetGalley because I read anything Tiffany Jackson has written as fast as I can get my hands on it! I enjoy reading books by smart authors and Tiffany Jackson is a genius. The way she ties racism, gentrification, corrupt city leadership, marijuana, privatized jails, the Bible, and a ghost story into one highly developed psychological thriller BLOWS MY MIND! And then, the book doesn’t end the way you expect it to! I’d give her 10 stars if I could!

The author of this book described it as a cross between the movie Get Out and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. She was not lying. I read this book with every light on, TV on, phone charged and next to me, golf club as a weapon beside me....I WAS SCARED. This book is so different from her others but some of the same themes were there: friendship, being true to yourself, no one is defined by their mistakes and racial tensions. In Maplewood, which conjures up images of Greenwood after the Tulsa Massacre, Maple street has been allowed to become a deserted burnt out hull, while the jails are filling up and there are new plans for the town that don’t seem to include the old residents. Marigold and her family move there to escape their own demons, but they have moved into a house filled with actual demons, the scary fire breathing smelly kind. As they all fight their demons, literally and figuratively, there seems to be no hope or end in sight. This book ends with a cliffhanger and I am desperately hoping for a part 2!