This is a combination of horror and psychological thriller. Jackson's writing and characters drew me in from the very first page. There is so much in this much--difficult non-biological family dynamics, gentrification on steroids, drug use, for profit prisons--but it's all wrapped up in a wonderfully scary, creepy, and gross horror story. The ending did feel a little abrupt and less resolved than I prefer, but I hope to see more horror books from this author.

Oh my good god. This book is stunning--an immaculate blend of horror and thriller that is absolutely terrifying, and not just for a YA title. I loved the characters (and loved to hate the little sister, Piper, and stepdad Alec), and I loved the nuanced representation of main character Marigold's anxiety, bed-bug phobia, and weed-based coping. The commentary on gentrification, criminalization, and white supremacy were all incredibly done as well, though they were difficult to read about because the evil was SO realistic/real.

This was one of the best horror novels I've ever read. The writing was a little confusing to get into, but I trust this author and she, as usual, didn't disappoint. The haunted house aspect of the book was absolutely terrifying, and I loved the depictions of ptsd and ocd stemming from trauma. The discussions of gentrification, systemic racism, and over-incarceration were perfect additions to the book as well. Everyone needs to check this book out!

“White Smoke” was an unexpected thrill! A scary, propulsive novel, Jackson is in her element blending genre thrills and social issues. She also crafts one of the most infuriating children I’ve ever read, which is a fear in and of itself.

This is the perfect novel for Halloween season, and will satisfy readers looking for thrills with deeper themes. Highly recommended!

An exciting ride from start to finish, White Smoke is a deep exploration into family, recovery, and racism filtered through a sharp, engaging character. When you reach the last page, you'll be begging for more.

Marigold Yusef Piper Sammy Erika Jon Jon Mr. Watkins Mr. Sterling Alec MS. Suga Buddy Tamara


Change is good. Change is necessary. Change is needed.

It's rare I enjoy the ending to books that engulf me and take me on a wild ride. I would've definitely given White Smoke five stars, but the ending left me hanging. Like really😐

This book is unputdownable. It's a skin itching, anxiety inducing page turner. I can't say much without being spoilery. I will say that this is a book that reads like a movie and its one you most definitely would want to put on your list or pre-order!

This was a really good read. I enjoyed almost everything about this book. I do think it could have used another chapter or two to wrap up a few things but that is just a me thing really.
This was a really solid horror which is rare in ya so I am so glad this is out there. Jackson always writes some great dark fiction that deals with hard things but this one may be my favorite. It was just so good and actually creeped me out.
This is definitely a great choice for any horror lover. I will say though that this book is advertised as being like Get Out but it is nothing like Get Out. Sure it's a horror with a main cast of character who are black and a black author/creator but that is were the similarities stop. This book doesn't need to he compared to Get Out to be great; its great on its own. So if you want another Get Out then this isn't for you but if you want a genuinely creepy story written by a phenomenal black author then do yourself a favor and check this book out. You won't be disappointed.

I saw the pitch as Hill House meets Get Out, and I was sold. A haunted house story with a little devil’s night thrown in, why not? I haven’t read anything else by Tiffany D. Jackson yet, so I was excited to get started.

Mari I found at times likeable, at times not, but I love that in a main character. She was very real to me, and grounded in her teenaged reality. This isn’t a perfect main character. This is one you’ll be frustrated with, but also feel intensely sympathetic toward (especially if you were an anxious teen, yourself).

Jackson deals with mental health beautifully in this novel, and doesn’t surround the horror with it. It’s not scary because someone has mental health issues, which is a trope I find so often in the horror genre. The ending subverts this and had me in tears. I absolutely loved this book, and I do believe it gets better the longer you sit with it.

Thank you so much to HCCFrenzy and Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

White Smoke was a very interesting story that explores themes of family conflict and resolution. After the family is relocated to a new home in a what seems like an abandoned town, the children are trying to figure out home and school life balance. With something strange going on in their home, the children are left to try and uncover the mystery, after hearing stories of the previous homeowners and their tragic deaths. The house seems to come alive at night, with objects going missing, strange sounds, and awful odours making their way through the vents. The underlying story of ghosts and hauntings, made the contrast of this book very unique and an interesting read. This story also explores a more serious theme of mental health and addiction. The main character Marigold deals with anxiety and in her past used drugs to help calm her anxiety and mental health concerns. After an unexpected overdose, her family keeps a close eye on her to try and help her recover. Throughout this book, you see her family struggle with communication, trust, family bonding and connection as well as feelings of anger and abandonment. Although on the surface this book looks like a ghost story, this book has so much depth to it and I really enjoyed that aspect of this story. The spookiness of this story makes it a great book to read this time of year, and gets you ready and in the spirit for fall and Halloween! This book in my opinion had a lot of twists and turns, kept you on your toes and overall was a smokeshow!

I had difficulty with this book in several places. First of all, I completely adore Tiffany Jackson’s work, and I love how she constructs her overarching messages for her readers and how it all integrates with the plot + current day happenings. She thinks about EVERYTHING! Leaves nothing out, and is a genius in her overall picture an execution of her stories leaving her readers in the lurch.

However, with this particular novel, I had to keep reminding myself, this is for YA, this is for YA, this is NOT FOR ME. Just to keep my angst down. I went back and forth on the rating between 3 and 4 stars, and I think I’m going to settle with 3, but I don’t necessarily feel its a 3. However, it’s not a stellar 4 for me either. This is where my dilemma lands.

The pacing and details in the horror elements started to feel unbelievable at times, and the littlest character, Piper, did not feel like a 10 year old’s personality. I have a 10 year old, and Piper felt much younger, like a 7 year old. Because of Piper’s personality and age issue, it colored my perspective on that character immensely because I was just aggravated by the very young childlike mannerisms that she portrayed as a 10 year old. Piper would run and jump in her dad’s arms like a 6 or 7 year old, hide behind her parents like a young child, and aggravate her siblings like a 5 year old, when she’s 10, and essentially a pre-teen. That gave off the unbelievability in that character alone, and then you have the rest of the story to deal with.

I am definitely here for Tiffany’s messaging though. She talked about the horrible ways in which gentrification affects Black communities. She talked about the “War on Drugs” that is essentially a war on Black people. She talked about mass incarceration. She talks about blended/biracial families. She talks about white male patriarchal societies. She talks about wealth gaps between white and Black communities. She talks about mental health issues and phobias. She talks about the stigma of marijuana. She talks about religious factions interfering with Black communities and preying on people’s desperation/poverty via spirituality like Creflo Dollar (i.e., prayer rugs, snake oil, garden seeds, etc.) She also talks about decaying neighborhoods and wanton neglect by the city because of Black bodies in the community.

However, there is just something that digs into my side with this story. Her main protagonist, Marigold (aka Mari) is a full fleshed out character. She has flaws, she is “troubled,” and she got issues, like a normal teenager. She also suffers from a debilitating bedbug phobia and has severe anxiety. She self-medicates with marijuana, and has had drug problems with prescription meds. She also doesn’t trust people and have an enormous amount of self-doubt and low self-esteem.

Her friends seem to care, but they aren’t wholly invested in my opinion. They are just there, on the fringes. Although she does let a couple of people get close, they are still like an arm’s distance apart from her because she can’t trust people.

The horror part of the story did give me the creeps and satisfied my horror hunger, but the plot wasn’t totally believable to me. It reminded me of Alyssa Cole’s book (When No One is Watching) and the outlandish ending. It seemed like a people under the stairs kind of story, but then it became outlandish. Jackson gave a nod to Devil’s Night, which in some cities had been very violent in the past, like Detroit, where homes were set on fire, and people were out of their mind rioting during that time committing crimes and whatnot. However, the story just didn’t become quite cohesive enough for me.


I don’t want to give away the story or any details, but I did enjoy the ‘horror’ aspect for the most part, there is just something I can’t put my finger on regarding the pacing and details. Some of it was spot on, and some of it was just too much. Overall though, I think teenagers who like horror may be really intrigued by this book. However, for us adults who indulge in YA fiction may have an issue with some parts of this book. 3.5/3.75 rating.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author, Tiffany Jackson, for this book in exchange for fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

After listening to author Tiffany Jackson talk about this book at the Frenzy Presents Fall Titles event I knew I needed to read this book.

Thank you so much HCC Frenzy for gifting me a digital advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mari and her family (mom, brother Sammy, stepfather Alec, and step sister Piper) have move to Cedarville when her mom wins an artists residency that is rehabilitating a group of abandoned houses into a livable neighborhood again. The house wants them gone.

This book took me on a wild twisty ride in Mari's perspective. We get to see how she is dealing with addiction, extreme fear, spooky atmosphere, being in a new place and school. Combine this with a house where doors open and close on their own, the power comes on and off as it wishes, stuff keeps going missing and there are footsteps and shadows popping up left right and center.

I didn't love the ending, it was really fast and I wish there was some better closure on some of the storylines.

I don't want to say more about it so I don't give too much away, but if you're looking for a YA horrow/thriller this season, take a look at this one.

A few days after I read this book, a copy of Jackson's Grown showed up in my LFL, and you can bet I grabbed that to fit into my fall reading schedule!

I love Tiffany D. Jackson’s writing style and how she creates atmosphere in her novels. Both Allegedly and Grown had me holding my breath for the majority of the book because I was so invested and stressed for the characters. White Smoke is very different from both of these. More of a horror/ghost story than a suspense or thriller, the atmosphere felt more fantastical than tension-driven. Clearly the town had some seriously shady characters, but the social commentary felt overshadowed by the attempt to create the horror atmosphere.

I will definitely order this book for my library and recommend it to students who are fans of Get Out and twisty books!

I was granted eARC access to White Smoke by the publisher via NetGalley in conjunction with the HarperCollins Canada program for YA influencers known as HCC Frenzy. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Oh my goodness, where to start? I was so excited to get access to this book after hearing Tiffany talk about the inspiration behind the story. I love a good haunted house story, and after being absolutely devastated by Tiffany's emotional storytelling in Grown, I was eager to find out what she would do with a ghost story. I will say this one really came together in the second half, especially the last third, and blew me away! That said, the first half was rocky.

In terms of connecting and empathizing with main character Mari, I ran hot and cold with her. The way Tiffany writes Mari's extreme anxiety is so convincing and familiar to me and my heart breaks for what Mari goes through. Also, major props to Mari for sticking up for herself in moments when she decided to be a little vulnerable and got ignorant comments in return. "I have anxiety is a complete statement." is a perfect response to "What do you have to be anxious about?" YES! Mental illness does not discriminate, people! I also love how fiercely Mari cares for and protects her brother Sammy. On the other hand, her addiction issues didn't consistently have the same genuine feel on the page. Sometimes it worked, Mari's feelings and motivations felt right, and it pushed the story forward. Other times it just felt forced on the character and didn't quite work.

The pacing in this book makes a very abrupt change just a little more than halfway through, so perspective readers reading this be aware of that. If you're liking it, not loving it, and you're getting hung up on the slow start, push through! If you like the characters, you love Tiffany's writing, and you're wondering when it's going to really turn from like to love, somewhere between 50% and 60%, hang in there.

This book has quite the twist in the final third followed by a very abrupt ending. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm going to be vague, but I do want to "discuss" to an extent. I both did and didn't see the twist coming. I guess what I'll say is I saw where Tiffany was going with it but she went farther and bigger than I imagined. I also want there's an element to the characters figuring out what's going on that's very 90s sleepover ghost story and on that page I was ready to be mad about it, but again, it goes so much farther than that. The twist is so much bigger than that. All was forgiven! In terms of the abrupt ending, we get some major character growth and very important bonding and new understanding between Mari and another important character that was excellent, but we also kind of end with the world on fire, so to speak, and that really flies in the face of how much the growth and understanding feels like an ending. We've followed a character arc to a concluding point and got some closure, but the bigger problems aren't even close to being solved. I think it's appropriate to the type of horror being written, but I think it's going to make a lot of readers angry, and I think some ratings are going to come in lower than deserved when reviews get written too quickly because it's not necessarily what loyal readers might be expecting from this author.

Overall I did really enjoy White Smoke, again particularly the latter half, and I do highly recommend it. It's not a new OMG amazing 5 star favourite and I'm a little disappointed about that given how much I love some of Tiffany's other works (especially Grown, I will praise that book forever) but this is very good for the genre and still a solid book overall.

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

White Smoke is an action-packed horror/psychological thriller filled with so much heart that it nearly had me in tears multiple times.

The story begins with a family, who has won the opportunity to move from California into a house in Detroit that has been renovated after being destroyed in previous riots. All seems well as they move in, but Mari (the main character) notices some weird behaviours by the construction workers finishing up on their house, and soon comes to learn why they are so wary of the house on Maple Street…

What I really loved about this book is that it’s so much more than just about the horror plot! Mari struggles with an intense phobia, anxiety, and staying sober after events in California, and I love to see this representation in books! Her relationship with her new stepfather and stepsister is tense to say the least, and trying to start fresh in a small town that thrives on gossip is not the easiest for her. And did I mention that it has a heavy focus on the struggles of the black community in a white-controlled society? Because that’s pretty important.

Since White Smoke is from a genre I typically don’t enjoy, I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did! Once I really got into the book, I could not put it down because I just HAD to know what happened! It really was a great read, and I highly recommend!

Thanks so much to Harper Collins Canada for providing me with an ARC to review!

Mari and her newly-blended family are new to Cedarville where her mother is a new artist in residence. They arrive at their house that is almost finished with new renovations ... in the middle of a deserted street. At five o'clock, the workers drop their tools, race to their cars, and leave without a backward glance.

It doesn't take long for strange things to start happening. And somehow, Mari's younger stepsister seems to be at the root of the odd occurrences.

Mari's backstory of mental illness and drug use is gradually revealed, but even as she tries to hide her desperation, could there be a way back out with the help of a new-found friend? And there are secrets that just can't come to light.

Speaking of secrets, there are also some odd connections with the community foundation and the growing divide in the community.

Some ends remain a bit loose in the end, but the eerie feel throughout is never quite assuaged, even when (most) answers are revealed at the end. The tension between a ghostly presence in the house and a radical social injustice make this newest book by Tiffany D. Jackson yet another can't-miss and will only solidify her standing as a premier young adult author.

Mari and her new, blended family move to the midwestern town of Cedarville in search of a fresh start. A free house, provided by the Sterling Foundation, is one of the rare houses in good repair on Maple Street - one where the neighbors claim the house is haunted. Mari doesn't believe in ghosts, until strange happenings begin. Jackson, a master of realistic horror, slowly reveals the horrible reality of Cedarville, mixing a Candyman-esque haunting with the everyday terror of an overpoliced, under protected community. A knockout of a thriller, and one I hope will have a sequel.

CW: addiction, mention of past OD, anxiety, many mentions of bedbugs
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I was hooked by the preface. I knew I’d love this book, because this is my favourite type of scary movie: blended family moves into a big, creepy historic house. I read the last half of this book at night in my pitch black bedroom— well, I ended up turning on my lamp because I got too creeped out— and it was just the perfect read to get me into the spooky season.
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A lot of horror stories incorporate bugs, so I wasn’t surprised by the mention of them, but oh my god. I was itching throughout this entire read. Be warned: you will leave this book with a strong paranoia over bedbugs.
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I love that Marigold is not a perfect character. She’s selfish, she’s struggling, she can be mean, she felt very real. As Mari fights addiction, anxiety and paranoia, she uncovers the devastating plot of gentrification and witnesses the criminalization of marijuana.
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This is a great, well written horror thriller. I absolutely loved it. I do want to scream about that ending, though. I don’t want to say any spoilers, so I’ll just say that it ends very abruptly and I thought it was jarring and caught me by surprise. What also caught me by surprise is the fact that I ended up rooting for one of the villains! I wish I knew more of how his story ended.
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4.5/5 stars, WHITE SMOKE by Tiffany D. Jackson is available September 14, 2021!
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Thank you to HCC Frenzy and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review.

This story was... Wow...

Amazing, beautiful written with characters that could have been plucked right out of reality.

White Smoke deals with a lot of issues that are in fact actually happening in the US. Gentrification, the disproportionate sentencing and jailing of black men vs white men for nonviolent crimes. People still being in jail for Marijuana related crimes, despite the fact that it's becoming legal in most places in the US. All things in which need more attention brought to them.

The character relationships were great, very realistic for a newly blended family. The budding "romance" was great.

Over all I greatly enjoyed the story. The only thing I did not like so much was how abrupt the story ended, I felt like we were really just getting started. It wasn't so much a cliff hanger as I thought maybe I was missing the last section of the book, but no, it was over haha.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

An amazingly well-done psychological horror that left me feeling anxious and on edge in the best kinds of ways. It was so well done. Absolutely my favourite Tiffany D. Jackson book.

This book was INTENSE! Tiffany D. Jackson is a master storyteller, and I've come to expect all of the twists and turns from her...but dang! I was not prepared for this one. I also was so creeped out that I literally couldn't read this book in the dark!

Here's a brief summary from NetGalley:
Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone. But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?

If you're looking for a spooky book to hype you up for all things Halloween than look no further. Pick up your copy this Tuesday and follow Mari along every heart-pounding, breath-catching moment as she fights for her life. Thanks for NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.