I was really excited to read this book. Everyone was talking about it. So I gave it a chance and I'm totally not regretting it. I couldn't put this book down. This book was so intense, I absolutely loved everything about it!. It had everything I enjoy in a book mystery, creepy, action, drama, haunted house. There were so many details and a little back story. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and creeped out. Oh, and you can't forget that cover it's absolutely beautiful!! I really enjoyed the story and Tiffany's writing. I will be looking for more of her books.

While the ending felt just a little rushed, the entirety of the book is well deserving of five stars. Relatable characters, well-developed atmosphere, and a plot feeling just a little too close to home combine to make a fantastic YA debut.

What. TF. Did. I. Just. Read. This is a MUST READ horror, perfect for spooky season.

There is a big bedbug CW so if you are triggered by bugs I would re-think it!

I don't even know how to explain this book without spoiling it. Mari and her blended family move from California to a small Midwestern town of Cedarville where houses are abandoned, the prisons are overrun, and there are eerie and spooky things happening both inside her house and outside. Mari need to decide what is real and what isn't while ultimately trying to figure out what exactly happened to Cedarville.

"We've seen this place hack our family trees to shrubs."

It took me 6 days to read this book because I couldn't read it at night. It is so creepy. And extremely thought provoking. And it made me really angry. The ending!!! WHEW. Tiffany D. Jackson is out here trying to scare me and ruin me. Please read this book!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's for my copy to review.

I’m a big fan of Tiffany D. Jackson and an even bigger fan of horror stories, so White Smoke was a must read for me. It’s a modern haunted house story that tackles social topics like gentrification and the prison industry, as well as mental health issues like drug addiction and anxiety disorder.

Marigold “Mari” Anderson and her newly blended family just moved to Cedarville. Her mom won an artist in residence program that comes with a free house, but the problem is this house is the only one standing on the street. Their new home feels wrong as soon as the exit off the freeway. The houses in the neighborhood are falling apart, the businesses are boarded up, and the houses on Maple street are burnt up shells (with the exception of the Anderson’s new home). The construction workers, who are finishing up the remodel, rush out of the house as soon as 5 pm hits, as if spending one more minute inside the house will kill them. The more time the Anderson family spends in the house, the weirder things get. Things go missing, someone seems to be walking around at night, a horrible smell keeps randomly encroaching on them, and Piper, Mari’s stepsister, claims to have made a new friend whom this house belongs to.

On top of this, Mari is recovering from an addiction to Percocet which led to her overdosing. Her addiction was brought on by her severe anxiety and phobia of bed bugs. While she kicked the Perc habit in rehab, she still relies on weed to manage her anxiety. Unfortunately, weed is not something that is easy to get when you are new in town, and Mari finds it will be even more difficult, when she learns that most of the town’s men are stuck in prison for life from simply possessing a single joint. As things get stranger in the house, Mari’s anxiety and need for weed gets worse, and puts stress on her already tenuous relationship with her family.

Jackson is the queen of social and psychological stories. There was a lot crammed into this novel, yet it all worked. It was so easy to feel the tension and frustration that Mari feels with her family, especially her spoiled stepsister, and the relief that being believed by Sammy brings to her. The undercurrent of racism that runs through this town, and the way the rich white citizens are able to manipulate their black neighbors so easily to turn Cedarville into a white supremacist utopia was simultaneously thrilling and horrifying to read about. This alone may have been enough horror, but White Smoke still had the ghost story as the main conflict. The horror aspects of the book were a slow burn, but really well done. The strange happenings remained just spooky and mysterious enough prior to the big reveal, though, the big reveal’s twist was not quite as surprising for me since an episode of Supernatural already did this twist on the ghost story. Still, as an avid horror fan, I really enjoyed the way this novel played out (until the ending).

Why did Tiffany D. Jackson choose to ruin an otherwise wonderful story with such an abrupt and inconclusive ending!? This book quite literally ended right in the middle of the action. This was such a good read for me, and then the ending soured the entire reading experience. Jackson could have still left the ending open ended, while giving us at least some semblance of a conclusion. I will definitely still recommend this one to others, but you’ve been warned.

Tiffany D. Jackson’s next book, White Smoke, is almost here. And just in time for the spookiest time of year. Marigold Anderson is haunted by her past, unable to really run away from it. When she and her newly blended family move from California to the midwestern town of Cedarville, she views it as the fresh start she needs. Despite moving into a newly renovated house, Mari’s neighborhood is unsettling. Every other house is derelict. Her neighbors are less than welcoming. Oh, and her family’s house is full of strange noises, rotten smells, faulty electricity, and a “friend” of her stepsister’s that wants Mari gone. As Mari battles herself and the house, she also discovers Cedarville holds terrifying secrets of its own.

A Head Full of Ghosts
A telltale sign of a good book is a captivating protagonist. That’s what Jackson brings with Mari. Early on, she sets the stage for revealing Mari’s ghosts. She first grasps readers’ attention with Mari’s phobia of bedbugs, leading to vague hints about prior incidents. This in turn sets up Mari to add to the unsettling atmosphere. Whatever she’s running from (which does get revealed) sows the seeds of doubt, almost painting Mari as an unreliable narrator. Mari herself doesn’t trust her own instincts with the house. She often writes off everything she experiences. As such, readers can’t help but read on and learn more. Mari is far from perfect. However, she actively works to improve. Readers will worry about Mari and hope for a positive outcome. Despite the ups and downs, they’ll want to stay the course with her.

Family Matters
The family dynamics add another layer of tension. The Anderson-Greens are a blended family. Along with Mari are her younger brother Sam and their mother Raquel. Then are Alec and Piper, Mari’s stepfather and stepsister. Mari generally seems to tolerate them. But her patience only extends so far. There’s a very “Anderson versus Green” undertone just present enough to leave readers questioning whether Alec and Piper are fully trustworthy. Jackson creates apprehension that moves the story. As activity speeds up within the house, Jackson shoves one major reminder to the front: When children befriend unseen forces in horror, RUN.

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
More unsettling still is Maple Street and Cedarville. Continuing from above, the unseen forces don’t lie solely in the house. Jackson gradually builds the mystery. As soon as readers learn about the house, they will immediately think, “Hmm, now this seems too good to be true.” Despite every explanation Jackson provides, nothing ever feels quite right. She expounds on that feeling. Everything about the house begins to tie in first with Maple Street. One picturesque house surrounded by dilapidated ones? That’s definitely not shady. What could possibly go wrong?

Jackson continues to pull readers right to the very edge. And she uses Cedarville to do so. Even this nice little town has some not-so-nice little secrets. Jackson creates such a feeling of unrest. She cleverly bides her time drawing it out. Readers won’t know who to trust, even when she makes it clear. Furthermore, the distrust readers encounter also exists within the book’s universe. Jackson paints a vivid picture of residents betrayed by their own town. She examines the profound and disproportional effects the prison system has on the Black community. I was also particularly struck by how she ties in religion. Every facet of this town is deliberate. They seamlessly connect to one another.

Your New Favorite Horror Read
If you’re looking for a thrilling read this spooky season, look no further. White Smoke is it. The way Jackson brings this story to life is astounding. She masterfully brings the creeps and chills. From the first page, readers sense that something is a little off. The suspense Jackson brings holds up to the very last page. She instills classic elements of ghost stories to write something vastly unique. Every major question that arises receives a satisfying answer. Her ending offers a surprising twist, but in a way that fits neatly into the story; it’s not there solely for shock value. White Smoke is a book that demands to be devoured in one sitting (and then devoured again and again). It’s the kind of psychological horror that will altogether terrify and leave readers begging for more.

An incredible, dark, spooky, ghost story, with a powerful undercurrent of real atrocities. Jackson is a master at taking reality, twisting it different ways, and coming up with something both disturbing and remarkable.

The story focuses on a blended family plopped down into the middle of a dilapidated but soon-to-be refurbished neighborhood in the suburbs of Chicago. The house they live in, however, doesn’t seem to be as vacant as they thought…

Equal parts terrifying and captivating I had trouble putting this one down…and your brain will be rocked by the time you reach the end. A great story for spooky season, and even better one for modern times. This is a story we need!

Tiffany D Jackson strikes again! While this wasn’t my favourite of her books, it was definitely spooky and atmospheric and the writing was amazing. I think the ending left a little to be desired but I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the characters. I think the mystery element and the connecting of the dots just needed a bit more work — you want to figure out the story WITH the character, as opposed to not really having clues until she does.

White Smoke was so very readable, I enjoyed it immensely. We meet Mari, who is moving with her family to some creepy house in a Middle America town. From the start, things seem "off", but Mari is going through a lot of her own stuff, and her family sort of brushes off her concerns. Mari has some mental health issues (including a pretty serious fear/panic of bed bugs) and has used drugs in the past to self-medicate. As such, there are some tensions within her family, especially when it comes to their trust of her.

The book does a great job of being a commentary on some big issues. Racism, including gentrification and clear overimprisonment of Black residents (for extremely minor "offenses" like marijuana possession) plays quite a big role in the story, as does mental illness. And I loved that the story focused just as much on Mari's growth as it did the mystery! So often, mystery/thriller novels neglect the characters for the sake of the thrills, but this book absolutely delivered on character development. Also, Mari has a brother named Sammy who reminded me so much of my own Sammy that he was impossible not to fall in love with. I loved Mari's love for him, too.

I really enjoyed the twists in this story too. My only minor qualm would be that there were some loose ends left untied at the end. I had been hoping for a few plot points to have been resolved, and they weren't quite. But it's an otherwise awesome book with a really well developed main character, and I was very invested in the outcome.

Bottom Line: Very readable and full of great characters, important messages, and awesome twists, White Smoke is definitely a great addition to the mystery/thriller genre!

Not going to lie, I felt like this was very much over my head but I still enjoyed it. This book releasing in the perfect amount of time to gain traction before Halloween. I absolutely love it.

Tiffany Jackson has once again given us a straight-from-the-headlines thriller but this time with a horror twist. This story was tense and taut with suspense and had me guessing right up to the very end. I would recommend.

Tiffany D. Jackson is a genius writer! This book gave me chills and made my skin crawl. I would highly recommend reading this one.

First, I love this author because her books keep.me thinking right until the very end. This one is no different. When Marigold and her family move from California to the Midwest, she expects change. Change is good and the newly renovated house on Maple Street looks to be a place where she and her family can start over. What she doesn't count on is living in a haunted house, where even the workers rush out at the same time every day. And then things start going missing, and there are funny sounds and voices that no one can account for. A fun book that has ties to the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street." If you're a fan of Tiffany D. Jackson, don't skip this book

Why do you do this to my Tiffany D Jackson?? I haven't given any of her books less than five stars, and White Smoke was no exception. It had me entirely spooked and I had no idea where it was going! Mixed feelings on the ending, but I kind of love that.

As much as it pains me to write this....I just didn’t like this book. I love Tiffany D. Jackson. I think her book Grown is one of the best YA novels of all time and she’s an impeccable writer; but this one just doesn’t work in my opinion. While her writing is still great, my problem is with the storyline. It’s slow paced. Way too focused on the drug content. And if I have to read about bedbugs one more time I’m gonna scream.

DNF. Sorry, but thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

Entertaining horror with some social justice and gentrification themes. This was the first time I ever figured out the twist in one of Tiffany's books.

Throughout this read, I was definitely in the 'like' camp more than the 'love' and had it been the opposite I would've been far more disappointed by the ending than I was. But it was still a huge, abrupt, bummer.

This story is half horror and half psychological anxiety fuelled discomfort. It also has a less than fun new blended family dynamic which was grating in a whole different way, too. I enjoyed this was it was a horror, I was equally horrified by the circumstances that had plagued this town, the violent gentrification that had occurred (and was still occurring) at the expense of others; but at the same time this particular plot sort've went off the rails in an unbelievable way (not the criminalizations, that, unfortunately is very believable, but the shady corporate conspiracy and the specifics of what they had set up..? yeah, no) -- which, considering I was reading about ghosts and hauntings and potential possession, says a lot.

As a haunted house story, this was great. For someone with an anxiety, reading about Mari's phobias, it was just as unsettling. Everything else, and the ending.. I don't know. Equally in the 'I don't know' pile of things is the reluctance for Mari to jump to the very obvious conclusions about what was happening around her. Why she was so slow to pick up on this, to resist it when others were more convinced, I have no clue.

This one gets a cautious recommend out of me, I think. I absolutely don't want to dissuade you from picking it up but at the same time it isn't going to encourage anyone to read it.. just incase it's even less a hit for you than it was for me.

Tiffany D. Jackson is amazing. This book is basically ready to be made into a film at any moment. Truly scary with Jackson's mix of social commentary all wrapped up in a great YA voice. By only complaint was that the ending seemed really abrupt and I was hoping we'd see a round of comeuppance for a few people in the book but that didn't happen (and wouldn't happen to them in real life, either). I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books/Katherine Tegen Books for the advanced digital reader's copy.

Marketed as a cross between The Haunting of Hill House and Get Out, I couldn't pass up this title.

3.5 stars

I liked the setting: a nearly abandoned street in a struggling Midwest city much like Detroit. Now a business has swooped in and wants to try extreme gentrifying, by setting up artists in homes for free for a time. But free is never free. What's the catch?

I liked the protagnoist, Mari. She's complicated and is struggling with anxiety and a past she'd like to forget. Her newly created family, complete with incredibly creepy ten year-old stepsister Piper, doesn't trust her anymore, and so when her world goes sideways, she's not sure who will believe her. Mari's not always likeable, as she's selfish and stand-offish, and she makes some really terrible decisions, but she is believable.

I liked the supporting characters. Mari's family dynamics are tense for multiple reasons, but each member of her family is interesting in it's own way. The characters in the neighborhood and at school get less attention and are drawn with broader brushstrokes, but are still interesting.

I appreciated all of the thought-provoking themes. Mass incarceration. Housing discrimination. Gentrification without a thought given to those already living in a place. Drug use. Mental health. Racism. There's a lot to think about here.

I liked the plot. The house is strange. None of the renovation workers want to be there. No one goes into the basement. There are weird smells. Piper is an incredibly devious sibling, or is there more going on? Is she behind all the weirdness? Plus, the entire city has something ugly just underneath its surface. The changes to the city are sinister.

Will Mari be able to figure out what's happening in her home and her neighborhood?

So, I liked all the parts of the story, but for some reason, they didn't pull together into one unputdownable read for me. Perhaps it was just a little too much in one book - overly and unneccessarily complicated. Perhaps it was the "surprise" ending that I saw coming.

All in all, it was a solid read, and I recommend it to horror fans, but it didn't blow me away.

This was my first by Jackson, and I'll read more. She even left a crack open for a sequel to this one, I think. I'd read it.

*drugs, language

This story sits right at the intersection of horror and psychological thriller, and for me, it was the right mix of both. Mari just moved to a new town with her family after an incident in her previous town and she is trying to start fresh after that. Her mom and stepfather don't trust her and she is working through a lot of anxiety. The house and town they move into have a lot of secrets, and Mari is convinced that her house is haunted and her stepsister Piper is the one behind it.

I do not read any horror really at all, and this book had just the right amount of it for me. I definitely felt sufficiently creeped out at times and I couldn't read it at night, but it wasn't too over the top or gimmicky at all. There are a lot of references to marijuana as a support for anxiety in this book, and I thought Jackson did a good job grappling with the ways in which marijuana use is treated inequitably in our country.

I would say that due to the scare factor and some of the other content, this is likely most appropriate for older teens. I will not be recommending it to my middle schoolers, but I definitely know some high schoolers who will really enjoy this.

A strong addition for Tiffany D Jackson. Loved her trip into Horror and for the first time in a while, the "Get Out" comparisons are accurate! This may be slightly guessable for the adult reader, but is sure to delight ya readers. You could pitch this as a horror book, social issues book, teen in a new town (realistic fiction), or even mystery (what is going on in that house?!).

And the cover is *chef's kiss*