I really wanted to like this book - the premise seemed fantastic and the cast was so vast and varied and diverse and caring (neurodivergent, nonbinary, disabled, lgbtqia, bipoc...) I was impatient to sink into this book. Sadly it is very slow, the introspections are too numerous and get in the way of the plot... and the plot feels kind of lacking. While I loved the setting, I just felt bored and wanted something to happen. Conflict doesn't have to be dripping on ever page, in fact I really like calm little stories, but in this one I was getting too much facts about the clothes and looks of the people and not enough moving forward... nor did I have the sense that the main character wanted to move at all. This has potential, but not enough tension to hold it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

(Please be warned there are minor spoilers for the plot and scenes that happen within the book in my review! Caution advised!)

I wanted to like "Sanctuary" so much. An intriguing premise and an amazingly diverse cast just made me want to dive right in! Unfortunately, I wanted to get out of the swimming pool of "Sanctuary" only three chapters in. There is barely any plot to this novel, and when you do get some plot piece, it feels like only snatches of it. It takes about forty percent into the book for ANYTHING of plot relevance to happen. (I checked) There was a lot of focus on the characters, which is normally the thing I love! But everything about the characters felt like surface-level descriptions of their appearance and disabilities and almost sounded performative at points. I feel like I know nothing about these characters beyond their race, gender, and disability. I know Araminta is plus size, a redhead, an artist, and is Morgan's (the character who the story is told through) girlfriend. That's about it, besides the small snippets of Araminta's life prior to coming to Casswell. The only thing I know about Vinnie is that they're trans, a mom, and black. That's it. Another issue is that there are so many named characters, both living and dead alike, within this cast, I keep forgetting who is a human and who is a ghost! Also, the author seems to keep forgetting who is in what scene?! At the beginning of the scene where they talk to the ghost hunters, Morgan states that “Saeed has gone to catch up with classmates – I’m cynical enough to suspect he may have timed it strategically to avoid this meeting” but after Morgan has ANOTHER internal introspection (she does this A LOT), says those speaking have come to an agreement. Logan (The ghost hunter brother) asks if they can record their conversation with the ghost and SAEED says no? Saeed is stated to not be present during this meeting at the beginning of this scene. Was there a scene change? This has happened before, with the author starting the scene with Morgan talking to Callum online and Callum asking if they can meet in person, in the first part of the sentence. The second part of the sentence has them in the city meeting Callum at a coffee shop. The scene changes are far too abrupt and sometimes I don’t even realize there HAS been a scene change, which leaves me incredibly confused. These scene changes are VERY abrupt and disorienting. I kept thinking I accidentally skipped forward a few pages or accidentally skimmed over a paragraph. But no, the scene changes do suddenly change in the blink of an eye like that. There were minor plot points that annoyed me, such as Morgan wondering, “I wonder even if the pendant was once his, perhaps he thinks we stole it from him. Perhaps he doesn’t understand how much it is Araminta’s, how much it is my gift to her.” when the ghost gets pissed she took the pendant from the bottle. Like girlie pop, you DID steal it from him! It was locked away in a bottle that you had to BREAK to get it out, and you watched a ghost poof out when you did it! That pendant was stuck in the same bottle as the ghost for who knows how long, so obviously taking it was a bad idea! Did this girl never read “The Teeny-Tiny Woman”?! Also, I apologize, but I'm going to be very blunt. The final fight scene was one of the worst I have ever read. I have barely any idea what was going on because I was literally only told "We're fighting! Oh no [Name] has been injured! (Morgan goes on another long introspection monologue) We're back to fighting! (Another long Morgan internal monologue) FIGHTING!" and so on. It also dragged on FOREVER. I have no idea how long their fight was supposed to be in real-time (Was it hours? Days? Minutes?) but in reading time, it was long. All in all, I really didn't like Sanctuary. It has plenty of potential; in fact, I could see it being made into a television series or a movie, but it just didn't work for me as a book.

Also, this is a random minor nitpick, but this book keeps referring to ADHD as "ADD". But they did away with the term "ADD" in the DSM-4 (pub. 2000) and simplified it to ADHD with three sub-types. The DSM-5 (pub. 2013) changed it to "ADHD with presentations", so now it is just ADHD and the ways it presents, but I would admit for some that is fairly new. But still, you had at least twenty years to learn the correct term. It's possible that they still called it ADD in the UK, where this book is set, so I apologize if that's why the author keeps using what the DSM considers to be an outdated term.

Also, was having a ghost named Lydia Martin a Teen Wolf nod or a coincidence? Also, what is a house wiki?!

I liked this book and found the premise pretty interesting. The main issue I had with it was that it read like a sequel where you already know the characters. There wasn't enough exposition for them, and it had the unfortunate side effect of reducing what seemed like excellent characters to their disabilities/neurodivergence/queerness and a handful of quirks. However, I feel like I still got a good sense of them despite this. I also felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions at the end, which could just be set up for a possible sequel, perhaps? There were some grammar issues, but they didn't take away from the story too much. As a whole, I really enjoyed this. I liked Morgan as a main character, and I enjoyed how empathetic and compassionate the whole book was. I've never seen ghosts framed in a disability rights light, so seeing "ghost rights" as a huge part of this novel was incredibly compelling.

This book took me by surprise. I didn't know what this was about going into it and I was pleasantly surprised by how the author wrote the characters. There was so much representation in this, different characters who all have different neurodivergent characteristics. Autism, ADHD, ADD, anxiety, depression, disabilities, physical or otherwise. I found the ending extremely wordy when they were fighting the ghost eater. But at the same time, the main character wasn't much of a talker either. They communicated a lot with text messages or writing things down and no one gave them crap for it. I think it had to be wordy because the character themselves did not really speak.

I give this 4.25 stars just because I felt like the ending was too rushed. Half the time I didn't really realize what was happening. How do you fight a ghost that is taking over humans? How do you take the life force of a ghost that makes it fade faster? Maybe I don't know that much about ghosts after all, or this is just someone's take on ghosts and how they respond to their environment and live through time. But overall I did enjoy it! I love that this wasn't your typical "ghost story" but rather how to get along with them and live among them.

I’m somewhat conflicted about how to rate this book. Because on the one hand I absolutely loved the characters and the way they lived as this big, endearing family in a house full of ghosts. I mean diverse, interesting, and well-written characters in a house full of ghosts trying to solve a mystery? I’m sold. But the story fell a little flat for me.

The book started very slow, and while the characters kept me entertained for a good long while, I would’ve loved some more plot in the first half. The pace did pick up later, but overall I was just a little bored. But that might just be because I really like my books with a bunch of plot twists and fast-paced.

I do recommend this book though, simply because of the amazing cast of characters it has. Plus, I think people who are more into character-driven stories than plot-driven stories will absolutely love this one.

This book had potential. The premise was exciting, and the cast of characters was diverse and endearing, however that’s where things fell flat for me.

To start, the ensemble was so vast that it felt that you didn’t really get to know any of them past their disabilities and challenges operating in a neurotypical, cisgender, heterosexual world. I believe in an attempt to highlight these differences in the characters, they were made one-note.

The novel also had very little in terms of plot. The majority of the writing was focused on the characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you couple it with writing that is blanketed by monotonous descriptions of the characters’ struggles, it leaves something to be desired. Plot points seemed glossed over or quickly described and then we move on.

Third, and perhaps most glaring, was the need for another revision. The writing had typos, potentially misgendered one of the characters more than once (though that could be misunderstanding on my part from unclear writing structures), was repetitive, and relied too heavily on fractured sentences.

I believe this book had promise, but the execution was faulty for me.

This book had so many interesting points, neurodivergent, queer, and ghost characters. The setting was good and the characters were great. I thought the plot fell slightly flat but I loved the characters. They were easily the strongest point of the story, and the representation is so great to see.

DNF’d at 30%

This book has SO much potential but none of it was working for me as a reader.

I love the idea of a ghost sanctuary. I love the found family trope and I love the idea of neurodivergent and gender diverse people finding their home together in this weird and wonderful house with ghosts.

The compassion and understanding these characters show ghosts and each other is truly beautiful and could be the foundation for a beautiful story but it unfortunately fell a little flat.

It felt like I was being infodumped on repeatedly, about the trauma some of these characters had experienced, about their neurodivergent tendencies and how their lives have been impacted, about how ghosts looked and communicated and behaved. The groundwork was all there, but I was being told things in a way that felt clinical and detached and left no room for me to feel anything for these characters.

There was also too many characters and most of them at 30% still hadn’t received an introduction. It felt like I was thrown in the middle of a story and was supposed to know who everyone was.

Lastly, it felt like nothing was happening. I was being told a lot about how Morgan’s mind worked, how they lived together, how they related to ghosts, but no plot to keep me hooked.

Maybe a plot would have become apparent if I’d continued reading, but I found myself struggling to want to continue.

I won’t be reviewing this book publicly on either goodreads or my instagram.

This could be a truly fantastic book! but it needs some heavy revision.
I love the setup - a diverse group of neuro divergent people live in a huge haunted estate as a family. How great is that? Instead of one or two token characters, basically the entire cast of characters represents marginalized groups. But by book's end, I could tell you all about how mental and physical health impact the characters from day to day and next to nothing about who those people are outside their struggles. Some characters never got introductions and were mentioned in a manner implying readers already knew who they were (can anyone tell me who Denny is?!)
The writing style is very fragmented and overuses incomplete sentences. While this may have been an intentional choice on the part of the author, moderation is key! There are a few spelling and grammar errors and occasional continuity mistakes. Some concepts (ghost corporeality and consent) are reiterated ad nauseam, while others are barely explained (ghost hunters? Morgan's connection with the pendant?). Dramatic and/or action scenes are described with so little detail that I was at a loss to picture - or sometimes even understand - what had happened.
While I began reading with great excitement, my enthusiasm cooled and I struggled to reach the final pages. This story is imaginative and awesome! I trust that some editing will help it succeed in the way it deserves.

One thing about me is that I am an absolute sucker for the found family trope, and despite this being established from the beginning, it was still such a joy to read about the relationships the residents of Casswell Park shared.

Each character in this book was well fleshed out, and we got a vast amount of representation including; an entire cast of neurodivergent characters, transgender and nonbinary characters, disabled characters, lesbian characters, queer characters, Black characters, and a South Asian character. The shared experiences that these characters had made for a loving and understanding environment, with each character having a clear understanding of the boundaries and needs of the others. This isn't to say that the group was completely perfect - arguments were had as in any family, but they worked through those easily.

As for the plot, it was an interesting one. Casswell Park is not only home to our cast of humans, but to a cast of various ghosts too. These ghosts - unlike how they're usually portrayed - aren't tethered to where their death occurred but can move from location to location, choosing to tether themself to a building should they wish. When an old man arrives with a collection of glass bottles and the information that they contain ghosts within them, the residents of Casswell Park devise a plan to free them from their confinement - slowly so as not to overwhelm the current ghostly residents of their home. What ensues after this is a mixture of spooky happenings and some bad decision-making.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. The strongest point of this book from me was definitely the characters - they're well written and feel incredibly real, and at times are very relatable. The plot was interesting and moved at a good pace, and I especially loved the chapters where we followed Isobel, as the insight they gave to the story was a nice touch, and they helped set the plot up pretty well. My only criticism would be that <spoiler>the fight at the end of the novel felt a little long and at times I struggled to visualise it</spoiler> but other than that, everything was great!

[<i>ARC provided by NetGalley.</i>]