This is a very sensitive topic book for most. I thought I was walking into a ghost story, but ending up leaving with a bit more on my plate. Not that it was a bad thing, but I wish I could've been drawn into this story a bit better instead of being lectured a story. This novel is hard to review, it touches on subjects that are good to discuss with a teen, but were it presented a little better, it might have been easier to relate to. It just seemed to me that it was tied up too nicely at the end as well.

Emily's List

4 stars

I just want to start off by saying thank you to netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

Most kids know high school is no walk in the park. For some, like Cora, it's torture, especially with her myriad of mental health issues and now the loss of her father in an accident. So when her mother moves them to a new place, Cora only wants a fresh start. She soon has only one friend and it ends up being a ghost. Things continue to go from bad to worse until the truth comes out.

This was an exciting thriller. It was full of the normals you get in a story about a teen, like the drama and bullying of high school, but it had so much more. It presented the reader with ghosts you could see and mental ghosts that are usually kept hidden. Cora with her many problems makes me feel for her and want to know more. The storyline was realistic while at the same time giving a spooky horror/fantasy tale. It definitely had a grabbing plot. It had a great set of characters that really added a little extra mystery to the story as a whole.

If you are a thriller fan? You will like it. If you like horror? Yep. It really was well writeen and definitely one I'll be telling my friends about.

~Stormi Ellis ~
Boundless Book Reviews

Interesting book but a little slow. Could stand a little more suspense. Characters are well developed and the plot is great.

I really enjoyed this one. I reminded me of a mixture of Wait Till Helen Comes and Thirteen Reasons Why Emily blames herself for her bestselling author dad's death. When she and her mom move somewhere new, she starts getting bullied as the new girl, and discovers she can see ghosts and makes friends with a girl who died in the house they just moved into. It was thrilling from beginning to end. I feel like junior high students would love this one.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review.

Cora wants is a new start. She needs a new start. School bullies have tortured her, and she may be responsible for her father's death. But she brings her OCD, self-abuse and mental health into her new home with her. And she soon finds herself a target of bullies again. Then she meets Emily, an abused homeschooled girl with her own problems, including a list of her bullies. Cora begins to help Emily get revenge, but will they go too far?
The mental health piece of this novel is important to share. I'm an advocate for bringing light to the things we'd rather hide, so kudos to the authors for being honest and real about these struggles.
This book is pretty dark, though. I noticed numerous triggers throughout (self-harm, abandonment, fear, rejection, emotional/physical/sexual abuse, etc.), so it might be hard for folks in the battle to read.
The ending is hopeful but almost too sweet. Yet I do appreciate the author's note that this book is about accepting yourself. Other themes include mother/daughter relationships and the danger of feeling alone and the things isolation can do to the mind.

This book has a palpable tension that keeps the pages turning…..simply brilliant… I had to finish this marvelous thriller in one sitting! Taut and incredibly suspenseful, every moment is perfectly crafted to keep me wanting more.

Do you remember reading Harriet the Spy as a child? This is like a grown up thriller version of two girls acting revenge on the bullies who have taunted them in school. This read was fast paced and long but read in a day because I had to know what happened next throughout and was not disappointed

Trigger warning: self harm, depression, mental illness, OCD, bullying, eating disorders, death of a loved one, suicide

This is a creepy yet emotional YA story, and it touched on important issues, including mental health issues and bullying. The authors did a great joy with the OCD angle. (And hopefully books such as this will help reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions.) At the core, this is a well-done ghost story, though the pace was a bit slower and there was more telling (vs. showing) than expected.

Give me the creeps, chills, goosebumps you name it and I'll read it. "Emily's List" was scary with a capital S!

Cora has many mental health issues. She can see ghosts and no one believes her. When her father dies and they have to move, Cora’s mom thinks they will get a new start. Once in the small town, Cora begins her new life with chaos. When she meets Emily, things seem like they might get a little better. Then, just like her old school, she becomes victim of merciless bullies. Young adult books are not usually a subject I read very much. This book was a different type of book. The angst Cora felt throughout the book is similar to how my teenage years were. This author was able to give the reader some insight as well as some ideas for coping with anxiety, OCD and depression.

This book started slow for me, the middle was great, then the ending was a bit disappointing. I did enjoy the style of writing & loved the concept!!

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

After her father’s untimely death, all Cora wants is a new start, a new town, a new school where no one knew her, or about her OCD tics that she can’t control, a condition both her and her dad shared.. She’s especially glad to be somewhere where no one knows she spent time in a mental hospital for self harm. Unfortunately her condition becomes too noticeable to hide and Cora finds herself once more the target of vicious bullying, and finds it to be even more unbearable than before.

She has never felt so truly alone.

That is, until she meets Emily, a homeschooled girl who lives in an abusive household. The separate but shared pains between the two girls bonds them quickly, But there is something off about her. Quickly though, Cora realizes that there is something more sinister about her. Emily has a list of people that have wronged her, people that have bullied her, people that she knows deserve to be punished. And she wants Cora’s help.


A psychological YA thriller, with a thrilling paranormal twist and a large dose of honest discussion around mental illness, and the importance of taking your meds on time. I really did enjoy Emily’s List a lot, and I found the mix of genres to be very well-balanced.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sterling & Stone for the opportunity to read and review this title!

As a person with OCD, it's always good to see representation in books...especially for younger audiences. So I am torn with my review. I love the rep, and the discussion about important issues teens face, but I couldn't get attached to the characters. At some points in the book, I felt like things were rushed and like I was being told essential parts of the plot instead of experiencing it. I also felt like a lot of the backstory was just conveniently thrown in to make things work. I didn't feel a strong pull to go back to reading when I stepped away, and I think it was due to the fact that I felt like I was being told the story instead of getting sucked into it.

So very creepy!! Cora is your average angsty teenager, with the added bonus of OCD and visible tics that make her bully bait. High school is a rough time and teenagers can be pretty horrible people, and Cora is badly bullied. Enter Emily, who is not who she appears to be, and there is pretty shocking twist that made my jaw drop for a few moments. Things go from bad to worse for Cora, but Emily is there to pick up the pieces and guide her - or is she? Does she have her own agenda? And what role does Cora play in all this? This was a really good read for me. Just spooky enough for an October read, and kept me turning the pages to see how it would all play out.

With Emily's List, I was thinking I was getting into a spooky teen ghost story but found myself reading a paranormal YA friendship/revenge story. That's OK, I enjoy a bit of YA from time to time. I absolutely loved the MC Cora. Bullied and bruised, Cora is a fighter trying to find he place in her world which unfortunately at the age of 16 is high school. Uggh, who would want to relive that experience? She's also an unreliable narrator. In fact, every character is unreliable through Cora's lens. Are they really the people she thinks they are? Who can she trust? Who is in her corner?

Overall, I enjoyed the story. Cora kept making bad decisions, which while I hate in adult stories, I am OK with in YA. Hey, we've all been there. Teens are notorious for making bad decisions.... hopefully we make it through and learn from them and make better decisions as adults. Without giving things away, I was sort of let down by the ending. Lilith seemed like a random character thrown in at the end in order to wrap things up. I would have preferred either a different track or to have her integrated earlier into the story in order to really understand her.
3.5 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Sterling & Stone for the opportunity to read and review this book.

After Cora’s father dies in a car accident. Cora and her mother move to Washington for a new start. Cora’s mother brought her fathers office to the new house so she feel close to him. She then meets Emily and things in Cora’s life goes from bad to worse.

Cora met Alex and became good friends with him. Cora was hoping she could get away from the bullying. Cora thought she was losing her mind. Cora didn’t know where to turn. She thought her mother hated her because of what happened the night her father passed away. Cora didn’t know who was lying to her.

I loved the story it was so good. I couldn’t stop reading it. I just had to finish this book and see what happened next. Cora was eventually able to get her life on track the best she could.

Weak protagonist, slow pace, confusing at times

I would like to thank Sean Platt and David W. Wright, Sterling & Stone, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Per Jen Turrell of Sterling & Stone, this ebook is free across all retail platforms, at least at the time I’m writing this review, so if you’re interested, grab a copy!

Spoilers

I was under the impression this book would be a spooky haunted house mystery, and at times it was, but truly this is a young adult psychological thriller with a paranormal bent. 13 Reasons Why meets The Sixth Sense.

The novel’s truly about Cora and her mental illnesses—OCD, depression, anxiety, pretty much hates herself. Toss in crippling remorse, residual grief, a tense relationship with her mom, horrible bullies at school, battling the urge to self-harm, talking to herself on two levels, which got confusing at times (italics were overused) . . . and yeah, she really wasn’t much fun to be around. Platt and Wright did almost too good a job getting into her chemically imbalanced brain.

I’m all for protagonists having relatable flaws, but they also have to be likable and charismatic enough to draw readers in and carry a story. I didn’t dislike Cora, but I didn’t like her much, either. She was a mental and emotional hot mess, incredibly naive, easily led, and just couldn’t get out of her own way. Having similar mental illnesses myself, though nowhere near Cora’s severity, I had great sympathy for her—but to a point. I didn’t feel her character arc arrived at a much better place than where it began. She came clean to her mom, realized she needed to respect her pill regimen (how hard is it to use a weekly case and set an alarm?), made some friends, and did what she needed to do to wrap up the story, but . . . I don’t know, I just wasn’t satisfied with Cora’s arc. I didn’t feel she grew enough as a person.

It had a slow start as Cora transitioned and demonstrated her mentality to us, but once Alex was introduced it picked up a little—or maybe I just became more interested once there was a whiff of romance. Alex was fascinating, bursting with charisma. But did we get all the answers regarding him? Was he involved in drugs? Why did he act shady sometimes? Pardon if the book said and I just don’t remember. I’m not sure we got an explanation for his father’s sudden turn around in the resolution, either. Great to hear, but bafflingly abrupt.

Speaking of questions, was it ever addressed that Emily seemed to possess people, make them say and do things? Or was Cora hallucinating? It wasn’t very clear. Also, I don’t remember the forgotten Saturday being satisfyingly addressed. Other than some nasty texts to her old friend, did she ever figure out what she did that day? I think the blackout was caused by her sporadic pill-taking, but that didn’t settle the matter. Also there was some timeline confusion in there, because when she first woke up it was Sunday, but later it became Saturday again, and then the next day was Saturday, too, I think. I was so confused.

Last thing I wanted to mention was Lilith. I’m really not sure what to think about her. Storytelling-wise, she didn’t make a whole lot of sense. If you have a bazooka like Lilith lying next to you, why are you using Emily the handgun? Lilith struck me as a very convenient but unnecessary way of explaining Emily. Couldn’t figure out how to explain something? Point the finger at Lilith. Or possibly her purpose was to allow Emily to remain sympathetic—she’d been influenced by evil, after all. Which is a crock; her actions were her own. I felt bad for Emily but I didn’t like her. I didn’t care to see her note at the end, I’d rather Cora had just been done with her.

Overall, it was an interesting book with solid writing despite a few faults—weak protagonist, slow pace, confusing at times. Ultimately not to my taste, but I respect Platt and Wright’s effort to shine light on dark and disturbing topics.

This is a pretty straightforward ghost story. Have I ever mentioned that ghost stories aren’t my thing? I have a hard time suspending disbelief, which seriously hinders my reading enjoyment, so I feel a little bad even giving it a review.
All that being said, this was all right. It was YA, and generally hit all of the angsty teen “hot topics” - new kid/outsider, bullying, cutting, nude pics, etc., like the authors were ticking off important YA topics.
The climax wasn’t surprising and got a little far-fetched. Well, of course it did. It was a story about ghosts.
Thanks to #netgalley and #sterlingandstone for this #arc of #emilyslist in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much for the publisher for giving me a copy to read I thought this book was okay I didn’t find it has nearly as much as a thrill I was expecting.