Dorian is a ghost therapist and things are going fine until one day a little ghost girl steals the key to death’s door, trapping the ghosts in this world, not allowing them to cross over. Dorian is forced to learn self care and boundaries as he seeks to solve his and the ghosts problems.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while! I'm so excited that I finally got a chance to read it. It was even better than I anticipated!

This was honestly frightening. I would love to see a TV adaptation of this, because it was truly something. Grief, shame, horror, codependency, love, healing, growth, boundaries. What a wonderful read.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #TheGhostkeeper by Johanna Taylor in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first graphic novel and I went in not knowing what to expect and I really enjoyed it. The artwork was incredible and engaging and the story was great. I enjoyed seeing how mental health issues were handled in this story and the overall message was wonderful advice for everyone. Definitely will be recommending this book to others.

4.5 stars.

I received an advanced copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A beautiful story that really highlights the importance of therapy and taking care of yourself as well as others. I really loved the interactions between characters as well as the gorgeous illustrations.

Queer rep was a plus.

Thank you Penguin Teen for an eARC of this book.

Themes: Queer MC, Mental Health, Grief/Death, Needing to Help Everyone, Cozy Fantasy with a splash of horror, Celtic Folklore


This book was kind of exactly what I needed. I have begun to read Graphic Novels more and this one made me feel all the things and the art work was fantastic.

This story follows a man that can see ghosts due to an accident from his childhood. He is a therapist for ghosts as they try to move on after they die. The story really discusses grief and dying before your time, which was something that I needed to process through at this point with some things going on in my life. The MC has the ability to help ghosts communicate with living people and can help mend relationships beyond the grave.

While our MC is trying holistic ways of removing ghosts there are exorcists that are fumigating houses to "kill" the ghosts... oh and did I mention our MC is on the run from an asylum because he can see ghosts.

Lucy was perfect, and I loved her character arc so much. I also adored the ghost cat and granny. Overall this book was sad but also kind of made me feel warm and fuzzy. The MC feels as though he always needs to fix other peoples problems, to the point in which he does not take care of himself, and I think that is a very relatable personality trait for some people.

Overall- Loved it!

This was a really beautifully illustrated young adult graphic novel. It tells the story of Dorian who is a ghost therapist who helps ghosts deal with their problems so that they can pass on. In this book he faces a big problem that prevents the ghosts in the area from moving on.

I found this a compelling story with lots of drama. There are villains, new friends, and a little touch of romance. And so many angry ghosts. Both the main character and the side characters go on journeys of healing and learning throughout the book. I loved seeing how Dorian grew and learned to set boundaries. Overall, a great graphic novel with a magical story at its centre.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the chance to read this one early. The Ghostkeeper is out on July 23rd.

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for this advanced reader's copy. Yeah, totally not crying. This book gave me all the feels. SO ADORABLE. How can a comic book so beautifully show fear, love, anxiety, and how to just COPE with LIFE and that we need to support each other?! My, this was precious I want to recommend this book to everyone

Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this entertaining read. This is such a beautiful story of grief, belonging, ghosts, and a wonderful, kind-hearted main character who has learned a value of self-worth throughout the story. Great writing, well-developed characters, fast moving plot, and awesome graphics made this a fast read. I’d love to return into this world at another time to “get an update” on the ghosts and see how Dorian is managing as well. Highly recommend!

Overall I love the themes explored in this graphic novel. Dorian was a super likable MC and I really enjoyed seeing him explore the terms of his ability. I think the pacing of the story could have been better because there were several moments where it felt like I had missed context or the plot line was going in a weird order. Even still, the story was great and I will definitely be recommending this around the spooky season.

The idea of a ghost therapist is such a fresh and unique take on a ghost story, but one that makes total sense and works so well, particularly for a YA book. This packs a lot of lessons that will be useful to so many teens and tweens (and people in general for that matter), especially about self-care, responsibility, guilt, and grief, but it does it in a way that feels like a natural part of the story. There are so many memorable characters, particularly Lucy, Dorian, and his grandmother, and almost all of them get satisfying character arcs. The art is also a great fit for the story and intended audience - there's so much detail which makes the world very rich and fully fleshed out and there's an element of creepiness with the rot and banshees that is very fitting. The art style overall is sure to be appealing to a lot of young readers. All of that plus a sweet queer romance are sure to make this a massive hit. Highly recommended for middle and high school readers.

This is a beautiful story, both the text and the images. It’s got the gothic vibes in the setting and the overall melancholy but there’s no point where it feels TOO heavy. It takes on death, fear, grief, love, and failure, all with an undercurrent of “it won’t always be like this; we can change for the better.”

I think this story is important, as well as beautiful. I’ll be recommending it to several friends and will be requesting a copy at my library!

I love the idea of therapy being a method of getting ghosts to release their spirits. Sam and Dean could have learned a heck of a lot from Dorian. This story was complex and entertaining throughout. I really enjoyed the art style as well.

I truly enjoyed this read. It was a bit hard to read on screen, with all the text and details, so I would like to read it again in printed form.

The overall story is easy to follow, but the important part of it is the way you handle grief and depression. How helping others can also be a help to yourself.

Loved the artwork, the relationships, the whole thing. We even get a little love story and I always enjoy those.

Thank you for the chance to read this!

/ Denise

In addition to being about ghosts and grief, this graphic novel targets issues of boundaries, burnout, and healthy relationships. While there is a romance between the main character and his partner, more time is spent on what family and friends owe (or DON'T owe) each other.

As a kid, I would have loved the creepy horror elements of this story, although I do think this book walked an odd line between cute-and-softness and dark aspects. The storyline meandered a bit, and I felt that the narrative could have had a bit more depth in places. Overall, this was endearing and sometimes silly, but also tackled heavier topics relating to autonomy and rest. Dorian really struggles to establish boundaries, and his sense of self-worth is tied to his productivity for much of the story, until his friends challenged that notion. I think that's a great message for younger readers, and frankly know/am some adults who need to hear it, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Pro-tip for any Netgalley readers/a note for Netgalley — this book is UNREADABLE on the kindle version, so I’d strongly suggest using the Netgalley app.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I wasn’t feeling this book at first but I’m so glad I stuck with it because I really enjoyed it. Dorian is a great main and I appreciated learning more about him and his backstory. The lore was interesting and I appreciated how the book walked that balance of giving us enough lore to understand the world while also not feeling the need to explain each and every single thing. There’s a great theme in dealing with grief and establishing boundaries in this book, in a way that’s palatable for a younger audience while not insulting their intelligence and still managing to be meaningful for an older audience.

This book could easily be a one-off, but I also think there’s a lot there that would be cool to see in a sequel book. I definitely would love to read more from this book universe again!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

The art and the story of this graphic novel were both incredible! I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the idea that people who are revived from death are able to see ghosts. I thought that this would be a cute graphic novel about therapy ghosts but it actually touches on a lot of heavy subjects. The characters were really fun too and I was glad to see how everyone came together in the end to help Dorian with the ghosts instead of weigh him down. It was a really good ending to a really good novel.

The Ghostkeeper is an amazing tale that revolves around grief, healing, and moving on.

First, I just want to mention how much I enjoyed the art style. The art was gorgeous and I enjoyed how the ghosts in particular were depicted.

My favorite part of the graphic novel was Dorian. Our ghost therapist was one of the kindest and most selfless characters I’ve ever read about. He tried so hard to help the ghosts deal with their issues so they could move on and find peace, that sometimes he would neglect himself. I liked seeing him learn to set healthy boundaries with the ghosts and take more time for himself.

I briefly want to mention the the romance. It wasn’t the focus by any means but I adored seeing Dorian and Brody together. They were very sweet with each other and Brody was so supportive of Dorian and his work.

I highly recommend The Ghostkeeper and can’t wait to read more from Johanna Taylor.

I thought this book was very cute. The story is sweet and understandable for a young adult audience, and also provides a book in more paranormal subjects for non-superhero comic books, which isn't as often explored. I also thought the depictions of mental health in ghosts was so relatable as well as the depictions of burnout.

Ever since a near-death experience in childhood, Dorian Leith could communicate with ghosts, and has made it his mission to ease them into the afterlife. Basically, he’s a therapist to ghosts, and especially focuses on anxiety. But, to the rest of the world, ghosts are nuisances to be exorcised. If he wants to save the lost souls of his new town, Dorian must keep the dead AND the living calm enough to restore order to the afterlife.

Oof, as a caregiver, this one hits HARD. Convinced that he’s the only one who can help, Dorian takes on too much, and you spend most of the book watching his slow deterioration. Tired, malnourished, and even losing connection with a romantic partner, Dorian ends up seeming closer to Death’s Door than the actual ghosts!

The worldbuilding is quite interesting. With humans aware that ghosts exist, exorcists run a brisk trade, but these aren’t religious practitioners. It’s more another branch of extermination, and business is kept booming with secret formulas. But the more scientific bent of the exorcists doesn’t mean there isn’t a mythology here. The ghosts flow between the living world and an afterlife, and a larger mystery, central to the story, lies at the far reaches of that other world.

I devoured this in one sitting. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the author’s next release!

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.