"The Ghost of Us" by James L. Sutton is a paranormal romance that takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. Eighteen-year-old Cara, an aspiring ghost hunter with dreams of YouTube stardom, finds herself unexpectedly entangled with the spirit of Aiden, a deceased schoolmate who seeks closure for his grieving sister, Meredith. What begins as a cynical quest for fame transforms into a journey of self-discovery and love.

Sutton weaves together themes of grief, friendship, and the complexities of young adulthood. Cara's character development is particularly compelling as she navigates the moral dilemmas of deceiving Meredith while grappling with her own ambitions. The dynamics between Cara and Aiden are laced with humor and tenderness, adding depth to their evolving bond beyond the grave.

The narrative's humor surprised me, injecting levity into what could have been a somber story. Aiden’s witty banter and Cara’s awkward charm create moments that balance the emotional weight of loss with the excitement of newfound connections.

While the plot occasionally leaned towards predictability, especially in the romance between Cara and Meredith, Sutton’s ability to infuse each chapter with emotional authenticity kept me engaged. The portrayal of grief felt raw and real, especially through Meredith’s struggles to move forward after losing her brother.

The supporting characters, like Cara's loyal yet occasionally overbearing friend Holly, added layers to the story, each bringing their own perspectives and challenges.

Overall, "The Ghost of Us" is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the unexpected paths life takes. Sutton’s writing is accessible and compelling, making it easy to immerse oneself in Cara and Aiden’s journey. Fans of YA fiction looking for a blend of paranormal intrigue and heartfelt romance will find much to enjoy in this novel.

DNF at 20%

This book is so clearly teenagers written by a grown adult and it's so cringey.
While the plot itself was intriguing to me, I can't stand how it's written. There are too many attempts to make the teens sound modern and the story is just not interesting enough for me to continue.

Not the biggest fan of ghost hunting as a premise. But reading it for the sapphics. It's cute but for something with a set up involving grief and loss, the POV of the one NOT dealing with that grief seems ill-advised. Once again, I become detached from a romance with a single POV.

A strong sophomore effort for Sutter. Still dealing with mature themes, his handling of character here is defter than "Darkhearts." Several of his choices keep this take on an Unfinished Business story fresh. Cara Weaver is the spirit of "support women's rights AND women's wrongs." Meredith is more than a stiff upper lip, her vulnerability is achingly real. Even Christian Good-Girl Holly--a character who risked slipping into cliched Pollyanna territory--walks the fine line so that she becomes the moral center without making the reader feel like they're being beaten over the head with her bible. The one thing Sutter still hasn't quite finessed is wrapping up a storyline. When the tension finally snaps, it's satisfying--everyone's pain gets its due. But the recovery is disappointingly quick. Blink and you miss the apologies and forgiveness. While there's acknowledgment of hurt feelings and it's not a fairytale ending, there's still the sense that the healing deserved as much page time as the hurting.

I very much enjoyed this book! It gave me all the touching moments I could ask for while also not being overdone. I love the characters, and the storyline. I love the way this was written as well. It's such a a wonderful narrative. I definitely need a physical copy of this book.

Thank you netgalley and Wednesday books for the free e-arc and finished copy. My opinions are being left voluntarily. I enjoyed this book and felt it worked well following the previous one. I found the book well written and kept my interest. I will check out authors backlist and future books.

4.5/5☆

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was such a fun but poignant story. The characters were well drawn and very relatable. I absolutely loved the romance and paranormal mix going on in this book. Looking forward to more from this author. Highly recommend

This was a sweet book with an interesting premise. The plot ends up being a bit predictable in places due to the romcom setup, but I think it works overall.

I wanted to love this book, because I really love James L. Sutter’s wit, humor, warmth, and writing style. The dialogue in this book is hilarious and while I was wary of the plot premise going in, I didn’t expect it to go all full-blown cringe as it ultimately went.

The largest issue I had with The Ghost of Us was the characters: I couldn’t stand any of them except Meredith. Even with Cara (the protagonist) having some of the funniest dialogue I’ve read in a YA book in ages I still couldn’t stand her.

Maybe it’s my age or maybe it’s me having kids of my own, but a lot of the backstory surrounding this book just felt so out of touch and out of place for me I simply couldn’t let go of all my questions and engage completely with the story, either.

I’m pretty sure this is a “me” thing and not an issue with the book itself. Sutter is a wonderful writer with a great feel for timing, story, emotion, and a great splash of quirkiness that makes his books compelling. It just wasn’t a book I could connect to.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to a rating of three stars or lower this review will not be appearing in my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Standalone Novel/YA Contemporary Romance/YA Fiction/YA LGBTQ Romance/YA Paranormal Romance/YA Romance

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story!
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I throughly enjoyed this book. I enjoy any book really with a bisexual MC, so Cara was immediately cool in my book. Holly was actually one of my favorite characters though, which came as a surprise given her introduction with Cara in the story. I loved how she was Christian AND a Ghost Hunter. Her youtube channel about faith and acceptance of others was really telling of the kind of person she was. Elvis, Holly's boyfriend, was also really funny. I thought they were so adorably together. Aiden was my absolute favorite though. He was so witty and clever even in death and even though his whole ploy to get Cara and Meredith together was DUMB I knew he only had his sister's best interests at heart, wanting her to live her life again despite everything that happened to him. It was a really good novel about love, grief, and abandonment and how the people around you can help you get through the tough shit if you let them.

The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter was such an excellent story.
Sutter is a phenomenal writer and I devoured every single word inside this book!
An emotional, tender and sweet story.

Thank You NetGalley and Wednesday Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

okay but i did finish it, but i cringed a lot. between the fmcs obsession with feet, sweaty armpits, and underwear in someones buttcrack, Im pretty sure im never reading another sapphic book written by a man ever again. This book just made me sooo uncomfortable at times. The book literally had such an interesting plot, but then we'd get the FMC's thoughts and my uncomfy levels raised. Also any spicy scenes between characters in high school just make me genuinely uncomfortable.

This was such a heartwarming coming of age book about grief which seems like an oxymoron to say but James kept this book light while dealing with some deeper themes like grief, loss of a child/brother, and growing up.

-sapphic YA romance
-paranormal element
-fake ish dating
-all of the characters are loveable
-HEA

I loved the Darkhearts callbacks in this book, too! I thought that was such a fun touch to this book. Absolutely will continue to read books from James L Sutter.

i DNF at 45% I reallly wanted to love this one but it felt too immature. I may have just outgrown YA novels since I really don't read them anymore. I loved the synopsis for this, but it really missed the mark.

3.5 stars rounded up

Overall, I enjoyed this book; however, I feel like that, for a book so focus around grief, it didn't make me feel especially emotional. I loved that it made me laugh and giggle, but I think I just missed out on the importance of grief and how deep the feelings are. I liked this, but it was missing that.

The Ghost of Us by James L Sutter

Review of ARC provided by the publisher

5/5

Bottoms (2023) meets BuzzFeed Unsolved. The Ghost of Us is a cute coming of age story and rom com with a supernatural twist. The Ghost of Us is such a fun read with a lot of heart. It follows Cara, an aspiring ghost hunter who teams up with Aiden, an actual ghost, in order to get his sister to be her prom date. In short, it’s Complicated ;)

Cara feels like a very believable teen girl in a situation that is not so believable. Cara is at times a hard protagonist to root for as she makes some questionable decisions, but decisions that are true to who she is. Her fear of the future and of being left behind are things most teens (and ghosts) can relate to which keeps the book feeling genuine.

Cara’s growing romantic relationship with Meredith is of course central to the story, but I think the strongest relationships in this book are the friendships. Especially the friendship that forms between Cara and Aiden. Two people who never would’ve otherwise sought each other out but are such a fun duo and their banter is the highlight of this book.

I’d recommend this to anyone that enjoys YA romance and can appreciate a paranormal plot.

The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter is a sapphic romance with a paranormal twist. This book is perfect for readers who like high school romances.

Cara is an outcast and is really interested in being a ghost hunter. Together with her friend Holly, she explores sites reportedly haunted. At one such site, she meets Aiden, who is a ghost. Aiden has an unfulfilled wish, and both of them strike a deal. But at what cost?

This book covers a lot of topics like death, grief, bullying, high school friendships, and in some parts religion. I am still undecided about what I feel about this book yet. I loved the writing, especially the interactions between Aiden and Cara. There's a growth arc in the characters that I liked, but the reasoning of the actions was not my favorite at all. Meredith was my favorite character, and I wish her point of view was included as well.

Rating: 4/5
I received eARC for my honest opinion

This book is about Cara who is an aspiring ghost hunter, who wants nothing more than to get out of her small town life. Once she finds out that she was
not able to get into the college that she applied for, she is more determined to use her YouTube channel to make it big. She decides to visit a place where Aiden, a schoolmate, was killed a year before to try to speak to him and prove that ghosts are real to the world. However, this ghost is not really helpful until he can make sure that he gets his chance to move on from this world with Cara's help. Together they come up with a plan and start to take action, but of course along the way of them completing it something always goes wrong… or does it? Could this be something that might actually be going wrong but right at the same time?

I enjoyed this plot a lot, and I thought that the author handled a lot of different topics like: death, grief, being unsure about one's future, depression, bullying, friendships and romance. I thought the pace of the book was perfect for the topics and I didn’t find any parts that I thought could have been wrapped up faster. I thought the writing style was clean and easy to follow and I found myself able to relate to the characters at times.

I thought the characters were well written and I liked the growth that both the main characters showed. You will be able to see their growth throughout the book and I won’t lie I did find myself wanting to shake Cara a few times but that is because the whole miscommunication trope that was thrown in there, but with the understanding to why I was able to handle it and it didn’t ruin the book for me. I also think it was the whole knowing that her relationship with Meredith was based on lies at the start. I really liked the banter between Aiden and Cara, at times I felt that if he was still alive she might make it work out with him, but I really enjoyed getting to know Cara and Meredith together. Meredith really helped to bring Cara out of her shell more and she was able to overcome fears that she wouldn’t normally try to overcome. I loved the BI-rep in this book and I thought the author handled the intimate scene between the characters very well. I liked that the author showed you that just because you might be bullied, not everyone will treat you like that and shows you that you can overcome and learn from mistakes in your life.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the opportunity to review this book.

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martins Press for this advanced copy. You can pick up The Ghost of Us on June 11, 2024.

What a heartbreakingly sweet story! I loved the relationships explored in this book between Cara and Holly, Cara and Meredith, Meredith and Aiden, and more. The romance was so well-written and evoked so much emotion in me! It really felt like a representation of that first high school crush/significant other.

The paranormal aspect was really interesting too! I loved Cara's dedication to and reasoning behind becoming a ghost hunter, and I think her decisions showed how hurt she was by all she'd endured. I do wish there'd been a little less religion mentioned, but I understand why that was a main component of Holly and Cara's friendship.

Did Cara make terrible choices? Yes. Did she also learn and grow from them? Absolutely yes. While I found her frustrating at times, I also found her startlingly real and relatable, especially for that age.

Prepare for some tears and angst with this one on top of laughter and kicking your feet! It has a great balance of both.

This LGBTQ romance with a paranormal twist was a unique and interesting take on the “dating on a bet” trope - teen ghost hunter Cara agrees to date Meredith in exchange for her ghost brother Aiden helping Cara provide evidence of ghosts. I saw a lot of myself in Cara and Meredith, and I think a lot of readers could identify with their struggles to fit in. The grief element was handled really well, the story had a good balance of lighter and heavier moments, and for a YA novel it wasn’t overly angsty. Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I’d recommend to YA readers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!