2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
Watch Over Me is a story about Mila, who has been in the foster system for a little while. She gets an opportunity to go intern on a farm as a teacher. Her past is interwoven through the story and we learn more about her as it progresses.
The main issue I had was the structure of the writing. It's not really in chapters, which, of course, is just fine, but as Mila was jumping in and out of reality it became confusing what was her dreaming and what wasn't (side note, the font types are a tiny bit different in the physical copy so perhaps that's what's implying the dream/reality differences). For the first half of the story, the pacing is slow and I felt like not much happened then it all came crashing down after the second half. The whole story did come together in the end, but it just overall left a bad taste in my mouth.
The haunting, eerie quality I was hoping for was sorely lacking. I definitely got a strong off-putting vibe from the majority of the characters...like, they're so strange or overly friendly that...eh. I couldn't really connect with any of them. And the ghosts are just...normal. Like, oh yeah...there's the ghosts again, no biggie. Not sure where the gothic qualities of the story were supposed to come in as I've seen this book described.
I'm really in the minority here and I'm not even sure I've read the same book as some of the other reviewers. That being the case, I say give this book a try, you might like it. It just definitely was not for me.
Thank you to the publisher via BookishFirst for an advanced finished copy to read and review.
Watch Over Me is a story about Mila, who has been in the foster system for a little while. She gets an opportunity to go intern on a farm as a teacher. Her past is interwoven through the story and we learn more about her as it progresses.
The main issue I had was the structure of the writing. It's not really in chapters, which, of course, is just fine, but as Mila was jumping in and out of reality it became confusing what was her dreaming and what wasn't (side note, the font types are a tiny bit different in the physical copy so perhaps that's what's implying the dream/reality differences). For the first half of the story, the pacing is slow and I felt like not much happened then it all came crashing down after the second half. The whole story did come together in the end, but it just overall left a bad taste in my mouth.
The haunting, eerie quality I was hoping for was sorely lacking. I definitely got a strong off-putting vibe from the majority of the characters...like, they're so strange or overly friendly that...eh. I couldn't really connect with any of them. And the ghosts are just...normal. Like, oh yeah...there's the ghosts again, no biggie. Not sure where the gothic qualities of the story were supposed to come in as I've seen this book described.
I'm really in the minority here and I'm not even sure I've read the same book as some of the other reviewers. That being the case, I say give this book a try, you might like it. It just definitely was not for me.
Thank you to the publisher via BookishFirst for an advanced finished copy to read and review.