4/1 - An enjoyable YA ghost story with a few flaws - editing, a cliff hanger ending, and finishing at 92% are the reasons I can't give this five stars.

First to the editing, on page 41

'His study was still in tact...'
Intact is one word.

On page 105

'I ...don' begrudge the expense...'
don' is missing the 'T' to make it 'don't'.

On page 120

'...treading on my toes so as not to make a sound.'
That sounds way too much like she's stepped on her own toes, rather than that she's creeping down a hallway trying to be silent.

On page 137

'...has nothing to with nobility...'
The word 'do' is missing between 'to' and 'with'.

On page 142

'...desire to kiss him again swelled within me.'
The use of 'again' denotes the idea that Jacob and Emily had kissed prior to this sentence, they hadn't. If a comma had been used after 'him' the sentence would make much more sense.

On page 241

'...and monetarily separated the thin curtain'
That should be 'momentarily'.

Editing-wise, this was better than a lot of the Kindle books out there, but it was far from complete.

Possible spoilers (may only turn out to be guesses regarding the plot, hopefully something will be revealed in the next book)

The story was a nice surprise (although the fact that I'm now surprised when a Kindle book is good, isn't a good thing). This had a bit of a Ghost Whisperer vibe to it which provided some opportunities for a few chuckles. Imagining the interactions between Emily and the ghosts as viewed by outsiders who couldn't see the ghosts and could only see the objects they held up to give their location made me laugh out loud a couple of times.

By around chapter ten I began to think that maybe Jacob isn't actually dead, he's just in some kind of deep coma and that's why he appears so solid to Emily and can't remember anything about his 'death'. Also, if he's not dead then there's some hope for him and Emily having a future together. If he's dead this series is kind of depressing and pointless because Emily has already professed her undying love for Jacob and claims there will never be another. Where can the series go if he is indeed dead?

I will read the next book in the series, but will wait till it's a good price. Considering what I've discussed in this review I wouldn't want to pay more than $2 for a sequel that may have the same problems as this one did. This was free, so I consider that a win.

2016 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - A Book Recommended by Someone you Just Met

29/8 - I read up to page 58 then took the time to skim/read Richard Reviles Censorship's review to see if my problems with the book were mine alone, it wasn't encouraging. I hadn't liked the writing style or four different voices from the first lines I read. I didn't like the fact that it was ambiguous as to whose voice I was hearing from, I had to work it out from which of the other characters were mentioned by eliminating them one by one. A character called Ore had a portion of a chapter right at the beginning, some 30 pages before we actually find out who Ore is - a strangely (and needlessly) confusing situation for the reader. The blurb on the back was so promising, but was ruined (for me) by the strange language, although I may not have continued even if the language had been more normal considering some of the other problems other reviewers have pointed out.

18/6 - Let's start off with "I've never read Wuthering Heights." I've seen the Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche movie and thought it was worth four 'very good' stars. The movie made me want to get started immediately on reading the book (obviously I haven't, as other books had precedence), The House of Dead Maids didn't really have the same impact on me. When I put this on my 'to read' list I had no idea it was the 'prelude' for Wuthering Heights. It wasn't until after I started reading that I noticed the half covered by a library barcode note at the bottom of the front cover, saying that it's "A Chilling prelude to WUTHERING HEIGHTS".

SPOILERS AHEAD

The idea that this is the story of the early life of the Bronte's 'domestic servant' Tabitha 'Tabby' Aykroyd is interesting, but the execution was flawed. I wanted a lot more explanation and exploration of the previous 'young maids' and 'young masters' and how their sacrifices continued the luck of Seldom House. Not that Seldom seemed particularly 'lucky', in my opinion. The 'old maid' and 'old master' were forced to live in that house for the rest of their lives, only going out to pick up new 'young maids' or 'young masters', never free, never happy, never doing anything. The people of the town didn't seem particularly 'lucky' either. No one was prospering on the back of the sacrifices, they were pointless sacrifices as far as I could see. This was such a short book, even shorter than it appeared in my copy because the one I read had over 10 pages of book club discussion topics and interviews with the author - it was a bit of shock when I got to the end of the story and there was still a chunk of pages in my right hand. This could have been done so much better. I probably wouldn't recommend it to lovers of Wuthering Heights, I don't think it would add to their reading experience.

Emil's life has been turned upside down in the last year. His mother has died of cancer and his brother, who he has always looked up to, has disappeared without a trace. Emil and his father don't communicate about anything important and rarely see each other due to his father's work schedule. The only friend he has is Soma, a rule-bending, line-crossing boy who is in the same grade as Emil.

Nothing exciting happens to Emil. He is average in every way. His brother, Ethan, was the bright, shining star with all the friends, good grades, and a way with the ladies. Emil just lives in Ethan's shadow. He attends Caramoor Academy, a private school with a hefty tuition. Since everything has happened in his family, Emil's grades have started to slip and his father is riding him harder than ever to make the grade; especially since he is paying so much for him to go to school at Caramoor.

Emil does have the key though -- the key to notoriety, the key to exploration, the key to discovery. One day before Ethan left home, Emil was digging around in his bedroom and found an actual key. When he asked Ethan what the key unlocked he received a surprising answer: the key was a master key to the entire Caramoor Academy campus. Every door in every building was available to the person who held the key. Emil asked if he could have it and unbelievably, Ethan said yes. Normally the key was passed from one student to another each year. No one except the key holder was supposed to know who had it. The goal of the year was to pull off a monumental prank.

Emil's chance at greatness comes when his father has to go out of town for a long business trip and he has four days and nights home alone. He decides to use his time exploring Caramoor Academy. He sets up a makeshift bed in the attic of the main building and proceeds to unlock every door he can find. One evening during his exploration, Emil sees the art studio lit up and hears music blaring from the room. He finds a girl inside spinning a clay pot. He is shocked and doesn't give her his real name because he doesn't want to get caught, but he also wants to find out what she is doing there. After some conversation, he realizes she is the daughter of the art teacher at the Academy.

Over the next several days Emil and Jade, the girl in the art studio, form a relationship that leads them to many discoveries about themselves, about the death of Emil's mother and Ethan's role in it, and the importance of friendship. Eireann Corrigan has written a complex novel with true-to-life young adult characters that grow throughout the course of the story. Definitely for older teens, this novel covers topics such as grief, loss, family, and discovery with compassion and humor.