Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart

Summary:

Ever since her mother passed away, Katie's been alone in her too-big house with her genius dad, who restores old paintings for a living. Katie takes a summer job at a garden estate, where, with the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, she soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery. There are secrets and shadows at the heart of "Nothing but Ghosts": symbols hidden in a time-darkened painting, and surprises behind a locked bedroom door. But most of all, this is a love story--the story of a girl who learns about love while also learning to live with her own ghosts.

This is a heartfelt, lyrical tale from the National Book Award-nominated author of "Undercover" and "House of Dance."

Review:

I've actually never read anything by Beth Kephart before and after reading Nothing But Ghosts I totally feel bad about not doing so.

Nothing But Ghosts is a novel filled with the aftermath of loosing someone close to you ( the pain and regret) and how to get by while still keeping parts of that person in memory. I personally thought Beth dealt with the loss of Katie's mother excellently. Since, while you could feel Katie's sadness in Beth's writing it never felt like too much or too little. Also, I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the plot. It was fun to try to figure out why Miss Martine, Katie's employer and her small town's mysterious ex socialite, went into hiding. I was always trying to figure out the reasons why and they ended up being pretty close to what actually happened.

The characters in this novel where also amazing and they just jumped off the page from the start. As mentioned briefly above, I really enjoyed reading about Katie. Many girls and boys out there can relate to her feelings of loss, me being one of them. Plus, I loved how she was such a strong character; one that could overcome loss and still be okay. The additional characters were also cute and had their own unique personalities. One being Katie's dad. It was interesting to read about his job restoring paintings and to see how he dealt with the loss of his wife. Sammy Macker, was yet another creative add to the story, as was Ms. McDermott and Danny, who was such a sweet guy!

Beth Kephart's writing also won me over big time. I loved how it had this lyrical feeling and hooked you from the first chapter and didn't let you go till the ending. I really can't wait to read her future and past novels, since she has such a great talent.

Overall, I truly adored Nothing But Ghosts and suggest that you should definitely give it a try; it's just a beautiful novel.

Grade: A+

Nothing But Ghosts is now out!

* Much thanks to Beth Kephart for sending me a singed copy of her book! :)