Give Up the Ghost

Oh Cass. She is kind of hard to like at some points. Not in the beginning, but as her revenge plot gets under way a little more and her tentative acquaintance with Tim deepens, she retreats further and further into this bitter, brittle shell with a lot of bite. Understandable given the crap she went through because her former best friend decided that she couldn't share the spotlight for even a moment, but it was at times enough to make me want to shake her. Hard. Until her teeth rattled.

She was stubborn, she was pig-headed and she had a pretty black and white outlook on life (or at least high school). She was so vulnerable though that I found it hard not to want to cry when she did. To put it shortly, I went through a lot of the crap show more she went through with her 'best friend' Danielle. Only I wasn't strong enough (if you can call it that) to bounce back and tune it all out. I admired Cass for that. It might have made her a right witch to be around, but she didn't break because of it.

Tim...he was a lot more complicated then when he is first introduced. His descent into depression is horrifying and startling. Its the little things that start the trend, that make a person slowly wither and die inside. Stuff most people don't notice or care to notice. Watching him struggle and Cass try to figure out what she should do, could do, for him was heart-wrenching. I wouldn't say they were both too proud to ask for help, but it was more like they weren't sure they deserved that help.

If its not obvious the book had me engrossed (let's put it this way--I came home at 6pm to the package containing Give Up the Ghost , ate dinner, watched Dexter and finished the book all before 11pm). I've been looking forward to it since practically ever prayed to the blogger gods that an arc would wind up in my mailbox and had a deuced time finding a copy offline. Thank god for Amazon and for contests!

The story flows at a natural pace, moving from each day at an even clip with an actual sense of time passing. Which I appreciate since it seems more often then not a book will move time wise a lot slower then that narrative eludes to. Crewe doesn't pack an impossible amount of things happening into a relatively short time span and accept for one minor thing, nothing felt rushed or trampled past to get to the next plot point.

The only two things that nagged me mildly was that there was no 'closure' (or at least sense of consequences) against something a student does to Cass later in the novel. At the very least I wanted to hear there would be punishment, but it happens, is mentioned once and then sort of disappears. The other thing was just that I would have liked to know more about why Cass suddenly began seeing ghosts. I assumed throughout it was either the onset of puberty (she was 12 at the time) or the shock of her sister's death that caused it, but by the end I wasn't so sure.

In the end I loved the book, even if it did make me cry several times and it was honestly refreshing to read a YA-paranormal that wasn't romance. At best what Cass and Tim have could be called the beginning stage of 'seeing someone more then a friend', but as they just became friends (and rocky ones at that) I was happy they didn't progress further. show less

From Megan Crewe comes Give up the Ghost, an unusual tale that sees young Cassie able to interact with spirits. Both sarcastic and brave, Cassie seeks to help out an unlikely friend, to act as a bridge of communication between worlds.

The author had me hooked from the first sentence, making me question the nature of Cassie's life and abilities. Hers is a deeply personal journey that touched my heart in many ways. I could feel every stitch of Cassie's heartache and adored her awkward, yet brutally honest personality.

'Every person is like a fascinating story you've never read before.'

I couldn't agree more with this and loved every moment of Cassie's story.

Rated 5 stars. A recommended read for lovers of Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, and the show more Paranormal. show less

I adored this book, to put it mildly. It pulled me in right from the beginning and refused to let me go!

The entire book was wonderfully written and imagined. Cass was a girl that I found extremely easy to relate to - especially her sarcasm. I loved that the author showed Cass' tough side as well as her softer, more vulnerable side that she usually keeps hidden from her peers.

I often find that authors add unneeded details to the plot - just to make it more interesting, but Megan Crewe not only had reason for every detail, everything was wrapped up at the end. I was left completely satisfied when I finished this book - which never happens! Cass' bullying, her family life, her new relationship with Tim - all wrapped up perfectly.

I really show more enjoyed the ghosts of the story. Paige was a wonderful older sister, even in death, even if she didn't know she was - or was in ways that she didn't even mean to be. Another favorite was Norris... I had fun trying to imagine him while he was living - he was such a colorful character. I have to mention that I love this book's dust jacket! On the cover you can see a ghost whispering in Cass' ear and Norris leaning against the lockers on the back cover. I think it fits the novel perfectly!

There is even a dash of romance, but it borders on being only a friendship. Even though I ususally like books with a romantic plot line, and this book's is minimal, I still was kept interested throughout the novel.

Read this book! I was fortunate enough to win a copy, but if I hadn't I definitely would have bought this book! It is remarkable that this is Megan's Crewe's debut novel - it is AMAZING! show less

GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe was a slightly different book than the one I was expecting. I thought the story would be fairly juvenile, but the premise still looked very interesting. I’m happy to say, however, that GIVE UP THE GHOST was really a great read. The story was complex and engaging with enough material to keep the reader entertained the whole way through. I would recommend this book to both young adults and adults alike.

GIVE UP THE GHOST is the story of Cass, a seventeen year old girl with more than her grades to worry about. Being in high school, we already know that life is going to be tough for our heroine. Combine that with the fact that she’s constantly receiving fashion advice from her dead sister and digging up show more the dirt on everyone at school, and you’ve got one busy young woman!

We journey through the story with Cass as she uses her abilities to talk with the dead to save the more unfortunate souls at the school. Everyone has secrets they’d rather keep hidden, but if they’re going to discuss them or do them in the open where any dead guy could see, well, they’re just asking for trouble. With a little romantic twist in the book and a full plot, Crewe gives us quite a bit to chew on and think about.

One of my favorite aspects of GIVE UP THE GHOST is Cass herself. In order for me to really fall in love with a book, I need to see some good character development. A story can be phenomenal, but if it has dead characters (no pun intended) then the story just kind of withers and fades away for me. Crewe did an excellent job, however, of breathing life into Cass and the other characters. I actually bookmarked the page where I knew that GIVE UP THE GHOST was going to be fantastic – page 28. That early into the book and I knew that this was a great story. I attribute this largely to the way Crewe rounded Cass out. We get to learn about her wants and dreams, her background, her future, and everything that makes her up. The characters in Crewe’s book aren’t just machines to keep the story going; instead they are vessels of knowledge and emotion. Like I said - fantastic character development.

I think the other part that really sold GIVE UP THE GHOST for me was the story itself. As I mentioned, I was expecting something a little younger out of this book, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story, while still catering to young adults, was full of enough depth to satisfy a reader of any age. GIVE UP THE GHOST held a darker picture than one would originally think. I figured that Cass’s ghosts would run around doing silly pranks and generally causing a fun bit of chaos, but instead the ghosts help us look into the true side of people. The theme of truth seems to reign in GIVE UP THE GHOST and sometimes that truth isn’t pretty.

Overall I would have to give GIVE UP THE GHOST high marks. This was a wonderful story and one that made me an instant fan of Crewe’s. I’m excited to keep my eye out for this wonderful author and see what else she has hidden up her sleeve. show less

I will start this off by admitting that I have known Megan online for many years -- we've exchanged critiques, commiserated over rejections, and cheered each other onward to publication. I am always a little nervous about writing something about a book by a friend -- my policy is to be honest, but I also tend toward the "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" camp.

But with this book, I feel free to gush, because I really, truly loved it! I actually had critiqued a much earlier version of the same story several years ago, and thought it was good. But Megan has taken that good story and made it great. The lovely prose and sharp characterization is still there, but this time around I found what I value most in fiction: show more strong emotional connections to the characters. These characters worked their way into my heart and stuck there.

There's much more I'd like to say, and perhaps I will update this in a bit, but I wanted to get down my initial reaction. show less

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

If there's one sentence that could sum up Cass McKenna's life, it would probably be that infamous line from the movie The Sixth Sense: "I see dead people."

Ever since Cass's big sister, Paige, drowned the night of her Junior Prom, Cass has had the gift - or curse - of being able to see ghosts. Or, to be technical, to see, hear, and communicate with spirits who haven't moved on to wherever spirits go after people die. The morning after her sister's death, Cass made the mistake of mentioning to her parents that Paige couldn't be dead, since she was crying upstairs in her bedroom. One therapist later, Cass has realized that telling people about her little "secret" of communicating with the dead isn't a show more good idea.

Cass has learned to use her ghost-seeing powers to great effect. Never all that popular to begin with, she's made a lot of enemies at Frazer Collegiate by using the information that her spirit friends provide for her. Cheating on your girlfriend? Cass probably knows about it. Posting nasty things on a blog about the girl who does your homework for you? Cass probably knows about it. Passing along information to keep one of your best friends off the Athlete of the Year list? Cass knows about that, too.

It's not hard to see why Norris and Bitzy, the two resident school ghosts, are Cass's only friends.

But then enters Tim Reed, Student Council Vice President, who somehow manages to find out Cass's secret. Tim wants Cass's help in contacting his dead mother. Cass reluctantly agrees, planning to use Tim's popularity status to get dirt on the one person she needs to knock down the most - her ex-best friend, Danielle.

It all sounds like a good plan, except that Cass doesn't know that doing so will put her in a very strange position - that of learning to care about someone else, and finding out that revenge isn't always as sweet as you think it will be.

It's hard to believe that GIVE UP THE GHOST is Megan Crewe's debut novel. It's wonderfully written, has characters who are easy to relate to, and contains pitch-perfect dialogue. It deals with feelings of abandonment and loneliness, with bullying and depression, and even alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts with true emotion and feeling. Nothing ever comes off as heavy-handed, but I appreciated the fact that Ms. Crewe showed the darker side of being a teen within the context of what could have been just a fun, frothy paranormal read.

The story comes to a not quite happily-ever-after conclusion, but I could easily envision more stories featuring Cass and Tim in the future. GIVE UP THE GHOST is a winner! show less

The first sentence in this paranormal young adult novel (author Stephanie Crewe’s first book), is a classic attention-getter, the kind of first sentence every writer strives to produce.

“You would think it’d be easy to get along with a person after she’s dead.”

The next few sentences cinch it for the reader, succinctly telling her what she can expect from the story.

“Not Paige. She took her big sister duties very seriously. It’d been four years since she drowned, and she still got on my case.”

The first chapter then goes on to set the emotional stage: a self-absorbed teen, Paige hadn’t wanted her little sister hanging around and so, at the time of her death, she and Cass were estranged. Now Cass is left with a distracted show more father, a distant mother, and has become a social pariah, the castoff ex-friend of the Most Popular Girl in School, Danielle.

Lucky she can see and converse with the two quirky ghosts that have been drifting around the high school for decades. They haunt the halls, filling Cass in on all the juicy gossip she can blackmail her peers with.

That’s where Give up the Ghost got my attention. “COOL,” I thought, imagining I was in for a rip-roaring and hilarious revenge ride. I would have enjoyed it so much more if Ghost’s early promise held out, but the laughs just didn’t come. Instead, the story takes an angsty turn, as Cass gets the goods on Danielle’s cheating boyfriend and finds little satisfaction (and no fun at all) in breaking the news.

When she’s confronted by Tim, student body vice president and resident turmoil-racked hottie, she attempts to use her ability to help him, but it’s a wet misfire at best. The story goes on to follow a well-written but obvious path to a, well, I won’t spoil it by spelling out whether the conclusion is happy or not.

The description of the ghosts—the way they brighten when excited, forget new things easily and have a unique after-scent that only Cass can smell—is handled well. And the character portrait of Cass is highly believable as a barely-hygienic, prickly teen with a secret desire to fit in.

Author Crewe found a unique twist on an old premise that she handles well, confronting relevant teen issues such as popularity, grief at the loss of a loved one and alcoholism. I got over my disappointment that this story wasn’t the shallow comedy I expected, and enjoyed delving into the deeper issues Crewe explores.

(Review originally posted to Booksquawk) show less