Review: Ashes to Ashes

ASHES TO ASHES
Ashes #1
Paranormal Young Adult
Melissa Walker
356 pages
Katherine Tegen Books
Available Now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When Callie's life is cut short by a tragic accident, she expects to find nothingness, or maybe some version of heaven.

Instead, her spirit travels to the Prism, an ethereal plane populated by the ghosts she thought were fictional. Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.

However, Callie uncovers a dark secret about the spirit world: The angry souls who always populate ghost stories are real, dangerous, and willing to do whatever it takes to stay on Earth, threatening the existence of everyone she ever cared about.

As she fights to save them, Callie will learn that while it may no longer beat, her heart can still love-and break.

MY THOUGHTS
Ghost stories can be tricky beasts, particularly ones with a romance mixed in, often testing the boundaries of believability even with the generous dollop of disbelief we already suspend when cracking the spine of a paranormal tale taken into consideration. Ashes to Ashes gives us the most believable version of a ghostly romance though, one wherein both parties are on the same plane of existence rather than struggling to bridge the life and death gap to find lasting happiness. While the romance does play a role, it's a fairly minor component overall, and we instead get to take a closer look as the word haunting is given new meaning thanks to Callie's guide Thatcher. No longer is haunting a word that inspires fear, causing goosebumps to scatter across our skin at the thought of an unseen presence watching our every move; rather we come to see it as a word synonymous with comfort, Callie's haunting of those she left behind a way for her to fill them with the peace and acceptance of her passing.

Though the setup of Ashes to Ashes is a deeply fascinating one and the pages turn quickly and easily as Callie struggles to let go of a life unfinished, Callie herself can be extraordinarily problematic at times. At first, her disorientation and her desire to let her friends and family know that she's not entirely gone is completely understandable, as is her bristling at Thatcher's attempts to tell her how her new world works, but as the story progresses and Callie continues to buck Thatcher's authority at every turn, we find ourselves losing our sympathy for her plight. Despite all signs pointing to the fact that Thatcher is both knowledgeable and not without compassion for her situation, she always allows herself to be persuaded otherwise by those who give her a bad feeling, one she readily ignores again and again.

For most of the book, she wallows in a selfishness masquerading as the selfless desire to help those she loves, staunchly refusing to see just how much pain her way of going about haunting her friends and family causes them and convincing herself that Thatcher's way of bringing them solace is something it clearly isn't. Callie continues to hurt Thatcher with each blatant disregard of his teachings, and given his stoicism and quiet suffering profoundly affect us whenever he's on page, we can't help but work up a little resentment of her misguided attempts to contact her best friend and boyfriend. Though it takes a while, Callie does come to see the error of her ways before crossing a line she'd never be able to uncross, and in the final few chapters she makes great strides toward repairing the damage she's caused to her character in our eyes.

Overall, Ashes to Ashes is a story that flows well and inspires a myriad of reactions as we read, and while one of those reactions is undoubtedly frustration, this book is still easily devoured in a short amount of time. The ending is wrapped up – while perhaps not neatly as there are still some questions floating around seeking answers – definitely satisfactorily, though we can't help but hope there's more to come with Callie's story now that she's seen the proverbial light and has a new appreciation for the people who matter to her.

Rating: 3.5/5

*Update: When I wrote this review, I wasn't sure whether or not this story was going to have a sequel, but it turns out it will, so I imagine some of those lingering questions will be answered in book two:)

  

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.