Ghost Flower

by Michele Jaffe

Eve, a runaway, finds a new job at a coffee shop on the outskirts of Tucson. When she's approached by two wealthy teens who claim she bears an uncanny resemblance to their missing cousin Aurora, her life takes a turn for the dark and mysterious. Drawn into a scheme to win Aurora's inheritance, Eve finds herself impersonating the girl, who disappeared three years ago on the night her best friend Elizabeth died. But when Liza's ghost begins to haunt Eve, doing harm to the people close to her under the guise of "protecting" her, Eve finds herself in a nightmare maze of lies and deception that leads her to question even her own identity. She realizes her only chance is to uncover the truth about what happened the night Liza died, and to find Liza's killer - before she's next.

This teen thriller by Michele Jaffe will keep readers turning pages well into the night.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Ghosts, Paranormal, Contemporary, Suspense

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2012

About the author

Michele Jaffe (b. March 20 in Los Angeles, California), is an American writer. She has authored novels in several genres, including historical romance, suspense thrillers, and novels for Young Adults.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Is this some kind of My Fair Lady thing where you win a prize by turning a guttersnipe into a countess?”

She smiled. “I love that movie.”

Of course she did. Girls like Bridgette always loved that movie because it made the world seem pretty and made them believe that even though they were rich and clean, they didn’t have to be morally bankrupt.

It was, in my opinion, a piece of shit. No one ever handed you a fairy tale.

I often overanalyze a book. Sometimes a book is so enjoyable that I find myself carried away, enjoying it despite its faults.

This was not a perfect book. There are major inconsistencies, it was pretty unbelievable in parts. There are paranormal elements that are somewhat out of place, but I DON'T CARE.

I enjoyed this book so much I overlooked most of its faults. This was a straight read through, no thinking, no overanalyzing required. I liked it. That's good enough for me.

It helped that this book contains one of my most beloved tropes: that of false/mistaken identity.

"Eve Brightman," (if that's her real name...) is as Orphan Annie as they come. She's been stuck in the foster care system for years. A prime example of how the system has failed our forgotten children. She is working at a Starbucks under a lecherous POS of a manager when she catches the eye of two wealthy, charismatic siblings, Bain, and Bridgette Silverton. They have a job for her. She is to pretend to be their long-lost cousin, Aurora. Years ago, a young 14-year old Aurora ran away from home when her best friend Liza committed suicide.

The family matriarch, the steely, powerful Althea is about to croak. The formerly beloved Aurora needs to be present if she is to receive any money in the will---money, that, of course, Bain and Bridgette wants.

"Eve" is at the end of her ropes. She agrees, for a price (specifically, $250,000). And the game begins.

Don't let the intro quote fool you. This is no Cinderella story. No My Fair Lady. There is no grand transformation here, just a desperate attempt to fit in, to fill the role of a granddaughter, friend, niece. The role is to fool people, the stakes are major. There's no room for fucking up.

That is what I like about this book. It may take place in the world of the wealthy, but there's no sad attempt at floofery, it feels realistic. The characters are believable. The main character tough, but altogether vulnerable. She must never forget who she is, no matter how good the illusion.

I found myself getting pulled into the easy rhythm of their back and forth, of their banter. This is what it’s like to be part of a family, I thought. To belong to people who care about you. As we laughed together, some part of me that had been inert suddenly flamed into life, filling me with the joy and wonder of a child reaching through a crowd for a favorite toy she thought was lost forever.

That feeling of belonging was gorgeous, like a mirage, tantalizing, false, and dangerously out of reach. It wasn’t a good idea for me to get close to these two. I didn’t want them to like me, and I didn’t want to like them. We would all be safer if they stayed wary.

Expendable, I reminded myself. This was an act, and you are expendable.

I really liked almost every character in the book. They all felt realistic, it's somewhat of a soap opera, but to a lesser extent, which is perfectly fine, since we all have our mental image of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But it felt more realistic. Not a caricature. The cast is diverse. There are actually people who aren't white in this book...and they didn't feel like token minorities.

There is plenty of mystery, many things that go bump in the night. While not a full-fledged horror, this book had just enough elements of a thriller to keep me engrossed.

The wide, dark corridor was silent, still. Empty.

Completely empty.

But the handle on my door had moved, there had been whispering, I’d seen—

The spirits will have their revenge, I heard the medium’s voice.

This was not spirits, I told myself. There are no ghosts.

Altogether, an altogether enjoyable book. Not without its moments of absurdities...

I stopped halfway out of the yellow sweater to gape at her. “Did you just narrate an emoticon?”

But as a whole...I enjoyed it enough not to care.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really don't know how to write this review. I don't know where to start, in which order to write it and how to express my feelings for Ghost Flower. So prepare yourself for the definition of an incoherent review. Ready?

I first saw Ghost Flower on Goodreads, back when it wasn't released yet. I wasn't that interested in reading it because I wanted to read Michele Jaffe's Rosebush first but added it to my wishlist (both books weren't high priorities on my wishlist, though). When my bookstore put a box with English books which each cost 3,99€ outside their store, I found Ghost Flower among all the other books and ended up buying it along with The Solitude of Prime Numbers.

To be honest, my expectations weren't high. The last few books in the mystery/thriller/whodunit genre I read focused more on the plot than the characters, which I'm not a fan of because I like my books more character-driven than plot-driven. Anyway, I had a feeling that Ghost Flower would be as plot-driven as most of those books and that's why I lowered my expectations.

Boy, did Ghost Flower prove me wrong. I have to admit, it took me some time to get into the story but as soon that happened, I was sucked in. I couldn't and didn't want to stop reading. Did I take meals? Nah. Did I drink water to surive the heat? Nah. (Which turned out to be really stupid.) Other human stuff you're supposed to do so that you can, you know, live healthy and feel good and you know? Nah. I didn't even think about all these things. Only when I really couldn't concentrate on the story anymore because I was so tired did I go to bed and stop reading.

At the beginning, this was the typical book in its genre for me. I mean, it was addicting and I couldn't stop reading but it didn't wow me yet. Then came the point where you find out piece after piece about the main character. But when you stop to think about it, it's really not anything important at all she's telling you about herself, which made my brain work in overdrive. The whodunit part of the story didn't interest and intrigue me as much as the main character and what was up with her. I turned all the theories around in my head and you know, it all had some mindfuckery quality to it and I loved every bit of the mindfuckery it put me through.

But I especially love me a good unreliable narrator (which I found in Eve/pretend-Aurora) and trying to understand her motives and what's behind all the not-telling and lying. I have to admit, I figured Eve/pretend-Aurora's secret out already halfway through. It didn't bother me, though, because I loved the theory (which proved to be right in the end) most anyway. I didn't figure the whodunit out, though, but I did like to think of myself as Junior Sherlock for figuring out the main character's secret.

And although I loved all the mindfuckery, trying to figure out Eve/pretend-Aurora, play Sherlock and figure out the Liza/Aurora whodunit/what happened... In the end, I loved Eve for being Eve (or you know, whoever Eve/pretend-Aurora was) and her backstory and everything about her. I can't explain it because I fear spoiling it for any of you who are interested in reading this book or for all the people I'm trying to get interested in this book, which I guess I'm failing at right now.

So let me do it the following (even more incoherent than this review has been so far) way.

I love her for this:

“AURORA SILVERTON IS A HOTTIE I’D PSANK HER ANY TIME,” I read. “Great. Someone wants to p-sank me.”
“It’s a typo for spank.”
“It’s a synonym for stupid.”

And for this:

“Superfluous. Fancy word. Where did you pick that up?”
“I have a library card.”

And especially for this (even though reading this now brings tears to my eyes):

“The memory brought back the timbre of her voice and the tickle of her hair on my chin as I put her to bed that night and the feeling of belonging to someone, mattering to someone, having someone whose first smile in the morning was for you. Someone who slipped their hand into yours when they were scared and trusted you to make them feel better. Someone who knew you, the important things about you, and loved you anyway.”

But Eve isn't everything I love about Ghost Flower, even though she is the thing I probably love the most about it. I mean, fuck this.

Just let me tell you all the stuff I love about this book sweet and short (although that just isn't possible with me but let me try):

The mindfuckery. Figuring Eve/pretend-Aurora out. The Real Person Behind Eve/pretend-Aurora. The secondary characters. The love interest (I really do love you, Mr. Love Interest). How creeped out the book made me feel sometimes. The Revenge-ish side of the story (you know you can always make me happy with Revenge-ish stuff). The Host-ish mathematical shape of love (hey, Ellis's shelf!). Choosing your own family. Ghost Flowers. Other spoilery stuff. And Coralee.

Coralee. Oh, Coralee. I love you, too. Especially for this kind of stuff:

“[...] Before he agreed to take me on, I was doing that thing where you talk about yourself by your first name? Horror face! Blaze completely saved me from me.”
I stopped halfway out of the yellow sweater to gape at her. “Did you just narrate an emoticon?”
“I’m testing out catchphrases.”

So now that I kind-of-told-you-but-mostly-gushed about the stuff that I love, I have to end this gush fest for a second with a pretty major complaint. The Name. As in The Name. I can't tell you which name I mean because while it wouldn't spoil anything major, it would spoil something for you. But The Name. I can't stress it enough. The Name. That's all I'll say. It's like a trick to make you go read this book because it can't be for the rest of my review, just for The Name, you know.

Anyway, what more can I say? I love you, Ghost Flower. You suprised me, you creeped me out, you made me forget about meals and other important stuff humans, like, need to do, you made me cry and most importantly, you made me happy. And even though The Name ruined the ending a little, the ending was perfect nevertheless.

Dear Ghost Flower,

Until I read you the next time and think of you when flying through Michele Jaffe's book catalogue:

Hugsbye (Coralee style),
Rose

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book immensely. I didn't mind the implausible plot. My mind kept racing, trying to figure out all the possible scenarios that could account for what was happening. The library had put the "supernatural" sticker on the spine of this book but don't let that fool you - I would not call this a supernatural book even if there is "ghost" in the title and a ghost mentioned on the back blurb. Sure, there's a ghost, but the plot is a basic thriller/mystery.

It's a typical plot - poor girl masquerades as rich girl to try to get an inheritance since said rich girl has disappeared. The rich girl's cousins put her up to it, having found her as a lookalike at Starbucks. (Which gets a rather bad rap in this book, interestingly enough.)

So - it's not that simple. What happened to the rich girl (Aurora)? What happened to her best friend, Liza? Did Liza kill herself? Kill Aurora? Was Liza murdered? By Aurora? Did Aurora kill herself? Was Aurora murdered by someone? Is she a runaway? If so, WHY??? It's creepy as the poor girl (Eve) realizes something is very, very wrong with the Aurora scenario and something very unsettling about The Family.

My only complaint is the last chapter. I felt it got wrapped up really well right before the end. The last chapter was almost too much information for me, too unnecessary, and too contrived for how the book had been going.

[Jannah A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well! A very readable book, couldn't put it down. I think the ghost part was a bit unnecessary and had holes when explained in the end. The ending itself has mixed feelings for me.
But overall just for the sheer ride of it, regardless of technicalities it was a really good read with a few hilarious one liners. As another reviewer said this is not a perfect book, but so enjoyable you can ignore the inconsistencies.

One thing I gotta say though, I don't know if the author gave any credit but its highly similar in plot to Mary Stewart's 'The Ivy Tree' and it feels like she lifted a fair few of things from the original book from the double identity, the imposter scheme, the cousins, the horse whisperer scene to the unreliable narrative. But she made it a very well done and different story. So its forgivable (but I hope she gave credit where its due thats all!) Unless maybe Ive missed out on numerous books with this kind of plot lol..

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Flower was certainly a peculiar book, but in a good way! We are first introduced to Eve as a runaway girl working in a Starbucks. She is approached by a brother and sister with a very enticing deal. The siblings want Eve to impersonate their missing cousin Aurora for a sweet $250,000, so they can access her trust fund. As per any thriller, Eve ends up becoming more involved than ever anticipated.

Though at times the plot was slow, I totally did not expect the end, which was a nice surprise. The story was very well written though their are some "ghost" elements that are perhaps a bit overplayed. Without a doubt, "Ghost Flower"'s strong point is Michele Jaffe's carefully crafted plot line which came together in SUCH an interesting way. This is definitely a book you have to finish in one sitting; when you read one chapter, you end up so intrigued that you have to keep going!

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eve, a teenage runaway is propositioned one day by two snotty rich kids. Will she pose as their missing cousin Aurora so that they can ensure Aurora's inheritance on her eighteenth birthday? They offer her $100,000 and all she had to do is stick around long enough to collect the money and then give it to Bain and Bridgette, the rich kids. It's tempting for Eve, who lives in a $53.50 a week room and barely makes enough from her Starbucks job to stay alive. She's also coming from a place of deep loss, as we later find out her kid foster sister has recently died. Eve feels she has nothing to loose, but to exert her own control over the situation, bargains them up to twice the original payment price and thus begins her Eliza Doolittle plunge into the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Bain and Bridgette tutor her in a crash course program to get her up to speed on the Silverton family. They don't tell her much about what happened to Aurora, which is alright in their plan because Eve/Aurora is supposed to insist that she has amnesia and doesn't remember anything from her three-year disappearance. As the story advances, Eve manages to piece together more and more of the story and becomes invested in solving the mystery of her double's disappearance and the suicide/murder of her best friend Liza.

The "ghost" part of Ghost Flower enters in when Eve/Aurora starts to receive mysterious phone calls listed as "UNKNOWN NUMBER" on her cell phone. From the snippets of conversation, it appears that Liza is contacting her from beyond the grave. Eve also experiences several terrifying nights in her grandmother Althea where she is staying, as scratching and rattling door handles and faint voices fill a couple of her nights there.

The mystery is good. Readers will keep guessing until the end who the murder, and even the intended murder victim (Liza or Aurora?) is. The murderer's identity is toyed around with too, as the author throws suspicion around the Silverton family members and several key outsiders. There's some hot kissing, a hinted at rape, and some lesbian relationships thrown on top to add to this thrilling potboiler. Sometimes the descriptions and similies are a bit overdone, but it really just adds to the enjoyment of this guilty pleasure read In the end, you discover that Eve was actually Aurora all along (no!)and there's a final scene where she confronts the real killer who turns out to be Liza's perfect sister.

[thelastword · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a thriller in a long while, so this was refreshingly fun. Hundred pages in and I was too scared to move, occasionally peering around me to make sure that there wasn't a ghost in the room with me. The author here really excelled at building a creepy and suspenseful atmosphere; the unreliable narrator, suspicious characters, and the dead girl who haunts our heroine worked together fantastically. As a thriller, it crackles and sizzles.

As an investigative thriller though, it flails a bit. As Eve investigates the disappearance of the girl she's pretending to be, the story becomes a tad convoluted. She gathers information about the night of Aurora's disappearance throughout the story without once sitting down to piece it together and, since in I was too busy being terrified, I couldn't pause to draw a map myself. Honestly, until now I don't know exactly what happened on 'the night of the party [disappearance]'.

Even more unfortunate than this was the lazy writing at the end: we got the text-book girl-walks-into-murderer's-house-and-gets-miraculously-saved-at-the-last-minute, followed by the even more disappointing monologued-by-the-real-killer-and-saved-by-the-love-interest troupe. It felt as though the author had copied whatever was playing on Hallmark at that moment onto the final pages.

Of course, ending in a whimper is forgivable; the most honestly disturbing issue was Bridgette not being taken to task for allowing her boyfriend to force himself on the lead, once when she was fourteen, and again with her look-alike a few years later. Giving Bridgette a sexuality issue does not disqualify her from the responsibility of being an accomplice in her boyfriend's fiendish activities. The boyfriend himself saw no comeuppance and I really did not like the casually normalized rape culture here one bit.

(Did anyone else notice that out of the three specifically non-white characters in this book, all were gay? Wonder what to make of that...)

All in all, even though it could have been loads better, it was fun and thrilling. And that is the nicest thing a thriller can do. So three stars.

[Tatum · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this, I didn't have much hope for it, I regretted buying it almost immediately after I came home and vowed never to buy books I haven't heard about again.

I was pleasantly surprised when I was about a quarter of the way through, and I realized that I couldn't put it down. The plot was so twisted and full of lies at this point, that I simply HAD to find out whether the author was trying to fool ME. Throughout the novel, there are just enough hints to keep you interested without having to go back and forth each time. Stylistically, this was very interesting since she (Jaffe) incorporates a very strong Gothic element with the more dramatic qualities of the novel to create just the right amount of suspense. About 3/4 of the way, you are able to put different pieces together for yourself and speculate about endings; by the end, there are still quite a few surprises.

All in all, it was a very pleasant novel to read. My biggest problem with the novel was perhaps the fact that Jaffe teases you throughout the story, but doesn't leave any loose ends to keep you awake at night. Had she left the reader wondering the same way at the end as she has throughout the novel, it would have been a lot more satisfactory.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It might just be me being a bit thick but I got to the end of this book and wasn't all that sure what I'd actually read or if I even knew what had happened in this book.

The first part of the book made sense. I totally got it. Poor girl looks like missing rich girl is 'hired' by rich girl's rich cousins to impersonate her so they can get her money. The story was quite good. Poor girl moves in gets all the riches she's dreamed of and learns how to be proper. Also learns rich girl's family is mostly made up of bitches. Again I'm up for a bit of that particularly because the put downs are so brilliant.

Then we came to the second half. This is where my mind was blown and I wasn't sure really what happened. It went a bit like this in my mind. poor girl starts to dig into family problems especially around rich girl's missing best friend and rumours of murder. Cousins go nuts, grandmother goes nuts, friends of rich girl goes nuts, poor girl goes nuts. I'm not actually sure which parts of the book were dreams and which parts were her making stuff up and which was real. I just don't get it!!!!

anyone want to enlighten me??

[Roshini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why Ms Jaffe, why? After stringing me along for 377 pages, you cop out and deliver a one page ending? Come on! Bad author, or more likely, bad editor! One whole star off for you!

Now that I'm done ranting, let's get to the positive aspects of this book. This was a really good mystery, considering I didn't figure out who the culprit was until the author revealed it in the last few pages. Sure the story was a little on the unbelievable side at times, but hey, it worked, for the most part anyway. Almost everyone is a suspect in this tale, as practically everyone has their own agenda! There are questions at every corner. Who is Eve? What happened to Liza? Is Aurora dead or alive? Can Bain and Bridgette be trusted?

There were some parts of the story that I found to be unnecessary in the sense that they really didn't need to be in there. Also, there were points where I found myself confused between Eve's story and that of Aurora's... whose memory was it?

Would I recommend it? Probably, because it was a page turner. But the ending, sigh, that was just anticlimactic to say the least.

[Jessie (Ageless Pages Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love loved this. IT'S SO GOOD. Full of suspense and a great read.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am an imposter. A fake. A fraud. But everything that follows is the truth and nothing but the truth. I have no reason to lie anymore.

I read this book on a friend's recommendation. Well, what she said was this: the book was confusing, and kinda strange, but it was good. I'll say this: given the synopsis, this is a book that I might not pick out for myself. So you can see that I was a bit conflicted going into this novel. And I'm a bit conflicted coming out of it, because I can't decide if I want to give this book 2.5 stars or three. Yes. I know.

Anyway, please excuse my ramblings, but as I write this review (only minutes after finishing the book,) I find that my thoughts are a jumbled, tangled mess. I'm just going to jump in and hope that I manage to convey everything properly.

Eve Brightman - not her real name - is a seventeen-year-old girl who escaped from the foster care system that has all but forgotten her. She's working at a Starbucks under a particularly lecherous manager when she meets Bain and Bridgette Silverton, siblings who claim that she looks remarkably like their long-lost cousin, Aurora. In fact, Eve looks so much like Aurora that they offer her a proposition: for a nice sum of money, they want her to impersonate Aurora so they can get the money their cousin would inherit on her eighteenth birthday. Eve agrees, but she soon finds herself embroiled in a dangerous game as people wonder what exactly happened the night Aurora's best friend, Liza, died and Aurora subsequently disappeared. And the longer she stays, Eve discovers that Liza's ghost is now haunting her, warning her of her own impending death.

There is just too much going on. Too. Darn. Much. I think that this is one place where the factor of "confusing" comes in. There is just so many plot lines, some of which come together but some of which are so divergent from the original that everything just becomes jumbled.

There are two mysteries: 1) what happened that night?; and 2) what happened to the real Aurora and where is she now? The first mystery seems to be much more important than the second, as the cops ruled Liza's death a suicide but have an inkling that it was a murder. Eve shares this sentiment. But as she tries to live Aurora's life, claiming amnesia, she finds out that any number of people could have wanted to hurt Liza and/or Aurora. The list is long, including at least three members of Aurora's family, five or so friends of Bridgette and Bain, and several random townspeople.

The second mystery is, in my opinion, much more easier to solve. I had an idea within the first few pages, one that I felt was constantly being supported. I had an inkling regarding Eve, whose identity is obviously fake and stated to be so more than once, and the "missing" Aurora. Eve and Aurora look so much alike that close family members easily accept Eve as Aurora. And not to mention that the clues are incredibly obvious: 1) Eve, who is supposed to be a foster care kid, can easily deduce how much money Bridgette's outfit is worth just by looking at it (I can't even tell if things are designer just by looking at it); 2) Everything of Aurora's is perfect for Eve, from the way to the bedroom is decorated to the size of the shoes in the closet; and 3) We, as readers, are constantly being told that Eve is just so Aurora-like. In my opinion, the fact that Eve is Aurora is hardly a secret. And if it was supposed to be a secret, it was a poorly kept one.

On a side note, there are just so many characters that it's hard to keep a handle on who is who and who did what. I kind of wanted to make a list, because it was that confusing. There are also a fair amount of people that are thrown in just for the heck of it, who play no real role in any of our two mysteries. Plus, there were just too many things going on with the side characters. And what was up with like, half of the male characters being rapists? And there were a lot of gay/lesbian relationships, which is just a-okay with me (yay for diversity!), but only one of them actually served a purpose. I'm not even sure if one of them was lesbian (?) an the one gay guy was thrown in for spontaneity and depicted in a very cliche manner.

The plot was all over the place and I was left with questions. As I mentioned before, there are a lot of side plots going on with a lot of side characters, and not all of them managed to serve a purpose. For instance, there was a lot of time devoted to "the Family." The Silvertons are rich, and they are greedy. There were a lot of hints about money and inheritances and what people would do to get that money and all that jazz, but we didn't find out much about it in the end. What happens to the family matriarch, Althea? Why do certain characters do what they do and how do they explain their actions? Do any of them get in trouble for the roles they played? Do any of them actually like each other?

Another factor that could make this book confusing was that I felt like the story jumped around a lot. There is the present, in which Eve is pretending to be Aurora, and there is Eve's past, with a girl named Nina. There are also a few scenes in which Eve is having vivid dreams that appear to be hints or memories of something. These transitions are not smooth. I often had to go back and reread paragraphs to understand what was going on, and even then I found myself a bit confused as to how the characters got to where they were.

The resolution that we did get was okay. I mean, we found out who killed Liza, why her ghost was hanging around, and various other things. They're wrapped up in a nice little package, one with messy wrapping paper and a crooked bow, because it was done much too quickly. I felt like 300 pages passed by with little going on, and all of a sudden the last 50 or so pages are a free-for-all as everything is revealed, one secret right after another. You hardly have time to wrap your brain around one of the revealed truths when another one slams you in the face.

Why hello, instalove. Aurora had a thing for someone before she left, a poor but friendly boy named Grant who was Bain and Bridgette's friend. And when Eve arrives on scene, she strikes up a fast relationship with him. This relationship felt shallow, but that might've been the point, as Eve is acting out Aurora. But it sort of felt like Eve was interested in him, too (?) or at least attracted to him.

But Grant isn't the only love interest for our MC (gasp, I did not see that coming. Really, I was shocked.)

I fell in love with him at that moment. It was like the pin being pulled out of grenade, the tiny little ping that turns something inert into something dangerously combustible.

I feel the need to put this portion of my review in a spoiler, because it was that out of left field. Eve's other love interest is a cop called N. Martinez (she falls in love with him without even knowing his first name, no problem.) This cop is one that basically arrested Eve and made it obvious that he thinks she's up to something, but he watches out for her and helps her. And somehow this leads to them developing deep, romantic feelings towards one another. I don't know.

In the end, I'm still conflicted about this book. I'm sure my review is a mess, but that's pretty much what my brain looks like right now, so I guess that can't be helped. What I can say clearly is that Ghost Flower is an interesting read. But I can't promise that you'll enjoy it, nor promise that you'll hate it, because I don't even know how I feel about it myself. I guess you'll just have to give it a try and see where you fall on this very confusing spectrum.

[Jolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a little while before the book really grabbed my attention but once it did I couldn’t stop! The suspension, the build up and all the mysteries. I kept guessing what happened and even though I guessed it, the writing style kept me doubting if I got it right! So even though I got it right, it still wasn’t that predictable! The only reason I don’t give it five stars, is because the ending was so rushed… It would have been nice id the ending was a little bit more extensive and if everything wasn’t explained in the last 15 pages.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I had some of the plot pegged from about a quarter of the way through but it didn’t take away from the rest of the story. Kept you on your toes with so many twists. Great read!!

[Michelle Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting ending.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve bekommt eines Tages von einem fremden Geschwisterpaar, Bridgette und Bain, denen sie während ihrer Arbeit begegnet, das Angebot sich als deren verschollene Cousine auszugeben um ans Erbe ihrer Großmutter zu kommen. Das Geld soll sie mit den Geschwistern teilen und dann einfach wieder von der Bildfläche verschwinden. Eve, deren Leben alles andere als rosig ist und die selbst keine Familie hat, ergreift gerne die Chance ein neues Leben in Wohlstand zu beginnen und bereitet sich zusammen mit Bridgette und Bain auf ihre Rolle als reiche und verwöhnte Aurora Silverton vor…

Das ist “Geisterblumen” unbedingt lesen wollte, lag zunächst einmal ausschließlich am tollen Cover, das schaut nämlich wirklich ganz, ganz toll aus und ist einfach wundervoll gestaltet. Aber auch der Inhalt hörte sich ganz interessant an, Psychothriller lese ich generell ja auch ganz gerne. Trotzdem bin ich froh, dass es dieses tolle Cover gibt, denn alleine durch die Inhaltsbeschreibung wäre ich nicht unbedingt auf dieses Buch neugierig geworden und das wäre wirklich schade gewesen.

Michaele Jaffe versteht es meisterhaft diese wirklich komplexe und verblüffende Geschichte zu erzählen. Bis zum zweiten Drittel dieses Buches war ich eigentlich der Meinung, ich wüsste, was noch kommen würde, tatsächlich wusste ich aber gar nichts. Zunächst scheint eigentlich alles recht einfach und übersichtlich zu sein und ich bedaure, dass ich hier nicht genauer darauf eingehen kann, aber ich will niemanden den Spaß an der Geschichte nehmen indem ich zu viel verrate, deswegen halte ich mich lieber etwas zurück. Mir ging es jedenfalls so, dass ich bis etwas über die Hälfte der Geschichte total im Glauben war, die Geschichte und den Verlauf durchschaut zu haben, im letzten Drittel wird allerdings alles durcheinander gewirbelt und es gibt mehrere wirklich überraschende Wendungen, die ich so nie vorher gesehen hätte. Ein wenig überrumpelt war ich teils auch, man muss schon ziemlich aufmerksam lesen und alles gut mitverfolgen um zum Schluss noch alle Fakten von der Fiktion zu unterscheiden. Der Autorin ist hier eine wirklich gute Täuschung gelungen, die Geschichte hat richtig mitgerissen und wusste auch am Ende mit einem sehr guten und schlüssigen und keinesfalls an den Haaren herbeigezogenen Ende zu überzeugen.

Ihre Figuren, von denen es im Buch wirklich viele gibt und die auch zum größten Teil allesamt eine wichtige Rolle spielen, hat Michele Jaffe hier auch wirklich sehr facettenreich und liebevoll ausgestattet. Besonders die Protagonistin hat mir zugesagt, ich fand Eve sehr sympathisch dargestellt, habe den Eindruck erhalten einen guten Bezug zu ihr zu haben, ohne dass ich jedoch hinter ihr Geheimnis kam, bevor es nicht an der Zeit dafür war.

Schon alleine durch die eingewobenen mysteriösen Elemente musste ich während der Lektüre einfach dran bleiben und immer weiter und weiter lesen. Der Spannungsbogen war von Anfang an bis zum zweiten Drittel gleichbleibend hoch und konnte sich dann zum Schluss noch einmal steigern.

Ich halte “Geisterblumen” für einen wirklich guten Psychothriller aus dem Jugendbuch-Segment, der allerdings sicherlich nicht nur für Jugendliche, sondern auch für Erwachsene gut lesbar und überraschend ist. Von mir gibt es hier die volle Sternzahl, mich hat dieses Buch total überzeugen können.

[Maryam Dinzly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book from a book sale, and the moment I read that it was about impersonating another person and murders, I was like OH YEAH. MY TYPE OF BOOK. Okay, maybe not my type of book, since I don't really have a particular type. It's more like the synopsis got me curious. And since it was on sale, VIOLA, I bought the book. And I honestly do not regret it one bit.

As stated above, this book has quite the suspense and mystery surrounding it. When Eve was offered a whole lot of money to impersonate some random girl named Aurora, she knew that she would be stupid to not take up the job offer. After all, what could go wrong? A LOT OF THINGS. It seemed that Aurora disappeared three years ago on the night her best friend, Liza, committed suicide. Suddenly, it does not seem like a suicide especially when Liza's ghost started haunting Eve, and hurting the people around her just to protect Eve.

This book has a twisted plot, like no other. I finished reading the book with my mouth agape, and my eyes super wide. I really like Eve's character. She's the main character and this whole book was written in her POV. There were times when she had abrupt thoughts that do not make sense, but I think that's the whole point of the book. But the way she carried herself, damn, that kickass personality of hers. I really really love this book and I have no idea how to describe how much I love it. Is there a love aspect going on in this book? You'll have to read to find out. And no matter what, you'll never guess who the murderer is until it's too late, until the murderer shows himself/herself. Because in this book, EVERYONE is a suspect. Everyone has secrets and it's really unnerving how everybody seemed evil HAHA. And this book is not draggy at all. Every part of it is crucial. The different scenes are like bits and pieces of the clues, and you have to put them all together. I thought A LOT while reading this book. And I was so sure that I could solve the identity of the murderer.

BUT I didn't. Sigh.

[Sya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot of Ghost Flower is quietly compelling. At first it appears to by a modern day Pygmalion with Eve as the poor girl given the opportunity to make good. However, it quickly takes a more sinister turn and at points is truly chilling. As Eve learns more about the past of the Silvertons and their friends she feels increasingly trapped in a world that she doesn’t entirely understand. Her grasp on her own identity becomes tenuous and she is no longer sure what is real and what is not - the effect is unsettling. Michelle Jaffe’s writing has a straightforward style that suits the story and Eve’s own voice yet also adds a starkness to darker scenes that works very well. Ghost Flower’s almost fatal flaw is that the ending doesn’t quite work – it’s not particularly predictable yet becomes hopelessly convoluted (not to mention more than a little rushed). However, the road to the climax is so enjoyable that it almost makes up for twists and turns that seem more than a little nonsensical.

Ghost Flower is a book that misleads with its girly cover and silly title. What actually looks at first glance to be a story of wealth and romance is actually a dark tale which owes much (in homage) to the old Point Horror books of the 1990s. Overflowing with shades of I Know What you Did Last Summer and even of the more recent Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (not to mention most of Christopher Pike’s work), Ghost Flower, will appeal to lovers of mystery and is a great way to pass an evening – even if it means sleeping with the lights on once you’ve finished.

Full review available at www.mountainsofinstead.com

[Zemira Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew I didn’t make a mistake buying this book. It was just as good as I imagined it would be.

It’s hard to write a review for this book because that way I would give too much away. If you read the blurb you already know this story is a lot like The Lying Game by Sara Shepard just without twins. It was spooky, entertaining with a lot of twists and turns.

The main character, Eve who is a runaway agrees to play Aurora who ran away 3 years ago in order to get money from Aurora’s cousins who approached her. She soon stars seeing ghost, strange scratches during the night and someone calling her phone who sounded a lot like Aurora’s dead best friend Liza saying someone is trying to kill her. Since she doesn’t truly know anyone from the new family everyone is a suspect. And let me tell you, there are so many twists I never really know who is a friend and who is a foe. Just when I started to think I knew who killed Liza someone else pops up with a better motive. Also I liked the author played with the supernatural. Ghost stories are usually a miss for me.

Another thing I liked about the book is there were a lot of hot guys in Ghost Flower. We have Bane, Aurora’s rich cousin, N. Martinez, a detective who can’t stay away from Eve, and Grant, Aurora’s crush since she was twelve.

This won’t be the last book I’ve read by Michele Jaffe. Now I just need to get my hands on Rosebush and everything will be alright.

[bean :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE LYING GAME SERIES IN HERE AS WELL AS ONES FOR THIS BOOK.

I liked it a lot, and would have given it at least 4, maybe even 5 stars, if it wasn't so similar to The Lying Game.

Seriously though.

First of all, both books are set in the Tucson, AZ area--out of all places they just happen to take place in the exact same city.

Secondly, the plot in themselves are alike. In this book, a girl is hired to replace her missing exact lookalike. In The Lying Game, a girl is forced to take the place of her missing long-lost twin. Both of the missing girls have a wild, bold, outspoken personality, not to mention, they both are rich and live luxurious lives.

Thirdly, Colin Vega. Mysterious boy turns out to be a secret boyfriend. Sound familiar? Let's compare him to Thayer Vega--the author went so far as to even give them the same last name--of The Lying Game series. The two guys are literally, like, the same person.

Fourthly, oh yes, FOURTHLY, the ending is the same. Grant--the seemingly sweet boy our protagonist has a crush on--is the bad guy (one of them), while in The Lying Game, Ethan, the seemingly sweet boy our protagonist has a crush on--is the bad guy.

WILL THE COINCIDENCES NEVER END?! Actually wondering how this book got past copyright.

Other than that, it was a pretty good book. The ending seemed rushed, but the rest was great. 4.2 stars - 2 stars because unoriginalness = 2.2 stars.

[Kenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book. It had so many twist and turns that it was almost hard to keep up. But one that I may want to read again.
Ghost Flower is about a runaway, Eve Brightman, who gets a surprising offer by two strangers, Bain and Bridgette. Eve looks just like their cousin, Aurora Silverton, who vanished three years ago when her best friend, Liza, died. Bain and Bridgette have a plan to get Eve to play as Aurora, stage a dramatic return and get all the money Aurora was supposed to inherit.
Eve plays Aurora easily and everything seems to be going fine but then Liza's ghost appeared. Eve has to find out the true story of everything... If she lives that long.
This story was a page-turner for sure. I couldn't but it down. A very good Young Adult, Paranormal read. I really liked it and only gave it a four because it lost me a couple times and I had to reread to understand. I recommend to give it a try. :)

[Michele Harrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Oh, this is good so far, very good. I hate having to put this down to get on with my day" were my comments a couple of days in....and it stayed good. Seriously good for a teen novel!! I really did struggle every time I had to put this down and go and do other things, so this afternoon I relented. It had some great twists - in fact so many, I have gotten to the end and wondered how in the hell that was still so believable? Yet, somehow it was. A great ride (in fact the best twisting rollercoaster of a literary ride I have been on for a while). I thoroughly enjoyed it for the sheer mystery of a great thriller that kept me guessing right to the very end. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Michele Jaffe's future books.

[Lotte Verhaeghe · Rating 4 out of 5]

In het begin van het boek gebeurde er niet zo veel waardoor het een beetje langdradig werd. Alles was wel duidelijk en goed geschreven het was een goed opgebouwd verhaal. In het verhaal komen zeer veel verschillende mensen voor die eigenlijk helemaal niet belangrijk zijn maar waar toch veel informatie over wordt gegeven wat soms wel storend was. Voor de rest was het wel een mooi en spannend verhaal en wil je ook graag het einde weten. Het einde van het verhaal was verrassend en zeer mooi. Er kwam wel zeer veel informatie samen waardoor het ingewikkeld en soms moeilijk te begrijpen was.

[Wyshona D. Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I had previously read Rosebush by Jaffe, and I loved it. I really liked this book, and there were a few twists I didn't see coming and a few I did, but it was a great ghost story.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like her last book, "Ghost Flower" has a really intriguing plot until the very end, when everything gets so convoluted and complicated, it's ridiculous. Wish the end had been better :(

[Sarahsketti · Rating 1 out of 5]

WHY MICHELE JAFFE WHY?!?!?! I was really disappointed in this book. I LOVED "Bad Kitty" and "Kitty Kitty", but I felt this book fell way short of what Michele Jaffe is capable of. It made me sad.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book overall, despite some issues. Eve is a fairly relatable character, and a sympathetic one. She is well-drawn and feels alive. The pace is quite fast, and keeps the reader going going going.
I also appreciate the two (not one but two!) lesbian relationships, though it is continually frustrating that lesbians are so constantly written as femme femme and beautiful. Still, it's better than nothing and one of the relationships is a bit surprising.

There are some problems, though. Two personal peeves: one, name-dropping famous designers always gets on my nerves. I can understand this to some extent as characterization and a clue to the wealth of a certain individual or family, but in this case it's unneeded since we have cheat sheets detailing the wealth of the Family and its associates. The other peeve: of all the things Eve is told about Aurora (good and bad), the one thing Eve vows to change is her vegetarianism. Which also makes no sense in light of the fact that Eve IS Aurora.

The plot is much more convoluted, and the book longer, than it needs to be by the many descriptions of the party Aurora and Liza were last seen in. It becomes difficult to follow who said what, who did what to whom and when and where. Probably a good bit of these stories could have been chucked and the story tightened. Perhaps more clues to the identity of the real killer would have been better served here. It is almost as if the author was not sure what she wanted to do and so the whole thing just circles back around and around.

One also wonders why Eve/Aurora was saved and not poisoned or something by the real killer, when she was there in the killer's sights.

I don't know if this issue is the problem of the publisher's blurb or the author's, but we were promised more of a ghost story that never materializes. I partly picked this book because I wanted ghosts. Dud.

Finally, ewwwww. How old is the police officer Martinez? Aurora/Eve is only 18. I'm not saying older men don't go for younger women and vice versa, but we are not told Martinez's age (at least, I don't remember it), and so this reader assumes he's probably in his early 30s. She's 18. 18. That's gross. He should know better. Or we should be made aware how young Martinez is (even though he comes across as much older).

Enjoyable read but not what was promised, a bit overlong and convoluted with an easy-answer Scooby Doo ending. I might recommend this with some warnings.

[Irene Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This made me realize how much I miss reading thrillers. I was going to give it 5 stars but I didn't like the ending. I was really interested the whole way through I wanted to know what was really happening. She was pretending to be a dead girl so she could get money. But then she starts get haunted by the dead girls best friend. I wanted to know the main characters whole story but i didn't care that much through most of it. Then we find out she really was the girl she was pretending to be. I hated that. She was lying to the reader then whole story. We didn't even get a chance to figure out the truth ourselves. It should of been hinted. The whole book made me not want to stop reading but the end wasn't worth it. I liked watching everything unfold but I didn't like what it unfolded to. I didn't like her romance to the cop it didn't make any sense. I still don't even know the whole truth because it changed so many times in the end it only made me confused. It was supposedly Liza's sister who killed liza and made the other girl disappear just because she didn't like her sister. For some reason grant helped and I still don't get that. Or the plot that was against her because of a ransom that was by her cousin. I really had fun reading this but the end sucked for me. How good a thriller is is based off the ending. So I have to give it 3 stars.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a puzzle for me to figure out, and I like books that make me think. It carefully covered many subjects including mental illness, physical illness, death, rape, and family drama. It took me several readings to fully grasp all the connections as to how Liza died, why Aurora ran away, and to understand Liza's ghost's actions.
If you are looking for a complete synopsis with spoilers, read on:

So everything started because Aurora was in love with Colin but they had to hide their relationship due to the feud between their families. They wrote one another notes and left them at Old Man (the cactus). However, that still wasn't secret enough for Aurora so she had Liza leaving and picking up the letters for her. Ellie and Bain both knew about the letters. Ellie liked to read them sometimes, but she thought it was Colin and Liza that were dating.
Bain needed money to pay back a gambling debt and decided he was going to kidnap Aurora and hold her for ransom to get the money he needed. He decided to do it by forging a note from Colin to Aurora about them running away together. He was going to have JJ meet her at the location and go together to a waiting place until Bain could get the money. He thought she would go willingly because she had been a wild child and would love the press and attention.
However, Ellie intercepted it and, believing Liza was the one who was going to run away, told Victoria. This greatly angered Victoria who was a sociopath and injured Liza when she was home from boarding school. So she set out a plan to punish Liza. This included forcing her to break her father's records with a hammer and later killing her. (Their father knew Victoria had played a role in Liza's death but was afraid to lose another daughter to the legal system which is why he insisted throughout the investigation that Liza's death was a suicide.)
Aurora was not supposed to be at the party hosted by Bain. But because she never got the note, she and Liza showed up. So Bain locked the two of them in the wine cellar of the house. At some point during their time there, Liza put on Aurora's trench coat. Victoria texted Liza pretending to be Colin, which started a fight between Aurora and Liza. Aurora didn't know why Colin would be texting Liza. Their argument was overheard by Xandra who unlocked the cellar.
Aurora went running out, thinking Colin was out there but was choked by Grant until she was unconscious. Grant then strangled Liza to death. He did this because Victoria had led him to believe Liza was the sociopath and would be making her sisters' lives easier. Then he dragged her dead body up to Three Lover's Point making the trench coat and her shoes dusty, so they had to be removed. That's how the button from Aurora's trench coat ended up in the canyon and why the police suspected Aurora in Liza's death.
When JJ arrived to collect Aurora, he saw Victoria and Grant. But Aurora was already gone, having run away to escape the two of them. (Victoria later pushed him off the ledge of Three Lover's Point because he saw her and Grant the night of the party and didn't want to be implicated by him.) Bain saw her on the road wandering dazed and confused and took her to the Highway Motel (Tom Yaw). While there she passed out and he thought she was dead, so he panicked and called 9-1-1 and bolted. He thought the Family would receive a call about her body. But when they didn't he assumed Aurora had run away forever.
When Aurora ran she truly did have amnesia, just not for as long as she led everyone to believe. When she ran away she ended up in the foster care system and took on the identity of Eve Brightman. Aurora met Nina during her time in foster care and after Nina died Aurora returned to the Tuscon area. She used the Eve Brightman ID to get a job at Starbucks while deciding how she wanted to approach her family. That's when Bain found her as Eve and invited her to play the role of Aurora so he and Bridgette could get at her inheritance. (Bain and Bridgette were going to receive Aurora's inheritance anyway from Althea if she hadn't returned. But that would have been a long legal process and they did not want to wait.)
The whole ghost thing was Victoria messing with Aurora to keep her from looking into Liza's death. She consistently used Grant to get information that "only a ghost would know." Victoria also created the character of Regina to manipulate Colin and gather some of her own information on Aurora. When Aurora kept pressing on the issue, Victoria decided to use Grant one final time to kill Aurora. She was lying in wait for Grant to kill Aurora and used a hammer to break his skull. She took the murder weapon with her but left the one with Liza's prints to frame the ghost (The hammer with Liza's prints came from when Victoria forced Liza to break their father's music records). Any event that was supposedly cause by Liza's ghost was actually manufactured in some way by Victoria, and she explains the mechanics of them all in the last few pages of the book.
The only thing Aurora misattributed to the ghost was her door rattling and waking her up in the middle of the night. The reader learns through Mrs. March (the maid) that Althea has been concerned over Aurora being missing and when she returned it was Althea rattling the door. Althea had been slowly becoming confused and disoriented due to age and her heart condition. In her confused state of mind, she was just checking on Aurora to make sure she was safe.
Also the dream Aurora kept having about the telephone ringing was a reference to a call from her mother. Althea had lied to Aurora about her mother's mental illness. Sadie called the day before she committed suicide to say goodbye one last time. But Aurora was angry with her mother and refused to answer the phone and later felt guilt for not doing so. Also, the bus terminal story about Aurora's mother that kept popping up was true, Sadie loved to roam around via bus as some result of her mental illness.

tl;dr Grant killed Liza and made it look like a suicide to please Victoria with a whole bunch of other crazy going on at the same time.

[Abril · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was fifteen years old and I loved it. And I still love the concept and the story, and it's one that has stuck with me throughout the years. However, I just feel like the entire book could have been written better. For the most part it seems like the writing is choppy and inconsistent. I had a very difficult time keeping up and keeping all of the perspectives straight and in order, both the first time I read it and this second time around. But what bothered me the most is the second half of the book, it was messy, it felt rushed and forced. I had to reread the last couple chapters several times in order to fully understand what the author was trying to convey. In addition, there were sooo many inconsistencies throughout the plot and the ghost part was really really flawed. But if you get past all of this, it is a good book. The concept is amazing, and it really is a brilliant page turner, but the writing just isn't for me.