The Haunting of Tabitha Grey

by Vanessa Curtis

Set in a sprawling Victorian manor, a classic ghost story with a stunning twist

I look up at the dark, unblinking eyes of the house and I get the weirdest feeling . . . It's the feeling of being pulled into something and being unable to stop it happening . . .

Tabitha is used to changing schools and moving to different houses. But when her family moves into Weston Manor, something is different. It's as if the house has been waiting for her. There are lavender smells which come from nowhere, the old servants' bells ring in the night, and she can hear crying in empty rooms. Tabitha's always been imaginative. Even her best friend Gemma knows that. But this time, could she actually be telling the truth?

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, Fiction, Supernatural, Childrens

296 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2012

About the author

I'm a children's author whose first book 'Zelah Green: Queen of Clean' is published by Egmont UK and won the Manchester Children's Book Awards 2010. It was also shortlisted for the 2010 Young Minds, the 2009 Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the NASEN awards and the 2010 Bolton Children's Book Awards. I now write historical novels for young adults, including the Carnegie-longlisted 'The Earth is Singing' which also won the Young Quills Award and is published by Usborne. Usborne are to publish 'The One Who Knows My Name', my story of a girl who finds out that she's been stolen by the Nazis as part of Himmler's 'Lebensborn' programme, in February 2019 when they will also republish 'The Earth is Singing' as an Usborne Modern Classic.

I have also published two biographies of Virginia Woolf and work as a literary consultant. I'm married to fellow author Tim Bowler and live in Devon.

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Haunting of Tabitha Grey is very 2012. That's not to say that it's bad, just that a lot more is asked of YA today in the way of characterisation.

I cannot let it go unsaid that this novel is horrifically edited. I'm not even convinced that it was edited. The grammar is consistently lacking, with many missed commas and multiple uses of "cos". Further, The Haunting of Tabitha Grey falls into that awful category of authors who have no concept of what it is like to be a teenager now and it is nothing short of cringe-y to read.

Plot-wise, the story is interesting, though, and there's a great twist that I did not expect until it began to unfold. The characters can be more than a little annoying and confusing, but I suppose it does make sense once the twist is revealed.

[theghostwriter · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it, huge surprise ending, would have never guessed it. well written, hip, young and very very ghosty!

[TheBookAddictedGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4¼ Out of 5
Tabitha Grey and her family are moving into Weston Manor house, where her dad is to be Keeper. Tabs should be thrilled - after all, the house is gorgeous and a real piece of history. Only she has this feeling, like something's wrong with the house. Like something's waiting for her.
Tabitha's creative, but she isn't imagining the chills, the people no one else can see, the sounds only she can hear.
But no one will believe her. Even though she's sure she's right this time. Can she convince her family before it’s too late, before they fall apart?
I do love ghost stories and The Haunting of Tabitha Grey was a great one! Full of suspense, ghosts and mystery, I was just sucked in and couldn't stop reading! It was spooky, I just felt chills as I read, felt terrified for Tabitha. Although it wasn't that fast to begin with, that really just cranked the suspense up. I loved this - I couldn't stop reading. It was so chilling, so vivid, so real and so utterly creepy. Oh yes: This book was spooktastic!
The characters were all really believable and real. Tabitha was so very teenagery – snarky, stubborn confident and brilliantly odd. With her need to know everything, all the time, she kinda reminded me of me – I’m the embodiment of ‘curiosity killed the cat!’ But back to Tabs, she was the strongest person ever and I felt seriously furious when no one believed her, left her to be terrified on her own. Ben, Tabitha’s little brother, was really shy and sweet and innocent… Her mum was a little head-in-the-clouds – she was depressed in the past and we didn’t find out why for aaggeess… Tabs’ dad was shockingly unobservant and very logical. Now her Gran I really loved, even though she wasn’t really in the story! And all the family relationships wee rather dysfunctional, though you could see they all loved each other very much. Every single member seemed to have one issue or another, be it depression, over-active imagination or whatever. All the members were also so real, all their own people, like real live family members.
And I adored Curtis’ writing – it was beautiful and so utterly teen. I could see everything in my head (and loved the creepy, beautiful and mysterious setting), but the writing wasn’t overwhelming and didn’t slow the pace in the slightest. And the plot, in one word, was creepy! I was drawn right in from the first page and just was never let go! I loved all the spooky, ghostly going ons and all the family issues too. And while I had suspicions about how everything would end, I really and seriously did not see that last twist coming! It left me reeling!
One haunted manor house, a family on the brink of collapse, a girl seeing ghosts with no one who believes her... The Haunting of Tabitha Grey was amazing, shocking, twisty and just plain spooky! I was addicted from start to finish. I can't wait to read something else by Curtis! I love her writing and imagination!

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tabitha moves into a beautiful new home… but finds out that things go bump in the night. And day.


A very spooky ghost story and I am glad I decided on re-reading it. I wish I could have finished it yesterday (August 20th) as I just had 60 pages left after one and a half hours of reading, but I just was too tired (and it was way too late). So today for breakfast it was the right time to continue!

The house was just spooky and NOPE as hell, I mean slit-eyes ghosts? NO THANK YOU. Weird smells. Nope. Weird shapes flashes past you in the shadows? WELP NO. And no one believes you (which is a really tiring trope, especially given what we find out later). I loved reading about the house, about the dark corners, the spooky things that went on, the graves in the backyard, the little pet cemetery, the bells. Shadows lurking. The author did an amazing job on writing the creepy parts. While everyone treats Tabitha like she is off her rocker, I knew that what she saw was true. We see that during some of the more NOPE moments she also gets heavy nosebleeds, poor girl. At first things just happen in the house, and Tabitha is mostly safe in the flat in the house. But after a while we see that things go from OK to NOPE even there.

Next to the haunting we see that her parents struggle. We her father flirt with the receptionist (bah) and even more than that. We see how mom is struggling with staying alive as she is dealing with depression. There are hints to something that happened before the events of this book.
A warning for cheating. I would have divorced if my husband did that, I just wouldn’t be able to trust him. Thanks to my ex who cheated on me twice, now I just don’t believe cheaters can be trustful any more. Who is to say that when the next hot person hops by they won’t go for it?

I had a big suspicion about Ben from quite early on, I am not sure if it is because I read the book 8 years ago, or if it just was that obvious, but either way, I was looking forward to that reveal… and if Tabitha knows. Later on in the last part of the book we find out what happened to poor Ben…

I have to say the ending was a bit lacklustre, it just felt a bit incomplete. But I do get the meaning behind it. It just felt as if it came out of nowhere. But I am happy with it, happy for the family. Happy for Tabitha.

But all in all, this is one of my favourite books and I even updated my rating to be 5+ stars as it definitely deserves it. Sometimes I re-read books and find out that I like them less, this one I just liked more. I cannot wait to read it again in a couple of years.

I would highly recommend this spooky book to all.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start this off by stating some of the good aspects of this book. The plot was interesting and there was a major twist at the end which I never saw coming, which was cool. I hate it when you figure out what's going to happen in a book too early. But with this book, I was really surprised and delighted by the ending. The characters were pretty good too, and I would have enjoyed reading this book if it weren't for one thing.

The grammatical errors ticked me off. Like, really ticked me off. I have a thing for proper grammar. I takes me forever to answer a text because I write each word properly and use capitals and punctuation. So I almost chucked this book at the wall after I read it. On every single flipping page there was some sort of mistake. I honestly think the author published her rough copy or something. It was infuriating. There were even mistakes on the back cover. I couldn't deal with it. It was too much.

That is all.

[Teri Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was running at about four stars most of the way, but I liked the ending so much, I changed it to a 5 star!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down needed to know what happened next. During the story there were parts that really started to freak me out and I needed to give myself breaks. However the last 2 chapters were a real twist in the story and it all comes together and just leaves you at peace. It was a very good ending, I was confused for a little bit but boy once it comes together its just a boom its together. Great end of September beginning of October read.

[Joanne Sheppard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a ghost story for young adults, with a protagonist who is almost 15. Tabitha moves with her parents and four-year-old brother Ben to a flat within a Victorian mansion, where her father has been employed as curator. Tabitha's father is full of enthusiasm for his new role, while her mother is grappling with depression. Meanwhile, Tabitha is unnerved by Weston Manor's atmosphere. Why can she suddenly smell lavender in certain rooms? Whose voices can she hear? Why are the old servants' bells ringing at night, and who's that playing croquet on the lawn?

I really wanted to like this book, and haunted houses are usually a winner with me, but unfortunately I found The Haunting of Tabitha Grey a bit lacking. First of all, there just isn't much to Tabitha as a main character. She's a stereotypical teenage girl interested in makeup, clothes, romance novels, her handsome but unbelievably dull boyfriend Jake and her best friend Gemma, who is also very forgettable. Being 'sensitive' to ghostly presences is the only thing about Tabitha that I found particularly interesting, and that alone isn't really enough to carry the story.

The ghostly goings-on themselves are depicted with skill - there's nothing you haven't seen or read before, but ghosts don't have to be original to be creepy - and the manor house setting is also nicely described. But there a some elements of the plot that don't ring true. For example, I don't think any father, just weeks into a new job as curator of a stately home and hosting an important visit from local dignitaries, would ever suddenly ask his 14-year-old to give them their guided tour, particularly when she's just been off school sick with nosebleeds, fainting fits and apparent hysteria.

This is a book that has a supposedly stunning twist towards the end, but I saw it coming when I was just under halfway through the book and without the element of surprise there's definitely something missing at the end of the story. The idea is a good one, but it's not executed with much subtlety and it's easy to spot, particularly for regular readers of ghost stories.

I realise that I'm an adult and this a book for kids and teenagers, but I don't think I'm asking too much of it in terms of plot and character. Juno Dawson, for example, some of whose books I've reviewed when she was writing under her previous name of James, writes teen horror with characters who are much more convincingly developed and plots that often have a real sting in the tail. The Haunting of Tabitha Grey has some promising elements, as it's atmospheric and spooky and the family drama plot strand is also nicely done, but overall it all just felt a bit below-par.

[Bethany Ainsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was intriguing at first and then the ending happened and I'm so confused over it. I will get to that later.

Ben was dead? I don't understand. How does that tie in with anything. I read it all throughout the day and then the ending comes up, and it's confusing. It was making sense through all this connections with the manor and then Ben turns up dead. It was like the ending was slapped on because it needed a twist. I don't understand the strange looks that she was getting. At first I thought it was because of the ghosts of the manor, then it turns out that Ben is dead, and the mother always being able to see Ben.

I suppose the spoiler makes sense, but I think I need to reread it to see the connections I didn't see, but I don't feel like rereading because it kind of seemed to trundle right through. Maybe if little hints were thrown in, but maybe I seemed to skip them on the first read-through, especially the strange looks she gets when she asks questions. Here's two examples:

‘Are you going to put in any photos of the family who used to live here?’ I say. 'That Lady Eleanor woman?’
Mum and Dad exchange another weird look. They do a lot of that lately.
I hate it.
‘It’s a fair question!’ I say.

‘Dad, does anybody ever ring the bells here? Like for a fire alarm or anything.’
...
'Tabs, you’ve got to stop all this right now,’ he says.

Seriously, what is up with that?

[Noora Marafih · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like to read scary books, well this book would be the perfect book for you! It's about a girl, called Tabitah Grey. Tabitha is used to changing schools. But this time, when her family moves to Wester Manor, something isn't right. When she moves there with her family, Tabitha could see old and young ladies, she can smell lavender that come from nowhere and she can hear crying, and she can hear really loud bells ringing. Nobody else can see, hear, or smell these things. Thabitha wanted to tell someone about the creepy things she can see, hear, and smell, but nobody believes her. So she tries to ignore it. Then the security gaurd realizes what was going on and tells Tabitha what was going on. This book is really exciting and you will never get tired of reading it. There are many actions that happen in the end of the book. The Haunting of Tabitha Grey is really about trusting people, don't hide when you think something isn't right, and support someone even though you don't know how.

[♡Lize♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed this book!!!
This book annoyed me OUT OF MY MIND!!! I had so many problems with this book.

1) The writing: It felt like an 8 year old wrote this book. "This happened and then this and then..."

2) This literal eleven year old is like, "Oh, Jake, my boyfriend is so hot, and I'm so lucky." I'm pretty sure she's 10/11 years old!!! And she literally said hot. Like, shouldn't you be running around with Gemma outside who is there for no particular reason.

2) None of the characters have personality traits. I can't tell you a single thing about anyone.

"She already thinks I'm a bit crazy and unhinged, and the last thing I need is for hero send me off to some mad-person's hospital or something."
(Quote from the book - idk how to add a quote, so I typed it out😅)

3) The "she" is her mother. Tabitha thinks her mother thinks she's "unhinged" and will send her to a "mad-person's" hospital. That's crazy. No further comment on that one.

I didn't like this book. Tabitha was annoying.

[Demetria · Rating 1 out of 5]

ok so if I have to be honest, I gave up on this book because I was bored.


To be quite hones, I like reading horror books but this wasn't scary. Unlike The Woman in Black, this did not send shivers up my spine or cause me to feel scared. This is not what a horror book should be like.


This book was so boring, I cant be bothered to carry on with this review...

[Elle Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

The twist was so good!

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the Haunting of Tabitha Grey (2.5 stars) had a very simple but effective use of horror through out the story like seeing apparations and hearing noises and smelling things that are out of place

however the characters were a huge let down, there is a very difficult thing to when writing books about tweens/ teens and its making them sound young without making them very annoying and this book kinda failed with that in a few ways especially with the asides Tabitha made about things (also what the heck is fizzy aspirin?) those kinda asides don't work in normal book format if it was written as part of a diary entry...

Gemma and Jake were also let downs in the fact they were important enough to be included in the blurb and they just weren't there through out the story I was expecting research and them helping her find out about the house and its ghosts but nah she got it most of the information that she needed handed her on a platter

Now the ending was the main let down of the story like the twist of Ben being dead the entire time the time skip made the reveal a little weird and more than a little confusing because I geniunley can't tell if Ben died at the Manor or at their previous home and the conservation with the mum at the end where she revealed she was the one who didn't close the gate (she just let Tabitha believe it was her fault for how long?)

I did actually like the Ben reveal, you know what I didn't like??? The Mum taking her husband back after he cheated on her with Dawn (I don't know how I feel about Dawn as he was her boss and had power over her or was she the seductive temptress that Tabitha made her out to be), true they did say at the end they will be working with a marriage counsellor but there is only so much that can do for a couple just idk the entire cheating subplot is part of the reason why its been downgraded in my eyes...

[Trish Hills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book or author but picked it up randomly at the library. I am so glad I did! It's a heart pounding, terrifying, fast paced ghost story that I found totally relatable. The ending literally had me gasping for breath. Brilliant!

[Kitkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the characters and the mystery. However I give this a three star because it’s really predictable. Also that the book skipped a year later into the future randomly. I don’t like the ending and I don’t like how it gets worse.

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very good. Quite slow and boring at the beginning but it gets better. It's a ghost story but it really isn't that scary. AT ALL. It is a good, easy to enjoy but as I said it is quite slow at the beggining.

[Jasmine Inglis · Rating 4 out of 5]

So spooky but also quite sad at the end.
Definitely recommend to anyone

[Caitlyn Doll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book because it was really shocking some of the time and i really liked how it would throw you off sometimes.

[Hilde Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so incredibly good. The ending made me cry. I won’t stop thinking about this for awhile.

[Angel Marriott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was very thrilling, couldn’t stop reading. Would read again

[Daisy Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

good but slow paced suprised ben died though

[Emma Davison · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK, although nothing to rave about. Not a long book either.

[Minna Leppiniemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I'm gonna need some time to get this book off of my mind lol. But loved the classic haunting themes it has

[Gouri Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really creepy book with a really shocking twist!❤️ I just loved this book so much!😇 Mystery lovers will love this one!!
Go for it!❤️😇

[Vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 6/10.

The book follows protoganist Tabitha Grey, who has recently moved into "Weston Manor" with her creepily mute brother, Ben, manic depressive mum Rachel, and unlikely ladies' man of a dad, who happens to have taken a job as a curator at this public museum. You heard right. Curtis (the author) was keen to point out the house belonged to the council, to be revamped, and used as another source of income for the government by selling tickets to vistors.

Which is perhaps more scary than the idea of ghosts itself.

The story is quick to set an appropriate tone, by Tabitha feeling an unexplicabale urge not to go upstairs the first night she is there. Tabitha happens to live in a flat, linked to the property, which is much newer than the rest of the house. Things quickly escalate when she sees a woman in a purple dress in the dining room; three ladies playing croquet out on the lawn and Lady Eleanor herself, the matriarch of the Manor when she was alive.

I feel like this story could have easily scored 8/10, but was let down by the climax. Not nearly scary or climatic enough. Curtis had done a decent job of creating a tense mood, that was clearly building to something...but that something never arrived, or was a massive let-down. Besides Tabitha's rather dysfunctional family, the supporting cast of characters range from vaguely interesting to extremely weak.

Dawn?

The vixen temptress masquerading as a secretary and clearly putting the moves on Tabitha's dad? She was definitely one of the more interesting ones. Sid, a security guard makes a comeback after unexpectedly dropping out of the story halfway and is vital to tell Tabs she's "not going mad." We are also expected to believe Gemma is her BF, even to the point where she's mentioned in the blurb, but the only thing she does bring to the story is a 2-dimensional character who occasionally pops by for a visit, or getting Tabitha to gossip about Jake.

Jake...was a lame excuse for a love interest, but perhaps represented the normality Tabitha craved. Numerous times we see Jake shooting Tabitha weird looks, but that is never confronted or dealt with in the book.

I think the story delivered a gem, when it delivered the fatal blow, that the flat which she was once thought was a safe haven, started having hauntings of it's own. Unfortuntely that gem came far too late, and was not nearly explored enough, for me to enjoy it.
[ In the end, we found out the twist the story promised was that a year ago, Tabitha accidentally took the eye of the ball, and her brother went missing and turned up dead. Since then he started following her, and she felt obligated to look after him, but convientally leaves him behind at the Manor when the Greys pack up and leave, because Lady Eleanor remained heartbroken about loosing a child under her care to an illness, and that was her big "reason" to wandering the halls.]

The ending was not explained well, and although clues were laid throughout about Ben, the fact he died truly did come out of the blue. It also seems her mum and grandmother are also "gifted" this way of seeing paranormal things, and it runs in the blood. Which makes me worry about Tabitha a little bit, because her mum ended up on anti-depressants so who knew if her "gift" contributed to this.

A good read for a rainy day, best ghost scenes in the beginning to middle, but then it looses it's lustre.

[Tahieuba Chaudhry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressed mum Rachel, midlife crises dad Mark, mute brother Ben and moody teenager Tabitha move into Western Manor. Although Tabitha is used to moving houses (because of her father’s job as a historical keeper), something dark and strange is happening at the manor. A lingering lavender smell, bells ringing at night, crying in empty rooms; with an active imagination, is Tabitha Grey actually telling the truth?
Vanessa Cutis is a YA author who has two successful book series, Zelah Green and Lilah May. Zelah Green: Queen of Clean won the Manchester Children's Book Awards 2010 and was shortlisted for the 2010 Young Minds, the 2009 Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the NASEN awards and the 2010 Bolton Children's Book Awards. As of 2012, Curtis worked on The Baking Life of Amelie Day and The Haunting of Tabitha Grey is her first ghost story.
I’ll begin with what I like. Curtis based Weston Manor on the real life Preston Manor in Sussex. She mentions in her blog that all the ghostly encounters that happened are based on the people who work at Preston Manor. With that in mind was totally up for reading this book.
It’s a classic ghost story with a stunning twist. Well, not a stunning twist but a clever one indeed. Despite other readers dislike to the amount of grammar mistakes they spotted, I didn’t have a problem. Whether it was done deliberately or by mistake, I think it captures Tabitha’s fourteen-year-old schoolgirl persona. It adds character to the first person narrative.
So there were some issues I had with this book. Overall, the general feel I got from this was that it felt flat and felt rushed. The big twist was revealed in the penultimate chapter and the reason for the haunting, which she got from the security guard Sid, felt like it was popped in. I think it missed a certain flow. I got this vibe from this story that there was a HUGE scandal involving Lady Eleanor, her two sisters and her black sheep of a son that somehow deeply connects with Tabitha. But there is no connection of the sort.
Honestly, I didn’t hate the book, but then I didn’t love it. It’s a good book and the twist is the only reason I’m giving a 3 star because the rest of it just felt so flat. I’ll recommend to those who are looking for a really good twist in a typical ghost story BUT not for those who wanted a deeper meaning or something scary. Now I feel bad for being so harsh so I might read another book by Curtis.

[Chapter by Chapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

One word comes to mind when I think of The Haunting Of Tabitha Grey…creepy! If you are looking for a book that will make you jump at sounds in the middle of the night, this is it.

Vanessa Curtis does a fantastic job of allowing the reader to see the world in the eyes of Tabitha Grey, a young girl who seems to have the gift of seeing the ghosts of the dead. Not only does she have the stress of that, but she also bears witness to the downward spiral of her parent’s marriage, with a mother who suffers from migraines and depression, to a father who has wandering eyes.

Once I was able to buckle down, and commit myself to reading this book on its own, I completely devoured it. The world that Curtis portrays is one that is haunting and mysterious. It was as though I was reading/watching an episode of “Paranormal State”, minus the ghost hunting, and more focus on the actual haunting. I was a huge fan of that show, and so to have had the opportunity to read this book and review it was totally awesome.

Anyone who reads The Haunting Of Tabitha Grey will clearly see just how phenomenal a story teller Vanessa Curtis is. Her writing style had me reading with my eyes wide open, waiting in anticipation for the next paranormal encounter. Her descriptions of the events as they unfolded, including smells and sounds made the story seem even more believable. As she describes an upcoming encounter with the sound of static, it reminded me of how in the “Paranormal Activities” movies where something was going to happen there was that rumbling sound. As soon as the mention of the static starts, my heart would quicken, and I would start to read faster!

The true gasping moment was the end, of course. I did not see it coming, and quite literally gasped! All eyes in the room were on me, I was so loud. With a wave of my hand to fam., I was able to finish the book and walked away with it still blowing my mind. Trying to figure out how I didn’t see it before, and what clues I could have missed. Loved it!

Fans of The Sixth Sense, and anything paranormal will completely devour The Haunting of Tabitha Grey.

[Theresa]

Being haunted by spirits or ghosts is uncommon, but does happen. In the book The Haunting Of Tabitha Grey by Vanessa Curtis, it happens more often than it ever had before for Tabitha Grey. She had just moved into an old historic house so that her dad could give tours and look after it. As soon as they had moved in she could smell lavender, hear screams and conversations, and seen people no one else sees. She has fainting spells and gets sick but her parents don't believe she is seeing ghosts. The only thing keeping her from leaving the house by herself is her little brother. But he gets hit by a car and dies. The whole family then moves out of the house so the memory of his death isn't so vivid.

My favorite character in The Haunting Of Tabitha Grey is Tabitha. In most books the main character grows and resolves the problem, but this one doesn't. There is a main problem surrounding the character, but, there is no way for her to solve the problem. She tries to convince herself that she is sick and seeing things and tries to act like the ghosts aren't there. Eventually she does realize that she can't try to convince herself that she doesn't see or hear the things going on in the house. Personally, I feel like she could be interpreted as some teenagers who are trying to go along with everyone else.

The Haunting of Tabitha Grey was filled with many ghosts and surprises. Trying to figure out what was happening around her is something many people can relate to. I would suggest this if you like ghost stories, but not much else because it mainly is about ghost sightings.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried and tried to like this book, but I just couldn't.
First, the writing was so strangely amateurish. It was like it was dictated by that one teenager you can't stand being around because she's just too annoying. I don't know how many times the title character noted simple things people did, like smile, or frowned, when it was completely unnecessary. Then, we have Tabitha's friend Gemma, and her "boyfriend" Jake. Both are completely useless characters that seemed to have been thrown in to appear as if Tabitha had more of a social life than she did.
Useless.
If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned the ghosts, maybe it's because it seemed to take forever for something to happen. And when it did, it was definitely a letdown. Whenever something supernatural happened, I had no sympathy for Tabitha, and kept getting more and more annoyed by her vast amounts of annoying stupidity.
Seriously.
Finally, when I got to this "amazing" twist the back cover promised, I found myself to not be surprised. I don't know if it's because I recently read a book I found somewhat similar, but I think it definitely helped me figure out the end before it happened. And once I read it, it made me even more annoyed with stinkin' Tabitha and her stupid family. I feel like it was a bit of a cop-out, and will leave it at that, in case you are choosing to read this.
I do not recommend this book, so if you do end up reading it, and hating it, then ha ha! Peace out ✌ .5 stars