**spoiler alert** This book is right up my alley: dark academia, supernatural elements, great writing. For some reason, I was having trouble staying i**spoiler alert** This book is right up my alley: dark academia, supernatural elements, great writing. For some reason, I was having trouble staying interested. I made it halfway, then skipped to the end to find out what happens and then sat with it for a bit.
What I ultimately suspect made this novel fall flat is that the Protagonist, Jo, is a ghost. She yearns for things, but doesn't do anything to get them. There's a more compelling version of this novel where Jo (not Saz) is the one that suggests doing the spell, or does the spell herself to get ahead of her friends and earn the Solo spot. From the very beginning of the story, Jo has resigned herself to not winning Solo and is more preoccupied with the dissolution of the group after their Senior year. There's a fantastic conflict here that the author doesn't capitalize on: Jo wants the group to stay together, but one of them winning the Solo would split it apart. The group seems intensely more important to her than it does to the others. Before Caroline loses her shit, there is no serious rivalry between any of them, which makes the stakes for winning the Solo spot very low.
There's a lot to enjoy about this novel, but it didn't work for me....more
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