Bedbugs and weed. Weed and bedbugs. That’s all Mari thinks about, and boy is she tiresome. Honestly, I need to get rid of this sense of duty I have with books. No matter how bad they are, I feel the need to power through them. But to be fair, I spent $20 on the hardback, so I really needed to get my money’s worth.

Harsh, I know, but I have to keep it real. On the upside, the cover is quite gorgeous, and some very small parts of the story were spooky and atmospheric. I just really, REALLY did not like the main character. She’s pouty, hates her stepsister with a burning passion, bullies her best friend into mailing her weed seeds (isn’t that illegal?), and uses her new friends to score more weed. There’s an annoying carrot the author keeps dangling about some tragic event that caused Mari’s entire family to rebuild their lives in a new town. This momentous event is mentioned here and there, and toward the end I got so tired of being teased and stopped caring.

To be fair, Mari is battling really bad OCD issues with bedbugs, so I have some compassion for her. Yet, her misguided actions only make the problems worse. I’m telling you, her OCD is BAD. When she gets triggered, she goes into a panicked, violent frenzy. The only thing that can pacify the anxiety is, unfortunately, weed. So, WHY is she not on long-term SSRIs??? She mentioned just once that she didn’t like how they made her feel, but how is the never-ending waking nightmare of bedbugs any better??? Couldn’t her mother see how much she’s suffering and address the OCD with meds rather than letting her daughter white-knuckle her fear on a 24/7 basis? This is not a life I would wish on my worst enemy.

Toward the end of the book, the rampant thoughts of bedbugs and weed simmer down a bit as Mari FINALLY starts to investigate the spooky happenings within her new home and discovers everything is tied to a shady all-powerful real estate developer. On top of drug addiction and mental illness, we’re also dealing with gentrification and displacement issues. There is a LOT going on here…and sadly none of it is spooky.

The effects of gentrification are terrible, and mental health is a serious issue our government needs to do more about. That said, I wanted more ghosts and less societal problems. Can’t authors write good, spooky ghost stories anymore without having to shoehorn in all the socio-political issues with an overarching moral to the story? I signed on for a supernatural haunted house thriller/mystery, and this book did not deliver. If you’re looking for a fun YA paranormal thriller, try something by Cat Winters or Victoria Schwab