There are certain subject matters I’ll always gravitate toward, and one of those is ghost love stories. It might have something to do with how I was exposed to Ghost at a very young age, or the fact that every single time Heart & Souls comes on, I have to watch it. I don’t know. It might be neither of those and I just happen to like stories that involve spirits or ghosts. Regardless, if you’re like me and enjoy a good story involving a ghost, then may I suggest Wherever You Go?
Seventeen-year-old Holly Mullen has felt lost and lonely ever since her boyfriend, Rob, died in a tragic accident. The fact that she has to spend most of her free time caring for her little sister and Alzheimer’s-stricken grandfather doesn’t help. But Holly has no idea that as she goes about her days, Rob’s ghost is watching over her. He isn’t happy when he sees his best friend, Jason, reach out to help Holly with her grandfather—but as a ghost, he can do nothing to stop it. Is his best friend really falling for his girlfriend?
As Holly wonders whether to open her heart to Jason, the past comes back to haunt her. Her grandfather claims to be communicating with the ghost of Rob. Could the messages he has for Holly be real? And if so, how can the loved ones Rob left behind help his tortured soul make it to the other side?
Told in switching POVs between Holly, Rob and Jason, Wherever You Go starts some months after Rob dies in a tragic car accident. Holly’s grandfather has just moved in to their rather small apartment, which means that’s one more person Holly has to look after while her mother works two jobs in order to pay the bills. At the start of the book you can tell Holly’s just going through the motions, especially at school since that’s where she’s reminded of Rob the most.
I felt bad for Holly. Here she is, taking care of her little sister and grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s, and she’s also depressed because Rob’s gone and she can’t fully remember the night of the accident. All her friends from school were really Rob’s friends and abandoned her after he was gone. And then, from what seems like out of nowhere, Jason starts taking an interest in her. And the entire time all this is happening, Rob’s spirit is watching over her and he figures out how to communicate through Holly’s grandfather, which leads to a plot twist I wasn’t expecting when I picked the book up.
Overall, I thought it was a good read. I kind of knew where the final revelation was going, just from the hints dropped throughout, but I kept hoping it would turn out differently since it wasn’t the happy overtone I wanted. Oh, well. I guess when one of the characters is actually a spirit and technically dead, you can’t always have the HEA you expect in books.