Cover Image: Ghost Town Girl

Ghost Town Girl

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Member Reviews

I'm starting out soapboxing so bear with me
First a trigger warning on domestic violence not overt but the feel so be prepared for a gut roll. I can say from experience & counseling others it never gets better in most cases [then rare with a total restructure of abuser imo]. The longer you are in an abusive relationship the more danger it can cause not just you but others around you especially loved ones & pets as well as the people that are trying to get you out that are involved in such in an org . There is a reason that they will act like hard asses because once they dedicate to helping you they are also putting others lives especially theirs in danger. There are also weak damaged women that after seeking help will turn all info & people over to their abuser thinking that will score points & make everything okay. They become an addon that deserves no sympathy. Am also really irked at either well meaning or people trying for some online clout putting out some messages on social media that have been a mainstay of some homes & then saying to potential vics they can help, no, in most cases you can't unless trained & prepared & you have further jeopardized the person & yourself. All you have done is help expose & blow what was a good set up because everyone can read it & when seeing it will act. This is dangerous for vics, shelters & people that work at them. There are solid things in place for a reason. The National Domestic Violence Hotline 1- 800- 799- 7233 • thehotline.org
But on to a great book. This is an incredible thriller with paranormal aspects & believable as such. The style is disjointed intentionally which raises the level of adrenaline waiting for the stories to blend together then keeps you on a tight wire until the end. Definitely recommend & listen to the message in here also. An abused woman who unintentionally drags friends, agencies & kids who never knew her into a dangerous deadly arena with a psychopath...

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Although the base for this story has roots in domestic violence the overall mystery and spiritual elements are very much to the fore in my view. The main character, Bria, escapes from her abusive relationship and moves to a refuge. The plot moves between the timelines of Bria and her best friend Cassie adding details to their characterisation and lives and adding a good backstory for their childhood confirming their friendship and circle of friends. This is important for later in the book (which I didn't spot). The writer has a detailed descriptive style which always includes the environment the character are set in and allow the reader to feel they are with the characters. Personally while I love this style on some occasions it was too detailed and I found myself skipping forward. The spiritual introductions were intriguing throughout and definitely kept their secret right to the end!

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I came so exceptionally close to DNFR this book even just after a couple of chapters... The chapter formatting and layout of this book was absolutely horrendous, and there were several (read hundreds) of sentences where the space bar seems to have been broken and two or three words were jammed together.

Because of this lack of proper distinguishable chapters it was really hard to keep track of who was narrating the story and the location they were in, or the story itself. It just didn't flow.

I also felt that the book lacked a clear direction, there were large sections that just felt like space fillers and didn't contribute to the story. There was too much of our characters stuck in the forest or the desert (it wasn't clear whether it was forest or desert, the author seemed to describe both) and not enough plot.

There were far too many strands towards the end of the story too, which really started to confuse things for me.

Because of this I felt it really hard to connect with the characters, I feel like we didn't get to know them enough and they weren't as developed as they could have been. I do think if we had a better connection with them the book would have been better, I personally would have had more emotion towards their situation.

And the ending was really disappointing, it felt very meh. It was as if the author wanted to tie everything up quickly and threw together what she could.

Ghost Town Girl was just nothing like the blurb and a really disappointing read.

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The beginning of Ghost Town Girl by Debra Cunningham had me hooked even though there wasn’t anything paranormal happening. It sets up the bones of the plot. The first few chapters are from different points of view. The bulk of the story is told by Jenna and eventually the characters from the beginning of the book meet up with her.

Jenna is a budding psychic and kind-hearted girl. She and her friends are in the Arizona desert searching for a ghost town. The desert is a character on its own. Cunningham describes the scenery very well.

There are a couple of subplots that flesh out the main story. I enjoyed how everything came together. Even though the story was a little complicated, the characters were well-written.

The ending was not what I hoped for. Even though the main mystery was solved, it seemed the end of the book left some loose ends. They aren’t enough to warrant a sequel, but if there was one, maybe they could be threaded together in the background.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

I will be adding this review to my website, EveHallows.com.

#GhostTownGirl #NetGalley

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I had a hard time reading this book. While the storylines are well thought out it jumps a bit too much for my taste. It is a quick read with short chapters that change from character to character and timelines, the format of the rough draft made it difficult to understand. I think the premise is sound, just a bit more of a better flow would have helped.

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Ghost Town Girl
by Debra Cunningham
Boy, I really wanted to like this book! It has a great deal of themes I adore such as a psychic, looking for the paranormal, and suspense. What I didn't know and don't like is abusive relationships which makes up a big part of this plot. Ugh!
I would have liked the characters better developed, I couldn't really get a sense of any of them really. The plot was obvious from the near beginning. I really had to force myself to finish the book.
This is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is my own opinion. I sure wish I could give it a better review.

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Very well developed characters and an extremely engaging story. Well thought out and very suspenseful story line that keeps the reader guessing until the final twist! This is the book to read this year! Highly recommended!

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Paranormal Thriller about a ghost town I. Arizona told from point of view of two women. I thought it was creepy and had a pretty good story line.
Trigger: Domestic Abuse

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I'm assuming that this is someone's first attempt at book writing. The language needs work. Switching between the voices telling the story was confusing and the story line wasn't interesting enough to embrace that. I thought I had started another book inadvertently, now I have finished it I wish I had. There were big chunks missing from the story, fleshing out Bria's backstory might have helped. When a body was found at the end it went from "We might have something" to closing the ambulance doors on the corpse. Only gave it 1 star as the software won't allow you to give it zero stars.

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I made it through two chapters, before I gave the book the chop.
The writing style wasn't for me and the lack of spacing or proper distinction between the chapters was going on my nerves. Plus, the characters were highly unlikeable and had no significant character traits despite a tragic past. Maybe that changed over the course of the book, I don't know. The book didn't held my interest long enough to bother to find out.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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There's not many books that I've thought of abandoning part way through, but sadly this was one of them. I did persist until the end but it wasn't a satisfying read. "Ghost Town Girl" by Debra Cunningham just doesn't do it for me. It started off well, I wanted to know more about the abusive relationship between Mike and Bria but we really didn't get to the bottom of it. Instead we had too many coincidental meet ups of people in Red Hawk and the frustrations that they didn't seek proper help earlier.

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Quite the creepy novel. Going back and forth between different timelines only made me want to finish the book much faster. This book does contain some triggers for domestic violence. The outcome for each person involved is eye opening. I am a firm believer in spirits and I believe some people can sense them and choose to help the spirit or not.

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Ghost Town Girl by Debra Cunningham.

Wow I love this story! I hope she continues to write these characters into a series to let us know what they are up to. I can’t wait to purchase this book in hardback!

5 stars

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Nineteen year old Jenna loves to explore ghost towns with her pal, Cameron. Jenna is also an empath and is working on sharpening her psychic tools so that she may one day work with police to find missing persons.
While searching for the Red Hawn Ghost Town in the Arizona he at Jenna and Cameron meet a weird guy who calls himself Mike. Jenna's "bad-guy vibes" are really going off with this Mike guy. There are also two brother that show up in the desert, a couple of women, a barking dog.....and oddly enough everyone is connected somehow to one or two members of this odd assortment of people in the desert. It's, as they say, "complicated".
Adding to this cast of characters we have survival against the elements and/or one or more of the group, and/or wildlife, spirits and even a couple of catfights (well, a girl fight and a fight with a cat). Yes, it's complicated. There were times where I found myself thinking "get to the point" with all of the dialogue between people wandering around in the desert. I kept at it till the end because there was just enough suspense in the writing to make me want to know who was trustworthy and who wasn't. #netgalley #ghosttowngirl

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Bria has married Mike which she thought she loved before he made her live out in the country with no neighbors and started to beat on her. She escapes but is constantly looking for him behind her.
Jenna and Cameron are hiking in the desert and Cameron disappears.
All of these characters will merge together.
It was a little slow at first getting to know the characters. It picks up and then you don't want to put it down.

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Ghost story told in different POV of 2 woman. Set in Arizona ghost town.. Realistic characters snd beautiful location descriptions. Trigger: domestic abuse

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Jenna is a student with a love for the paranormal - honestly, she was almost like looking in a mirror that shows the past. She has a love for the paranormal and she comes with a few gifts too.
Driving with Cameron, a neighbourhood boy, they get stuck and decide to try get help in the ghost town where they meet Bria, a troubled woman trying to escape her abusive husband.

This book is hard to place into one specific category as it contains so many different themes throughout but overall, it has that ghost story undertone to it which was just enough to keep me hooked and reading.

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Jenna likes to investigate spooky places with her friends. She would take pictures of spooky things. She goes to a ghost town called Red Hawk with her friend Cameron. Cameron talks to Jenna about his girlfriend. Jenna has discover that she can feel unknown presences besides having visions. They will meet up with other friends at Red Hawk to help with Cameron’s You Tube videos he makes. As they drive to Red Hawk, Cameron sees someone and drives off the road into mud. They are stuck with no cell phone service to call for help. Cameron decides to see if he can find someone at the ghost town. Does Cameron find someone? One of the friends Jenna will meet is still heartbroken on losing a woman, Bria. Bria decided to get married to Mike, a man who turns out to be very possessive with his wife Bria. Bria decides to escape her husband. When she gets to the women’s shelter, she realizes that she forgot to tell her best friend Cassie. She leaves to tell Cassie that she’s leaving her husband. Bria doesn’t find her home. She worries that Mike will hurt her so she looks for clues to see where Cassie went. She discovers she’s gone to Red Hawk. Bria decides Toto Red Hawk. What happens with these people at Red Hawk turns out to be an adventure unlike anything that they have ever experienced. What happens?

The author has written a novel that has several themes to it. It doesn’t overwhelm the story. It’s scary and amazing. This novel is a ghost story, a woman’s fiction novel with paranormal elements throughout besides a touch of domestic violence. It is the loyalty of friendships that keeps them from giving up at times. It’s a great read for spookiness and survival.

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What's really going on in the abandoned ghost town of Red Hawk, Arizona? Labeled as paranormal women's fiction, I was curious how those two genres would blend. In Ghost Town Girl, Bria is an abused wife trying to find the courage to leave her husband. Jenna, a clairvoyant, is a college student and photographer looking for spooky places to explore and to practice her psychic gifts. Lost in hazardous terrain with a strange stalker near by, what will happen when their paths cross?

The book shifts in point of view from Bria to Jenna. In both cases as the plotline unfolds, you learn about both women's lives, friends and connections. The switch between points of view is briefly confusing but that could easily be fixed by changing the chapter titles from location to speaker. There were also minor formatting issues with the italicized internal dialogue that are also easily fixed in editing.

The minute Jenna's intuition kicked in I knew this would be my kind of story. Having grown up in a haunted house and surrounded by neighborhood boys myself, I could really identify with Jenna. The language in some parts is unnecessarily wordy but I liked the descriptive writing style. There were parts where I could actually feel the mud and grime Jenna did. However, the descripitive writing about the environment carries on so long that it could be called filler. Overall, the mystery is engaging, I couldn't wait to find out what was up with Matt. I think it would've held my attention better had it been shorter in parts. I realize being lost is a theme here so maybe all the rambling was necessary. It was hard for me to stay focused on what was happening. I got a little lost myself in the writing style. Thank you for allowing me the chance to review it.

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Book Details:
✨Paranormal Thriller / Mystery
✨Setting: an old abandoned ghost town in the middle of the woods
✨Features: a psychic / clairvoyant teen and her friends who tour ghost towns & a combination of real life horror and paranormal experiences
✨Includes the occasional appearance of a dog named George (#BestCharacter) who likes burnt pancakes

Real Life Horror
This novel ties together the horror of real life and also paranormal occurrences. The most terrifying pieces of the novel are connected to domestic violence. It felt like some of this was portrayed well to show the difficulty of this situation. My one concern connected to this was there was a domestic violence center where the manager of the center was portrayed as harsh, and Id hope people working in these centers would be empathic. My concern with this this form of portrayal was that it 1) felt unnecessary to the plot and 2) might impact someone’s decision to go to a center if they need to. Additionally, the woman in this situation gets blamed by some characters for some of her abuser’s actions, but this is also never presented in a way that readers are supposed to agree with that.

Plot Twists (No Spoilers)
There were some engaging and interesting things that happened, and some very interesting plot twists! Though, sometimes it felt like the book tried to take on too much. The author was able to wrap things up well, and everything was pretty much tied together successfully, but I was left feeling like so many things were thrown into the plot and some of the twists felt like too much. I think it was executed alright, but I think removing one or two of these things would have been better and would have allowed more space to focus on the plot twists that were already there. There were some decent ideas here, but I got distracted from them by various other events.

Stereotypes
The main thing about this novel that I didn’t love was there were some Native American characters that showed up for like 5 seconds and were portrayed in a stereotyped way. They were essentially used to explain why the main character was clairvoyant.

Overall,
This book wasn’t my favorite read, but I think it could be a good fit for others! I could certainly see many people enjoying it. I think there were just a couple things that drew me away from it, but not everyone would feel the same way (e.g. some may love the way the plot twists are executed).

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