Review – Gardenia by Kelsey Sutton (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 260 pages
Publisher: Diversion Publishing
Release Date: February 28, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1626818415
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been able to see countdown clocks over everyone’s heads indicating how long before they will die. She can’t do anything about anyone else’s, nor can she do anything about her own, which will hit the zero hour before she even graduates high school.

A life cut short is tragic, but Ivy does her best to make the most of it. She struggles emotionally with her deep love for on-again, off-again boyfriend Myers Patripski. She struggles financially, working outside of school to help her mom and her sister. And she struggles to cope with the murder of her best friend, another life she couldn’t save. Vanessa Donovan was murdered in the woods, and everyone in town believes Ivy had something to do with it.

Then more girls start disappearing. Ivy tries to put her own life in order as she pieces together the truth of who ended Vanessa’s. To save lives, and for her own sanity.

The clock is always ticking. And Ivy’s only hope is to expose the truth before it runs out completely.”

I got this book through NetGalley to review. This was a well done book about a girl, Ivy, who sees numbers over everyone’s head that tell her how long that person has before they die. Ivy also sees when her own death is going to occur and it is soon.

Ivy becomes determined to solve the mystery behind the murder of her best friend before she dies. This gives her a purpose to help her fight the looming depression of her own imminent death.

I enjoyed this story; it was a creative premise and the characters were interesting. Towards the end things get very predictable, but I liked mystery leading up to most of that. The writing flows well and this is an easy read.

Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend to those who enjoy murder mysteries with a paranormal bent to them.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge