Review: "Dispirited" by Luisa Perkins

When Luisa was looking for reviewers, I'd already heard such good things about her novel, "Dispirited", that I started waving my hand frantically in the air, despite the pile of stuff already on my "to do" list. And boy am I glad I did.

The Point of the Plot:
from zarahemlabooks.com "Cathy sees things that are invisible to everyone else. Her new stepbrother's bizarre behavior. A ghostly little boy. An abandoned house in the woods. But she doesn't see how they're all connected. And what she doesn't see might just kill her."

Basically Believable: ****1/2

Everything about this book said, "Well done, Luisa, well done." From the totally awesome, third-person, present-tense POV  juxtaposed with the traditional third-person past-tense to the intriguing, unique plot line.  The scenery is fantastic. I'm a detail-skipper (yup, I just admitted that). If the explanation is too long and too detailed, I skip over it or skim, and usually get confused later. Luisa did a great job of painting the scene with just the right amount of words. The beautiful woods, the picturesque small town, the hauntingly-beautiful mansion.  The pace ebbed and flowed for me a little--well, until I got about midway through, then the action carried me right to the end. My nick-picky self only deducted that half-point because the relationship between the main character, Cathy, and her best friend, Richard, seemed too fast and slightly underdeveloped.

Charismatic Characters: *****

From the moment I started the story, the characters jumped out at me. I don't recall any instance where I thought, well, why did they do that? The development of every character--even the peripheral ones of Cathy's little sisters--was three dimensional. They all worked well in the story.

Yay or Yuck, The Final Word: ****

Yay, absolutely. You guys know me, and if there are grammatical issues or content problems in my opinion, I air them here. I caught nothing. Seriously. So either it wasn't there, or the plot had me too involved--and either way is a win in my book. "Dispirited" is well written, unique, and intriguing. 

Buy "Dispirited" by Luisa Perkins here.

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