Hello Blogiverse!

How’ve you been? Good I hope. The past week has been a real struggle for me balancing work, school, and writing stuff. I’m also currently working on revamping all of my marketing media and strategies, so I could definitely use a vacation right about now.

I had to settle for a mental vacation, which means it’s book review time again!

This time I read Karma Moon: Ghost Hunter by Melissa Savage.

This is a buddy read with the magnificent Gigi aka The Beachy Reader. This post will be my individual opinion, then we’ll get to gab all about our combined experiences in a buddy read and rant soon.

I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I was overdue for a MG creepy novel and found this while doing an assignment for grad school, so I couldn’t pass it up! Keep on reading for the review, folks!

Blurb

While staying in a haunted Colorado hotel for her father’s ghost-hunting television series, Karma Moon must battle her anxiety, interpret the signs of the universe, and get footage of a real ghost–you know, the usual.

Karma Moon is a firm believer in everything woo-woo, as her dad calls it. So when she asked her trusty Crystal Mystic if the call asking her dad to create a ghost-hunting docuseries was her dad’s big break, it delivered: No doubt about it. Because the universe never gets it wrong. Only people do.

Karma and her best friend, Mags, join her dad’s Totally Rad film crew at a famous haunted hotel in Colorado over her spring break. Their mission: find a ghost and get it on camera. If they succeed, the show will be a hit, they can pay rent on time, and just maybe, her mom will come back.

Unfortunately, staying at a haunted hotel isn’t a walk in the park for someone with a big case of the what-ifs. But her dad made Karma the head of research for the docuseries, so she, Mags, and a mysterious local boy named Nyx must investigate every strange happening in the historically creepy Stanley Hotel. Karma hopes that her what-ifs don’t make her give up the ghost before they can find a starring spirit to help their show go viral–and possibly even get them a season two.

With Melissa Savage’s quirky cast of characters and spooky setting underlaid by a touching and relatable struggle against anxiety and grief over her fractured family, Karma Moon–Ghosthunter is bound to charm and delight.

GoodReads

Amazon

***Brief disclosure***

I am an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post at no cost to you. It’s a great way to help me keep things running on my blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

The Review

This book and its premise reminded me a lot of the Cassidy Blake series by V.E. Scwab and Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh (two series I loved), so I gave this a go. Ultimately, this was something of a mixed bag for me.

The novel centers on a young girl named Karma and her dad. They live in New York, and her mother abandoned them somewhat recently, so they’ve fallen on hard times. That all changes when her dad gets a call from Netflix asking him to shoot a docuseries on the famous Stanley Hotel. Can they turn their lives around with this grand opportunity, or will this chance fade into the ether?

The premise of this novel really drew me in. I’m always down for some haunted house time. I also really enjoyed the emphasis of how great Asian food is and couldn’t agree more. That being said, I was kind of torn on most everything else in the book.

Karma is an entertaining MC. She’s outspoken, a bit wild, and has crazy energy that never seems to deplete. I also liked that she had her what-if flaws and the sad story about her mom leaving the family. It made her character seem more realistic. The only quip I have with Karma is that it was hinted that she was a sensitive several times, but we didn’t truly get to see that.

I also think her friend Mags came off a bit toxic in the beginning, but by the later half she seemed to act like a best friend should.

The plot was fun, but I felt torn between two halves of the story. There’s the real side of things and the paranormal. Most of the book seemed geared more towards the real side, and that kind of killed it for me. I just wanted more of the crazy spirits and paranormal phenomenon, but it just wasn’t there. After a while, I got ambivalent on finishing the book, but pulled through.

While this book was entertaining, it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me because the premise didn’t fully deliver. If you’re looking for nonstop ghosts and paranormal adventure, this may not be the book for you, but if you like a lightly spooky mystery, give it a go.

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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