Customer Reviews

Lily's Ghosts

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Go to any bookstore and look at the titles in middle grade and YA shelves and you'll see plenty about ghosts. But Laura Ruby's novel rings true on so many levels, that it can't help but, well, "leap out at you."

LILY'S GHOSTS has a cast of hilarious ghosts haunting throughout Cape May, NJ, a terrific living town of characters (and sometimes that word "character" can be taken literally!) and a warm and witty style that draws the reader into the story. Readers from all backgrounds will find something in Lily that speaks to them, and the mystery she solves is wonderfully done. This is a novel that is asking real questions without giving us absolute answers.

A truly enjoyable read!

I just finished reading Lily's Ghost on a 5 hour trip to Hawaii. It's very much in the vain of Harry Potter but with a female heroine and ghosts. My favorite parts were the interludes where the ghosts chat amongst themselves and live out their afterlife as part of today's world. The prose flows easily and smoothly - intellectual enough for an adult but easy enough for any kid who would appreciate Harry Potter. The ending is a nice twist that gets you thinking. An easy recommend for anyone who likes ghosts or coming of age stories.

This has got to be one of the better children's books around. Well, I know I haven't read that many children's books and I'm probably not the best judge, but I've read books where the protagonist sounds either too young or too old or too dumb or too smart or too secure for someone his/her age, and in this book, Lily sounds just perfect. She may be a bit mature for a thirteen-year-old, but she still has foibles, which makes her so believable as a human being. In fact, both Lily and Vaz are about the only characters from children's books who are so three-dimensional they continue to linger in my head after I've finished the book.

I also love the writing style. It is descriptive but also fast-paced. It seems like things keep happening. I'm only disappointed about a chapter near the end, in which the author definitely rushes through, trying to wrap everything up neatly in a few pages. A few things remain unclear, but since the climax is over, I'll choose to overlook that.

The cover is misleading, though. I originally picked up the book because I thought it was going to be a funny book, but it's not really ha-ha funny. In fact, it's kind of creepy at parts, and I'm above the targeted audience's age. Still, I don't regret reading this book. It's awesome.

Poor Lily Crabtree didn't want to have to move again, especially to her great-uncle's creepy old house in New Jersey. But, things are worse that even Lily can imagine - this house is haunted - the whole town is haunted - and several ghosts have Lily in their sights. There's a deep mystery here, and if Lily can maintain her sanity (and sense of humor), she's the one to unravel it!

This is a great book! In fact, I can scarcely believe that this is the first book of author Laura Ruby - it won the 2003 Parent's Choice Silver Honor for Fiction. Yep, I foresee a great future for this author.

Now, on to the book. This is a great book. At first I was afraid that hackneyed theme of wacky/unrealistic/ex-hippy/Boomer mother and straight-laced/cynical/Gen Xer daughter would produce a boringly predictable story. But, on the contrary, Ms. Ruby has produced a fascinating story that is one of the most unique things I have read in a while. I found the ghosts to be an exquisite combination of scary and funny, the (living) characters to be interesting and believable, and the ending to be something that I never could have guessed at.

Again, this is a great book, one that I highly recommend to all readers (young and old) who like a good ghost story that is also uplifting and entertaining.

What an enjoyable book - I read it on a recent cross-country flight and couldn't put it down. There are many unexpected little twists to the story and the ending was unexpected and perfect. I hope there is a sequel!!!

This novel presents a real world and a ghost world side by side, and the young heroine, Lily, tries to keep the two straight. The setting of Cape May, New Jersey, is perfect for the odd goings-on. Young readers will have fun figuring out which strange things are caused by the mischievous ghosts and which by the malevolent people. A great read.

It doesn't get better than this.

You will get goosebumps. From the ghosts that haunt Lily's uncle's house. From the spirits that linger on the beach. You'll also get them from the tingling excitement of the relationship developing between Vaz, Lily's partner in ghost-busting crime, and Lily herself.

What's most impressive here isn't the unforgettable characters, the bizarre goings-on in the haunted house, or the suspense that consistently builds until the end. It's the writing. Ruby knows how to hook a reader, in a most inconvenient way that will have you shrugging off all your prior commitments until you reach the end of this book. But it is so worth it.

You will be hoping for a sequel.

Reading this book with my daughter, she was a little more creeped out than I . . . but not much. This is good YA literature, which crosses over with both juvenile AND more sophisticated humor to appeal to adult readers as well. It's also reflective of the human condition, where a very grown-up-for-her-age character named Lily, 13, has been abandoned by her father and faces a gypsy lifestyle with her free-spirited mother, Arden. Lily and Arden move into their newest home in Cape May, which is a summer tourist town on the coast. Only it's not summer. Instead of tourists roaming the beaches and the Victorian homes, there are ghosts. Plenty of them.

Lily is left home alone in her Uncle Wes's huge home while her mother goes off to work at a jewelry and gift store in town. This is Arden's version of "home schooling." What Lily learns about is actually the home--and the ghosts that haunt it. With help from her new friend "Vaz," (who her mother calls a HOT TACO (!) and then punishes her for kissing him), Lily learns the history of her notorious family.

Some challenging vocabulary words for young readers and probably better suited for ages 13+. Good writing, creative storytelling and especially suited for this time of year (Halloween).

Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club.

This fantastic book is worth a million praises and a million laughs. Rarely or ever can you find a book meant to make you laugh and shiver in fear at the same time. Ruby has such a vivid imagination about the secret lives of ghosts that it makes me wonder if she alone can look into the world of the non-living!
So basically this story starts in Cape May where there's 2 kinds of ghosts: those who go on in their daily lives still thinking they are part of the living while others despair at the fact that they are indeed dead beings and work to make humans' lives miserable...especially one particular life...
For Lilly Crabtree, moving from place to place is almost a daily thing. Her mom meets a guy, the guys falls in love, and finally (and ultimately ALWAYS) the man runs away in fear of a woman who has so much energy and love. With no man to support them, Lilly and her mother are forced to move to a creepy old house where two determined ghosts haunt, eager to interfere with the lives of the living and ready to reveal the beginnings of a mystery...hidden for centuries and guarded carefully...
In a spooky world involving prank calls, rival librains, and one very very cute guy, can Lilly solve the mystery, the treasure, and...herself? READ THIS BOOK!!!

If you like Gilda Joyce you will love this book! It's about a girl named Lily, who moves around the USA and has to stay at her Uncle's freaky mansion. She faces a love shock, mysterious happenings, and.....BOO!!!!!!!! Ghosts!!!

This was yet another book that I didn't want to put down!