Fan Club Friday - TIGHTER by Adele Griffin

When seventeen-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that preceded her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl — and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly?


As Jamie's perception of the paranormal tests the limits — and expanses — of her core beliefs, she must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead.


Are you kidding me? I've been dying to blog about this book since I finished it Monday night. I had to finish it because I started it Thursday night after going to Adele Griffin's event at Books of Wonder and I couldn't put it down; but unlike the days of old (read pre-baby days), I can't stay up all night reading because my hours in the bed are few and precious. Problem with this book is this: just because you stop reading doesn't mean the characters stop talking to you.

Which is pretty appropriate for this story. It was so hard falling to sleep every night over the weekend because I kept thinking about Jamie - the main character - and trying to figure her out. Was she the only one that saw the ghosts? What about the kids she was watching, Isa and Milo? What did they really know? And how did Peter and Jessie die and was that the reason their souls couldn't rest in peace?

Okay, all those questions meant the voices in my head wouldn't die down. Again, quite appropriate for this book.

And listen, y'all know me. I'm not the girl that waltzes into the bookstore and heads for paranormal or fantasy — at all. I tend to be drawn more toward stories that happen in this world similarly to the way I know it; but that's another thing that is just so doggone fan-freakin'-tastic about Tighter! It's not really a ghost story at all. It's a story about a teenage girl struggling with depression and pill popping, looking for love and acceptance in the wrong places, and coming to terms with even the ugly parts of herself.

I like that this thing doesn't read as a cliché suspense novel, but more like a scarf with a loose thread that the reader pulls at bit by bit, slowly unraveling the story until we finally are rewarded with an ah-ha moment as we see the once twisted piece of yarn in its entirety. And if it tells you anything, I'm reading it again already.

Do yourself a favor and go buy this book.
Also, follow Adele on FB and Twitter! I sure do.