METAMORPHOSIS

Eighteen-year-old Jade is adjusting to her new school, a new romance, and a growing closeness with a Victorian ghost.

It’s 1985, and Jade Whitney is moving from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Grove Hollow, New York. She was raised by her grandfather following her parents’ deaths, and now that he’s passed, she’s going to live with her Great-Aunt Ruth in her mansion. At her new school, Jade joins a group of friends who call themselves The Misfits, but she’s also taken with handsome rugby captain Brad Phillips. Her life gets even more complicated after she finds a scarab locket and a photo of a young man from 1884—William M. Montgomery II, who has beautiful eyes. His ghost appears to her, and Jade attempts to balance her budding romance with Brad with her growing feelings for Will. The locket, which could hold the key to Will’s experience of the afterlife, becomes the focus of Jade’s attention. This series opener, which was originally self-published in 2023, contains rich descriptions of old buildings, and the inclusion of 1980s clothing and music helps ground readers in the setting. Jade’s close friend Aubrey Jackson is compelling: loyal and outspoken, with admirable self-confidence. Unfortunately, the many plot threads weigh the story down, often making it feel dense and excessively long, before it reaches a rushed, cliffhanger ending that’s an unsatisfying, anticlimactic let-down. Major characters read white.

Glimmers of intrigue are drowned in a lengthy story with a disappointing ending.