But at the same time, that's in large part what kept me interested in the story.It’s been almost a year since 16-year-old Olivia’s first love, Stern, was murdered and Olivia’s schizophrenic mother confessed to the crime. And come to think of it, that's the impression I got of most of the characters. I just couldn't tell if he truly cared about Olivia or if he was just playing her.

The character that puzzled me the most to an extent was Austin. Though he's only truly alive for the first chapter of the book, I feel like I really got to know him and understand who he was, if only through all of Olivia's memories of him. I could see her pain in the way she talked and acted, especially when Stern's ghost was around. That and her heartbreak and grief which I could just feel while I was reading. But that's what made Olivia such an interesting character. Early on, you find out that her mother is schizophrenic and as much as I wanted to believe that Olivia wasn't on the path to becoming her mother, there were moments where I couldn't help it.

I really enjoyed reading this story from Olivia's perspective and learning about her in the way that I did. At the end of the day, the story in Notes from Ghost Town moved me and made me think a lot more than I thought it would. And it even felt like breaking a little every time someone dismissed Olivia, thinking she was on her way to becoming like her mother. It also broke a little every time I thought about someone as young and with as much potential as Stern having his life ended so early. Because my heart broke a little every time I read about Olivia's grief over losing Stern, over losing her mother. Because there was heartbreak in this book as well. But my heart was also going out to Olivia. The whole time I was reading, I just wanted to know what had really happened on the night that Stern was killed. In this book, Kate Ellison had just the right mix of ghost, heartbreak and mystery. And that's probably a good thing, because Notes from Ghost Town ended up having a lot of what I like in a story. Though I had read the synopsis and it had really caught my attention, the story I read was not what I thought it would be. Notes from Ghost Town was different from what I expected.

Notes from ghost town by kate ellison