The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington

Title: The Dead and Buried
Author: Kim Harrington
Publisher: Scholastic Point
Date Published: January 1, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

A haunted house, a buried mystery, and a very angry ghost make this one unforgettable thriller.

Jade loves the house she’s just moved into with her family. She doesn’t even mind being the new girl at the high school: It’s a fresh start, and there’s that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade’s little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade’s jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn’t.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who’s seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade’s school — until her untimely death last year. It’s up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer?

There is no way I can write a proper review for this so instead, I’ll piece together a mini something.

I read Clarity just a bit before I read The Dead and the Buried, while I liked it I wasn’t that impressed. The Dead and the Buried on the other hand, *nods head*, blew my mind.
Anyways, I don’t usually do paranormal if it involves ghosts, unless of course if the whole ghost thing has a realistic approach. Which this book did.

I picked up this book (NOT BECAUSE OF THE COVER.. a miracle, I know) because of the synopsis. I love ghost mysteries and when I saw this, there was no way I could NOT read it.

I haven’t been that big on 5′s lately but I think this one deserved it.

Like I mentioned, this was a ghost mystery and the mystery element to it is great. Even when we find the murderer, it’s not a surprise but not someone you would have guessed easily and it isn’t random like it so happens in so many other mysteries.
All the characters are decent and I don’t hate any of them, which doesn’t always happen, sometimes the characters are too annoying or they are too flat, and as we can see there are more sides to the characters.

Jade never annoys me. She makes good choices and I love how much she loves her half-brother. I initially hated her step-mother but I realized why she was the way she was. Her step-mother doesn’t have any evil reasons behind treating Jade the way she does, it’s a misunderstanding between the two, which isn’t actually stupid, it makes sense and both have the right to feel the way they do.

Her relationship with her father is also great, her father loves her but likes most parents, he isn’t sure about the right thing to say to her. I also love how neither of them are over the death of her mother (okay that makes me sound evil, but in so many cases you have happy fathers, who forget about the existence of their first wife or for some reason the first wife is evil). Neither of them want to bring her up, but if they did, it would solve a lot of their problems.

Oo and Donovan is soo awesome. I am not going to say anything about him maybe except a quote? (okay its more like a paragraph)

“I spent months in this … limbo. I was alive, technically, but only going through the motions. Kayla had done these awful things and suffered a terrible end. I felt all this guilt. And everyone in school, aside from a couple friends, turned their backs on me. I think I just … lost faith in humankind.” He took another deep breath. “But then you came along. You woke me up. Made me see the good in the world again. You saved me, Jade.”

This book is awesome and I recommend it to everyone.