Walk of the Spirits by Richie Tankersley Cusick

You guys know I hate saying this, but I really did not like this book. I actually bought Spirit Walk which contains both books in the series, Walk of the Spirits and Shadow Mirror. I trudged through Walk of the Spirits, and then made my way into the fourth chapter of Shadow Mirror before deciding that I was going to have to add it to my DNF list.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Walk of the Spirits follows Miranda Barnes who has just moved to St. Yvette, Louisiana after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. But since her and her mother moved back to her mom hometown, she's been plagued by screams and visions and scents that make no sense to her. When she has a chance reunion with her grandfather, who has a reputation of being crazy, Miranda learns that he is haunted by the same thing as she; either that, or she's as crazy as him. But as visions of a Civil War soldier and a rose-scented debutante become more clear, Miranda learns that she will not find peace until she helps them find peace. With the help of her new friends, Etienne, Parker, Gage, Roo, and Ashley, they discover the secrets of the past to help these spirits find peace at last.

So starting off, the speed of this book is extremely inconsistent. The first chapters drag on, and then it picks up and you think you're finally getting somewhere only to hit a brick wall again. This repeats for the entirety of the book.

The character relationship are also inconsistent. Miranda is positive that she wants nothing to do with these people. She will finish the class project their working on and then be done with them. She doesn't care that they believe her. And then all of a sudden, they're her best friends and she doesn't know what she'd do without them, and she no longer is thinking of the friends she lost during Katrina (not that they died, but that they were also displaced and moved elsewhere and apparently don't talk at all anymore even though there's this wonderful invention called a phone that allows you to communicate with people who are not in you immediate environment). I think the relationships are inconsistent because the speed of the book is inconsistent.

(Source: Giphy)

Also, I have a really hard time believing that five people would completely accept that Miranda can see ghosts. This is high school after all. I know that Parker doesn't fully believe her, but he goes along with it. If this had happened to me in high school and I told my 5 "friends" that I was seeing ghosts, I'm pretty sure I would have become the laughing stock of the school and would have had to have moved far away to recover.

Also, the class project that brings this motley crew together is a big deal in the beginning and a big deal in the end, but you forget about it in the middle while other unimportant (and one important) things are going on.

And then the thing that gets me the most is that you don't really know if the two ghosts find peace. Yes, the lock of hair is connected with the watch and it's supposed to symbolize that they have found peace, but there's no lightness in the air, no silhouettes of them walking off into the sunset, nothing to suggest that these ghosts that have been haunting Miranda for weeks now have actually found peace. If I'm being haunted, I want to make sure those som'bitches are actually gone.

(Source: Giphy)

And, I know this is tiny, but it bugs the hell out of me. It should be R-u-e, not R-o-o.

I tried my damnedest to get through Shadow Mirror, because there were some unanswered questions, but I'm pretty sure even Ryan Gosling cheering me on would not be enough for me to finish it.

(Source: Google Images)

If the book has any redeeming quality, it would be that it takes place in Louisiana. I love Louisiana and the history there. Sadly, those are the only kind words I have to say, and that, for me, is really hard to say.

Rating: 1/10
Series: Walk (2 books)
Author: Richie Tankersley Cusick
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal