whitneydaniell

by: Tiffany D. Jackson
published: Sept 14, 2021
genre: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller
384 Pages, E-Book from Cloud Library
GoodReads Link

Never in a million years did I think I would read a Tiffany D. Jackson, that I didn’t like but, this one didn’t do it for me. Coming off another horror book, The Stranger Upstairs, I thought this one would give me what I was missing from that book.

I. Characters

Marigold is reminiscent of, Rue, from Euphoria – if I was a betting woman, I would bet that Mari was loosely based on Rue. After overdosing in her old town, her family – mom, brother, step-father, and step-sister pick up and move to the Maplewood area of Cedarville (wherever that is).

*one thing to note* I don’t believe we ever get Marigold’s last name, nor the actual state in which Cedarville resides.

Mari, as she is affectionately called by her younger brother, Sam, is trying to regain her footing after having her world tossed upside down, moving away from everything and everyone that she knows, being dropped into this new, strange town, and carrying the weight of her past transgressions. Mari is having a hard time forgiving herself and, because she cannot move past her she is forced to relive it every day. Her anxiety is getting the better of her and her addiction is a shadow that is tightly stuck to her and following her. Marigold is addicted to weed and once, was addicted to Percocet pills.

Of course, Mari has many redeeming qualities. You just don’t get to see them until her worst nightmare has manifested in real life. For most of the book, she is self-centered, self-medicating, and self-deprecating. Moving to a new town, the only reason she makes a friend is because the “friend” smells like and has access to weed. The one friend who actively wants to be her friend, Yusef, she keeps pushing away because she doesn’t trust herself; again, no healing. Mari does speak about a “guru” that she was working with or talking to, but therapy is what she needs.

Speaking of Yusef (kind of), I wanted more of his story and why he is so complex. In some scenes, he is sweet, kind, and endearing with Mari, but then in other scenes, as you get further into the book, he is angry and distant, giving Mari the cold shoulder. His reaction to “weed” is odd, even with the backstory of the town. I don’t know, something rubbed me the wrong way about him, but I think it’s because I don’t understand him.

All the other characters in this book annoyed me — with the exception of Sammy and Piper, they’re children and innocent — but all the adults, trash.

II. The Story / Plot — **SPOILERS AHEAD**

The whole story lost me. I was on board with the haunting of the house on Maple Street; it was coming together there for a minute, but then the story fell off the tracks. First, for the majority of the “haunting,” Mari doesn’t tell anyone and believes that she is the only one who can see or hear what was going on. I wanted Mari to tell her mom or, at the very least, Sammy or Yusef. I wanted her to set up her computer and record her bedroom after all the incidents. It takes way too long for her to pull someone else in on the haunting—or rather, for her to be pulled in.

Secondly, I get that she is an addict and she was worried that if she told the truth, her mother may believe that she was on drugs but, this is where you use the drug tests to your advantage. You’re clean so, volunteer to take a test to prove that you’re not high and tell your mother what is going on! You’re telling Tamara who is in California and cannot help you, you need to tell your mom and step-father, Alec because they’re there and they can help you!

Third, Mari did all the research about the town, “following the money,” but it didn’t feel fully fleshed out and there was no resolution. So they let ‘The Hag’ run people out of this one single home, then let the townspeople burn down homes that are already burnt and abandoned, just to leave the homes burnt and abandoned? If the people who are running this whole scheme (and not one that Todd set up) have all this money, why don’t we see them rebuilding and pushing people out of the neighborhood? Are they waiting for the whole town to be deserted? I don’t understand. I feel like the plot of this book should have been similar to When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole.

Lastly, were “Hag” and Jon Jon real people?! Throughout the entire book, the writing gives off a vibe that they’re supernatural beings, sneaking around unseen, emitting a horrid smell, appearing and then disappearing. However, in reality, they are indeed real! I didn’t like that. The hallucinations, the cold, the dreams – it all seemed supernatural and I enjoyed that vibe. Discovering that they’re real people with limbs, blood, and teeth was strange.

III. The Writing

I love Tiffany D. Jackson’s writing. She writes in a way that you can picture everything vividly. I will never have anything bad to say about her writing.

IV. My Final Thoughts

Again, not my favorite of her books but not because of the writing, mainly because of the lack of character development and the overall story arc that I think, could have been better.

Every hit isn’t a homerun.