#bookreview Cemetery Songs by Julie Gilbert

 


Cemetery Songs
by Julie Gilbert
Publication date: December 15th 2020
Genres: Young Adult


Blurb

Poignant and uplifting, Cemetery Songs is a compelling YA about a girl, a ghost, and the graveyard that sends them both on a journey of self-acceptance.

When Polly Stone’s birthmother dies, she feels lost and adrift. How do you mourn someone you never knew? Even the dead, whose final thoughts Polly can hear, offer no advice.

Instead Polly fails her classes, alienates her friends, gets fired from her summer job, and accidentally sets fire to the high school. At a loss, Polly’s parents ground her and insist she volunteer at the local archives.

The dusty boxes are boring, but Polly is intrigued by her assignment: mapping an abandoned Black settlement on the edge of town. At the very least, it gives her time to examine her confused feelings for Billy Meyer, a former classmate who is also blackmailing her.

Amid weedy tombstones, Polly and Billy encounter the charming ghost of Harrison Card, who died in 1924. Sensing there’s more to the story than Harrison can recall, the unlikely trio investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death.

The discoveries are unnerving, especially since the ugly racist history reflects some of Polly’s own experiences as a biracial teenager. Past and present collide when Polly’s attempts to help Harrison go tragically wrong. As Polly grapples with the consequences of her actions, she must decide if she is brave enough to heed the wisdom of the dead.


Review:

⭐⭐⭐.5



Apollonia (Polly) Stone is a 17 year old high school jr, an adopted child, grounded until the summer is over, lifeguard and works in the archives, oh yeah she is also a Death Singer.

Death singers hear the last thoughts or words a person has before they die. Someone knows this and is blackmailing her because they have more then one secret that she doesn't want getting out.

It is doing work mapping at an old graveyard that she stumbles upon a ghost who not only does she hear sing their last thoughts but who can hear her too.

Cemetery Songs isn't just a young adult novel about a girl who hears the dead it deals with race, adoption and working through loss and abandonment. 

Over all I liked this story, there are a few issues for myself personally. *spoiler* Falling for the person who is blackmailing you, being it. But then again Polly hasn't been in the right head space for sometime and isn't making all the best decisions in life.

Would I read anything else by Julie Gilbert, yes. I am not opposed to it. This was well written and clearly researched. With additional reading listed at the back of the book. 

The cover is stunning.


Thank you Xpresso Tours for giving me a copy for review. 


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