Book Review: Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington +GIVEAWAY

Title: Liv, Forever
Author: Amy Talkington

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints.

Everything she could want.

Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride.

But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.

I like mysteries and I like ghost stories, so having them combined into one book was a dream come true so I was super excited to read this book.  As always when I'm that excited to read a book I'm worried it won't hold up.  Thankfully it did.  There was some things I wasn't thrilled with, but the mystery and ghost aspect of the book were great.  

The biggest issue I usually have with mysteries is being able to figure out the "who done-it" part too easily.  I didn't have that issue with this book.  Yes I had guesses, but I didn't have the whole story figured out before the end and that was great.  There were definitely enough twists and turns to keep me paying attention and wondering throughout the whole book.  Even at the very end when the big reveal is over I was hit with another question - another unknown that I didn't see coming! I liked that.  Now the ghost part - I liked that too.  I liked how they were described and the abilities there were and were not given.  Sometimes ghosts are able to whatever they want when they want.  That isn't the case in this book, and I think that added to the tension of the story.  If Liv could do whatever she wanted much tension in the story would've been gone. What I really liked was the uniqueness of each ghost.  They weren't all this lump of ghosts.  Instead each one had her own story.  Actually each was given a chapter in the book to tell her story in her own words.  I really liked that because it made these ghosts into real people.  Without those chapters I don't think I wouldn't cared about them much at all.  

Now I did have a few things that bugged me.  I found the romance between Liv and Malcolm really really fast.  I don't buy into relationships happening that fast, so I had to set that aside and focus on the mystery. And I would've liked to have know a whole lot more about Liv's background.  You know she was bounced around from foster home to foster home before being adopted, but I would've liked to know more.  I think that would've built her character up and made me care about her even more.  Were these major distractions to me?  Not completely. More the fast romance than anything.  But thankfully the mystery was strong enough for me to let these things go.

Over all I really liked the book and if there happens to be a sequel (it's kind of left open for one) I would definitely pick it up.  So if you like mysteries and you like ghosts - give it a try! I'm glad I did.  

Be sure to check out the guest post from Amy Talkington that went up last week.  

She talks about whether she believes in ghosts or not! 

You'll find it HERE!

Now the GIVEAWAY.
I somehow got two copies of the book, so I'm passing one along to one of you.  
Enter using the Rafflecopter.  
Must be a US resident and at least 13.

a Rafflecopter giveaway