About the Book- White Smoke
The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!
Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.
The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.
But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?
As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.
“Yusef, ‘I have anxiety’ is a full and complete statement. I don’t have to explain the what and why to you!”
Quote from White Smoke
Our Review of White Smoke
Holly Golly !! I hated this book. There! I said it. Hang me if you dare but I will not bow down. 😝 Seriously I thought this book was going to be amazing because it was all over the place. Every bookshelf was boasting about this book. Somehow from the very beginning, the book was rubbing me the wrong way. I had this book on audio and now I think maybe that may have been not a very genius decision of me after all.
There are two major reasons, why I didn’t like the book.
A) The audiobook. The whole audiobook felt like some kind of overly dramatised narration of the book with CREeeeeeAK, THUMP THUMP popping in between narration like reciting some kind of nursery rhymes.
B) The female character. This is one of those books which for me was ruined because I hated the central character with every cell of my body (wait !! I think that sounded weird?? 🧐) So naturally everything she did and said just was an itch that never stopped. ( I mean, this is a character that ran leaving a young child alone at a haunted house …. Oops sorry if that was a spoiler… but I guess you can see why I am not a fan of her).
But yes I understand, a character is not the whole book. But somehow the combination of a character that I couldn’t understand and relate to along with an uninspiring audio narration just completely ruined the book for me. I will agree that there is a plot to the book. There is a major twist too. Perhaps it is because of this twist at the end that I still feel that the book has potential and is not entirely that bad.
The book only gets interesting after it comes a long way from revolving around the central character and all of her annoyance … I mean charm 🤪. It is just setting the plate down for quite a while and the actual dinner takes time to be properly served
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that the book has potential but for me, it didn’t work. I had a tough time with it because of my grudge with the central character and then the audiobook that was so so so …kiddish? It didn’t feel exactly “spooky” well if you want to read something spooky but don’t want to be scared then yeah sure, go for the audiobook.
Squirrel Rating
Book Recommendation
1. The drowning Kind
2. Lakesedge
3. The Dead and the dark
