Review: The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Title: The Unquiet
Author: Jeannine Garsee
Source: NetGalley ARC
Genre: Young Adult
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Caution: May contain spoilers

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?
~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

My expectations were a bit different than what I was served. This is not a bad thing! With as many books I look into on Goodreads, sometimes I forget exactly what a book will be about. All I remembered was the first part of the synopsis, the bipolar disorder and her grandmother and Ohio. The rest seemed to escape my memory when I began to read this. So I suppose it was a nice surprise, the whole ghost story.

The development of Rinn is, at first, a bit… rocky? However, the ghost aspect brings out more about her--draws you to her and draws you into the story more. When she divulges her past to Nate, her love interest, my first thought was, “Really? So soon?” And so straightforward. If I were him, I probably would have run. Not that I would have a problem with her past if she were someone I knew, it was just WAY too soon to admit it. As the plot progressed along, I became absorbed. Rinn’s battle of trying to appear sane while figuring out what was happening kept me on the edge of my seat.

The best part? At one point, Nate asks her if she’s listening to Pink Floyd, but she tells him it’s David Gilmour. In real life, my brother loves them. I’ve heard plenty of them both. When an author brings up something relatively obscure (or at least not as well known by the current generation), I have to give them kudos. And a high five. The song “There’s No Way Out Of Here” was quite pertinent in setting the scene.

The Unquiet was a wild and creepy and sometimes scary ride. Jeannine Garsee gracefully spun this tale, constructing the plot in a way that kept you on your toes. In the end, I didn’t mind the quickened relationship. I went over it in my head and it felt more like crushing at first than insta-love, which is realistic. Although insta-love type situations are overdone, this one is not too bad. All in all, there was a lot to this story that made it appealing. Like a creepy story with a little bit of romance? This is it.

My Rating:

Very Good: Stay up late