Book Review: Watch Over Me

WATCH OVER ME | Nina LaCour
09.15.2020 | Dutton
Rating: 4/5 stars

Mila has recently graduated from high school and aged out of the foster care system. She is used to being alone. Perhaps that’s what drew her to accepting a new opportunity. She’ll be living in a remote place, among the flowers and the fog and the crash of waves. She won’t be alone. She’ll be working as a teacher on the farm she’ll also call home. Mila sees this as her chance for a new start with a new home, a real home. She doesn’t know about the ghosts…yet. The farm is a refuge haunted by the traumas of its young residents who have come to escape. Eager to start anew, but unable to shake the past, Mila starts to worry if she has made the right decision.

WATCH OVER ME is an exceptional YA novel about a young woman trying to find her place in the world after experiencing a traumatic childhood. There is a unique paranormal aspect to this story that immediately adds intrigue and makes it stand out in the genre. 

The main character of Mila is one the reader is instantly able to bond with in the process of getting to know her background and watching her take on her new life at the farm. Mila embodies a variety of emotions that shine through when interacting with other characters or reliving her past. Getting to know Mila was fascinating. She’s a character who has a lot to unpack and takes a while to reveal all of herself to the reader. I love that LaCour wrote Mila in a way that I felt getting to know her in real life would unfold. She’s guarded and fragile, but also loving and hopeful. Truly a wonderful main character!

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I first picked up WATCH OVER ME, but the plot was so much more than I could have ever imagined. It’s a book that begs to be experienced. I loved the use of ghosts as a representation of the past and not a scare tactic. The trauma is real and heartbreaking, but the story is filled with an underlying sense of hope. This is a poignant and heartfelt story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

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