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From the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us—and the ones we carry inside. The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn’t fit among them. For Violet Hart—whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street—very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet’s group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn’t enough for Violet’s best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay. That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill—and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she’s really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night. And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all.
This story isn't the greatest. I also wish the friends were better.
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“Like the system that keeps girls so worried about their appearances that they don’t use their brain power to take over the world.” I have never read The Yellow Wallpaper so I had no idea that was a factor in this story. I enjoyed this one! I loved the chronic illness rep, and I think we should see it more in books, especially in MG and YA. I enjoyed the characters in this, I just wanted Violet to get the answers she was looking for. I loved how Will and her family supported Violet in finding out what was going on with her, and how they fought for her to get answers. Will was a great character, and I loved his friendship with Violet. I thought the horror in this could have been more. I had a gothic undertone, but I still think it could have packed more of a punch.