Ghost Flower [Paperback]

I read Michele Jaffe's last book Rosebush and really enjoyed it so I was very excited to read her latest book, Ghost Flower.
Eve Brightman is desperate and can't say no when Bain and Bridgette off her $100,000 to impersonate their cousin who disappeared on the night that her best friend Elizabeth was found dead. The twins have it all planned out so Eve thinks that nothing can go wrong but she really has no idea what she is getting herself into. Eve looks exactly like Aurora and the Silverton family accept her return but Eve is soon in much deeper than she expected to be. Everyone seems to have their own secrets about Aurora and nobody will reveal what really happened on the night of her disappearance. Aurora and Elizabeth apparently left a party together so how did one girl end up dead and the other missing?
Eve is totally freaked out when she hears strange whisperings outside of her bedroom door at night and receives phone calls from Elizabeth; how can she be contacting her when she is dead and what is she trying to warn her about?
Michele Jaffe has written another superb mystery. I was completely drawn into the story and we see everything through Eve's eyes so we experience the twists and turns as she does. Jaffe creates suspense from the very beginning, will Eve get caught out, why is everyone hiding something, who killed Elizabeth and what will their reaction be to Aurora's return?
I highly recommend Michele Jaffe's books, just be prepared that you won't be able to put them down.

I read Ghost Flower by Michele Jaffe at the perfect time. I had just finished Michele Jaffe's previous book, Rosebush, and was I thinking to myself how much I love psychological thrillers. And lo and behold, I see Ghost Flower right in front of me. And while Ghost Flower can be a bit confusing at times, I found myself really gripped by Jaffe's style of writing, the main character and the mystery at the heart of this novel.

Ghost Flower felt like a very different YA read to me. Something about the tone of the novel and the subtle ways in which creepiness and uneasiness is added to the narrative made for a fascinating read. And it really worked for me. I was left so confused and wildly guessing at the different paths this book took.

Ghost Flower begins with our main character, Eve, a waitress in Arizona who keeps to herself after the recent death of her mother. When two wealthy siblings, Bain and Brigitte, approach Eve with an insane offer, Eve has little reason not to carry on for a little while. What Bain and Brigitte propose should be fairly straightforward - they would like Eve to impersonate their cousin, Aurora, who disappeared three years ago, and to whom Eve shares an uncanny resemblence, until 'Aurora's' 18th birthday when she comes into her inheritance. When this happens, the money goes to Bain and Brigitte and Eve is paid a large amount of money and is free to carry on with her previous life.

But things really aren't that simple. And as Eve carries on in the guise of Aurora, very strange things begin to happen. Doing a bit of investigative work uncovers that the night Aurora fled from her life and her family is also the night of Aurora's best friend's apparent suicide. Eve-as-Aurora begins to be haunted by the ghost of Aurora's best friend, and Eve-as-Aurora begins to question her own identity and history and also for her own safety.

I really loved the creepiness and unease of the second half of this book. Everything begins to come together in a way that doesn't quite make sense and everything feels a little dark and eerie almost at once because the build-up is so subtly and easily done. This makes for a really interesting and unsettling book, one that I very much enjoyed.

Eve Brightman has been in and out of foster-families ever since she lost her mother. She is tough and knows how to look after herself, but it isn't easy. Living in a cheap hotel and working in a Starbucks for little money and under a creepy manager, her prospects are bleak.
When she is approached by Bain and Bridgette, two rich and glamorous looking siblings, with an offer that sounds both too good to be true and dubious her first instinct is to ignore it. But when her boss subsequently tries to assault her and she has to flee she reconsiders. The offer of $100.000 to impersonate somebody she apparently resembles closely for a little while, suddenly seems impossible to pass on.
During the next few weeks Bain and Bridgette tell Eve everything she needs to know about their cousin Aurora. Aurora disappeared three years ago but is supposed to come into a huge inheritance on her 18th birthday, which is only a few months away. The plan is to have Eve convince The Family that she is the missing Aurora returned home until she receives her money. After she passes the money on to the two siblings they will give her the promised share and she, and therefore Aurora, can disappear again.
In principle the plan is simple enough, but Eve/Aurora soon discovers that in practice it is a lot more complicated. It soon becomes clear that Bain and Bridgette didn't give her all the information about Aurora she needs. They also didn't tell her that on the night Aurora disappeared Liza, Aurora's best friend, died. Although the death has been ruled a suicide, the police still have questions about what exactly happened; questions they would like the newly returned Aurora to answer. While feigning amnesia helps Eve/Aurora to cover most holes in her story, she does get curious about what exactly is going on herself. And when she starts receiving messages from what appears to be Liza's ghost, messages that seem to imply that her death was not self-inflicted and that Aurora may now be in danger, Eve/Aurora knows that she either has to flee or find out what happened three years ago.
Not knowing whom to trust and unable to tell anybody the truth about what is going on, Eve/Aurora is completely on her own in a situation that may well end up killing her.

This was a fun psychological thriller. The Eve/Aurora storyline was interesting and compelling. Flashbacks and dream-sequences give tiny hints at what may be going on but leave the reader with enough questions to eagerly turn the pages in order to discover how everything fits together.
The hints at ghostly and supernatural occurrences give the story an extra edge, especially since Eve/Aurora is as sceptical about such phenomena as the reader is.
Eve/Aurora is a well-rounded character. She is neither to good nor to bad. While she is looking out for herself, she can't help caring about others, even if that means risking her own safety. The other main characters in the book are multi-facetted as well which both makes the story more realistic and gives it an extra edge. The contrast between down-to-earth Eve and Aurora's rich and self-absorbed family is fascinating, as is the fact that nobody is exactly who or what they appear to be.
The writing in this book is smooth and the images used are descriptive, adding a richness and literary quality to this story.
My only, minor, issue with this book is that the twist at the end of the story didn't come as a surprise to me. But then again, I'm not a young adult, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that.
Overall though I have to say that this book was a lovely find by an author I've never read anything by before. And any day that happens is a good day.