I am taking part in Horror Book a Month challenge with Ariel and though I read this book last year, it is a unique ghost story that is worth mentioning! I don’t recall reading any books about the foster care system recently and due to personal interest, I decided to give this one a go. Note though that if you have experience with the system, this will bring back memories and might be a very hard one to read. Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour may be a short book (under 200 pages) but it is packed with emotion. Take a look at the synopsis below and then dive into my thoughts.
Mila is used to being alone. Maybe that’s why she said yes to the opportunity: living in this remote place, among the flowers and the fog and the crash of waves far below.
But she hadn’t known about the ghosts.
Newly graduated from high school, Mila has aged out of the foster care system. So when she’s offered a job and a place to stay at a farm on an isolated part of the Northern California Coast, she immediately accepts. Maybe she will finally find a new home, a real home. The farm is a refuge, but also haunted by the past traumas its young residents have come to escape. And Mila’s own terrible memories are starting to rise to the surface.
Watch Over Me is another stunner from Printz Award-Winning author Nina LaCour, whose empathetic, lyrical prose is at the heart of this modern ghost story of resilience and rebirth.
Content Notes: Depiction of being left by parents, foster care system, domestic abuse, fire.
Thoughts on Watch Over Me
I don’t often read ghost stories but this was one of those books that popped up on my Instagram a lot in November and December so I put a hold at my library. Mila’s history and how she came to be in the foster care system is revealed through the book. There are many deep raw moments that give the reader a glimpse of what it is like to live with a foster family, the hopes of being accepted and adopted which don’t always materialize into reality. The scars that their own family inflicted on them before the kids entered the foster care system is another important aspect that is touched upon by the characters.
On Relationships
Mila is hired as an intern at a famous farm where the couple have a record of successfully fostering kids for decades. Working with Lee, a young boy who does not have anyone else his age in the house yet, this is the first time when Mila experiences a pure friendship and the need to protect someone else. She starts to see visions of her childhood and the life that she and her mom lived. She yearns for her grandparents that she was separated from and by giving Lee some snippets of her past, she is able to create a strong connection with him. She has something to look forward to everyday.
The other people on the farm – two other teachers, a few younger kids, some older high school age kids and the couple, Terry and Julia, are friendly and welcome her with open arms. She starts to fall into a routine with them and build a home. Everyone has a sad past in this story; most of those pasts are not revealed in details but glimpsed through comments. Relationships are built on unspoken understanding.
On the ghosts and what-ifs
There are ghosts on the farm. A number of them, actually. Some stay and some leave, just like the people. Watch Over Me is not a terrifying ghost story where the ghosts are there to scare you. The ghosts in this book are very much human but at the same time, they are ghosts – hanging on to the place for a particular reason. I loved how Nina LaCour utilized them in the narrative and as catalysts for the characters to grow.
Ultimately, what haunts us are our choices. The if-only scenarios where we could have done better, we could have been better people and thought through our decisions. Mila’s story is one that reveals the different layers of the decisions, the lies that we tell ourselves to hide from the truth but it continues to haunt us until we confront it. The similarities between ghosts and the pasts were paramount in my mind as I read this book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was comforting in its unique way and I felt that I learned something from it. If you are looking for a quick powerful novel, I would recommend picking up this one!
** Watch Over Me is now available in stores. Be sure to check your local library and support them. **
Amazon Print
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do you think you could explain the ending to me? im a bit lost!!😅
I can try but I will admit that it is a vague one and I don’t remember much of it anymore. It seems like everyone accepted Mia into the farm and she understands that everyone there is haunted by ghosts, from their past, and that they can work to live with them together. What did you think of it?