Ghosted is a story that had me, at times, wondering what I was reading. Part romance, part thriller, Emily Barr has created a most unusual story.
We follow two teens, Joe and Ariel, who meet one day and get on very well. At this stage I wondered if it was going to be a relatively straightforward romance, but it quickly becomes something very different. Ariel tells her friend Izzy about this amazing boy she’s met, only to learn that the number he gave her doesn’t work. None of the things he told her seem to be true, and she thinks she’s been ghosted.
Ariel is coping with a lot of potential trauma. The one year anniversary of her mother’s death is approaching, her sister is pregnant and they have been abandoned by their father. Her not being fully in control of herself would be understandable, but the reality of her situation is far stranger.
What Ariel soon realises is that while she is alive in 2019, Joe lives in 1999. Joe went missing on the eve of his school trip to France and nobody knows what happened to him. While Ariel lives her life, Joe is destined to relive the same day over and over again.
Naturally, Ariel takes it upon herself to investigate. She falls in love with the idea of Joe and wants to restore peace to his family. There’s a lot of coincidences to this story, but they don’t take away too much from what is played out in front of us.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley and can only thank the publishers and the author for creating something so unusual.