My disappointment with this one hurts. I was so excited for it until the repetitive over-musing inner monologues. There was no need for filler, the story and writing had so much potential! Sadness. 

 

Energy: Chatty. Enthusiastic. Incredulous. 

 

Too much of the main character not communicating with their spouse, while complaining about not communicating with their spouse. Repetitive inner monologue hyper-focused on a personal scare (I swear, something intriguing would be happening in the background and the main character would be standing in the way like “Do I tell him now? Now? How about now? Now? You know what, do I even want to tell him?”). 

 

🐕 Howls: Super predictable, spotlighting and over-hinting of plot direction. Rushed ending (felt like the author just wanted this all to be over). 

 

The nostalgic-yet-modern road trip energy. Captured the tension and disappointment of travelling with dependents. Relatable family dynamics—some bickering, some wandering off, nothing too picture-perfect, but moments of joy. Horror-tinged with well-balanced “such is life” humour. 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set on the road in Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida

Perspective: A divorce lawyer traveling to a famous Florida amusement park in a minivan with their spouse and three kids aged 16, 11, and 7. 

Timeline: Current (2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Observing happenings, along for the ride. General unease. Strange things happening in the background. Will expectations meet reality? What challenges will they face on the road trip? Are the happenings coincidence or supernatural? 

📖 Cred: Paranormal realism

 

Overstuffed minivan. Cornfields. Cicadas. Hot pavement. Litter. Wooded back roads. Barbeque. Honeysuckle Dreams. Humidity. $24 hot dogs. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Nausea, vomiting (descriptive, frequent; on page). Pregnancy. Sensory overload, panic attacks. Cancer (childhood, in remission; very brief recall). Divorce (cases described; brief). Fire/fire injury (building; deaths). Death of child (historic/past event; descriptive recall). 

 

Rep: American. Cis. Hetero. Pink and freckled skin tones.

 

📚 Format: Library Digital

 
Random thought: One small change could’ve saved this book for me

Imagine if readers were left guessing if the mom was sick from stress, food, or something supernatural. That final chapter stays as is, but is now a surprising twist - we find out she was pregnant all along (which goes along with her surprisingly naïve understanding of how pregnancies happen/math lol). And the baby eerily resembles that ghostly kid. Yes? No?