Bookinistas: TIGHTER

In the copy of the ARC Adele signed for us, she wrote "Hold on..." Best advice we ever got before diving in.

What the back cover has to say: When 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead.

What Lila has to say:
TIGHTER is the real deal, you guys. The cover is fabulously creepy, the characters are perfectly flawed, the setting is beautifully drawn and the plot is full of psychological, thrilling, terrifying, can't-turn-the-pages-fast-enough goodness. I had a hard time sleeping while reading about Jamie and the cast of characters in her crazy, mixed up world.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was trying to distinguish fantasy versus reality. Jamie, the main character, abuses pain killers and her world is fuzzy. Our eyes are Jamie's eyes, so you're right there with her, trying to squint through the fog. This is my first YA experience with an unreliable narrator and it was absolutely fascinating.

And then there's the creep factor. I devoured the book during a weekend away and was staying with a friend in a very old house. Needless to say, I didn't do a whole lot of sleeping. The plot, which is an update of the classic The Turn of the Screw (which I'm ashamed to say, I have not read), has some fantastic twists and turns that keep you guessing right up until the bitter end. And oh, what an end. It's seriously mind blowing.

Adele is unbelievably talented. I love how you can read one of her books, say THE JULIAN GAME, which we loved, and pick up another and have both be so incredibly different and unique and compelling and rich. They're the kind of books you finish and wonder if you'll ever get to that place as a writer. We tried to be jealous, but  Adele is too cool to hate, so we settled on being inspired. TIGHTER is the kind of book that makes you want to grow and develop as a writer.

Think we're biased? Go read the starred Kirkus review. Yeah. That's right. Even the scary reviewers at Kirkus loved this book. GO BUY IT NOW.

Check out what the other Bookinistas are up to this week!

Elana Johnson  turns you on to Divergent

Christine Fonseca  gets giddy about Moonglass – with giveaway

Shannon Messenger is mesmerized by Imaginary Girls – with giveaway

Kirsten Hubbard has double the love for Rival and Moonglass

Carolina Valdez Miller  vaunts Divergent – with giveaway

Megan Miranda devours Bad Taste in Boys

Bethany Wiggins and Shana Silver share their passion for Possession

Gretchen McNeil rocks out with The Anti-Prom

Carrie Harris reads along Blood Red Road

Stasia Ward Kehoe  shines a spotlight on Dramarama

Myra McEntire announces the Bookanistas Give Back Run For Your Life contest winners!