The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington - Ashley's Pre-Reading

*I received an eARC of this book from Scholastic on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

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Title: The Dead and Buried
Author: Kim Harrington
Year Published: 2013

Synopsis: A haunted house, a buried mystery, and a very angry ghost make this one unforgettable thriller.

Jade loves the house she's just moved into with her family. She doesn't even mind being the new girl at the high school: It's a fresh start, and there's that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade's little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade's jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn't.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who's seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade's school — until her untimely death last year. It's up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer?

Why?: I always enjoy a good ghost book, and this one sounds really interesting! Plus, there are so many mysteries - What happened to this ghost girl? Why is she haunting the house? What are the secrets Jade's new friends are hiding?

Expectations: I expect for nothing to be as it seems, especially with so many people having secrets. I'm also expecting a little bit of a Nancy Drew type mystery, where Jade has to follow a set of clues to find out "who did it." With the addition of an actual ghost, of course.  I am kind of expecting this to be a very "book fair" book though - short and sweet and pretty much to the point.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm kind of torn on this cover. While I think it fits with the whole ghost thing, since it looks like there's a dead girl on the front, I'm not sure that I would pick it up off of a shelf if I saw it in a store or library. There's really not much that jumps off the cover at me and catches my attention.


--Ashley