Leigh Howard and the Ghosts of Simmons-Pierce Manor

Product Information

We haven’t done any events yet, so this would be the first kind with a local author,” she said. “We’re hoping for the end of July.” It was a good story and dealt with heavy topics in a real way without being inappropriate for the intended age. There is some mild language, in case that bothers anyone with young listening ears (I substituted some words).

This novel appeals to both YA and Adult audiences. The main character, Leigh Howard, has lost her parents to a brutal murder. She has had difficulty dealing with the loss, even attempting suicide at one point. Now, Leigh has been placed with a wealthy family of relatives that she doesn’t know and is determined to solve her parents’ murder. To complicate her life – she discovers that she is also living with two ghosts! There are twists and turns in this light-hearted mystery and Leigh is a very likable character. Ok this is going to be a very, very unpopular opinion. Like everyone else, I heard about this book via Tik Tok. I was very excited to support a debuting author and so, so badly wanted to like this book. I had to show support as a fellow book lover and avid reader, I loved the traction and the love the book community, as well as the world was showing Shawn. I enjoyed seeing Leigh’s growth throughout the story as well as her internal dialogue shift from the initial thoughts she had upon arriving at the manor.

I saw this book on Tiktok as many others have, I even sent it to my own book club and friends to read (before reading) because come on the story of Shawn was touching and heart warming. Leigh's narration and thought process read like an older man guessing how 16 year old girls think and act, and it doesn't feel convincing or natural. The suicide trope was thrown around loosely, which I did not appreciate, it was made fun of and often held against the MC to make her feel bad. So first of all, congrats to Mr. Warner on his debut novel and getting published. That is no easy task, and only a few ever complete it. That being said, here’s my honest opinion. Most issues could be solved with better editing, the rest could be solved by aging the MC up a mere few years.

The bad: I was once told by a mentor, writing a story is like flying a plane. You need a great takeoff, a smooth flight to the destination, and a safe and smooth ending that satisfies. This book did the first two, but the plane came out of the sky. The reason for my two stars is quite simple: 1) the dialogue is “cheesy” to the point of being unrealistic. A 16 year old gets chewed out by someone who’s not a parent and she…admits her wrong and accepts her punishment??? Since when!? It also felt like a Scooby Doo episode where the bad guy, having the characters dead to rights, pauses to dialogue about their plan, conveniently giving the characters a chance to regroup and thwart the plan. 2) given the Scooby Doo trope, the characters could have easily avoided the whole ending had the multi-million dollar business tycoon asked himself “does this situation make logical sense?” My comment is about where the murder “mystery” leads, this was my least favourite part, it was more complicated than the rest of the book and not as interesting, it didn’t fit with the book vibe in my opinion.I love supporting smaller and indie authors. I promise, I do. Hopefully, I’ll be able to amend this review if the author edits and reworks his book to tighten and clean things up. Both were essential to Leigh’s well-being and growth besides helping her get to the bottom of it all. Like most other people, I found this through tiktok. I also learned from videos that it was kid friendly, so I've been reading it aloud to my oldest (who is almost 10). For this reason it took me much longer to read than it would have, had I read it to myself. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown From first glance the cover was a little misleading, I see a woman with curves leaning over a bike - that was one of the biggest issues for me while reading this book. the main MC was 16 years old - but her age got lost in the writing, a lot of times I kept thinking she was older than she was, I think the author did not hit the thinking/characteristics of a 16 year old girl. More research on that would’ve been appreciated since that was his leading character.