Dare Chase doesn't believe in ghosts, until she finds herself at Arrington Estate.
30 years ago Atheleen Bell drowned in the lake at Arrington and her spirit is said to haunt it to this day. Dare Chase is interested in the circumstances of Atheleen's death and launches a new podcast in tandem with taking an internship with the new owner of the property. Dare wants to prove the death was no paranormal, that there is a reasonable explanation for what happened 30 years ago.
Armed with her ghost hunting equipment, insulin pump supplies, and service dog Waffles, Dare makes her way to the estate for her summer vacation. Once at the estate, she meets Quinn, the daughter of the home's newest owner, who is helping turn the property in a museum. Dare, Quinn and Holly, who is also volunteering, become quick friends. But when Quinn starts describing weird encounters and feelings she has within the house, Dare starts to set up her equipment.
As the weeks pass, the house seems to be falling into more and more disrepair, with water leaking from various places and words showing up on the wall of Quinn's bedroom. Even in their fear, Quinn and Dare start to grow close. Quinn determined to help Dare by proving it is ghosts, while Dare tries to find a reasonable explanation. When Quinn and Holly start finding themselves drawn to the lake that took Atheleen's life and they find more and more information about the other families that lived there, Dare starts to wonder if there is a spirit on the property and if Quinn is it's next target.
This book was quite the thriller, the perfect read to finish on Halloween. The spooky scenes are written great, with details about what the girls are seeing that sort of stick out in your brain (or in my case would scare the crap out of me in a movie). I liked the history involved within in the story an the plot twists that come in the last third of the book. This was a really good read and I'm excited to have found it on a list of books with Diabetic characters.
Sarah Marsh is also living with Type 1 Diabetes and I love how flawlessly it was written within the text. Dare checks her sugars, administers insulin and takes signs from her dog with ease. Though she fears what the others at the estate will think about her disease, they take it in stride, with Quinn determined to help Dare if needed. Waffles was also a great addition to the story, which brought some rep for service dogs who work with diabetics. As a not-so-great diabetic at times, I did find myself giggling at times when Dare would say her sugars were 'too high', but alas she has more control than I does. One of the other parts I really enjoyed is how Marsh showed how things like stress and anxiety can impact your blood sugar levels. Multiple times where Dare is scared, nervous or just running on adrenaline her sugars will spike and that is just so real. I also found myself highlighting a lot of quotes from the book where I felt like it really described how I feel some times about being diabetic.
Honestly, the Diabetes rep in this book is great and I'm excited to look into more of Sarah Marsh's books to see if there is some representation in those books as well.
This book was a solid 4/5 for me.
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