From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: The Uninvited by Cat Winters

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Blog Tour: The Uninvited by Cat Winters

Author: Cat Winters
Publisher: William Morrow
Date of publication: August 2015

Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s lifelong gift—or curse—remains. She sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death in the Great War of Ivy’s other brother, Billy.

Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for today, because they could be stricken by nightfall. She even enters into a relationship with the murdered German man’s brother, Daniel Schendel. But as her “uninvited guests” begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold.

The Uninvited had an interesting premise that made me want to read it. I was expecting more of a ghost story. While there are some paranormal elements, there wasn't enough to justify calling it a ghost story. I wanted to like the book, but in the end, I really didn't care for it. The story takes place during the Influenza outbreak in the early 1900s during WWI. Tensions were high and anything remotely unpatriotic sounding was met with swift punishment. People were dying on the battlefront as well as home from the flu outbreak. Ivy is recovering from her own bout with the flu when she finds out her father and brother killed a German man.

I struggled through the story because it felt like it kind of just meandered. The beginning half was really slow. I started questioning whether to continue with the book when Ivy makes the decision to give herself to Daniel to help make amends for her father and brother killing his brother. That was a WTF moment for me. Who does that? It just seemed out of character for a spinster recluse to make all of a sudden. The "romance" between Daniel and Ivy was unrealistic for me.

The book did pick up in the last quarter of the book. If you can stick with it for that long, you may end up liking the twist. For me, that particular twisted ending has been overdone and I felt kind of cheated. I think had the book focused more on the what was actually happening historically with the epidemic and the war, I might have like it a bit more.

About Cat Winters

Cat Winters’s debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was released to widespread critical acclaim. The novel has been named a finalist for the 2014 Morris Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013, and a Booklist 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. Winters lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Find out more about Cat at her website, and follow her ontumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Cat’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, August 4th: 100 Pages a Day … Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Thursday, August 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, August 7th: Bibliotica

Monday, August 10th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, August 12th: Jenn’s Booshelves

Thursday, August 13th: Bookshelf Fantasies