About the Book

Being a ParaScience freshman is a nightmare come true

Hailey’s dreams have always been, well...vivid. As in monsters from her nightmares follow her into her waking life vivid. When her big sister goes missing, eighteen-year-old Hailey finds the only thing keeping her safe from a murderous 3,000-year old beast is an equally terrifying creature who has fallen “madly” in love with her. Competing to win her affection, the Dream Creature, Asher, lures her to the one place that offers safety—a ParaScience university in Alaska he calls home. There, she studies the science of the supernatural and must learn to live with a roommate from Hell, survive a tunneling earworm, extract a carnivorous splinter, evade the campus poltergeists, and hope the only creature who can save her from an evil immortal doesn’t decide to kill her himself.

Review

Eerie is a paranormal thriller/romance at its core, but it brings in unique ideas not always delved into with these kind of novels. Eerie is about a girl, Hailey and her struggle growing up after losing both her parents in a fire. She’s a black sheep in school, followed by false rumors from grade school up to her senior year of high school. She’s the quintessential “other” teenage girl, “unique” and wily, but not all that different in reality. She’s the every-girl put into a mysteriously paranormal position.

She has an obsessed guardian, Asher, whose existence is not human in nature. This is where an interesting take on the paranormal romance is brought in, as Asher himself is an interdimensional being, one whose order is different from humanity. He yearns for existence in one realm but is stuck existing in two. In a way he is much like a guardian angel, and in other ways he comes off as demonic and spiteful. This is not a cut and dry, black and white sort of scenario; everything exists in the grey area. This creative take on the paranormal genre is perfect for readers who enjoy delving into a new fictional mythos and discovering along with Hailey what’s really in store for her.

As it goes with these types of novels, there is an inner network of beings in on the secret and beings outside the secret, Hailey is one of the latter. And when her sister goes missing a couple chapters in, you’ll find yourself desperate for answers. This is a conspiracy of epic proportions going behind the scenes of modern Pittsburgh.

This book is very much filled with the typical paranormal tropes, sometimes to a disappointing extent, but all and all it is a good read for someone whose interest lies in the unknown and magical. There are lies and secrets abound, which keep the reader satisfied and wishing for more. It’s well written and to the point, and it can be surprisingly insightful and genuine in the relationship of an obsessed person and a person just trying to live their life without falling victim to the catastrophes surrounding them.

Reviewed by Amy Richardson