About Amy Hello, I'm Amy, an aspiring motorsports writer and former blogger. If you dig deeper enough, you find some very old blog posts, as this started as a book blog, but that's really where I got my start in writing: book reviews, hot book topics and as well as the odd personal essay. After leaving university, I left the book blog behind, but continued writing and going in the world of social media, writing film reviews and promoting queer cinema, but after a tragic event in my personal life, I quickly discovered Motorsports. What started as a love for Formula 1, while finally watching the Formula 1 film, Rush, and discovering Formula 1 TikTok, this love soon expanded to everything Formula E, IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, as well as F1 Academy. I soon found the itch to write come back, with the fast-moving news of motorsport, to the drama, the competition, and the journey of drivers trying to find a race seat. I found that it was the people and storie...
* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review *
Title: The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen
Author: Katherine Howe
Source: From publisher
Publisher: Rock The Boat
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary of The Appearance of Annie Sinderen from Goodreads:
It’s summertime in New York City, and aspiring filmmaker Wes Auckerman has just arrived to start his summer term at NYU. While shooting a séance at a psychic’s in the East Village, he meets a mysterious, intoxicatingly beautiful girl named Annie.
As they start spending time together, Wes finds himself falling for her, drawn to her rose-petal lips and her entrancing glow. There’s just something about her that he can’t put his finger on, something far away and otherworldly that compels him to fall even deeper. Annie’s from the city, and yet she seems just as out of place as Wes feels. Lost in the chaos of the busy city streets, she’s been searching for something—a missing ring. And now Annie is running out of time and needs Wes’s help. As they search together, Annie and Wes uncover secrets lurking around every corner, secrets that will reveal the truth of Annie’s dark past.
As they start spending time together, Wes finds himself falling for her, drawn to her rose-petal lips and her entrancing glow. There’s just something about her that he can’t put his finger on, something far away and otherworldly that compels him to fall even deeper. Annie’s from the city, and yet she seems just as out of place as Wes feels. Lost in the chaos of the busy city streets, she’s been searching for something—a missing ring. And now Annie is running out of time and needs Wes’s help. As they search together, Annie and Wes uncover secrets lurking around every corner, secrets that will reveal the truth of Annie’s dark past.
Book Review Summary:
The plot of this book really grabbed my attention so when I got an email asking whether I would review it I obviously said yes. With the suspense of Annie's character and the quest to find out about her past, The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen is a great ghost book.
Plot:
Wes is a filmmaker who wanted nothing more than to quit his old college course and enrol at NYC. Taking a summer course, he is experimenting with his filmmaking techniques when he finds a mystery girl and which will take him on an adventure that transcends history. One of the aspects that really interests me about this book was the filmmaking element as this is something that I had wanted to do in the past as well as finding it incredibly interesting to learn about. I, therefore, found this to be an engaging part of the story and I liked it. The elements of Wes's films were also intriguing and I think that it would be interesting to see what they would be like in real life. The mystery aspect of the story was also something I liked, being the fact that it was suspenseful and I just wanted to know what happened next. This was often linked to Annie as a character and learning about her past. This was definitely something that kept me engaged in the story which did make it a very entertaining read.
Plot:
Wes is a filmmaker who wanted nothing more than to quit his old college course and enrol at NYC. Taking a summer course, he is experimenting with his filmmaking techniques when he finds a mystery girl and which will take him on an adventure that transcends history. One of the aspects that really interests me about this book was the filmmaking element as this is something that I had wanted to do in the past as well as finding it incredibly interesting to learn about. I, therefore, found this to be an engaging part of the story and I liked it. The elements of Wes's films were also intriguing and I think that it would be interesting to see what they would be like in real life. The mystery aspect of the story was also something I liked, being the fact that it was suspenseful and I just wanted to know what happened next. This was often linked to Annie as a character and learning about her past. This was definitely something that kept me engaged in the story which did make it a very entertaining read.
Characters:
I did enjoy the characters in this book. Wes was quite likeable but he could be seen to just pine over Annie's character to the fact that she can be seen as a bit of a manic pixie dream girl however over the course of the book this changes and as we get to see more of Annie's history, she evolves as a character. I often enjoy Wes but I do feel like other characters were more likeable and overpowered him. Compared to other main male protagonists, however, he was not one of the douchey male characters that you often see. I really enjoyed Maddy as a character though and it was great to see her character change as we found out more about her. I also really enjoyed Tyler as a character and often thought that he matched Wes, often both being important to the story.
I do think that the book was well-written. I think that when an author attempts to do dual narrative, the two characters can often blur into one and there is no distinction between the two voices but this was not the case with Annie and Wes. I thought that they were quite unique and therefore this was a nice experience to see their two personalities. I also enjoyed the use of Annie's narrative as this often meant that the story evolved and moved which often made it more interesting. Seeing the history of Annie was also really interesting and I often enjoyed this was written about.
The Verdict:
The Verdict:
The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen is a well-written ghost story that is a most for anyone who loves a good mystery.
Have you read The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen? Did you like it? Leave it in the comments below.
See you soon,
Amy
Comments