A modern ghost story about trauma and survival, Watch Over Me is the much-anticipated new novel from the Printz Award-winning author of We Are Okay★ “Gripping; an emotion-packed must-read.” –Kirkus, starred review★ “A painfully compelling gem from a masterful creator.” –Booklist, starred review ★ “Moving, unsettling, and full of atmospheric beauty.” –SLJ, starred review Mila is used to being … beauty.” –SLJ, starred review
Mila is used to being alone.
Maybe that’s why she said yes. Yes to a second chance in this remote place, among the flowers and the fog and the crash of waves far below.
But she hadn’t known about the ghosts.
Newly graduated from high school, Mila has aged out of the foster care system. So when she’s offered a teaching job and a place to live on an isolated part of the Northern California coast, she immediately accepts. Maybe she will finally find a new home—a real home. The farm is a refuge, but it’s also haunted by the past. And Mila’s own memories are starting to rise to the surface.
Nina LaCour, the Printz Award–winning author of We Are Okay, delivers another emotional knockout with Watch Over Me about trauma and survival, chosen family and rebirth.
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Mila’s about to graduate from High School and age out of the foster care system. When she’s offered a teaching position at an area farm, she jumps at the opportunity. The farm is referred to as a modern fairy tale residence, and the description fits. It is haunted. Hard work is expected but rewarded. Family is chosen. Forgiveness is encouraged, including self-forgiveness. While there, Mila remembers and deals with dark parts of her former life, as others have before her.
Nina LaCour writes a compelling YA story with “Watch Over Me.” It’s a quick read that will stay with readers long after the back cover is closed.
I love how LaCour writes beautifully, suspensefully, and yet in a compact style. Each important detail serves multiple purposes, with nothing extraneous. Plus ghosts!
Nina LaCour’s Watch Over Me is a compelling yet gentle story of healing from trauma and finding chosen family, with threads of mystery pulling the reader through, and ghosts done in a way I’ve never seen before. Recommended!
Watch Over Me
By Nina LaCour
A remarkable, motional, and heart wrenching YA story with great characters and fantastic haunting story line I enjoyed reading.
Mila has finally graduated high school and at 19 is out of the foster care system. looking for a fresh start, she accepts a position in an isolated farm in the coast of Northern California where besides being a refuge, is also a place where the past will haunt and live through past traumas and memories.
This was an unusual read full of emotional triggers, yet beautiful and so immersive that will have you turning those pages in this quick read gem of a book. Overall, this was a book that touched upon the themes of grief, resiliency and with beautifully complex characters that I loved reading about.
I basically am a YA Fantasy and Contemporary lover and for the past few months I have been seeing so many posts and stories from Penguin Teen featuring Watch Over Me and many cover recreations made by other bookstagrammers! I didn’t understand the hype of the book since I hadn’t read it, but after reading the first look of this book, I get why the hype for Watch Over Me is this hyped. I love how Nina LaCour is able to paint such beautiful scenes in my head starting from the first few words of the book. The writing is beautiful and Mila seems like such an interesting main character. She’s full of this sadness that I can’t wait to see turn around into something better by the end of the book. Mila is definitely going to be a dynamic character and I just love the story. The blurb barely reveals anything about the book, so you really just need to dive headfirst into the pages of the book to learn about Mila and her story/journey!!
Watch over me by Nina LaCour is a literary YA fiction (also “new adult”) with elements of magical realism.
Mila is now a legal adult and is transitioning out of foster care to a farm in coastal Northern California. As she settles into her new role as farm worker and teacher to young Luke she is forced to face the ghosts of her past.
I liked Mila a lot and had so much empathy for her. Her grief is raw and real but she is not embittered or cruel to others. She tries to reach out and have new experiences and isn’t closed off. But despite her attempts to move on with her life the reader knows that until she talks about her past her relationships will remain superficial and her emotions will spiral out of control.
I recommend this one to readers that want to see what the impact of child abandonment looks like on one young woman and what it takes to build a strong community around them as they transition into adulthood.
I read this in one sitting, it’s that good! It’s a hauntingly beautiful ghost story with just enough creepy vibes! Newly graduated from high school, our MC Mila has aged out of the foster care system. So when she’s offered a teaching job and a place to live on an isolated part of the Northern California coast, she immediately accepts. Maybe she will finally find a new home, a real home. The farm is a refuge, but it’s also haunted by the past and Mila’s own memories are starting to rise to the surface.
I’m giving it 4/5 stars.
The main character Mila has a tragic past that she wants nothing more than to work past. I loved her. I thought she was very strong, and someone I would look up to in life. The way she cares for Lee is very heartwarming and comforting.
this book was extremely short, I read it in about 2 hours, and I even made dinner throughout those two hours. I feel like there were a lot of wasted pages that could’ve had more content so readers could have connected with more characters and their backstories.
The romance between Billy and Liz as well as when they become really close with Mila is very odd. I still don’t understand that whole dynamic. It didn’t really add anything to the story, except confusion (to me anyway).
Foster children is a concept for stories that I haven’t read much on, and the farm lifestyle was very unique. This was a book I can’t compare to any other. I liked it a lot and recommend it for a fast read for characters with dark backstories
Watch Over Me is an unusual book. Mila is eighteen and has aged out of the foster care system. She is traumatized, lonely, broken and ravaged by grief and guilt. She takes a job teaching at an isolated self-sustaining farm on the Northern California coast. The couple at The Farm have many adopted foster children and three interns. All have experienced trauma. They farm flowers, fruits and vegetables and everyone pitches in. The Farm is haunted by ghosts who come out at night. Everyone seems to accept the presence of the ghosts. The significance of the ghosts is revealed by the end of the story. The story is a slow build, quiet, well written and alternates between Mila’s past and present. The setting is eerie and atmospheric. This book is haunting and healing. It is one of those stories that will stay with you.