Unique and mysterious ghost story filled with unexpected twists and intriguing relationships.
Welcome to day four of the Glimpse book tour! If you’re only just joining us, you can catch up with the three previous book tour posts about the wonderful Kendra Leighton’s debut novel by following the links below.
Bookish Treasures: How The Highwayman poem inspired Glimpse
Eventide Reads: Review & Giveaway
Project UKYA: Five ways Glimpse changed from first draft to final
I’m lucky enough to have been asked to participate in the book tour by sharing my review of Glimpse, and also hosting a giveaway, which you’ll find at the bottom of this page.
To begin, though, here’s the blurb for Glimpse.
Glimpse Summary
‘The Highwayman came riding –
Riding – riding
The Highwayman came riding,
up to the old inn-door’
Liz just wants to be normal. Her life is anything but.
Seven years ago Liz lost her mother and ten years’ worth of memories. When she inherits the infamous Highwayman Inn, she hopes the move will be a fresh start. Then she meets Zachary. Zachary who haunts her by night and in dreams; who makes her question everything she is and wants to be; who seems scarcely real – yet makes her feel so alive.
Inspired by Alfred Noyes’ classic poem ‘The Highwayman’, Glimpse is a ghost story, a love story, and a story of a girl fighting for her future by confronting her terrible past.
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Waterstones
My Thoughts
First of all, I want to say how utterly excited I was when this book found its way through my letter box. I’d been following Kendra’s publishing journey for a long time, and I was so happy to finally have the finished result in my hands.
And what a gorgeous book it is! I mean, just look at that cover (nice one Tom Sanderson). Of course, you should never judge a book by its cover, but with this one they match up perfectly – what’s written on its pages is just as brilliant.
I’ll be honest: I’ve never read The Highwayman poem before. Kendra opens her novel with the poem and immediately I knew I was going to love this book. I can see why she chose to use it as her inspiration, but I love that she didn’t just rewrite the story. Instead, Kendra created her own story using The Highwayman as the thread that runs through it. It has brand-new characters (all of which I loved, by the way), and some twists that I just did not see coming.
I thought that the ghosts, or ‘Glimpses’ as Liz calls them, were really cool. I loved that Liz couldn’t always see a whole body – sometimes it’s just a foot or a hand, or even a head. While so completely creepy and weird, they were believable, and I couldn’t wait to unravel the mysteries behind them.
There are lots of great characters in Glimpse too. In addition to Liz, who I loved as a main character, there’s also Meg, Scott, Ann, Philip, Zachary, Susie, Liz’s Dad, Crowley. Each was a piece of the puzzle, fitting together nicely by the end to paint the whole (completely unexpected but very clever) picture.
For any fan of ghost stories, or any fan of YA, in fact, Glimpse is a great read that I’d absolutely recommend. And this is only Kendra’s debut novel, so I can’t wait to see what else she’s got up her sleeve.
If you think you’ll enjoy Glimpse (I’m sure you will) then this could be your lucky day! I’m giving away a copy of Glimpse by Kendra Leighton thanks to the publisher Much-in-Little’s generosity, so you could be in with a chance of winning your very own copy.
To enter, you’ll need to live in the UK (sorry to those who live elsewhere in the world!), and you’ll need to respond via email within 48 hours if you’re the winner (don’t worry, I’ll let you know straight away if you are).
So what are you waiting for? Enter using Rafflecopter by clicking the link below.
Win Glimpse by Kendra Leighton.
What a lovely prize xx