The Unbelievables #2: The Girl Who Saved Ghosts – K.C. Tansley

👻 Happily Haunted Halloween Book! 👻

Where to start. Oh, I know! K.C. Tansley, puh-lease let me read book 3 ASAP! Without sounding too desperate, I’m The Girl Who Desperately Needs to Read Book 3! Right. So now that I’ve gotten that bit out of the way, let me tell you about book 2.

I am extraordinarily grateful that I had The Girl Who Saved Ghosts on hand when I finished reading The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts. While book 1 introduces us to some of our cast of characters, past, present and future, book 2 focuses more on Kat and Evan’s friendship, with a delicious side order of Toria and Alistair’s eternal love. ❤️

Disclaimer: As some of you already know, romance and I both pretend the other doesn’t exist and we’re happy that way, so for me to be wanting to read more about this couple is either a sign we’ve entered The Twilight Zone or it’s an awesome book.

Book 2 also introduces us to Kat’s two aunts on her unknown father’s side, Vivian and Jacqueline, who certainly got their fair share of the personality gene. Vivian is the lovely, caring, encouraging aunt and Jacqueline is, well, quite snippy (but with good reason) and does have a beating heart beneath her grimaces. We spend a fair amount of time at Dumbarton, safe haven for the Langley family. Vivian and Jacqueline are the guardians of Dumbarton and as such cannot leave, although seriously, why would they want to?!

Dumbarton is such an amazing place and has such yummy breakfasts that I don’t know why you’d ever leave. We’re talking “a plate of bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, French toast, and a fruit cup”, with coffee and orange juice to wash it down. If you’re still tempted to leave allow me to invite you on a tour of the super secret underground heart of the house that has some pretty cool features including a library of spells. And if you’re still not convinced, Dumbarton is the only place in the world where you are completely safe from all of the nasties, including the Dark One, who’s trying to destroy you. What? You’re staying? Awesome choice!

While at Dumbarton we get some of the goss on Maximillian, Kat’s absent father, and his sister, Shannon. We also go on a trip back in time to early nineteenth century Vienna where we catch up with more of the ancestors. I loved the new old alive people in the past but ghosts in the present characters in Vienna. The danger ramps up for Kat and Evan in this book, and Kat is more hopeful of the possibility of finally meeting her elusive father.

While we haven’t been given that much information about the Dark One yet, we did get to know a ‘villain’ in greater depth and I loved this person. You’ve gotta love a good villain and I especially like ones that are relatable, the ones where you can put yourself in their shoes and see how it would’ve been possible for you to make the same choices they did.

That’s one standout for me in books 1 and 2 of this series. The characters are substantial, not just your leads, but pretty much everyone. You learn their history, what makes them tick, why they made certain life changing decisions. Each of the four families have rich histories that all contribute to their combined mythology. Each step of the way I was piecing more of the overall puzzle together and I was given enough information to chew on so while I know there’s more to come, I don’t feel short changed by what I learned in this book.

And now for my Time Travel Conundrum. Please don’t click that spoiler button unless you are prepared for some spoilage and some possibly scary insights into the way my brain operates. In the first book, Kat took the Radcliffe rubies from the past and gave them back to the present day heir. In this book, Kat is supposed to go back in time to take the Kingsley dagger from Percy and give it to the present day heir. In the next book, we’re going to hopefully find the Mallory bracelet. These family amulets have been missing for generations. So my question is, would they have been missing in the first place if Kat didn’t time travel to the past to steal them?

I know that when this series comes to an end (hopefully after many more instalments) that I’m going to need to reread them. I’m already anticipating revisiting The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts to read it in the context of what I now know after finishing this book. I can only imagine that anticipation growing stronger as the series marches on.

Toria remains my favourite character and I was thrilled to get the chance to find out more about her human life and ghost life. I missed Morgan and Professor Astor’s continual presence and hope to see them with larger roles in future books. I also hope Kat has some of her blood in storage at Dumbarton. If she keeps doing spells that require her blood, at the rate she’s going she’ll be in need of a transfusion fairly soon. 😜

This book has taken me practically forever to finish (15 days) but it wasn’t for lack of enjoyment, obviously. I was so interested in learning more about the history of the four families and how everything was going to play out that I didn’t want to miss a thing. Each time I didn’t have prime reading conditions I’d reluctantly put this book aside and move on to something else until the stars aligned and I knew I’d get the most out of the experience. These are the kind of books that I come to the end of, sigh and say to whoever will listen, “That was so much fun!”

If you enjoy magic, time travel, ghosts, family legacies, loyalty to the death, friendships, the threat of the Big Bad lurking, or breakfast, then I highly recommend this series. I’d prefer you to start with book 1 so you know who’s who in the ghostie zoo, but if you don’t mind jumping in at the deep end and look forward to hearing me very politely telling you that I told you so, then start with book 2.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Beckett Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

She tried to ignore them. Now she might risk everything to save them.

After a summer spent in a haunted castle – a summer in which she traveled through time to solve a murder mystery – Kat is looking forward to a totally normal senior year at McTernan Academy. Then the ghost of a little girl appears and begs Kat for help, and more unquiet apparitions follow. All of them are terrified by the Dark One, and it soon becomes clear that that this evil force wants Kat dead. 

Searching for help, Kat leaves school for the ancestral home she’s only just discovered. Her friend Evan, whose family is joined to her own by an arcane history, accompanies her. With the assistance of her eccentric great aunts and a loyal family ghost, Kat soon learns that she and Evan can only fix the present by traveling into the past. 

As Kat and Evan make their way through nineteenth-century Vienna, the Dark One stalks them, and Kat must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to save a ghost.