Nina LaCour

A newly graduated Mila emerges from foster care to accept a job on an isolated Northern California Coast farm where she confronts haunting memories and the traumas of her fellow residents.

Watch Over Me

Scarly

“Maybe,” I said, taking in a breath. “Maybe the fear doesn’t ever actually go away. Maybe we have to keep on working. We thought it would be simple, but it isn’t. We thought we could be finished, but maybe . . . maybe we’ll never be entirely finished.”

I had been haunting myself as punishment, I supposed. But it was difficult, when ghosts were everywhere, to figure out what was real and what was imagined.

in March of this year and it has aged WONDERFULLY in my brain these last seven months. Much like the other LaCour book I’ve read (

is a story about a girl running away from grief, guilt, and ghosts of her past.

a bit more than this one, I still think this book is such a treat. It’s like a warm bowl of soup on a cold day: it makes you feel so good and safe and loved. This book is sad, and emotional, and brings up some pretty dark trauma for the narrator, but it never feels over-whelming. You’re never brought out of this safety net of 

you will make it through this, we are here for you

, and I think that is such a beautiful experience.

When I first finished this book I closed it and didn’t think much else of it for a while, but every time I think back on it I just feel so fuzzy inside. Love love love this book and really need to pick up more LaCour asap

smile

I had been haunting myself as punishment, I supposed. But it was difficult, when ghosts were everywhere, to figure out what was real and what was imagined.


I read Watch Over Me in March of this year and it has aged WONDERFULLY in my brain these last seven months. Much like the other LaCour book I’ve read (We Are Okay, which is also fantastic), Watch Over Me is a story about a girl running away from grief, guilt, and ghosts of her past.

While I like We Are Okay a bit more than this one, I still think this book is such a treat. It’s like a warm bowl of soup on a cold day: it makes you feel so good and safe and loved. This book is sad, and emotional, and brings up some pretty dark trauma for the narrator, but it never feels over-whelming. You’re never brought out of this safety net of you will make it through this, we are here for you, and I think that is such a beautiful experience.

When I first finished this book I closed it and didn’t think much else of it for a while, but every time I think back on it I just feel so fuzzy inside. Love love love this book and really need to pick up more LaCour asap

9/10

Wes Michaud

this book was so atmospheric and the exploration of grief and how it affects us was beautiful and so well done is safe to say Nina is one of my favorite authors considering the fact that i have read and loved every single one of her solo works

Julie Boyer

y a quelque chose dans l’écriture de nina lacour qui m’impacte tellement à chaque fois, c’est horrible. la preuve elle vient de me faire revenir sur ce site.
ici elle traite de choses super lourdes, de traumatismes, de regrets, du deuil, d’erreurs, de solitude, de dépendance émotionnelle, d’imprégnations, de projections… et pourtant tu termines ta lecture, tu fixes le mur et t’as l’impression d’avoir lu un bonbon.
il a pas fait l’unanimité et je pense comprendre pourquoi, mais je suis beaucoup trop sensible à ce qu’elle fait. je l’ai trouvé sublime.

Ada Gray

B Sai Sushma

The premise is fun, and I liked that it felt more slice of life than anything. I just wished her conflicted feelings were more vague I guess. Or at least more understandable.

I dont normally give a book a 1 syar. I saw positive reviews so I went into this book expecting it to be good. It was the biggest waste of my time. The story was met and I waited and waited and nothing happened literally nothing happened at all. By the end I was shocked that nothing big had happened. It was boring and a waste of a day reading it 

The writing itself isn't bad, I loved it was a quick read but story was bland and can we really call it a story when nothing happened.

Samantha King

I dont normally give a book a 1 syar. I saw positive reviews so I went into this book expecting it to be good. It was the biggest waste of my time. The story was met and I waited and waited and nothing happened literally nothing happened at all. By the end I was shocked that nothing big had happened. It was boring and a waste of a day reading it 

The writing itself isn't bad, I loved it was a quick read but story was bland and can we really call it a story when nothing happened.

Jeannette Ordas

I really loved this book, lots of sadness and a little bit of ghosts too - which is perfect for the spooky season. It's short, quick and easy to love.

Izza

Rosie

To me this book read like a thriller/mystery even thought it wasn’t one. I was always waiting from something to happen that didn’t but when I got to the end I just thought, “yeah this is it. This is what the book needed.”

It’s not as heart wrenching as I expected but after “we are okay” this is what I needed. 

Nina just has a way with words and the ability to tell a story perfectly. 

rach

wow. absolutely shattered by the imagery and discussions of grief in this book. the writing is gorgeous

Flavia Louise

So idk what to think about this book. It's tragic like you expect from Nina LaCour. But also so beautiful and introspective.

mia ¿

Alexa Auerbach 

this book was just ok. Talks about grief and dealing with grief/guilt. usually a huge fan of Nina lacour books but this one just didn’t have me hooked. this jumped around a lot between what was reality/a dream/a memory which was a little confusing because you could barely tell there was a font difference.

Ada 

** spoiler alert **
           This is a weak 3 and quite a disappointment, having read ‘We are Okay’ a couple of months before this. The book is as well written as the award winning novel of ‘We are Okay’, but the story lacks depth and impact in my opinion. I didn’t understand why the people at the farm did not just tell Mila about what her ghost meant from the beginning, nor was I impressed with the ending of events. The interaction between Mila and her ghost fell flat for me, as I didn’t quite grasp how remembering beautiful memories from before the tragic life events make the character move on from the hurt. Certain characters were poorly portrayed, such as Mila’s mom and even Blake (whose missing background and further personality traits could have enhanced the value of the story). Mila’s short friendship with Billy and Liz was also unfinished and without a clear impact as well, when I sensed great potential in those respective chapters. 
Overall, this book did not make a lot of sense to me. All in all we still are not told why the ghosts appear at this farm, what is so special about it, and so on. There is no clear background and most of the events do not present their importance towards the end of the novel. It is, however, written in an easily comprehensible manner, making it a fun, but not so impactful read.

Jen Estrella

“A leap. Look how precious you were. A spin. How worthy of love you were. A dip. Look at your heart, intact. Reach to the sky. What a miracle it was. Swoop to the grass. How steadily it beat for the people you loved.No one writes grief as well as Nina LaCour. I will read and cry over anything this woman writes. Anything.

mary

Thank you to netgalley for this eARC! 

Content Warning: Death, grief, ghosts. 

Watch Over Me follows a recently graduated high school student called Mila, who has grown up in the foster care system. She receives an opportunity to move to a remote farm, and teach children there while being provided housing and food. At the farm, she is confronted by the ghosts of her past, and paranormal entities as well.

Nina LaCour has a captivating writing style, that really makes you feel the atmosphere she's writing about. Her writing was one of the main parts of this book I enjoyed, and felt like it was one of the strongest points. It was almost as if you could feel the chill of the air, or smell the food coming from the farmhouse as the character's were cooking it. It was a lovely thing to read! 

However, plot wise, it didn't really make sense. I struggled to follow along with the events of the novel, and felt that some of the plot points weren't explained well enough for them to make sense. Nothing really happened in this book, which is a shame, because LaCour's writing style is so lovely. I would've loved this book more if the plot had a bit more to it, or was stretched out just a bit longer in order to make the readers care. I spent a large majority of this book being confused about the events in it. 

That being said, the characters were enjoyable to read about. They felt like a natural fit to Mila's character arc, and the found family aspect of this book was one of the best parts. Ultimately, I don't think I was the right audience for this book, however, I can see why so many people have given it rave reviews.

megan

For starters, I love the concept of this novel. The farm is such an interesting setting, and from the moment it was introduced, I wanted to learn more about its history and the ghosts that inhabit it. I'll admit, at first, I wasn't super keen on the idea of these ghosts, but as I read on, I found myself enjoying the role they play in this novel. 
While I sometimes had trouble keeping track of all of the different characters, I found many of them compelling and enjoyable, particularly Mila and Lee. Speaking of Mila, I greatly enjoyed her as a narrator, and found her background and character development interesting. LaCour has a real knack for writing flawed yet sympathetic characters, and Mila is no exception. Overall, I found "Watch Over Me" to be a captivating and enjoyable read!

Caitlyn DeRouin

Nina LaCour has a lovely writing style that I really enjoy. In this book, in particular, I really loved the found family aspect of the story. The relationship between Mila and Lee I found very lovely and heartwarming. 

While I enjoy her writing her style, unfortunately, I often find that her books me wanting more. This story is more character-driven than plot-driven, and while I love character-driven stories, the lack of plot in this one made it easy for me to zone out while reading and not be fully invested in the story.

I definitely can see how and why this story (and her other works) have resonated with so many, but unfortunately for me, I don't seem to connect as well.

sophie 

I knew I was going to love this but I didn't know if it would hold as much weight as we are okay, however it really outdid my expectations and I love it so much more than I thought I would. It really cemented nina lacour as one of my favourite authors of all time. 

I could be considered slow and hard to get into and understand, but it pays off so well and nina lacour has such a beautiful way of writing and conveying emotion and trauma and creating imagery that sticks with you.

Jane The Bookaholic

Horror reading vlog: https://youtu.be/eH073zw27SI

⭐️ 3 Stars ⭐️

I feel like this book is exactly 3 stars. 
It was enjoyable, I liked it, but it wasn’t more, and it won’t be a book that I’d think a lot about. 
I like the writing and the characters, the characters felt real, and I think the plot was nice. Some things surprised me, some were predictable, but overall I felt like it was a little bit... pointless? 
The end was okay, but just okay. It was a nice read (especially for a readathon because it’s so short), but nothing more

Mica

Este libro es entretenido y fácil de leer, además al comenzarlo tenía un montón de preguntas que se van respondiendo conforme avanza la historia. No considero que haya sido la gran cosa, pero la historia está buena para pasar el rato.

Algo que sí debo reconocer, siendo este el segundo libro que leo de la autora, es que Nina LaCour sabe plasmar muy bien los sentimientos y también lo hace de manera realista.

Jordan Robinson

Jayarna La Bozzetta

So so so beautiful. A wonderful depiction of trauma and love in such a beautiful, quiet setting.

Watch Over Me

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