It’s 1918 and the flu has been taking many lives! It was kind of ironic to read this because we’re going through the flu right now. This one takes place during World War I in Buchanan, Illinois. I absolutely LOVED this book! Cat Winters is becoming one of my favorite authors! She is good at mixing a historical time period, ghosts, and a love story to make such a phenomenal story. I simply didn't enjoy her voice or style but see no reason why others might not. The narrator annoyed me to no end, but unfortunately I also have no objective reason to give for it. It is a great story for those interested in a historical fiction romance vibe, set against a war backdrop and peppered with political statements (all of which bore me to tears in fiction) but will probably disappoint those looking for a supernatural thriller (like I was) such as those by Wendy Webb, John Harwood, and F.G. The book has a great twist but one I saw coming a mile away and didn't make up for the boredom I experienced waiting for the ghostly portion of this book to emerge. A caution to those expecting this to be a creepy ghost story nothing is creepy about this book and the ghostly elements in it are scarce. It's because this book reads like an historical fiction romance, not a supernatural ghost story like I wanted. I have to give this book four stars because it was well written and a good story, but unfortunately I didn't really enjoy it. But as her uninvited guests begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold. She even enters into a relationship with the murdered German man's brother, Daniel Schendel.

Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for today because they could be stricken by nightfall. Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu has caused utter panic, and the rules governing society have broken down. An hour later she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death, in the Great War, of Ivy's other brother, Billy. On that October evening in 1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother rocking in her mother's chair. She sees the uninvited ones - ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.īut Ivy's lifelong gift - or curse - remains.

The Uninvited by Cat Winters