Manifest

Manifest
by Artist Arthur
Mystyx, book one

Krystal just met the perfect boy. Trouble is, he's dead.

When fifteen-year-old Krystal Bentley moves to Lincoln, Connecticut, her mom's hometown, she assumes her biggest drama will be adjusting to the burbs after living in New York City.

But Lincoln is nothing like Krystal imagined. The weirdness begins when Ricky Watson starts confiding in her. He's cute, he's funny, a good listener - and everything she'd ever want - except that he was killed nearly a year ago. Krystal's ghost-whispering talents soon lead other "freaks" to her door - Sasha, a rich girl who can literally disappear, and Jake, who moves objects with his mind. All three share a distinctive birthmark in the shape of an M and fittingly, call themselves the Mystyx. They set out to learn what really happened to Ricky, only to realize that they aren't the only ones with mysterious powers. But if Krystal succeeds in finding out the truth about Ricky's death, will she lose him for good?
(description from back jacket copy)

This book did not really grab me. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really compelling for me either. There were things I really liked and things that really bothered me, but overall, I felt this was just an average addition to the paranormal genre.

Things I liked:
*The way that Krystal finds out what really happened to her parents relationship and how it helps to repair her relationship with her mother.
*The way that Krystal, Sasha, and Jake discovered their powers and came to learn that they shared some kind of larger "power."
*The way that Krystal, Sasha, and Jake hang out together even though they come from different economic classes.
*The cliffhanger that the book ended on - now I really want to know more about the "power" and its origins...

Things I disliked:
*The way this town seemed so hung up on economic differences, to the point of violence...it seemed unrealistic to me.
*Krystal's unacceptance to face her issues and admit that she was upset in the beginning of the book.
*The wrap-up of the Ricky/Trina storyline I felt was too fast. There was no explanation about how the bad guy was doing the stalking he was doing.
*I needed more information about the Mystyx...this book felt like mostly just a setup for the rest of the series.

Overall, not my favorite new series, but not a terrible book.