Skeleton Park

by Christina Smith

Avery is running: from her past, from her friends and family, and from her memories. But she doesn’t have a choice. It was her mother that made the decision to whisk her away from the only home she had ever known. It was her mother’s idea to move to Canada after a terrible tragedy that shook their happy existence. She chose a place where they can be safe and at peace, a place where nothing bad ever happens.
Could Avery have changed her mom’s mind and stayed with her friends? Probably. Did she want to? No.
Avery needed to forget her old life in Renwood, New York. It was there that her world changed in an instant and she could never look back.
In her new city, they find a beautiful house in a great neighborhood next to a spacious, scenic park. They can’t believe their luck at having found the perfect place on such short notice and the price was simply too good to pass up.
When Avery starts to settle into her new surroundings she meets new friends and a guy that might just help her move on. She couldn’t be happier of the choice to make such a drastic change. There are no reminders of her past and she is adjusting faster than she ever thought she could.
Life is perfect. Or is it? What Avery and her mother didn’t realize is that running from one evil had only led them to another. After all, when something sounds too good to be true…it probably is.

Genres: Horror, Romance, Mystery, Young Adult

ebook

First published July 21, 2014

About the author

I grew up in Kingston Ontario, Canada, and after getting married, moved to a small rural town in the country. I live here with my husband Brad, two kids Josh and Megan, and our dog Bailey. Even though our house is peaceful, surrounded by nature and the occasional deer, I'm still a city girl at heart. I miss civilization, and visits with my mother and two sisters.

My Young Adult Fantasy books include:

Fated Dreams # 1 in the Affinity series
Delusions # 2 in the Affinity series

Riley's Curse, A Moon's Glow, Prequel, Novella
Riley's Secret, A Moon's Glow Novel #1
Riley's Torment, A Moon's Glow Novel #2
Riley's Redemption, A Moon's Glow Novel #3

Skeleton Park

My adult contemporary Romance Books include:

Lost Inside, A Shimmer Lake Novel #1
Finding Abigail, A Shimmer Lake Novel #2

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avery witness a horrific event at her school. Avery felt guilty about arriving late for school that day. In the back of Avery's mind, she thought that just maybe, she could have done something to prevent this tragedy. Avery's mother, decides to whisk her away and move to Kingston, Ontario. Avery avoids all her emails and calls from her friends. The pain and guilt is still to new. In their new city, in a great neighborhood, they find a great house right across from a scenic park. Avery would spend a lot of time in the park with her sketch pad. Avery's new friend Josh, tells her that the park is haunted and that someone is murder there every 5 years. It is now up Avery and Josh, to try and stop the killings and to solve the mystery behind them. The characters in the novel were well developed and this help to make the story stronger. The unexpected ending really caught me off guard. This is the first book that I have read by Christina Smith. I plan to checkout other works by this author. I highly recommend this book!

[Kate Hearn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not very often do I get the pleasure of reading a book that makes me yell 'omg, I've totally been there', or makes me want to stalk city parks late at night. This book does both.

Christina Smith has created a fantastically creepy ghost story, with elements of mystery, suspense, history and modern day tragedy. Set primarily in Kingston, Ontario, Avery must help solve a string of murders that happen every five years, while dealing with some pretty heavy survivor's guilt. Oh and thrown in the fact that she lives across from Skeleton Park (a real place fyi), that happens to have an old graveyard beneath it.

I read this in one sitting, and totally enjoyed it. I will definitely be recommending it. I might also take a trip by there late some night.


I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. The above is my opinion and was not Influenced by anyone

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will do the non-spoiler review first, and then my thoughts about the spoiler. I found that it was a good book. It took a while to reveal what had happened to make her and her mom move to another country. I liked that the author tackled a book like this. Very well written with great characters. Very glad I read it.

Now for the actual review for those who want it spoiled. I am glad that Christina decided to write a book about a school shooting. There aren't that many people in books or movies that are willing to do that. One Tree Hill tackled this topic as well and thought that they did an amazing job. Now, so that people don't misunderstand me at all, I do NOT condone anyone who takes this step. There is nothing that justifies killing others. High school is only 3 years (4 in the States) and then it's over and done with and people over the age of 18 tend to act a bit more like they should and not like stupid idiots who like to make fun of anyone who is different. And that is what bullies are. They are stupid, ignorant and not worth anyone's time AT ALL. I know high school can be hard, but don't give in to other people's opinions. They do not matter. However, on the other side of it, I'm sure being bullied is very difficult and near impossible to handle, and as I have never been on that side of it, I can't sympathize with those who are bullied. I feel horrible that they think that killing others and then themselves is the only way out of that situation.

What I liked about this book, and it was also done in One Tree Hill, is that not only were the victims of the shooting remembered, but also the one who did it. Now in no way was this meant to heroize what the boy did, but I feel like people constantly focus on the fact that the kid killed those other kids, and forget that this was a person who felt like they were not worthy of anything as they had been bullied, and I always feel so bad that they felt like that was their only option. And I also feel horrible about the parents because I'm sure they are broken hearted. It is not a great situation all around, and is very difficult and horrible to be in I am sure. But I liked how Christina handled this situation with class and a way to show the worst results that come from bullying.

And this whole situation is just exasperated by the right to bear arms, which was only intended to enable the people to take down a corrupt government. Not so that they could own one for no real reason. Personally, if I had a child in the house, and I had a gun (which I would never have) I would make sure that the gun was locked in a safe that had fingerprint locking and that I never took the gun out so my child wouldn't know it was there. So that: 1-the child won't accidentally kill themselves looking at it and 2-so that the child wouldn't do something like this. I'm not sure at what point bearing arms became more important than keeping the children safe, but when the school shootings are getting more numerous in number, one would think that someone would want to make a change to stop this tragedy from happening again, and what is being done, is obviously not working as they are still occurring. Thank goodness it hasn't happened for a while, but I'm sure it will occur again and nothing will change until a different mindset takes over.

It's a hard situation and I liked how Christina showed the trauma that can affect not only those directly linked to the shootings, but also to those who survive, as well as the parents. Very well written.

Thank you Christina for being willing to tackle this topic, and for doing such an amazing job at it.

[☆Angel☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads First Reads. First of all, I have to mention how much I love this book cover! It grabbed my attention right away. I didn't know what to expect when starting this book, as I have never read any of Christina Smith's work. (That's going to change, though. I plan on looking up other books by her, especially since my interest was piqued by the excerpt for Fated Dreams) However, I was quickly caught up in the story. I enjoyed the step by step journey that Avery took toward her healing and getting back to a normal, fun-filled, teenage life. It's inspiring on a real-life level because it shows us how strong people can be even after going through something you never thought you'd come back from. The slow revelation of the incident involving Avery really helped to keep me interested. Not that I needed help with that, considering how much of a challenge it was for me to try and figure out what was happening before it was revealed. I like being challenged in that way and the author did a good job of it. I know that I have focused mostly on what happened to Avery, so let me mention that there is a lot of other things going on in this story, such as the paranormal occurrences which, in a creative way, actually helps Avery deal with things. Somehow, Christina Smith mixed different aspects together and turned it all into a really good story! I was also excited when I found out Skeleton Park was a real place. Gotta do some research on that. I hope everyone enjoys this novel as much as I did.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank the author, Christina Smith for letting me have a free copy of this book in exchange for a review

After a tragedy in her hometown Avery moves to Canada with her mom to get away from her old life. She has a bad case of survivor's guilt, she doesn't want to talk to her old friends and shuts down everytime someone asks her about what happened that day.
There's a beautiful Park across the street from her new house where she likes to spend most of her time until she finds out the park is haunted and someone gets killed there every 5 years. Now it's up to her and her new friend Josh to figure out the mystery of the murders and how to stop them.

Oh I just loved reading this book, it was a great story about dealing with tragedy mixed with a good ghost story! Since I'm Canadian, it was fun that the story was set in Canada. I wish I lived closer to Kingston so I could go visit Skeleton Park which was interesting to find out is a real Park.
The ending was unexpected, just the way I like it and it made the story perfect.

I will definately check out this authors other books in hopes they are as good as this one!

[Scott-robert Shenkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christina Smith is an amazing writer. The first book I read of hers is “Fated Dreams”, and I have made it a point to grab her books as soon as they come out and put them at the front of my TBR. She tells a story and she doesn’t bog it down with extra details, i.e. spending 3 pages describing what a character is wearing, or 5 pages to describe the kitchen. Her stories are tight, and there are no throwaway parts.

The book begins with some horrific event, but it takes about half the book to figure out what. And it is horrible. She and her mother flee their upstate New York home and move to Kingston, Ontario (because, they believe, bad things don’t happen in Canada). Moving across from a beautiful park, Avery quickly learns that bad things do, in fact, happen in Canada. They don’t just necessarily involve living people.

I grew up reading horror stories, and I compare everything supernatural I read to early Straub and early King. Because they know what scares you. So when I read something that has moments that creep me out, I am impressed. There were quite a few times in this book where that claustrophobic creepiness…crept in.

I loved this book. I recommend it highly.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I literally just finished this book and had to set up this review. I've been a fan of Ms. Smith's works for a while now, and I have to say that this novel really plunges you into different emotions. As the other reviewers mentioned, yes, it was creepy, but it was a fantastic ghost story! I won't get into the details of the story, but I really loved how the character development really had you rooting for Avery, Josh, and Austin. It did take me a little while to get immersed into the story, but once the plot started to evolve, it evolved quickly and with enough emotions to really pull you into the story.

This is a story that I would re-read, so it gets 4.5-5 stars from me~

As a note, I did receive a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

[Erin Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hahaha! Awesome! I have lived in kingston most of my life and most townies know what skeleton park is even if the newbies don't. I loved the tales of the park and I relived many memories of being in that park. I remember my own ghost sightings there quite fondly if not with a bit of fear. The stories are true, it is an old graveyard and many of the graves are still there, as are the stones. It's all covered with dirt and pretty gardens but every so often stuff does pop up. Such a good story and I really enjoyed the flow and ending. I definitely recommend this book.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was a YA novel until I started reading, but it was a freebie and the synopsis sounded intriguing. It was pretty good. The writer has skill and the twin storylines of the haunted park and the lead character's recent trauma blended well together. Any teen interested in a decent ghost story and interesting characters would enjoy it, I think.

[Donna Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!!!!

I enjoyed this story a lot!! It was so sad at times! I was so shocked about Josh, first Austin then Josh. The skeleton park was really scary and i love Avery and her mom! What a great mom! This book was well written with so much detail,I cannot wait to read more her book

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good ghost story. Nothing too deep or serious. Talks about some serious issues and how to get help with them.

[Christina (Ensconced in Lit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Christina Smith's work for a while now, so I was happy to receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Skeleton Park by Christina Smith is a bit of departure from her earlier more fantastical works, although it still has a paranormal element. I like to see authors take risks and try new things, which she did here. The main character is Avery who has had a horrible event happen at the beginning of the book, which causes her to move to Canada to escape from her past. However, quickly she realizes that everything is not peachy keen there either, and she spends her time drawing in a local park and meeting various good looking guys. Will Avery figure out what's going on before it's too late?

Skeleton Park is a ghost story, and Smith does a great job of making the atmosphere spooky. The first 15% is perhaps the strongest in the story as she sets up the main character and her mother and their entrance into the town. Other highlights include her relationship with her mother, which feels very realistic to me-- her mother wants to protect her, but also is trying to give her space to heal. I think that Avery's character development is the other wonderful thing about this story-- the progression of her development is clear, and Smith deals with sensitive issues very delicately and shows how important it is for teenagers to get help.

I also wanted to mention that I really like how Smith deals with diversity in this book. Few YA books these days have true diversity, but Sophie, who is Korean and adopted by a lesbian couple, is a breath of fresh air. I thought this character and her two mothers brought an angle into the story that made it more contemporary and added a layer of sophistication that I haven't seen in Smith's earlier works. I thought her portrayal honest and believable.

I did have a few issues with this book. First, after the setup, the plot seems to slow down quite a bit as we get development of all the rest of the characters in the book. I never felt any attachment to any of the male leads, and there are three of them (even though one doesn't really show up until the last chapter). Sophie is a great supporting character although I kind of think that Avery would have been a bit more resistant to being her friend as the way she's introduced would put anyone off. The twists, while I enjoyed them, are pretty obvious. I also didn't really understand the rules of the ghost world. It seemed like the "rules" were whatever propelled the plot forward. Lastly, the plot seems to wrap up a little too nicely for Avery at the end. It just seemed like an easy choice, rather than what would really happen.

Overall, however, I think that this was a very nice departure from Smith's earlier work. Her writing has continued to gain more polish, and the character development was really wonderful. I love watching her grow as a writer, and will continue to read every book she writes.

[Ryan Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skeleton Park was a good Halloween read.

Spooky, but with a lot of emotional depth, especially around the main character (Avery). The story is written in first-person narrative and after reading the first few chapters I was a little annoyed at how often Avery mentioned she had witnessed something awful that she couldn't get over.

However, as I kept reading I realized her obsessive thoughts added depth to Avery. The author was showing how a person who has survived a horrific ordeal can get consumed with thoughts of the horrors he or she has witnessed.

The horror story unfolding in Avery's new town was interesting and creepy, but not overly violent or gory, which I appreciated.
The book's greatest strength was the dialogue between the characters. It was authentic and never seemed forced.

The prevailing message of overcoming personal tragedy is worth the read alone.

This is the sixth book I've featured on my book's (Atomic Aardvark) blog called "Bobbing for Indie eBooks" . A feature where I promote and give away copies of self-published eBooks by authors I've discovered and whose books I have enjoyed.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad of a book. Different than I was expecting. I guessed what the big secret was by the 3rd page, but I still enjoyed how it was revealed. The characters were all really well written, with really unique personalities. I would be more than happy to check out more by this author! Oh, I do like the cover a lot!