For Love to Conquer All

Ghostop #3

by Libby Hathorn

Juliet continues her search for the clues which will reveal the tragic history of Rosette and the ghosts of Rose Cottage. Desperate to be reunited with Mario, Juliet ignores Rosette's demands that she leave him forever. Can Juliet discover the answers to the mystery before it is too late?In a mad encounter with Rosette, Juliet discovers that the ghost girl from the past is out for revenge. Even though her life is in danger, Juliet knows she must stay to work out the tangle of pieces if she and Mario are to survive.

Genres: Supernatural, Romance

197 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Libby Hathorn is an Australian writer who produces poetry, picture books, drama, novels, short stories, and nonfiction for children, young adults, and adults. Best known in the United States for her critically acclaimed novel Thunderwith, Hathorn has created works ranging from serious stories of troubled youth to lighthearted, fast-paced comedies. She writes of powerful female characters in her novels for junior readers, such as the protagonists in All about Anna and The Extraordinary Magics of Emma McDade; or of lonely, misunderstood teenagers in novels such as Feral Kid, Love Me Tender, and Valley under the Rock. As Maurice Saxby noted in St. James Guide to Children's Writers, "In her novels for teenagers especially, Hathorn exposes, with compassion, sensitivity, and poetry the universal and ongoing struggle of humanity to heal hurts, establish meaningful relationships, and to learn to accept one's self—and ultimately—those who have wronged us."

Reviews

[Darcy (Daydreamingofbookdragons) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can finally say that the exclamation marks didn’t bother me. I still think there were too many, but they were less. That or I just became numb to them/ my mind started blocking them out to save my sanity.

Probably the latter.

My sanity was definitely tested by that scene towards the end in the cemetery. Just… wtf??

Things That I Consistently Did Not Like Throughout This Trilogy:

It’s endings
Romeo- sorry, Mario

It’s a short list, but seeing as endings make or break books, and this was kinda a paranormal romance novel, both of those things are not good things to dislike.

The ending only half resolved some of the issues that were brought up in the book. It’s great and all that Mario’s dad has accepted that he and Juliet are together, but you’ve still got the other father to contend with. You can’t have this huge rivalry which has been the reason these two haven’t been able to peacefully be together, and then only resolve it on one end. It also somehow managed to play into the typical young adult cliche of everyone getting paired up at the end, despite there only really being two actual teens in the story? Sure, Juliet had a sister but she could have been cut out of the story and you wouldn’t know the difference. One of the ships was an actual friendship, and it was also the only one I marginally cared about.

As for Mario, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. He’s a dick. As far as I can tell, all he did was upset, hurt, and try to stop Juliet from solving the mystery of Rosette despite her telling him that it was really important to her. Like mate, you’re coming awfully close to filling the role of an antagonist there.

The whole trilogy felt like it was actually meant to be one book that was split into three for profit. Not that I’m complaining, three short books looks a lot better than one big one for my Goodreads challenge. Also I didn’t pay a cent for these books so a win for me, really. I’m glad I finally got around to rereading this “trilogy” and reviewing it, if only because I can now happily get rid of them.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I was disappointed with the series. There were too many elements to the story that did not seem to fit together seamlessly - letters, rhymes, hidden objects, symbols and so on. There were also a number of stories that Rosette told to Juliet that were red herrings, and she also insisted that Juliet not listen to the second ghost, Florence, who told lies - but Florence rarely appeared in the story to say anything, lies or otherwise! When she finally did show up, there was no logic as to why she'd been prevented from interacting with Juliet in the first place or why she and Rosette could not meet.

And as for Rosette insisting that Florence was lying, I don't understand the motivation for saying that. I don't understand why she played games with the truth or why finding things out required so many different elements. It all seemed unnecessarily complicated.

As for the relationship between Juliet and Mario, I don't understand what they see in each other. Their relationship appears to be purely physical (lots of kissing) but as for trusting one another and being friends, there's not much evidence of that. There is a lot of angst, a lot of frustration, a lot of anger at times, but no evidence of a solid foundation on which to base a relationship.

Also, Georgia, Juliet's sister, has had some ghostly experiences herself, but that particular thread did not develop into anything in the story. I wonder why?

So, all in all, this was not a satisfying read for me, unfortunately.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally! Some plot!

I mean... it's not great when the majority of your plot happens in the last book. So we've got Juliet and Nan in their run down house full of secrets, oddball Violet next door who seems to know more than she ever lets on, Mario who is frankly a bit of a flip flopping dick (he believes Juliet, he doesn't believe Juliet), a sister who never answers her emails (she could have been deleted from the story entirely and would have made zero difference) and two ghosts who may or may not be malevolent. We're not sure.

Rosette and Florence show their full colours here. Florence proves to be a bit of a non entity except for her exceedingly sad backstory and to be a foil against the overwhelming Rosette. Nan reveals her own secret that's tied to Mario's family. Her intervention softens Mario's father's opposition to the relationship but we're left with the idea of happily ever after with no throwback to Juliet father's own disapproval of the relationship.

The whole sequence in the graveyard with Rosette taunting Juliet was terrible. I think I remember thinking that when I was a teen too. We continue to refer to a "g--sy curse" and "g--sy cards"... unnecessary but then maybe a product of the time because I certainly wasn't aware of the history of the slur at the time I read these books. But it ages them badly. It continued to mostly vibes and very little actual plot. Sad that these don't hold up for me but also I am so much older and times have changed. It was nice to read something where the internet and email was a novelty. Mobiles not spoken of. But yeah. Thin af narrative and poor character development. Sigh.

[Skye Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book that explains all!!! If you've kept up with this series then you will be in for a treat when all is finally revealed about the ghosts of Rose Cottage! zi love this series so much, and the mystery of the ghosts that haunt Rose cottage. i love how their stories are revealed to you at last. an absolute must read!!!

[Gemma]

all done