17 year old Eleanor wakes up cold in a riverbank with no memory of what happened to her last night. She is covered with bruises but more importantly she’s dead.She goes home and realizes she does not have her senses of smell or taste and is always cold but people can see her and talk to her . So is she a ghost and how can she investigate her murder when no one knows she is dead?

Death and Life of Eleanor Parker is a YA murder mystery with a paranormal twist. It’s a different, light engaging summer read with a unique twist in the end.

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

I was lucky enough to receive a advance copy of this book from the author.

I love reading detective novels. Piecing together the story, solving the puzzle in my head and trying to guess whodunnit. When I picked up this book, I had no idea what genre it was, Kerry's standalone novels tend to be very different from his main crime/detective series.

It ended up being a pretty great read, as a girl who has 'died' tries to figure out what happened to her, and which one of the many people close to her 'killed' her. Great read, very impressed with the entire story, and I strongly recommend.

4.5 Bewitching Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This was a young adult thriller with a paranormal twist and it was brilliant! I’d like to encourage you to read this book with an open mind and the understanding that not everything in this book is “believable“... because the only way it is possible for somebody to investigate their own murder is for there to be a supernatural element... requiring us the reader to stretch our imagination.... for me this just was the perfect shift making an ordinary story extraordinary!

17-year-old Eleanor wakes up on a river bank with no memory of how she got there... is she dead? Is she alive? Is she a ghost? People can see her, she can walk, she can talk... but she cannot smell, taste, feel, and she is oh so cold... now Eleanor is determined to figure out what happened the night before she ended up in the river and who tried to kill her... and will they try again?

Eleanor was such a likable character... I loved playing detective right along with her, everyone was a suspect... her boyfriend, her best friend, her brother, the guy working at the local diner... I must give a special S/O to that diner love the idea of a wall filled with cassette tapes.... antique cassette tapes... ugh makes me feel old!

This truly is a genre defying book that I strongly encourage you to give a try! This was one of the best young adult books I’ve read this year and the uniqueness and supernatural element of the story should really appeal to a broad audience of younger readers.... I also need to give Kerry Wilkinson major props... as a grown man he did a phenomenal job of writing a book from a female teenager’s perspective... I certainly hope this is not his last young adult book, because I for one am looking forward to many more!

Absolutely recommend to readers of all ages, this was a well-done thriller with a unique twist!

*** many thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this wonderful book ***

📚 you can find all my reviews on my blog @
https://audiokilledthebookmark.com/

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I found that it had a brisk pace and an interesting cast of teenagers who were the right blend of endearing but obnoxious. Eleanor's personality shone throughout the novel, and I did want to know what happened to her.

I just have three hangups. First of all, when waking up and realizing she'd died, she never sought out help for her condition or pushed the boundaries. She didn't seem to know or care if she was full zombie and just went about her life coasting. That was weird. Second, there are way too many asides that feel like the author's own personal thoughts. (We really didn't need a tangent about how sadistic you are based on how you eat a gingerbread man!) Finally, I thought the ending was way too convenient and, to be frank, cheesy. I get that it's YA, but it felt cheap.

Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for the ARC.

The book starts with Eleanor Parker waking up in a small river near her hometown in the middle of the night. With no recollection of the night before she only knows one thing - somebody tried do drown her. And succeeded. She finds herself unable to eat, to sleep, to feel pain. Ellie has to find out who killed her and be quick about it, before the killer strikes again.

I liked it a lot! I've never read a book from the perspective of a dead person trying to solve her own murder and I found that very interesting. The writing style was funny and the pacing, in my eyes, was totally appropriate.

However, there were a few small things that threw me off and caused the four instead of five stars. The ending, for example. We had two cases of Deus Ex Machina, one of which actually made me pause and think "Really? Really??" because it was just so weird. Also, the motive of the killer was pretty far-fetched and not reasonable.

But as I said, all in all I really enjoyed it! It's probably nothing for you if you're after a lot of action, but for fans of slow-paced mysteries this should be a great summer read.

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I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.75 stars, I rounded up. Interesting mystery, very well read by narrator.

I received this via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This book started off great, and I enjoyed the beginning a lot. The writing was smart and witty, and I kept trying to copy certain phrases and send them to my friends lol. Ellie is a great character and narrator, and I didn't have a problem reading from her point of view (something I do struggle with a lot if the character is boring/annoying). I liked her relationship with her mum, it was sweet and I liked that her mum was an actual parent. Her friendship with Naomi is great, even though I wish we had more interactions between the two of them. But while the book started off strong, it fell flat after the first fifty pages or so, and only slightly picked up again towards the end.

The title of the book is pretty much the plot, we follow Ellie from the moment of her death, and relive the moments leading up to it, as well as the week after it.

Spoiler

Except it is a total cop out, because she isn't actually dead. Great. This is the most frustrating part of the book. It is implied that she was saved by Sarah, but if that was the case, why was Ellie "dead" for the whole week?

I guessed who the culprit was, but only towards the end, so it wasn't glaringly obvious. But it did feel rushed and not well thought out at all. A lot of the characters and their relationships with each other were not explored properly, even though there was more than enough time to do it, and there was a whole lot of unnecessary high school drama.

This book could have been improved by cutting out huge chunks in the middle, explaining the murderer's motives better and keeping

Spoiler

Ellie dead

2.5

It was okay, a fast-paced book with interesting ideas. I'd give it more stars but nothing really happened, the characters lacked depth and I was kind of suspecting where it was going from early on.

Overall, an entertaining read with a non-so-surprising end.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review before its release.

This was my first book by Kerry Wilkinson, and I am impressed. I could not put this book down, and when I did all I could do was think of when I could pick it up again.
This book is a psychological thriller which I love but truthfully don't read much of. I loved everything in this book, premise, characters, settings, twists and turns.
Every time i thought I had this book figured out a twist or turn would be added to throw me off track. It kept me on my toes the whole time I was reading it.
This book has been added to my 2018 Top 10, not sure what place yet but will update when I get my list made up.
If you would like to hear all my thoughts on this book go check out my spoiler free review on my blog page.