This post is sponsored by Penguin Books UK.
We are back again with another Penguin Platform book club read-along. For those who are new, each month Penguin Platform picks a title from their newest releases. We then get to discuss all the spoilers with fellow readers on Discord and then ask the author all the questions we want in a Penguin Platform livestream. In March, we read Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray, a thrilling fantasy novel based on Pan-African mythology. Last month, we read Man Down by James Goodhand, an important tale addressing toxic masculinity.
This month, we are reading Ghosted by Emily Barr. In this story, Ariel and Joe meet randomly but feel a strong connection nonetheless. They exchange numbers and agree to meet when Joe is back from a trip to France. However when Ariel messages him, the number Joe gave her is disconnected. He’s ghosted her (the title is starting to make sense, eh?). Bummed, she assumes she will never see him again.
Except she does. Again and again.
Ariel returns to the place she and Joe met, and is stunned to find him there, not in France as he said he’d be, and behaving as if he has no idea who she is…
If you are still unsure, here are 3 reasons why you should pick Ghosted up:
- The title just makes sense.
Many books have good titles, but not all of them are great. Ghosted is just such a clever and perfect title. If a stranger asks you what you are reading, it would be very easy for you to explain the whole premise and why Ghosted is called Ghosted(, unlike the time I have to explain The Hunger Games but that’s another story). - The characters are very witty.
In the acknowledgement notes, Emily mentioned that she felt grateful that the book was set in 2019 as it would be hard to imagine how they can ever meet each other under lockdown. How witty is that! You can imagine how well this translates into the characters. - Emily Barr’s writing is very captivating.
As you can tell from the premise, this is very much a Groundhog Day situation. However, in each edition, Emily changes the description a little bit such that it never gets repetitive.
Grab a copy of Ghosted and join in all the fun! The livestream will be held on May 31 (Tue) at 7pm on Penguin Platform’s YouTube channel.
