Hollis Brown is trapped in the small town where he was born and, after decades of blue-collar work, will most likely die. When he's not fighting his classmates to feel something, he's spending time with the only two friends he has, Annie and Yulia, who are far too cool to be hanging out with him, but he's not going to complain. All in all, life is listless and a bit lonely. But everything changes for Hollis when he stumbles upon a stranger - a boy - in the woods one night. Tricked into an agreement he didn't fully understand, Hollis finds himself sharing his body with a spirit, and Walt, not Hollis, is holding the reigns. 

I had absolutely no expectations going into this novel, but was drawn in by the cover art and the horror vibes, and while horror this is, it's also one of the most beautiful romances I've read the year. Hollis Brown is such a wonderfully written character and I wanted nothing more than to give him a hug. On the surface he's a boy with anger issues, but over the course of the novel is becomes clear that he's really just scared. Hollis knows that when he and his classmates graduate high school, his friends are going to leave for college and he's going to be stuck in the same town forever. Absolutely valid fears for a teenager! This made the introduction of Walt so interesting to me, because suddenly Hollis is no longer alone, in fact he's sharing his space with someone 24/7 with no where to hide. 

The dynamic between Walt and Hollis was so fun to watch as it evolved, and I think it said a lot about both of them as characters. Walt was very aware of the position he puts his "hosts" in, and Hollis came to understand that sharing space - as well as his thoughts and feelings - with others isn't as bad as he always believed. Anyway, I don't want to spoil the whole thing, so I'm going to stop talking about them now and let you discover the magic on your own.

I've never read anything by K. Ancrum before, but now I'm absolutely going to delve into the rest of their works. Their writing in this novel is beautiful, well paced, and overflowing with emotion. It captivated me from page 1, and I tore through all 300+ pages in only a few hours. The friendships were so heartwarming and the relationship between Hollis and Walt lives in my head rent free. For both horror and romance lovers alike, I urge you to give this book a try. It's not quite what you'd expect for either genre traditionally, but it's without a doubt one of my favorite reads this year.