This book started out really strong, Starla is headed back to her campy, rundown old town after spiralling into debt in Toronto. Back home, she’s not out, she’s back to living with her mother, and prospects are slim. But things start looking up when she has a hot and heavy encounter with her ex-classmate Tamara, now working as a stripper, and she bags a job as a night guard at the campsite. I knew the supernatural was going to play a part in this book from the get go, but I preferred all the normal, every day stuff. I didn’t mind the ghost when she arrived, but it was like I could take her or leave her. 

The novel’s strongest aspects are really with the characters’ real life issues. It gets really dark so prepare yourself - there’s child sexual abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, domestic abuse, institutional racism against Indigenous characters. It’s a lot, but I think Amber Dawn treats all the topics with sensitivity, while not shying away from the very real and very serious consequences. 

Definitely feels like a novel of two halves, one of which I preferred to the other.