Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Overall: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Disability Rep: 5/5

A special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.

Chronic illness & disability rep! And #ownvoices at that! I was so excited to read this book—and it did not disappoint!
I’ve been reading (and watching) a handful of podcast-based mysteries/thrillers lately, and I’m loving this new trope. I could never listen to a true crime podcast (I like my mysteries and thrillers fully fictional) but reading about made up ones is quickly becoming a favorite. Our main character, Dare, is a disabled, queer, blue-haired badass who is starting her own ghost hunting podcast after breaking up with her boyfriend and podcast partner. The scene of this adventure? The Arrington estate, a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of nowhere that was the site of the suspicious drowning of Atheleen Bell a few decades back. Now, Dare might be a ghost hunter… but she doesn’t actually believe in ghosts. But something happened to Atheleen on this estate, and Dare is determined to figure out what.

The idea of a ghost hunter who doesn’t believe in ghosts was really interesting to me, especially in the way that Marsh writes it. Dare hunts ghosts, not because she believes in them, not to trick others into believing them for clout, and not even solely to disprove them. She hunts ghosts because she wants to find one, even if she doesn’t actually believe she will. Marsh masterfully expresses the way that chronic illness can force you to face your own mortality at a young age, and the ways that can change you. That added undercurrent to the story, and to Dare’s motivations, sets The Girls Are Never Gone apart from other paranormal mysteries and ghost hunting book. Especially for me, a disabled teen.

The mystery itself was great. It was definitely more on the thriller side of mystery, but in a way that was good for YA and not too scary for me (a certified wimp). More than a sense of whodunnit, the plot was driven by suspense and strange happenings, although, there was of course a mystery to be solved. There was no list of suspects or red yarn maps. I wasn’t focused on trying to figure out the perpetrator, I was simply along for the ride. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book, but if you’re looking for a traditional whodunnit mystery, you won’t find that here. There was some twists at the end that required some suspension of disbelief and kind of felt a little out of place to me, compared to the themes and tone of the plot prior, and that’s the main reason I didn’t rate the book 5 stars. However, it wasn’t a severely whip-lashy, just a little bit “meh”.

The only other “complaint” was Waffles (and I put that in quotes because I’m not sure how I feel and also, I’m not a service dog owner/handler). Now, I loved Waffles as a character and, like, a dog. But as service dog representation I felt like he perpetuated some pretty damn harmful stereotypes. Waffles was bad at his job. It’s acknowledged in the text, like, immediately. Dare brought him because he’s her dog, but basically admits that he isn’t actually all that helpful when it comes to alerting her about low blood sugar. In fact, if Waffles were a real service dog… well. He wouldn’t be. He has an accident, he doesn’t come when called or listen to commands, he runs off whenever he feels like it, and he doesn’t even reliably alert. He wouldn’t have passed the certification process to become a SD.
Having Waffles in the story, written the way he was, adds to the idea that service dogs are just pets that can do some extra tricks. Which is not true at all. Service dogs are medical equipment (and pets, of course). They are necessary to the lives of their handlers, and they are well trained, highly specialized, and unobtrusive when they are on the job. Not any dog can be a service dog, and many people and establishments are already unhappy to allow service dogs in because they think they’ll have an accident, or run off, or get in the way—which are all behaviors that Waffles exhibits—but a real service dog wouldn’t do any of those things, and the idea that they’re “just regular pets that people get certified so they can take them places” is an incredibly harmful (not to mention ableist) mindset that Waffle’s portrayal only adds to.
Now, Waffles could have been a regular pet who had been taught to alert at home. He could have played the exact roles he did without using the title “service dog” and simply specified that he wasn’t a real service dog, and there wouldn’t have been an issue. It’s just quite harmful to call Waffles a service dog, when, in reality, he would never have been able to become a service dog, and therefore giving the idea of service dogs a bad name.

All in all,
chronic illness rep? Incredible. Perfection. Spectacular.
The plot, story, romance, etc? Amazing. Enticing. Must read.
Waffles as a service dog? No. Just no.
Regardless, I really hope you read and love this book, just please keep in mind that Waffles is NOT good service dog rep.