Title: The Uninvited
Author: Cat Winters
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (HarperCollins)
Release Date: August 11, 2015
Acquired Via: TLC Book Tours
Twenty-five-year-old Ivy Rowan rises from her sickbed after being struck by the great influenza epidemic of 1918, only to discover that the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.
But Ivy's lifelong gift—or curse—remains. She sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked for and unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918, Ivy sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother's chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death in the Great War of Ivy's other brother, Billy.
Horrified, she leaves home and soon realizes that the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for today, because they could be stricken by nightfall. She even enters into a relationship with the murdered German man's brother, Daniel Schendel. But as her "uninvited guests" begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once again, and terrifying secrets will unfold.
My Review
I know I've said before that I tend to avoid American historical fiction when I'm choosing my reading materials, but I had no problem with picking up The Uninvited by Cat Winters because I enjoyed her writing in her debut, In the Shadow of Blackbirds. The writing in The Uninvited was just as good, if not better, because putting the book down and doing other things (like work) made me pretty angry.