Once and twice and thrice around,
Put your heart into the ground.
Four and five and six tears shed,
Give your love unto the dead.
Seven shadows on the wall,
Eight have come to watch your fall:
One's for the gargoyle, one's for the grave,
And the last is for the one you'll never save.
I love these rhymes that Seanan McGuire puts into her stories.
While the first book about Rose Marshall was mostly a bunch of stories tied together, this book is one continuous story. It definitely helps if you have read the first book, though, because this story assumes you have some familiarity with some characters and some of the worldbuilding/lore. Rose has been 16 ever since Bobby Cross ran her off the road, leaving her to become a hitchhiking ghost. She's the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown. And she's done a good job of steering clear from Bobby ever since. However, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won't let him die, and a vendetta deep as the ocean, Bobby is out to get Rose and make her pay for eluding him the first time. When he catches up with her, it's only a matter of time before he kills Rose completely . . . unless she can find a way to outwit him.
Rose is an interesting character and the way that McGuire weaves together ghost lore and stories here, it makes for a good story. There are layers of story, so it's not just a "bad guy trying to find the girl" story, but a story about love, loss, and finding your way back home again (even if that home is in the twilight because you're dead).
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