Sylvie Young is a psychic medium (more or less, that's about the title that sums it up) on the brink of TV stardom, when she's confronted by Thomas Holmes, a reporter looking to expose "grief vampires" like herself. Thomas lost his father and brother at an early age and his mother has been chasing psychics ever since, so he's got A Personal Grudge against this shit. He's already investigated some frauds, but he can't find anything on Sylvie's childhood before her adoption, and he smells a rat. Sylvie's already heading to their mutual home state of Oregon for a gig, and Thomas insists on tagging along, confiscating her electronics so she can't look anyone up, and investigating her past. Sylvie agrees to this.
It's pretty clear from Sylvie's POV that her powers are odd and legitimate--even if yes, her agent is providing her with information found online (hence the title: she knows some things the usual way, but also, "some of it is real."). She can't explain how she knows how she knows or gets the messages that she gets, but the more time Thomas spends with her, the more you gotta believe. Sylvie's past has been VERY hidden from her for some good, dark reasons, and eventually finding out the truth helps explain a lot. Sylvie and Thomas also become closer, despite the weirdnesses, and overall, the novel works very well and is very sweet and eerie and heartbreaking and heart-healing, all at once.
Four stars.
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