This book was so hard to rate! I couldn't decide if I should rate it on pure quality/sense or on my personal enjoyment (which was surprisingly plentiful). Then there's the fact that its a ghost story (I was not aware of this fact when I purchased it) and I hate most ghost stories... Only, the ghosty stuff wasn't particularly demonic -- more like an old episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark. Also, weirdly enough I think I may have a teensy literary crush on the ghost. 
 Story and character wise this book is excellent. I cared about the characters, dead and alive (all except Jaxon, whose only characterization was literally "he's super nice"; he has no other defining qualities), and the plot kept me guessing almost till the very end. 
 There are a few problems with this book, though. Certain bits (while they were mostly addressed and tied up by the end) just felt underdeveloped. For instance we get a brief mention of one of the Descendants not liking their family, then its never explained. 
 And I didn't fully get why Elijah and Abigail's spirits were never able to meet after they were both dead. Was that part of the curse? Ann somehow preventing their sibling love even in death? 
 Also, the little romance with Jaxon? Yeah, lame. He has no personality and he and Sam have no chemistry. I wanted to clap when I read the part where Elijah basically trolled Jaxon's dumb bum with the line about how he was declaring his feelings for Sam while poor Sam was clearly distressed/in danger. So, I'm obviously team Elijah if you haven't guessed... 
 Also the ending while still GOOD was just not executed right. It felt like there should've been another draft before publication. 
 All that said, I really enjoyed this, plotholes and all. The history is cool, too, and I love the fact that it is written by an actual Mather! The authors note alone almost pushed my rating up to five stars. Favorites!