Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

16 reviews

kshertz's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

What a weird wild ride? I guess that’s Grady’s specialty. It gets really twisted with dolls, clowns, and puppets. I almost threw up once. I had to put the book down a few times. Im very happy my house had none of these things. Read it if you want to be grossed out and horrified by puppets and dolls and clowns. I liked it but also, probably something i’m going to need to bring up in therapy next week🙃

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

nrogers_1030's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.25

Meh…
I usually love G.H.’s books, but not this one. Slow, mostly unlikeable characters, not scary… I could keep going, but it would be a moot point. I did have a soft spot for the great aunt. She reminded me of Roz from Monsters, Inc. His sense of humor helped the rating. I wouldn’t recommend this one, but I’ve enjoyed several of his others & have every intention of reading his next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This haunted house is filled with dolls, puppets, and even a stuffed squirrel Manger scene.  One of the puppets is the cause of all the weird stuff that happens.  Don't put the puppet on your hand!  Louise and her brother Mark have to deal with years of built up sibling resentment before they can start to unravel the family secrets and lies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

Do not read if you have a fear of clowns, puppets, or dolls.

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, I could not put this book down. How to Sell a Haunted House follows Louise as she returns home following the sudden death of her parents, only to find herself feeling frustrated by her brother Mark who has already taken control of all of the funeral arrangements and she's not happy. The entire book is about grief and family, and just happens to include a haunted house as its backdrop, although this one is not exactly as you would expect. And I will say no more because the way this story unwinds is so good. As I said, could not put it down. All this did was remind me that I need to pick up his other books because this is the second time I have fallen in love with his writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

kkalicky94's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

fivecatsinacoat's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure what I expected going into this book, but boy was I wrong. Perfectly spooky and tense - Hendrix is fantastic at keeping the tension high. There was some very descriptive body horror

an eye injury, an incident with a power saw, and general "beating up"

, but it was not the whole book and was easy enough to skip if you don't like that. 

My only complaint is that the ending got a little silly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail