Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

31 reviews

skyestorme's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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

Do I like horror now??
But also I hate how they described a woman as “Asian” rather than giving her an ethnicity.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm

justaddwater's review

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The first 100 or so pages felt extremely slow, a lot of annoyingness I find common in Grady Hendrix novels. However, after that it ramped up and just kept getting better. As an avid horror lover, it’s been a while since a book kept me up at night, but I couldn’t get the image of

Pupkins pointed hat sticking up over the end of the bed

out of my head. Also felt like the theme of accepting death and teaching children about death was handled very well, with obvious emphasis and mirrors without being heavy handed. 
 If you can make it through the beginning, it definitely worth the read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

annieisawesome's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Very good. Parts of it were predictable, but there were enough surprises that it was still interesting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Torture, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

kailynpaig's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

queersubtext's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident and Abandonment

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

sshpurple1's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

stardustvein's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Abandonment

bookcheshirecat's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

“I’ll come right out and say it,” Mercy told them. “Strange noises, bad vibes, your mom and dad recently passed— Your house is haunted and I’m not selling it until you deal with that.” 

➽ How to Sell a Haunted House was my first Grady Hendrix book! It's about Louise who has to go back to her home town and sell her childhood home after her parents died in an accident. She's not thrilled to be working with her lazy, irresponsible brother Mark and is creeped out by all the dolls her mum kept. What I liked most about the book was the Horror element. There's something unsettling about the house, as it gives off such bad energy. The dolls and puppets are genuinely creepy. I'm not afraid of dolls, but the book did a great job of making them as sinister as possible. There's also a doll called Punkin who used to be the mother's favorite. The audiobook narrator had such a creepy voice for it!

➽ The reason this book didn't 100% work for me was Mark and the sibling dynamic. I have to admit that Mark's behavior drove me up a wall. Louise has her faults and can be a bit snobbish, but Mark isn't much better. He's very irresponsible and flighty, behaving more like a man-child than an actual adult. When he gets control over the house, he keeps bullying and gloating to Louise all the time. It was SO annoying. Their fights and arguments honestly made me glad that I don't have any siblings 🙈 I just found Mark incredibly unlikable and hated how much he enjoyed having power over Louise. We later get his POV but it was far too late and also didn't fit within the story at all.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

glutenfreemaggie's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

This book FR terrified me I almost didn’t keep reading but I’m glad I did it was fascinating 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail