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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have several unanswered questions, and the ending was kinda dumb. Good twists though. Not one but TWO secret sisters!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A true successor to The Haunting of Hill House in that it is both about women and very gay.
The dream house as a metaphor for generational trauma and the ghosts chained to us (yes, there’s the bare bones of the story using the format of a chapter title from In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado - you’re welcome)
I think this book tried to carry too much. I was all in on the present day storyline right from the very beginning (apparitions vomiting dirt onto the table in the middle of the will reading?? Yes please!) but it took a long time to build up the past, and I found myself profoundly losing interest from 20-55% until things turned sinister (and gay!)
Since the story does focus heavily on generational trauma, I think we should have done more with Richard’s past and his family. Even though it’s thematically appropriate and gives us a great excuse for more ghosts, it wasn’t prevalent enough.
Loved the descriptions of the crumbling manse, though I think we saw a lot less of that in practice. Like we’d get the initial plan of the camera to drink it all in, but no one was stepping gingerly over cracked and sagging floorboards, only hallucinating vines and dirt and blood and ghosts.
I also had a really hard time buying into the Madeline/Nora dynamic with as little as they interacted and as sort of a time frame and their families’ complicated history.
{Thank you Avid Reader Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review}
I think this book tried to carry too much. I was all in on the present day storyline right from the very beginning (apparitions vomiting dirt onto the table in the middle of the will reading?? Yes please!) but it took a long time to build up the past, and I found myself profoundly losing interest from 20-55% until things turned sinister (and gay!)
Since the story does focus heavily on generational trauma, I think we should have done more with Richard’s past and his family. Even though it’s thematically appropriate and gives us a great excuse for more ghosts, it wasn’t prevalent enough.
Loved the descriptions of the crumbling manse, though I think we saw a lot less of that in practice. Like we’d get the initial plan of the camera to drink it all in, but no one was stepping gingerly over cracked and sagging floorboards, only hallucinating vines and dirt and blood and ghosts.
I also had a really hard time buying into the Madeline/Nora dynamic with as little as they interacted and as sort of a time frame and their families’ complicated history.
{Thank you Avid Reader Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review}
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thank you to Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley for the digital arc.
Too many plot points and characters take the reader from discrimination suffered by Chinese immigrants to sibling rivalry, and feuding families. Most of the action is set in and around a decaying Hollywood mansion, which is inhabited by ghosts, murderous plants, and a lot of dirt. So, was the genre mystery? Horror? Historical Fiction? Mystery? It had elements of all of them, but maybe it was too much to pull the story together.
Too many plot points and characters take the reader from discrimination suffered by Chinese immigrants to sibling rivalry, and feuding families. Most of the action is set in and around a decaying Hollywood mansion, which is inhabited by ghosts, murderous plants, and a lot of dirt. So, was the genre mystery? Horror? Historical Fiction? Mystery? It had elements of all of them, but maybe it was too much to pull the story together.