Reviews

The Cottage by Lisa Stone

Only show reviews with written explanations

mike_nz's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Oh dear lord. One of the most ludicrous plots I've read in a very, very long time. Avoid.

mash369's review

Go to review page

1.0

this should be negative stars. If I DNF books this would be one of them.

foxyocean's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Holy s***… I didn’t expect this book being so good as it was.
Everything was connected in the most perfect way. Plot was interesting (bit icky but sadly inspired by real life), characters were lovable. And the ending really got me. I expected the worst so I was relieved 😮‍💨

laylathereader_38's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

starsandvellum's review

Go to review page

2.0

2.5 Stars

I'm going to start off by saying, I don't think I'm the target audience for this book.

I went into The Cottage thinking it was a horror, which is more on me I suppose, although it made for a major letdown at the end. There is no real climax or tension. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. And repeat, repeat, repeat until the end.

Ian is possibly the most dislikeable character I have ever read, he's a grown child for the majority of this book. Jan, while irritating, is not the worst and I could look past a lot of her decisions, but Ian... UGH!!! To be fair, I think the only character I actually liked was Camile.

The story had a LOT of promise but was let down severely by underwhelming writing and lackluster characters. There was a lot of "Jan made coffee, and then got dressed, and then poured coffee, and then sipped the coffee", it read like filler. What's more frustrating is the parts that were integral to the story, like the knocks on the window, were gone in an instant. The mundane parts that really needed no explanation were overexplained to death, yet the important parts were barely more than a couple of pages at a time.

The dialogue is not it for me either. It feels so forced, I struggle to believe people actually talk like that...

And the plothole that is bugging me.

Spoiler

Anne says she only lets the children out at night when no one is around. Yet when Jan walks to the shop, it is daytime and she still sees something. That is never explained

I did really like the story,

Spoiler

the whole fertility clinic and feral incest babies thing was interesting

and I did find myself WANTING to read it to see how it played out. However, the writing was just so poor that I felt so let down.

This was my first book by Lisa Stone and I don't think I will pick up another one.