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hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Second book I’ve read with a character having prosopagnosia! I find it very interesting but this one was predictable and a bit boring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy
Minor: Vomit, Child abuse, and Death of parent
haileymundell's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Vomit
rinku's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn’t know what to expect of The Resting Place but in the end, I enjoyed it more than I think I would, so I gave it 3.5 stars. What was great about this novel was its main character and the atmosphere, but the story itself had some cliché and predictable moments and didn’t develop the side characters as much.
The story follows Eleanor who witnessed the murder of her grandma Vivianne with whom she’s grown up with. Together with her boyfriend, her aunt, and Vivianne’s lawyer, they go to the summer house of her grandma to estimate the value of the house. Strange things happen there, and Eleanor starts to find out that her family has a dark secret that happened at this place. To uncover this secret, there’s another POV from the past told. The POVs were changed in a good pace so that there’s always some tension. What I liked as well was how creepy and atmospheric this book was right from the beginning. This atmosphere only intensified since you can’t be sure which characters Eleanor can trust and which don’t.
Some moments in this novel were so cliché though that I rolled my eyes. Of course, a snowstorm comes, leaving the characters trapped. If this wasn’t enough, mobile phones weren’t useable anymore, there was no electricity, the car was dead, and the road blocked – this was a bit tiring. It also annoyed me how no one never believed the main character anything. I could guess other things as well and I don’t know if it speaks for the story or if it doesn’t: It was quite obvious that the lawyer wasn’t a real one or that Annuschka had an affair with Vivianne’s husband and was Eleanor’s real grandma . Still, the general mystery was interesting and engaging.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending and it’s probably the reason why I couldn’t give a full four-star rating: The reveal that Carina, Eleanor’s therapist and Marit’s daughter, was the murderer just came out of the blue and was a classic case of the murderer telling how the murder went down before wanting to kill everyone involved. I’m not sure what to think about the twist that Vivianne shot Marit instead of Annuschka. In comparison, I liked the twist that Annuschka became Vivianne, even though I guessed it from the beginning. When we got Annuschka’s POV for the first time, I actually though that it was Vivianne’s POV .
Eleanor was a nice main character for the story, and I found it interesting that she has face blindness. Some aspects of her character were a bit cliché, but her struggles and her trauma because of Vivianne’s death were still depicted quite well. The other characters were a bit stereotypical for the role they had in the story; for example, Sebastian was the useless boyfriend that never believes Eleanor anything and doesn’t help her.
All in all, The Resting Place was an atmospheric and interesting autumn read but probably nothing that will stick with me for too long.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Infidelity, Vomit, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicide
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Car accident
thrillofthepage's review against another edition
dark
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Sten’s 2021 release, The Lost Village, was a great read with a creepy atmosphere and dual timelines that were impeccably crafted. The Resting Place also created a spooky atmosphere with the isolated Solhöga mansion in the Swedish woods. The house itself gave me goosebumps because of its dark and mysterious history. It was the perfect backdrop for sinister events to unfold and Sten described it with just enough detail and left the rest to the reader’s imagination.
Our MC, Eleanor, suffers from prosopagnosia, which is better known as face blindness. This condition added an ominous feel to an already disturbing experience for Eleanor because she’s unable to identify who killed her grandmother. This causes severe anxiety for our protagonist, which leads us to doubt what she claims to see at Solhöga.
I loved the dual timelines and multi-POVs in this book. It was interesting to see the past revealed alongside the present period. I honestly didn’t guess the culprit and that made this a winning read!
As I said in my stories last week, this book is similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney. The MCs each had face blindness and were in wintry, remote locations. However, The Resting Place had a more propulsive plot that had me rapidly turning pages.
Thanks to Minotaur for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Our MC, Eleanor, suffers from prosopagnosia, which is better known as face blindness. This condition added an ominous feel to an already disturbing experience for Eleanor because she’s unable to identify who killed her grandmother. This causes severe anxiety for our protagonist, which leads us to doubt what she claims to see at Solhöga.
I loved the dual timelines and multi-POVs in this book. It was interesting to see the past revealed alongside the present period. I honestly didn’t guess the culprit and that made this a winning read!
As I said in my stories last week, this book is similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney. The MCs each had face blindness and were in wintry, remote locations. However, The Resting Place had a more propulsive plot that had me rapidly turning pages.
Thanks to Minotaur for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide
Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Car accident, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Violence
bohemianrhapsodyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I JUST finished reading this book AND this book is literally THE BEST book I have ever read in my entire life. It is going to be nearly impossible to top this one, come equal to, or even come close to its excellence and perfection. Well done, @wednesdaysten (Instagram) and thank you for this honorable experience.
My favorite character was the main character Eleanor because she was the most compassionate, honest, and understanding. My least favorite character was Vivianne because I found her to be the villain in the story.
My favorite line in the story: “As though everything that happened here, everything we still don’t know, has seeped into the walls and taken hold like mold, growing and expanding over the many long, quiet years, clawing its bony fingers behind the wallpapers and under the floorboards. It doesn’t want to let go of us. It wants to squeeze the life from our very bodies.”
Reoccurring themes were death, murder, grief, loss of parents, loss of family, and sadness. I think that these themes signified a part of the human condition and what this family had to go through in this story.
The strongest elements of this book were the character and plot development, the twists that were totally unexpected, the descriptions of the setting, the conveying of feelings and personality, and the ending. Plus I love the cover and title, too!!
The only weak element is I wish it were longer :)
My favorite character was the main character Eleanor because she was the most compassionate, honest, and understanding. My least favorite character was Vivianne because I found her to be the villain in the story.
My favorite line in the story: “As though everything that happened here, everything we still don’t know, has seeped into the walls and taken hold like mold, growing and expanding over the many long, quiet years, clawing its bony fingers behind the wallpapers and under the floorboards. It doesn’t want to let go of us. It wants to squeeze the life from our very bodies.”
Reoccurring themes were death, murder, grief, loss of parents, loss of family, and sadness. I think that these themes signified a part of the human condition and what this family had to go through in this story.
The strongest elements of this book were the character and plot development, the twists that were totally unexpected, the descriptions of the setting, the conveying of feelings and personality, and the ending. Plus I love the cover and title, too!!
The only weak element is I wish it were longer :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, and Vomit
nonbinaryreading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Abandonment, Grief, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Gore
Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, and Car accident
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