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dowryofbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
To anyone still looking for spooky books to pick up— this book is the (and I can’t stress this enough) PERFECT atmospheric read for October.
Despite my average rating, I am so glad I finally decided to try one of Katrina Leno's works, because her writing is fantastic.
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This story opens with our teen protagonist Jane and her mother Ruth moving from California to small town Maine after the sudden death of Jane’s dad and Ruth’s husband. Ruth’s old family home is a gothic mansion everyone in the town refers to as North Manor. Shortly after living in North Manor, Jane starts to realize that something isn’t right. Her mom and the townspeople all seem to know something she doesn’t about the house and Ruth’s past. On top of that, strange things begin to happen inside the house that only Jane seems to be seeing.
The book leaves us guessing up until the end, are the things Jane is going through a manifestation of her grief, mental illness, or something more...horrid?
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I’d say much of this book is a slow burn, but it’s very atmospheric. I was just taking my time with this and enjoying the beautiful, descriptive writing. I wanna talk about the things I really enjoyed before I get to the one thing I didn’t.
Ruth and Jane’s relationship. Especially towards the beginning, the cute banter they had with each other. I really love a sweet mother/daughter relationship. I also enjoyed Jane’s relationships with Alana and Susie. I loved the setting and for the thousandth time—the atmosphere!! It didn’t feel fall to me until I read this book.
One of my favorite things were all the things this book had to say about grief and anger. Jane's struggle with both made her such an interesting character to me.
Small towns are also some of my favorite settings in books so this really ticked all my boxes. The first 80 ish percent is amazing. My issues were with the ending.
The way this was written was just SO good. I thought everything in this book was going to build up to something much more climactic. Which is why the ending was so disappointing for me. I can’t say much without spoilers but the ending definitely needed to be more fleshed out in my opinion. It felt too abrupt and I don’t understand the author's purpose for ending it the way she did. I honestly can’t make any sense of it. I have so many questions!!!
Ambiguous endings are usually a hit or miss for me and this one was unfortunately a miss. I’m so disappointed, because I loved the rest of this book so much. If you’re the same way about endings, you may love the ending. I would still highly recommend this to anyone if the premise sounds interesting to you and you’re a fan of YA horror.
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Recommend if you’re looking for:
- An autumnal/spooky read to get in the spooky season spirit (seriously the atmosphere in this is 10/10- theres a halloween dance!)
- Gothic (possibly haunted?) house setting
- Small town vibes
- Agatha christie vibes
- A nice mother/daughter relationship
- Themes of grief and genetic mental illness (i.e. anger and an eating disorder)
TW: the eating disorder is specifically pica.
To anyone still looking for spooky books to pick up— this book is the (and I can’t stress this enough) PERFECT atmospheric read for October.
Despite my average rating, I am so glad I finally decided to try one of Katrina Leno's works, because her writing is fantastic.
————————
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
This story opens with our teen protagonist Jane and her mother Ruth moving from California to small town Maine after the sudden death of Jane’s dad and Ruth’s husband. Ruth’s old family home is a gothic mansion everyone in the town refers to as North Manor. Shortly after living in North Manor, Jane starts to realize that something isn’t right. Her mom and the townspeople all seem to know something she doesn’t about the house and Ruth’s past. On top of that, strange things begin to happen inside the house that only Jane seems to be seeing.
The book leaves us guessing up until the end, are the things Jane is going through a manifestation of her grief, mental illness, or something more...horrid?
————————
I’d say much of this book is a slow burn, but it’s very atmospheric. I was just taking my time with this and enjoying the beautiful, descriptive writing. I wanna talk about the things I really enjoyed before I get to the one thing I didn’t.
Ruth and Jane’s relationship. Especially towards the beginning, the cute banter they had with each other. I really love a sweet mother/daughter relationship. I also enjoyed Jane’s relationships with Alana and Susie. I loved the setting and for the thousandth time—the atmosphere!! It didn’t feel fall to me until I read this book.
One of my favorite things were all the things this book had to say about grief and anger. Jane's struggle with both made her such an interesting character to me.
"Grief doesn't have a rule book. You're allowed to feel every emotion under the sun. You're even allowed to invent new ones."
Small towns are also some of my favorite settings in books so this really ticked all my boxes. The first 80 ish percent is amazing. My issues were with the ending.
The way this was written was just SO good. I thought everything in this book was going to build up to something much more climactic. Which is why the ending was so disappointing for me. I can’t say much without spoilers but the ending definitely needed to be more fleshed out in my opinion. It felt too abrupt and I don’t understand the author's purpose for ending it the way she did. I honestly can’t make any sense of it. I have so many questions!!!
Ambiguous endings are usually a hit or miss for me and this one was unfortunately a miss. I’m so disappointed, because I loved the rest of this book so much. If you’re the same way about endings, you may love the ending. I would still highly recommend this to anyone if the premise sounds interesting to you and you’re a fan of YA horror.
————————
Recommend if you’re looking for:
- An autumnal/spooky read to get in the spooky season spirit (seriously the atmosphere in this is 10/10- theres a halloween dance!)
- Gothic (possibly haunted?) house setting
- Small town vibes
- Agatha christie vibes
- A nice mother/daughter relationship
- Themes of grief and genetic mental illness (i.e. anger and an eating disorder)
TW: the eating disorder is specifically pica.
honnari_hannya's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars
Generally don't think YA horror is super effective, but this was one of the most effective I've read yet. For fans that enjoyed the mystery of Rory Power's BURN OUR BODIES DOWN, the protagonists of books like SADIE by Courtney Summers and THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES by Mindy McGinnis, or just the general vibe of Gillian Flynn's SHARP OBJECTS but age-appropriate for an older teen.
The story begins with Jane and her mother, Ruth, leaving sun-soaked California for the bitter cold of Maine after Greer (husband, father, and general impulse-control of the family) dies suddenly. They end up in Ruth's family home, which has been abandoned since Jane's grandmother passed away; Ruth has never been back since she left two decades ago, and Jane has never set foot in her mother's home town. As with all large, creepy houses, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen as dark family secrets slowly get unravelled.
Pros:
- The creepy house is very creepy. I will say that Leno has a very good instinct for writing dread, which absolutely works in her favor when she leans into the horror aspect of this story.
- Jane is such an unlikeable girl and I love that for her. I am always saying that there should be more unlikeable girls—and unlikeable in a not pretty or endearing way—in YA fiction. She is petty, easily angered, kind of standoffish; honestly one of the most believable teenagers I've read in a long while.
- Did I mention creepy house? Well, there are also creepy children.
Cons: To be honest, these are mostly personal pet peeves that other people might not care about but kept me from giving this a 4 star rating.
- The flirting is so cringy... I guess it's believably cringy? I don't know, it wouldn't kill authors to just not have a love interest.
- Leno has a tendency to overemphasize things that she has already made a point of. Whether it's repeating certain phrases, or stating someone's quirks again and again and again. It gets a little bit tiring and I sometimes glazed over it. I felt like if her editor had just cut out those parts, it would take off at least a third of the page count.
- The repetitiveness also had the effect of distancing me from Jane's emotions at times. We kept getting the same phrases and it never felt like her character got much development; her grief was present, but it was flat, which made me less interested overall in her as a character although I still think she counts as a pro of this book.
- A personal thing, but there is something about Leno's writing that I just don't get on with even though I love her ideas. There is always something a little bit off about her pacing for me—its a slow build, which I don't mind and even prefer, but it feels drawn out for no reason for at least half the book. However, I did think the pay off at the end was so much better than the only other book I read from her, which was [b:You Must Not Miss|38446644|You Must Not Miss|Katrina Leno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533654006l/38446644._SY75_.jpg|60073699], and she has the potential to become a favorite if only she just pushes her stories just a little bit more to the side of horror. I can tell she wants to.
Mixed feelings on this, but I would definitely pick up another Katrina Leno book if she writes another horror.
Generally don't think YA horror is super effective, but this was one of the most effective I've read yet. For fans that enjoyed the mystery of Rory Power's BURN OUR BODIES DOWN, the protagonists of books like SADIE by Courtney Summers and THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES by Mindy McGinnis, or just the general vibe of Gillian Flynn's SHARP OBJECTS but age-appropriate for an older teen.
The story begins with Jane and her mother, Ruth, leaving sun-soaked California for the bitter cold of Maine after Greer (husband, father, and general impulse-control of the family) dies suddenly. They end up in Ruth's family home, which has been abandoned since Jane's grandmother passed away; Ruth has never been back since she left two decades ago, and Jane has never set foot in her mother's home town. As with all large, creepy houses, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen as dark family secrets slowly get unravelled.
Pros:
- The creepy house is very creepy. I will say that Leno has a very good instinct for writing dread, which absolutely works in her favor when she leans into the horror aspect of this story.
- Jane is such an unlikeable girl and I love that for her. I am always saying that there should be more unlikeable girls—and unlikeable in a not pretty or endearing way—in YA fiction. She is petty, easily angered, kind of standoffish; honestly one of the most believable teenagers I've read in a long while.
- Did I mention creepy house? Well, there are also creepy children.
Cons: To be honest, these are mostly personal pet peeves that other people might not care about but kept me from giving this a 4 star rating.
- The flirting is so cringy... I guess it's believably cringy? I don't know, it wouldn't kill authors to just not have a love interest.
- Leno has a tendency to overemphasize things that she has already made a point of. Whether it's repeating certain phrases, or stating someone's quirks again and again and again. It gets a little bit tiring and I sometimes glazed over it. I felt like if her editor had just cut out those parts, it would take off at least a third of the page count.
- The repetitiveness also had the effect of distancing me from Jane's emotions at times. We kept getting the same phrases and it never felt like her character got much development; her grief was present, but it was flat, which made me less interested overall in her as a character although I still think she counts as a pro of this book.
- A personal thing, but there is something about Leno's writing that I just don't get on with even though I love her ideas. There is always something a little bit off about her pacing for me—its a slow build, which I don't mind and even prefer, but it feels drawn out for no reason for at least half the book. However, I did think the pay off at the end was so much better than the only other book I read from her, which was [b:You Must Not Miss|38446644|You Must Not Miss|Katrina Leno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533654006l/38446644._SY75_.jpg|60073699], and she has the potential to become a favorite if only she just pushes her stories just a little bit more to the side of horror. I can tell she wants to.
Mixed feelings on this, but I would definitely pick up another Katrina Leno book if she writes another horror.
l0ss's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
2.0
Nothing really interesting happened in this book until the last chapter…just a lot of hints at a great mystery instead of actually being a great mystery book.
miss_majuu's review against another edition
4.5
Ohhhh shiiiit
What an ending! What an atmosphere! What a book!
What an ending! What an atmosphere! What a book!
purplepaste's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
lavdisy's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
First of all, hello?!! what is going on with the ending? I'm totally stunned and left wondering about everything. I think if you were to ask me what a good unhinged ending would be for me, this is one of them. The plot starts with that great opening line, then a house full of mystery and haunted, and the main characters with their weird behavior were something I found very interesting in this book. I really liked how every secret was uncovered along Jane's journey, and how she experienced creepy encounters in her house. Also, the connection to another character was something I didn't expect. Although there were many things I liked about this book, I think it would have been better with longer pages and deeper explanations of some characters, especially about their past. Even so, I enjoyed it. As the title suggests "horrid", yeah, it definitely was a horrid experience reading this.
hgmcghee19's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this in one sitting. I couldn’t stop. It was so good. The ending is a little disappointing and leaves you with questions. Well it left me with questions. Definitely will pick up more from her.
harleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
I have no words for this book. It was a crazy rollercoaster ride. I’m still a little shocked by some of this.
I found this to be an incredibly fast paced and gripping book that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Unfortunately though I wasn’t a fan of the ending, it just felt like there should have been more.
I found this to be an incredibly fast paced and gripping book that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Unfortunately though I wasn’t a fan of the ending, it just felt like there should have been more.
linnaboobooks's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars.
The shortest review I can give this is: What the fuck.
The shortest review I can give this is: What the fuck.