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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
DNF on this one. Felt like I got dropped into the middle of a horror movie with none of the requisite backstory. As the main character explored the house, it feels like the author tries to build suspense but it was ham handed and I just couldn't bring myself to care. Maybe there is a payoff if I keep reading, but I'll never know.
Eerie and atmospheric! I really liked this story a lot.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A job with no prospects, an apartment I’d have to leave soon regardless. I may not have chosen this path, but now that I’ve been placed on it, why shouldn’t I try to follow it?
Catching up on my 2024 reading challenge. I’ve selected a short read for #8 so I’m going to make it!
This was my Halloween/October read that I finished on Thanksgiving. 370+ pages is a hefty read for me.
I wanted to read more horror genre this year after finishing Stephen King’s "On Writing." I went with Gallows Hill because it has been on my to-read list for a couple of years, and the cover design chilled me. Plus, the setting of an old manor paired with a winery on the grounds.
Darcy Coates crafts a story with foreboding tension and nail-biting moments galore. She has a strong command of imagery and prose. A well-written novel with a delicious mash-up of two of the genre’s famed unnatural villains.
Coates did overwrite at times, especially with the similes, such that it diluted the impact of the ones that were clever. And as much as I love the word “cacophony,” that one was overused, so too with “darts.”
But I loved that the protagonist’s birthday was September 7 (Virgo hive rise!) and will definitely be reading another Coates’ novel in the future.
Catching up on my 2024 reading challenge. I’ve selected a short read for #8 so I’m going to make it!
This was my Halloween/October read that I finished on Thanksgiving. 370+ pages is a hefty read for me.
I wanted to read more horror genre this year after finishing Stephen King’s "On Writing." I went with Gallows Hill because it has been on my to-read list for a couple of years, and the cover design chilled me. Plus, the setting of an old manor paired with a winery on the grounds.
Darcy Coates crafts a story with foreboding tension and nail-biting moments galore. She has a strong command of imagery and prose. A well-written novel with a delicious mash-up of two of the genre’s famed unnatural villains.
Coates did overwrite at times, especially with the similes, such that it diluted the impact of the ones that were clever. And as much as I love the word “cacophony,” that one was overused, so too with “darts.”
But I loved that the protagonist’s birthday was September 7 (Virgo hive rise!) and will definitely be reading another Coates’ novel in the future.
This one was super spooky. First half moved a little slow but then suddenly jumps off the deep end. This was the second book I read by this author and I will be quick to read another. The author excels at building suspense to the point that I find myself holding my breath a lot.
dark
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:
No
Margot Hull returns to her childhood home, a prosperous winery called Gallows Hill, after her parents' sudden deaths. The locals whisper that the deaths were because of the curse that has haunted the many generations of owners of the winery, but Margot is unaware of these stories of violent deaths and loss.
After spending a terrifying night at the old house, Margot is told about the history of the hill upon which the winery sits, and about the bloody past of the Hull family. Violence runs deep on the hill, starting from when it was used for many years as an execution site, before the Hull family bought the land. When the winemaker Ezra Hull and his whole family disappeared, to be replaced soon after by Ephraim Hull and his family, there were rumours of murder, but nothing was ever proved. Each successive generation of Hulls, while prospering, has lost many of its members to sudden violence or illness.
Margot, after learning this decides, despite her terror, to do something about the genuinely terrifying presences haunting the house and its grounds. In the process, she decides to change the legacy of her family.
I wanted to love this book, but I did not. I found that Margot and the supporting characters didn't capture my imagination they way Keira, Mason and Zoe did in the author's "Gravekeeper" series, which has a nice mix of humour and horror. I think humour was what I was missing from this book, realizing fully well that this standalone is a different beast from the other books, and is meant to evoke different emotions from the reader. The atmosphere in "Gallows Hill" is wonderfully chilling, and there are several scary scenes in this story about the legacy of violence, and how the evil and nastiness has seeped into the very ground of the hill. It's an interesting use of the genius loci idea, and I wish I had enjoyed this story more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.
After spending a terrifying night at the old house, Margot is told about the history of the hill upon which the winery sits, and about the bloody past of the Hull family. Violence runs deep on the hill, starting from when it was used for many years as an execution site, before the Hull family bought the land. When the winemaker Ezra Hull and his whole family disappeared, to be replaced soon after by Ephraim Hull and his family, there were rumours of murder, but nothing was ever proved. Each successive generation of Hulls, while prospering, has lost many of its members to sudden violence or illness.
Margot, after learning this decides, despite her terror, to do something about the genuinely terrifying presences haunting the house and its grounds. In the process, she decides to change the legacy of her family.
I wanted to love this book, but I did not. I found that Margot and the supporting characters didn't capture my imagination they way Keira, Mason and Zoe did in the author's "Gravekeeper" series, which has a nice mix of humour and horror. I think humour was what I was missing from this book, realizing fully well that this standalone is a different beast from the other books, and is meant to evoke different emotions from the reader. The atmosphere in "Gallows Hill" is wonderfully chilling, and there are several scary scenes in this story about the legacy of violence, and how the evil and nastiness has seeped into the very ground of the hill. It's an interesting use of the genius loci idea, and I wish I had enjoyed this story more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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:
No
When Margot is informed her parents have died she is told she has inherited the house and winery her parents owned. Gallows Hill Winery has been in the family for generations.
Margot wants nothing to do with it especially since it was built in a field where many convicts were hanged. Locals say the land is cursed and as Margot spends more time there she begins to believe it.
My Thoughts: This is the second book by Darcy Coates I’ve read. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the other one but I did still like this one.
I found the book started out a little slower but picked up more halfway through. I found all the characters likeable and once the plot picked up I enjoyed the story too. I’m hoping to read more by this author in the future.
Margot wants nothing to do with it especially since it was built in a field where many convicts were hanged. Locals say the land is cursed and as Margot spends more time there she begins to believe it.
My Thoughts: This is the second book by Darcy Coates I’ve read. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the other one but I did still like this one.
I found the book started out a little slower but picked up more halfway through. I found all the characters likeable and once the plot picked up I enjoyed the story too. I’m hoping to read more by this author in the future.