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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished this book in one sitting - I couldn’t put it down!
The characters and settings are so easy to visualize that I could almost see a film playing in my mind as I read. The author does a wonderful job creating distinct scenes from different time periods, including the house which is almost a character in itself.
The supernatural and occult elements hit just right without being corny or excessively unbelievable. The descriptions of Ronnie’s struggles with mental illness are extremely relatable and humanizing.
This is a book that I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a fresh “haunted house” read, and I’ll be looking up more titles from the author.
With the right director this could be a great horror film.
The characters and settings are so easy to visualize that I could almost see a film playing in my mind as I read. The author does a wonderful job creating distinct scenes from different time periods, including the house which is almost a character in itself.
The supernatural and occult elements hit just right without being corny or excessively unbelievable. The descriptions of Ronnie’s struggles with mental illness are extremely relatable and humanizing.
This is a book that I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a fresh “haunted house” read, and I’ll be looking up more titles from the author.
With the right director this could be a great horror film.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence
Really cool mix of renovation and revenant lore. Cool twist on a haunted house, and loved the slow unravelling of the mystery.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the premise of the book, and the writing style made it an easy read. It was too long with not enough twists and turns to justify it.
mysterious
tense
medium-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
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
i love when writers actually have a story to tell rather than just falling into the same old tropes. haunted house stories can be so good and so varied, and in the last few years i've read a handful that have really pushed the boundaries on what it means to haunt a house. this one is no exception. i love that this book is weird, mysterious, and fun instead of just trying to be scary. it reminded me of being a teenager and doing dumb and dangerous things with my friends. someone could have dictated our experiences together with a totally foreboding narrative, but the more authentic take would have been to just let us experience whatever wild things happened to us through our own perspectives. sometimes that might come off as creepy, while most of the time it would probably a little goofy -- but either way, it would be honest. this book trusts the characters enough to let them tell their own stories in their own way and it really works. i enjoyed ronnie and kate, as well as bartholomew and venita. everything made sense to me and kept me engaged throughout. would definitely recommend!
thanks to poisoned pen press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
thanks to poisoned pen press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review
I didn't really read the whole synopsis, all I know is that a haunted house is involved, then a mystery that was set in the past. I'll be say I'm glad I didn't, because I'll be even more disappointed if I read it. Especially this part: "Venita's fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds." Venita's fury wasn't really seen until the end and the deadly game is not entirely missing, but again present in the last chapters. I'll try to break the synopsis down.
THE BEAUTIFUL HOME. I'll start with this one because I almost DNF'd this one because all of the talk of rotting wood, broken pipes, and needing renovation. The first 20% of this book just bored me to depth. There's nothing eye-catchy, nothing really interesting. I skimmed the first few chapters so I didn't really know, how beautiful the house is... the writing didn't really do it for me.
RONNIE, THE GRIEVING WOMAN. Our main character is Ronnie and aside from the background story that she's grieving, she wasn't really fleshed out that well. She's just became an investigator of the the book's mystery (by mostly reading a diary) and a bit of a skeptic. But she didn't really grieve that much, the person she's grieving wasn't even mentioned that much or became the topic of the conversation, except for the initial one. She even withheld this info by the 12% mark, because she's not ready to talk about it, and later revealed it (to us the readers) on the 20% mark. That's just 8% of withheld revelation and if I remember correctly she didn't talk about it in depth again.
VENITA, THE "FURY". As a furious ghost, the paranormal things that happened is pretty much mild, There's no strong hallucinations of torture or death, no jumpscaring our characters, no flinging objects, etc. She just appears here and there. And also there's a cat. Her story was told in a diary.
THE DIARY.
BART SLOAN, THE ETERNAL NEMESIS. We got the other side of the story/mystery from his perspective. Once again as a ghost, he's not really fleshed out. He's just a character that creates this mysterious atmosphere, until it's time for the revelation, where he reveals his side of the story. That's the one time that he's got some character, especially since his position is a complicated one. I would like some more scenes with him and Venita especially since he's described as the "Eternal Nemesis" but again nothing.
, THE THEME?. The three characters, Ronnie, Venita, and Bart all experienced
THE OTHER PRESENT DAY CHARACTERS. Kate is just bad and again not fleshed out, she could easily be just Friend #1. She's the one that creates tension for some stuffs to happen (a usual horror trope), like That's just so questionable, again horror trope. Coty is
I didn't really read the whole synopsis, all I know is that a haunted house is involved, then a mystery that was set in the past. I'll be say I'm glad I didn't, because I'll be even more disappointed if I read it. Especially this part: "Venita's fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds." Venita's fury wasn't really seen until the end and the deadly game is not entirely missing, but again present in the last chapters. I'll try to break the synopsis down.
THE BEAUTIFUL HOME. I'll start with this one because I almost DNF'd this one because all of the talk of rotting wood, broken pipes, and needing renovation. The first 20% of this book just bored me to depth. There's nothing eye-catchy, nothing really interesting. I skimmed the first few chapters so I didn't really know, how beautiful the house is... the writing didn't really do it for me.
RONNIE, THE GRIEVING WOMAN. Our main character is Ronnie and aside from the background story that she's grieving, she wasn't really fleshed out that well. She's just became an investigator of the the book's mystery (by mostly reading a diary) and a bit of a skeptic. But she didn't really grieve that much, the person she's grieving wasn't even mentioned that much or became the topic of the conversation, except for the initial one. She even withheld this info by the 12% mark, because she's not ready to talk about it, and later revealed it (to us the readers) on the 20% mark. That's just 8% of withheld revelation and if I remember correctly she didn't talk about it in depth again.
VENITA, THE "FURY". As a furious ghost, the paranormal things that happened is pretty much mild, There's no strong hallucinations of torture or death, no jumpscaring our characters, no flinging objects, etc. She just appears here and there. And also there's a cat. Her story was told in a diary.
THE DIARY.
Spoiler
This one is something I really don't get that much. It was a super detailed look at Venita's POV including several dialogue, which as a reader, doesn't really make sense aside from a switch-in-format gimmick. My question is, why is it THAT detailed, probably because it serves as a medium to relay the exact events of the past from Venita's POV to both the readers and Ronnie. And that makes it boring. There's no red herrings or potential lies by Venita and it's too detailed that the readers and Ronnie couldn't really form theories what happened in between, question why things are omitted, or even question if the diary is indeed true. It's just a straightforward flashback and that's one of the disappointing things.BART SLOAN, THE ETERNAL NEMESIS. We got the other side of the story/mystery from his perspective. Once again as a ghost, he's not really fleshed out. He's just a character that creates this mysterious atmosphere, until it's time for the revelation, where he reveals his side of the story. That's the one time that he's got some character, especially since his position is a complicated one. I would like some more scenes with him and Venita especially since he's described as the "Eternal Nemesis" but again nothing.
Spoiler
I want to know what makes Venita's husband so infatuated with him that he chose to side with him and not understand her side, yeah paranormal stuff wasn't believable, but the tension between the best friend and the wife and the husband was an interesting one since it's the one the essentially started this story, again not much on that.Spoiler
LOSS AND GRIEFSpoiler
loss in some kind of way. I was expecting something about grief, them connecting about this, understanding that the need to heal or something that just relates to grief. Nothing. Because it's all about the mystery. The end, to be fair, has some kind of forgiveness, I think, but it's more like it's convenient and the one giving the "better" ending. I honestly didn't connect with the characters.THE OTHER PRESENT DAY CHARACTERS. Kate is just bad and again not fleshed out, she could easily be just Friend #1. She's the one that creates tension for some stuffs to happen (a usual horror trope), like
Spoiler
having NO suspicions on a stranger you've met ESPECIALLY since Ronnie has evidences of why he's untrustworthy.Spoiler
just the obvious villain, I even forgot to write about him in the original review. There's just no attempt in making him look good. I want to talk about Coty but he's similar to the others someone who creates tension/a piece of the past mystery.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes