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achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Suicide
mapscitiesandsongs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Suicide
issiwerro's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, and Eating disorder
Minor: Suicide, Self harm, Death of parent, and Child death
lish_e's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
โAnd when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.โ
Janeโs habit of eating pages was interesting, and the cover is absolutely gorgeous.
But it had some elements that are often used (girl moves to a different town, into an old house that has a dark history everybody knows but no one talks about) and so the plot twist wasnโt a surprise to me. Still, it was a pleasant read and the build-up to the climax was good.
Graphic: Grief, Eating disorder, Bullying, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicide
catsy2022's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
An unexpectedly dark YA horror novel, Horrid by Katrina Leno was a lovely, fast read and a great addition to my 2021 reads. Ruth and Jane move across the country from California to Maine after Greer, Ruth's husband and Jane's father, dies. But the North Manor where Ruth grew up holds mysterious secrets, a locked room in the back and a rose bush that seems to overpower the yard it grows in.
I definitely enjoyed reading about Jane and Ruth's strained relationship and the interaction between Jane, her friends and the other townspeople. I felt that the unravelling of the mystery may have been more interesting that the final reveal. So many parts of this book are strange and unexplained, just bordering on absurd. Seems that Jane has unbridled rage simmering below the surface and anything could set her off. She seems to completely black out when this happens. I loved the interaction with the other characters when this happens and how shocked and unsettled they are. I definitely enjoyed the moments in the house where things are completely scrambled and then back to normal. I liked the bonding moments between Ruth and Jane. The interwoven grieving and new beginnings were great points in the book.
I did like the final reveal but I felt the book ended all too abruptly - with little resolution as to the other plotlines. Definitely a fun, short read.
Graphic: Death and Mental illness
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, and Suicide
shannonxvx's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Child death, Death, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, and Grief
fionac326's review
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Self harm, and Suicide
whatellisreadnext's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ.
Following her father's passing, Jane and her Mum, move from sunny California to an old decrepit house in Maine. Her mother grew up there, and they have plans to do it up and sell it on, but Jane hears bumps in the night and starts to feel that they're not alone...
Did I buy this book because the cover is incredible? Yes. Did the story live upto the cover? No. That being said, I did absolutely devour this one in less that 24 hours. It is compulsively readable and super easy to follow. I enjoyed it overall, but just felt like I was reading a lesser version of Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power.
Taking a step back, this is young adult fiction and I could totally see a teenager absolutely loving it. I just felt as an adult, it was all too circumstance. Some YA books transcend age and can be enjoyed by all, but I just don't think this is one of those books.
I usually just put trigger warnings at the bottom, but this one is deeply rooted with Jane's grief of losing her father, and although this was really well written, I think this could be quite traumatic to read for somebody who has lost a parent.
The main thing that bothered me was the ending. Yes, I figured out the mystery before the protagonist, I mean this is often a given with YA fiction, but the last 10 pages just made no sense for me in terms of the decisions made by the main character. I threw the book on my bed when I was done and if this book wasn't so pretty, I probably would have launched it across the room๐๐ปโโ๏ธ
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Death, and Grief
ollieshark's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pretty much all of my thoughts on this novel can be boiled down to a few points.
1.) the pacing was too slow for a novel as short as horrid (my edition is 322 pages of story).
2.) as a result, the ending suffered greatly. it feels like it was cut off too quickly in order to keep the story short. i have a bad habit of rushing endings but usually fix it before the final version. horrid ends AT the climax. there's no falling action or resolution, so if you're looking for a neat little ending, you won't find it here.
3.) the prose itself is great. i actually love the meandering tone it had at the beginning. it sets the atmosphere of small town maine up well. BUT, when the novel takes 100 pages out of 322 to get going, you need to speed things up a bit. just a tad.
4.) however, the resulting tropes and cliches used didn't wow me. i know you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you use a trope, but they're considered cliche for a reason.
5.) i found the synopsis on the dust jacket somewhat misleading. jane wasn't bullied by the "bad seed" so much as had like 3 unpleasant encounters, and then they avoided each other the rest of the novel.
6.) it has absolutely no romance whatsoever, which is the only thing about horrid that makes me want to recommend it.
while i would be willing to give leno another try in the future, i found horrid rather basic. it's a typical ghost story that doesn't really do anything fancy, but it's a good way to dip your toes into spooky season before getting into more hardcore novels, or for those who are looking for lighter horror/ghost stories in general.
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
wintersolace's review
3.0
So, not awful, and a quick read -- just not something I was terribly impressed by. This isn't my usual genre either. When I read horror, I typically want a gritty psychological horror. This was not it. This was a light version.
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicide