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michleea's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Death
Moderate: Child death and Self harm
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
lish_e's review
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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.”
Jane’s 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 wasn’t a surprise to me. Still, it was a pleasant read and the build-up to the climax was good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Eating disorder, Bullying, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicide
catsy2022's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Rating: A-
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
ollieshark's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
**this book contains themes of grief, anger control issues, mental illness, gaslighting and emotional manipulation, death by suffocation, and mentions of animal cruelty, animal death, drinking, and bullying. if you are sensitive to any of these, this may not be a good read for you.**
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
wintersolace's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
So I found this book "okay" at best. I needed a change of pace, and it did serve that. It was also a quick read, an insanely quick read. And I wouldn't say that I hate it since I obviously kept turning the page. However, I found quite a bit of it obvious and the attempts at misdirection clumsy. I don't mind obvious or predictable either, since I'm all about the journey, but I think coupled with the clumsy misdirection attempts I found myself shaking my head a bit.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicide
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