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dukesangel002's review against another edition
4.0
This was a quick, quaint ghost story. Although the cover suggests it's a scary tale it's not. The ghost sightings are just little things, like hearing a noise, or seeing something strange, but not threatening. It was more a ghost story of coming to terms, finding peace, and moving on.
I really liked how it changed perspective between the boy of the present, Max, trying to unravel the ghost story, and the boy of the past, John, who is telling us his story. Each boy was fun to read. John was a boy who yearned to learn and read, but had a father who wanted him to pick up the family trade and who found his sons interest in schooling to be feminine and useless. Max was struggling with a move and feeling invisible in this new town, and is entralled with the sweet girl who works at the library and actually sees him.
This is a great ghost tale all mixed in with a coming of age story. It was a short book, but the characters and storyline were well written and really drew me in. I really loved that the lure is based on a real "haunted house" in Ontario. It's a great read for Halloween time (or anytime).
I really liked how it changed perspective between the boy of the present, Max, trying to unravel the ghost story, and the boy of the past, John, who is telling us his story. Each boy was fun to read. John was a boy who yearned to learn and read, but had a father who wanted him to pick up the family trade and who found his sons interest in schooling to be feminine and useless. Max was struggling with a move and feeling invisible in this new town, and is entralled with the sweet girl who works at the library and actually sees him.
This is a great ghost tale all mixed in with a coming of age story. It was a short book, but the characters and storyline were well written and really drew me in. I really loved that the lure is based on a real "haunted house" in Ontario. It's a great read for Halloween time (or anytime).
shutupnread's review
3.0
Okay so I think I wasn’t reading the synopsis correctly so I was totally expecting some kind of ghost story with a romance in it because I thought the ghost trapped in the house was actually a female. So I was so confused when I realized that the book was written in two alternating POVs, Max the human and John the ghost, and clearly John was not a girl. Not sure why I had assumed as such. Anyways, moving on with the rest of the review…
Can I just first say how the cover does not represent the book whatsoever? I feel like this is a theme for these “scary” books (i.e. Shutter by Courtney Alameda) where the cover depicts this creepy/terrifying image yet the story itself is not scary whatsoever. It’s such a false expectation so I was honestly a little let down. Who doesn’t enjoy a good scary book once in a while? Yet this story was more of a coming of age rather than horror.
That being said, I actually enjoyed reading about Max and John. I felt that John’s POV was a little more descriptive and actually had more of a character building as opposed to Max because for Max’s POV, it was mostly centered around John and the library rather than his own personal life. This meant that other than knowing that Max felt lonely at a new place with no friends, there wasn’t much information on his family or his past life before he moved. I wish the author went into his part of the story a little more.
John’s story was a lot more interesting – I really got to see what life was like during his time as well as how his family treated him. He definitely had more of an interesting background and story. He kept alluding to his imminent demise so I was expecting something shocking or grisly. Unfortunately his death was not so interesting, I suppose - at least not as interesting as I was hoping.
Caroline, the side character in this story, wasn’t so interesting to me until I found out her secret at the end of the book. That was quite shocking to me simply because it never occurred to me. Once I found out though, it somewhat made sense but at the same time, it could have easily gone another way and the romance would have been there. Sadly that wasn’t the case and Max will be lonely again.
Overall, Lure was a very quick read. I’m not sure if I would recommend it, per say, but it wasn’t a bad book. It had its interesting parts. If you’re interested in a quick, somewhat mystery then check this book out.
Can I just first say how the cover does not represent the book whatsoever? I feel like this is a theme for these “scary” books (i.e. Shutter by Courtney Alameda) where the cover depicts this creepy/terrifying image yet the story itself is not scary whatsoever. It’s such a false expectation so I was honestly a little let down. Who doesn’t enjoy a good scary book once in a while? Yet this story was more of a coming of age rather than horror.
That being said, I actually enjoyed reading about Max and John. I felt that John’s POV was a little more descriptive and actually had more of a character building as opposed to Max because for Max’s POV, it was mostly centered around John and the library rather than his own personal life. This meant that other than knowing that Max felt lonely at a new place with no friends, there wasn’t much information on his family or his past life before he moved. I wish the author went into his part of the story a little more.
John’s story was a lot more interesting – I really got to see what life was like during his time as well as how his family treated him. He definitely had more of an interesting background and story. He kept alluding to his imminent demise so I was expecting something shocking or grisly. Unfortunately his death was not so interesting, I suppose - at least not as interesting as I was hoping.
Caroline, the side character in this story, wasn’t so interesting to me until I found out her secret at the end of the book. That was quite shocking to me simply because it never occurred to me. Once I found out though, it somewhat made sense but at the same time, it could have easily gone another way and the romance would have been there. Sadly that wasn’t the case and Max will be lonely again.
Overall, Lure was a very quick read. I’m not sure if I would recommend it, per say, but it wasn’t a bad book. It had its interesting parts. If you’re interested in a quick, somewhat mystery then check this book out.
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