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gabbyscarlet's review against another edition
2.0
What do you get when you mix a wannabe ghost story with no depth and a rushed ending? The Haunting of Brynn Wilder!
Seriously, the construction of this story was one-dimensional and had no layers to the story at all. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, even our guy The Illustrated Man, Dominic. I just could not get into this story. I wanted to know more about the place's past, but this book completely missed the mark on what it could've been by only scratching the surface. Sure, we know it used to be a boardinghouse, but was there any significant dark history that happened there? We know the LuAnn has owned it for a while, but since the building is so old, something HAD to have happened there before her presence. Right?
Brynn is staying at this place that used to be a boarding house, gets haunted over and over and over again, and then you get a pathetic explanation of the "haunting" the last 5-7 pages of the book. The title gives it all away, and there was nothing to guess in the story. The woman who died in room number five? It was Brynn herself, just like the title implies! The other deaths in the story have absolutely nothing to do with the paranormal element or the storyline itself, they were just fillers to get the page count up (from my perspective).
I added a star because obviously, with the writing style having no depth, I was able to fly through this book pretty quickly. I probably will not read any more books by this author, but if I eventually do, it would have to be years from now because this one was very lackluster and missed out on reaching it's potential.
This is definitely an emerging adult title, but I really don't understand how this book got the blurbs and reviews that it did. Pretty unfortunate, because this was one of my most anticipated reads.
Seriously, the construction of this story was one-dimensional and had no layers to the story at all. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, even our guy The Illustrated Man, Dominic. I just could not get into this story. I wanted to know more about the place's past, but this book completely missed the mark on what it could've been by only scratching the surface. Sure, we know it used to be a boardinghouse, but was there any significant dark history that happened there? We know the LuAnn has owned it for a while, but since the building is so old, something HAD to have happened there before her presence. Right?
Brynn is staying at this place that used to be a boarding house, gets haunted over and over and over again, and then you get a pathetic explanation of the "haunting" the last 5-7 pages of the book. The title gives it all away, and there was nothing to guess in the story. The woman who died in room number five? It was Brynn herself, just like the title implies! The other deaths in the story have absolutely nothing to do with the paranormal element or the storyline itself, they were just fillers to get the page count up (from my perspective).
I added a star because obviously, with the writing style having no depth, I was able to fly through this book pretty quickly. I probably will not read any more books by this author, but if I eventually do, it would have to be years from now because this one was very lackluster and missed out on reaching it's potential.
This is definitely an emerging adult title, but I really don't understand how this book got the blurbs and reviews that it did. Pretty unfortunate, because this was one of my most anticipated reads.
brandilee4's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Death, Cancer, Child death, Grief, Animal death, Suicide, and Terminal illness
eriicajo_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
elemmire's review against another edition
2.0
This book was really good at using a lot of words to say almost nothing.
Overview:
A woman in a mid-life crisis tries to find herself by spending time away. She meets new people and falls in love. She eats food, tells stories that seem to add very little to the plot, and everyone likes her sooo much.
To the things that I found irritating.
1. The book is difficult to follow and remember as to how much time has gone by. It seems like she meets someone and, in the same day, is nearly best friends with them despite saying that she wanted to keep to herself. Every relations ship builds seems to be instant and trusting, pretty unknown in most people's worlds. Everything happened quickly, but also seemed to take forever because of unneeded details and side stories.
2. The main character is being painted as this takes no-nonsense, get it done, woman. In reality, she has a savior complex. There is a tense situation at a dinner party with the implication of racism. I say implication because not one character has the guts to just say "you are being racist". Instead, we get the classic "what do you really mean" from the angry white woman. And that is honestly what usually happens, but instead of consoling and feeling bad for the person being discriminated against, it's all about how the white woman feels. It does not matter if a black person is accustomed to feeling put out, discriminated against, or downright hated. You do not fawn over the white savior who did nearly nothing. No matter how many times it happens it is terrible.
3. The fish boil. Salt is not enough when seasoning food. Throw some goddamn Tony's in there! Some garlic? Some onion?
4. It felt like a long string of self-centered character tropes. Not only is the main character only thinking of herself, but all the characters around are also just soooo interested in her (with the one exception of when the focus is Alice). It felt very much like a Hallmark movie.
5. It's supposed to be a haunting, 2 things were creepy and everything else sucked. Having dreams that you are seeing a ghost is pretty mild. There is never any kind of threat to it. Hauntings don't have to be scary, but they should be more than simply existing. It's not much of a plot.
6. The ending. It could have ended well if she stopped at the part where she says she's ready. That was a perfect line to end on. At this point, we know the boyfriend is the angel of death (or something like that) and he is there to take her away. But no, she just had to go into the whole afterlife. Leave that stuff to the imagination. That line would have had me crying if it stopped there.
7. OMG, season your food.
Overview:
A woman in a mid-life crisis tries to find herself by spending time away. She meets new people and falls in love. She eats food, tells stories that seem to add very little to the plot, and everyone likes her sooo much.
To the things that I found irritating.
1. The book is difficult to follow and remember as to how much time has gone by. It seems like she meets someone and, in the same day, is nearly best friends with them despite saying that she wanted to keep to herself. Every relations ship builds seems to be instant and trusting, pretty unknown in most people's worlds. Everything happened quickly, but also seemed to take forever because of unneeded details and side stories.
2. The main character is being painted as this takes no-nonsense, get it done, woman. In reality, she has a savior complex. There is a tense situation at a dinner party with the implication of racism. I say implication because not one character has the guts to just say "you are being racist". Instead, we get the classic "what do you really mean" from the angry white woman. And that is honestly what usually happens, but instead of consoling and feeling bad for the person being discriminated against, it's all about how the white woman feels. It does not matter if a black person is accustomed to feeling put out, discriminated against, or downright hated. You do not fawn over the white savior who did nearly nothing. No matter how many times it happens it is terrible.
3. The fish boil. Salt is not enough when seasoning food. Throw some goddamn Tony's in there! Some garlic? Some onion?
4. It felt like a long string of self-centered character tropes. Not only is the main character only thinking of herself, but all the characters around are also just soooo interested in her (with the one exception of when the focus is Alice). It felt very much like a Hallmark movie.
5. It's supposed to be a haunting, 2 things were creepy and everything else sucked. Having dreams that you are seeing a ghost is pretty mild. There is never any kind of threat to it. Hauntings don't have to be scary, but they should be more than simply existing. It's not much of a plot.
6. The ending. It could have ended well if she stopped at the part where she says she's ready. That was a perfect line to end on. At this point, we know the boyfriend is the angel of death (or something like that) and he is there to take her away. But no, she just had to go into the whole afterlife. Leave that stuff to the imagination. That line would have had me crying if it stopped there.
7. OMG, season your food.
alliescott26's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
mystic_bookwyrm's review against another edition
2.0
So I went into this thinking it was horror because that’s what I was searching on audible and it was under it. This is NOT horror. It also has it marked as scary and it’s not that either. That was disappointing but I don’t hold that against the author or book. Really it’s like a Danielle steel novel with paranormal aspects.
What I DO hold against this book is the fact that the author gave no real description of the FMC or MMC.
I have no idea how old they were, hair color, race, etc. I believe Dominque may have been black based on a couple remarks, but then if he was, an interaction that was had later with the sheriff was very racist and should have been addressed better by the characters involved.
I also wish that some where it had been marked that this was actually part of a series and the 6th book. They seem to be written so you can read them as standalone’s, but things and characters from book 5 were brought up and it probably would have added more to the story if I’d read that. Also, maybe then the sheriff wouldn’t have seemed to be a racist jackass since he was the MMC in the prior book.
There was a lot to this book that also just got repetitive and it was predictable. I probably won’t be going back to the start of the series.
The general idea for a town with paranormal aspects to it and having a romance for each MC isn’t a bad one, I just didn’t feel this was executed that well. As I said, it was especially frustrating to not have our FMC and MMC fleshed out completely.
What I DO hold against this book is the fact that the author gave no real description of the FMC or MMC.
I have no idea how old they were, hair color, race, etc. I believe Dominque may have been black based on a couple remarks, but then if he was, an interaction that was had later with the sheriff was very racist and should have been addressed better by the characters involved.
I also wish that some where it had been marked that this was actually part of a series and the 6th book. They seem to be written so you can read them as standalone’s, but things and characters from book 5 were brought up and it probably would have added more to the story if I’d read that. Also, maybe then the sheriff wouldn’t have seemed to be a racist jackass since he was the MMC in the prior book.
There was a lot to this book that also just got repetitive and it was predictable. I probably won’t be going back to the start of the series.
The general idea for a town with paranormal aspects to it and having a romance for each MC isn’t a bad one, I just didn’t feel this was executed that well. As I said, it was especially frustrating to not have our FMC and MMC fleshed out completely.
dowryofbooks's review against another edition
2.0
2 / 5 stars
To this book: it’s not you, it’s me. I was expecting a small town ghost story with gothic vibes, but The Haunting of Brynn Wilder is less about the ghosts and more of a literary fiction with a romance type story. (so i guess the marketing is a little misleading for this). I’d say if you’re interested in reading this book, just manage your expectations before going in.
2 stars instead of 1 for Jason and Gil, and the charming setting that is the lakeside town of Wharton.
I was into this for the first few chapters, and from then on I started to get bored with the romance and the lack of spookiness. Throughout reading this, I also noticed that the author started quite a few subplots that never really got wrapped up in the end. One last thing I’d like to nitpick- I cringed at the flowery written platitudes that were trying to make this book super deep and thought provoking.
I guess overall it was an okay-read. I’m not sure if I would have known going in that this wasn’t a spooky story that it would have changed my opinion. It just isn’t to my taste. Normally, I would have DNF’d this, but I was determined to properly participate in the Winterween read-a-thon and finish the buddy read. (yay, i did)
read for Winterween: read for buddy read and read a book with the word ‘haunt’ in the title.
To this book: it’s not you, it’s me. I was expecting a small town ghost story with gothic vibes, but The Haunting of Brynn Wilder is less about the ghosts and more of a literary fiction with a romance type story. (so i guess the marketing is a little misleading for this). I’d say if you’re interested in reading this book, just manage your expectations before going in.
2 stars instead of 1 for Jason and Gil, and the charming setting that is the lakeside town of Wharton.
I was into this for the first few chapters, and from then on I started to get bored with the romance and the lack of spookiness. Throughout reading this, I also noticed that the author started quite a few subplots that never really got wrapped up in the end. One last thing I’d like to nitpick- I cringed at the flowery written platitudes that were trying to make this book super deep and thought provoking.
I guess overall it was an okay-read. I’m not sure if I would have known going in that this wasn’t a spooky story that it would have changed my opinion. It just isn’t to my taste. Normally, I would have DNF’d this, but I was determined to properly participate in the Winterween read-a-thon and finish the buddy read. (yay, i did)
read for Winterween: read for buddy read and read a book with the word ‘haunt’ in the title.
carriesouthard's review against another edition
4.0
Good read
Very captivating story. Some of the pieces were left open which I personally didn’t care for but could’ve been so you can imagine it yourself. Compared to the whole story the ending seemed a bit rushed to me. But would still recommend this book.
Very captivating story. Some of the pieces were left open which I personally didn’t care for but could’ve been so you can imagine it yourself. Compared to the whole story the ending seemed a bit rushed to me. But would still recommend this book.
robinreads_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75