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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Il est 2h du matin, j’ai fini, et j’ai rallumé la lumière tellement j’ai flippé ma race. C’est pas le roman le mieux écrit au monde et j’ai deviné le twist bien trop tôt (alors que vraiment je suis pas très très bonne pour deviner les twists en temps normal) mais ça m’a fait vraiment peur plein de fois et c’est ce que je venais chercher donc je vais pas faire la fine bouche.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
halfway through this book, i was anticipating giving it a three star review - and then the plot thickened. by the end, i was so charmed and delighted by the finale and the general result of the big spooky reveal that i had to up it to four stars.
this book excels at being a scary and tense horror novel - there were times that i found myself skimming paragraphs not because i didn't want to read it fully, but because i was too scared to know what was happening in detail. i didn't want to give myself nightmares because of the terrifying imagery i knew darcy coates would be capable of achieving. she's a master at ratcheting up the the tension slowly - everything seems fine if not just creepy in that way that old and abandoned places are, but then a few things happen, and you start to doubt if things really are just fine. (yes, i know that we know they aren't just fine because of the entire existence of the book, but coates does an excellent job of making you forget that.)
coates also does something amazing - she manages to create a scenario where the main character is totally isolated and it's not unbelievable. no cell phone? makes sense because addy was clearly not in a good financial position and cell phone plans, even pay-as-you-go ones, can be too expensive. even if she had one, there'd likely be no service at the house. no internet? why would this old house last occupied by a solitary old woman have internet? no car? cars require money that addy very clearly doesn't have. it's an accurate representation of how someone in her shoes would be living, and i want to applaud that, because most times when these scenarios arise in horror it feels forced and unbelievable at best.
my last bit of praise has to go to wolfgang and how addy cared for him - i am a proud cat mom myself, and everything addy did for wolf is something i would do for kahlua. prioritizing his health and safety, turning to him for comfort, doing her best to make sure he acclimated well, talking to him about life choices, it all resonated in such a heartwarming way. wolfgang does not get harmed for the duration of the story.
seeing edith as a friendly, loving spirit who wanted to protect her great niece was also a highlight. as someone who believes in spirits lingering after death, the thought of addy bonding with a loved one that she never got to know was just... nice. especially after all the well-done reasonable doubt sewn in the first three quarters of the story.
all in all, i found this to be a lovely and terrifying read. i can't wait to check out more of coates' writing!
this book excels at being a scary and tense horror novel - there were times that i found myself skimming paragraphs not because i didn't want to read it fully, but because i was too scared to know what was happening in detail. i didn't want to give myself nightmares because of the terrifying imagery i knew darcy coates would be capable of achieving. she's a master at ratcheting up the the tension slowly - everything seems fine if not just creepy in that way that old and abandoned places are, but then a few things happen, and you start to doubt if things really are just fine. (yes, i know that we know they aren't just fine because of the entire existence of the book, but coates does an excellent job of making you forget that.)
coates also does something amazing - she manages to create a scenario where the main character is totally isolated and it's not unbelievable. no cell phone? makes sense because addy was clearly not in a good financial position and cell phone plans, even pay-as-you-go ones, can be too expensive. even if she had one, there'd likely be no service at the house. no internet? why would this old house last occupied by a solitary old woman have internet? no car? cars require money that addy very clearly doesn't have. it's an accurate representation of how someone in her shoes would be living, and i want to applaud that, because most times when these scenarios arise in horror it feels forced and unbelievable at best.
my last bit of praise has to go to wolfgang and how addy cared for him - i am a proud cat mom myself, and everything addy did for wolf is something i would do for kahlua. prioritizing his health and safety, turning to him for comfort, doing her best to make sure he acclimated well, talking to him about life choices, it all resonated in such a heartwarming way. wolfgang does not get harmed for the duration of the story.
all in all, i found this to be a lovely and terrifying read. i can't wait to check out more of coates' writing!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
⭐️⭐️1/2
This was readable, but to be honest I found it dragged on a bit. It almost became repetitive and there wasn’t much depth to the story or the characters. I honestly think it could have been done a lot better.
There were some really creepy moments and it definitely falls well into the horror story genre. But I like my horror/thrillers with a little more to get your teeth into, a little bit more to think about.
Unfortunately I was expecting a lot better from this and I was ultimately disappointed.
Also as a side note! Where does her cat go to the toilet??? I was preoccupied with this thought throughout. We had every mundane detail of the main character and her cats day, however the cat has no litter tray and didn’t go outside?!! That was the real mystery! 🐈 💩
This was readable, but to be honest I found it dragged on a bit. It almost became repetitive and there wasn’t much depth to the story or the characters. I honestly think it could have been done a lot better.
There were some really creepy moments and it definitely falls well into the horror story genre. But I like my horror/thrillers with a little more to get your teeth into, a little bit more to think about.
Unfortunately I was expecting a lot better from this and I was ultimately disappointed.
Also as a side note! Where does her cat go to the toilet??? I was preoccupied with this thought throughout. We had every mundane detail of the main character and her cats day, however the cat has no litter tray and didn’t go outside?!! That was the real mystery! 🐈 💩
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
"Light a candle. Your family is still dead."
This was a decent three-star read about a woman who inherits a an old house with a reputation for being haunted. She does some not-very-smart things, but I expected the "ghost" would ultimately be explained by something or someone grounded in reality, a la Scooby Doo.
And then the plot went all banana-balls. Ashburn House is haunted, all right. And while I figured things out a lot more quickly than protagonist Adrienne, that didn't diminish my enjoyment.
I might still have just given this 3.5 stars, but I loved Adrienne's relationship with her cat, Wolfgang, so I'll give it a full 4 stars.
This was a decent three-star read about a woman who inherits a an old house with a reputation for being haunted. She does some not-very-smart things, but I expected the "ghost" would ultimately be explained by something or someone grounded in reality, a la Scooby Doo.
And then the plot went all banana-balls. Ashburn House is haunted, all right. And while I figured things out a lot more quickly than protagonist Adrienne, that didn't diminish my enjoyment.
I might still have just given this 3.5 stars, but I loved Adrienne's relationship with her cat, Wolfgang, so I'll give it a full 4 stars.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The blurb on the back of the book sounded so promising! I love a good haunted house story but this book crawled by for me. I think it took me about a month to finish it because nothing ever happens. For a book that’s over 300 pages it boggles my mind how little plot there is; it could have been 100 pages and still told the whole story.
The main character is basically brain dead. I know it’s standard in the horror genre (at least in movies) for characters to make some dumb decisions but holy shit I almost wanted her to die she was so useless. 75% of the book is her prattling on about how she has no money, no food, is scared to sleep anywhere in the house, thinks her aunt is batshit crazy with all the warnings and local legends, or her laptop is dead. The best character in the book is her damn cat!
Anyways, I stuck it out because as I said, I love a good haunted house story. Come to find outTHE HOUSE ISNT EVEN HAUNTED . The antagonist is basically a zombie, not a ghost with some “witchcraft” thrown in. It wasn’t even an interesting or meaningful reference to witchcraft.
The big explanation is such a let down. This all could have been avoided if Edith’sletter hadn’t fallen through a crack in the floor to the basement . I mean, really? That’s all you got?
This is more of a personal preference, but I really dislike when books don’t have a concrete setting. At first, I just assumed this was set in the US (i know, that’s my own fault for being US-centric), but then certain word choices led me to think, “oh maybe it’s in England.” Then, after reading some more, I realized that still wasn’t right so I looked it up and saw the author is from Australia. It’s all fine and dandy if the book is set in Australia but can you say that at least once? Even if it’s a fictional town just tell me which country we’re in 😭
The main character is basically brain dead. I know it’s standard in the horror genre (at least in movies) for characters to make some dumb decisions but holy shit I almost wanted her to die she was so useless. 75% of the book is her prattling on about how she has no money, no food, is scared to sleep anywhere in the house, thinks her aunt is batshit crazy with all the warnings and local legends, or her laptop is dead. The best character in the book is her damn cat!
Anyways, I stuck it out because as I said, I love a good haunted house story. Come to find out
The big explanation is such a let down. This all could have been avoided if Edith’s
This is more of a personal preference, but I really dislike when books don’t have a concrete setting. At first, I just assumed this was set in the US (i know, that’s my own fault for being US-centric), but then certain word choices led me to think, “oh maybe it’s in England.” Then, after reading some more, I realized that still wasn’t right so I looked it up and saw the author is from Australia. It’s all fine and dandy if the book is set in Australia but can you say that at least once? Even if it’s a fictional town just tell me which country we’re in 😭