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mehsi's review
1.0
A spooky house, strange things go bump in the night… sadly this didn’t end up to be a like for me.
The beginning was amazing. We see a man running for his life. Shadows stalking him. A man dead somewhere. And then we go to three years later and meet our MC, who is on her way to Hacket House to take care of an older man there who cannot do anything himself (btw I had my suspicions on who the old man was early on). The house was an immediate NOPE no thank you and with each day she stayed there I got more nope. There are creepy clocks everywhere, at night shadows come to play, there is some kind of weird woman walking through the corridors, the staff acts suspicious, the garden looks like a nightmare, and strange things happen at night. I would definitely NOT have stayed no matter how many books you would bribe me with. I am sorry. I would have left within a week. I would feel very sorry for the old man, but sorry, I don’t want to stay.
The village seemed strange from start but it got quickly disturbing and wtf and I wonder why anyone would want to live there.
There was a subplot (or at least it felt like that) about our MCs baby. About what her husband did. About why she is running. It came out of nowhere and felt really not well written. At times we would be deep into spooky things and suddenly BOOM Rowena talk again. In the end apparently this plot is important but it sadly never felt like this for me. It just felt forced and weirdly put in the story. It could have been so much better, more fluid, more like it belongs in the story.
I also wasn’t a fan of the MC. For more than one reason. One of the reasons would be the crazy thoughts she has in her head and that disturbed me greatly. Like when she got into the bakery and saw all the babies she contemplated taking one…. or when her friend talked about those babies and their parents and the bother they were as they just put their prams inside the stores, our MC is contemplating throwing her friend of a cliff. And later on she was pretty horrible towards someone she called friend. And I could probably go on for a few more examples, but you get the idea.
Around halfway point it just go weirder and weirder and I started to not have fun reading the book. My rating went from 3 (it was 4 in the beginning) to a 1. But boy, I wasn’t prepared for how weird it would go. For reals. As the ending and all that was building up came to be, HOLY CRAP. I can tell you honestly that I had an headache already… and that this book made it worse. WTF was that ending. Tentacles? Wooden clocks that fused together? Monsters? And it ended even weirder with the last few pages. In the end I am just weirded, grossed, and noped out.
Hilarious enough, I totally forgot about Clarissa being THAT Clarissa and didn’t figure it out until like mid-book when something was mentioned.
There were also a few spelling errors around and some parts could have done with editing (like for instance that subplot forced in).
It could have been so much more. Again, the beginning was great. Lots of creepiness and spooky things happened. It is just a shame of the rest of the things.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
The beginning was amazing. We see a man running for his life. Shadows stalking him. A man dead somewhere. And then we go to three years later and meet our MC, who is on her way to Hacket House to take care of an older man there who cannot do anything himself (btw I had my suspicions on who the old man was early on). The house was an immediate NOPE no thank you and with each day she stayed there I got more nope. There are creepy clocks everywhere, at night shadows come to play, there is some kind of weird woman walking through the corridors, the staff acts suspicious, the garden looks like a nightmare, and strange things happen at night. I would definitely NOT have stayed no matter how many books you would bribe me with. I am sorry. I would have left within a week. I would feel very sorry for the old man, but sorry, I don’t want to stay.
The village seemed strange from start but it got quickly disturbing and wtf and I wonder why anyone would want to live there.
There was a subplot (or at least it felt like that) about our MCs baby. About what her husband did. About why she is running. It came out of nowhere and felt really not well written. At times we would be deep into spooky things and suddenly BOOM Rowena talk again. In the end apparently this plot is important but it sadly never felt like this for me. It just felt forced and weirdly put in the story. It could have been so much better, more fluid, more like it belongs in the story.
I also wasn’t a fan of the MC. For more than one reason. One of the reasons would be the crazy thoughts she has in her head and that disturbed me greatly. Like when she got into the bakery and saw all the babies she contemplated taking one…. or when her friend talked about those babies and their parents and the bother they were as they just put their prams inside the stores, our MC is contemplating throwing her friend of a cliff. And later on she was pretty horrible towards someone she called friend. And I could probably go on for a few more examples, but you get the idea.
Around halfway point it just go weirder and weirder and I started to not have fun reading the book. My rating went from 3 (it was 4 in the beginning) to a 1. But boy, I wasn’t prepared for how weird it would go. For reals. As the ending and all that was building up came to be, HOLY CRAP. I can tell you honestly that I had an headache already… and that this book made it worse. WTF was that ending. Tentacles? Wooden clocks that fused together? Monsters? And it ended even weirder with the last few pages. In the end I am just weirded, grossed, and noped out.
Hilarious enough, I totally forgot about Clarissa being THAT Clarissa and didn’t figure it out until like mid-book when something was mentioned.
There were also a few spelling errors around and some parts could have done with editing (like for instance that subplot forced in).
It could have been so much more. Again, the beginning was great. Lots of creepiness and spooky things happened. It is just a shame of the rest of the things.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
opheliasviolence's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
2.5
The start of this was great. We're introduced to Clive and Clarissa and something happened to make Clive want to flee the house.
The story picks up three years later and the pace significantly slows down. The way this is written can be a bit confusing. Sometimes the MC will be thinking about something then she mentions a he who she doesn't want to find her. Then there are mentions of Rowena. The MCs background story wasn't blended into the story as seamlessly as it could have been.
I was also confused as to what exactly was happening in the house. The last few chapters just left me wondering if I'd missed something. How did Jane end up pregnant?? Then she says she doesn't know what the father is.
This had a good premise but overall it felt unfinished. It probably needed to be longer to really flesh out the characters and the supernatural elements.
The story picks up three years later and the pace significantly slows down. The way this is written can be a bit confusing. Sometimes the MC will be thinking about something then she mentions a he who she doesn't want to find her. Then there are mentions of Rowena. The MCs background story wasn't blended into the story as seamlessly as it could have been.
This had a good premise but overall it felt unfinished. It probably needed to be longer to really flesh out the characters and the supernatural elements.
erinmae's review
2.0
I think this was Harry Potter fan fic. Maybe? I'm not sure, but HP was mentioned a bit too often.
The story went from past to present with absolutely no flow. All of a sudden Jane was talking about her ex and her child. Names were thrown into the story without the reader getting a clue to who they are. The beginning of the story refers to her ex husband as " he" or "him", then further into the book his name is suddenly Richard.
I had to re read way too many paragraphs to try and figure out what was happening. I felt like I was constantly missing something, only to re read a section and find out that nope, it just doesn't make sense.
The story went from past to present with absolutely no flow. All of a sudden Jane was talking about her ex and her child. Names were thrown into the story without the reader getting a clue to who they are. The beginning of the story refers to her ex husband as " he" or "him", then further into the book his name is suddenly Richard.
I had to re read way too many paragraphs to try and figure out what was happening. I felt like I was constantly missing something, only to re read a section and find out that nope, it just doesn't make sense.
cyanide_latte's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Well that was Something. Won't be returning to this, didn't enjoy it, won't be keeping my copy. (Also could have done without the constant HP references.)
curiosityboughtthebook's review
4.0
Jane is a woman running from her past, which is why a well paid job at the mysterious Hacket House is perfect for her. She leaves behind her previous work and becomes responsible for the dying Mr. Smithson. As soon as she arrives at the house she can tell things are odd. There are clocks all over the home and the other inhabitants of the estate are extremely peculiar. Then there are the strange residents of the village surrounding the house that act as if Jane is a meddlesome outsider.
My review:
Astrid Addams kindly asked me to review her upcoming novella The Haunting of Hacket House, and I immediately said yes, as I love creepy and mysterious houses as a horror trope. The author did an excellent job in setting the scene for the novella and sucking the reader in with a compelling prologue.
The protagonist, Jane, is a well developed character, whom it is easy to connect with. The other characters also make a nice addition to the already sinister plot. The story is well written, and kept me engaged the entire time.
Thanks to the author for the review copy.
My review:
Astrid Addams kindly asked me to review her upcoming novella The Haunting of Hacket House, and I immediately said yes, as I love creepy and mysterious houses as a horror trope. The author did an excellent job in setting the scene for the novella and sucking the reader in with a compelling prologue.
The protagonist, Jane, is a well developed character, whom it is easy to connect with. The other characters also make a nice addition to the already sinister plot. The story is well written, and kept me engaged the entire time.
Thanks to the author for the review copy.
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