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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I DNF'd this book at 100 because I could not get through this book, it was so hard to read and get through. If I had an audiobook, this book might have been easier to get through. I thought this book would have interesting when I bought it but it definitely was not. This book was very boring and just overall not interesting to me. Very slow and dull book not as interesting as I thought it would be. Some people have loved this book, I was not one of those people.
**3.5 stars** A House of Ghosts is a paranormal mystery set during the turmoil of World War I. Lord Highmount lost both his sons in battle, and has invited a group of acquaintances to his remote island estate for a seance. Kate Cartwright, works as a codebreaker for the British military, and also happens to have the ability to see ghosts. She is sent to the island by her boss, along with her ex-fiance and a mysterious man called Donovan. Events at the estate quickly turn deadly, and with a storm preventing anyone from leaving it is up to Kate and Donovan to solve the mystery before it's too late.
Despite occasionally stilted writing and a romantic angle that felt a bit forced, this book was an entertaining read. The multi-perspective format with short chapters keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and there are a few twists to keep you guessing. A fun, quick read for anyone in a bit of a spooky mood!
Despite occasionally stilted writing and a romantic angle that felt a bit forced, this book was an entertaining read. The multi-perspective format with short chapters keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and there are a few twists to keep you guessing. A fun, quick read for anyone in a bit of a spooky mood!
**3.5 stars** A House of Ghosts is a paranormal mystery set during the turmoil of World War I. Lord Highmount lost both his sons in battle, and has invited a group of acquaintances to his remote island estate for a seance. Kate Cartwright, works as a codebreaker for the British military, and also happens to have the ability to see ghosts. She is sent to the island by her boss, along with her ex-fiance and a mysterious man called Donovan. Events at the estate quickly turn deadly, and with a storm preventing anyone from leaving it is up to Kate and Donovan to solve the mystery before it's too late.
Despite occasionally stilted writing and a romantic angle that felt a bit forced, this book was an entertaining read. The multi-perspective format with short chapters keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and there are a few twists to keep you guessing. A fun, quick read for anyone in a bit of a spooky mood!
Despite occasionally stilted writing and a romantic angle that felt a bit forced, this book was an entertaining read. The multi-perspective format with short chapters keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next, and there are a few twists to keep you guessing. A fun, quick read for anyone in a bit of a spooky mood!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kate is stuck in a boring job, and she is longing to do something different. There is something markedly different about her though, she can see ghosts. There is a trait in her family that females are able to discern certain things through a mirror, and she is the last one that can see it - her mother does not have the ability to do so.
As she heads out for the weekend, on assignment to find out more about what is going on a the Highmount house, she is not sure what she is going to find.
As the weekend progresses, the mystery only deepens. There is a seance, where they are attempting to contact family members who are feared dead from the war, but the responses are not quite what they appear. As she and Donovan continue their investigation, there body count also begins to rise. Will they make it off the island alive?
This was a great read! I absolutely LOVED IT! I was captivated from the first pages, and had to sit and read it through in one sitting! A must read for this fall!
Thank you Simon and Schuster for the electronic copy for a unbiased review
As she heads out for the weekend, on assignment to find out more about what is going on a the Highmount house, she is not sure what she is going to find.
As the weekend progresses, the mystery only deepens. There is a seance, where they are attempting to contact family members who are feared dead from the war, but the responses are not quite what they appear. As she and Donovan continue their investigation, there body count also begins to rise. Will they make it off the island alive?
This was a great read! I absolutely LOVED IT! I was captivated from the first pages, and had to sit and read it through in one sitting! A must read for this fall!
Thank you Simon and Schuster for the electronic copy for a unbiased review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a solid world war story and I liked how they dealt with war trauma, just the plot twist or reveal wasn't that shocking and was already kind of touched on early on. But I did enjoy our main characters and their interactions
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I was ready to love this, but instead I grew more and more disinterested. I didn’t find it “spooky” or “creepy” at all. What I DID find it to be was dull and confusing. I never was able to completely disambiguate some of the characters, nor did I connect with any of them. I kept losing track of what was happening and why it mattered…never a good sign in any book, but especially not in a crime mystery. And the whole each-chapter-titled-after-a-different-character thing to present varying POVs that seems to be the new trend in books that will never go away…it felt wholly too modern here and just unnecessary. This device can work well for certain books but it’s much over-used, and this is a perfect example of where it was unnecessary. Would Agatha Christie have titled chapters with different characters to present their POVs? No. She would have just presented them, chapter by chapter, and written it clearly enough that the reader could figure it out.
Anyway, off my soapbox and back on track: it kills me to rate this book so low because it has all the right ingredients, but I just could not wait for it to be over so I could move on to something else.
Definitely the winner of the 2023 “Most Misleading Book Title” award, and it’s only March. I see in the other reviews I’m not the only one who felt this way. This is a perfect example of a book that was done a grave disservice by giving it such a misleading title. I reckon the ratings would be a full star higher across the board if the title had been more accurate, because that disconnect alone left so many of us reviewers so obviously frustrated and wanting.
Anyway, off my soapbox and back on track: it kills me to rate this book so low because it has all the right ingredients, but I just could not wait for it to be over so I could move on to something else.
Definitely the winner of the 2023 “Most Misleading Book Title” award, and it’s only March. I see in the other reviews I’m not the only one who felt this way. This is a perfect example of a book that was done a grave disservice by giving it such a misleading title. I reckon the ratings would be a full star higher across the board if the title had been more accurate, because that disconnect alone left so many of us reviewers so obviously frustrated and wanting.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is a ghost story in the way Little Women is about the Civil War. Yes it is happening in the background - but it doesn’t really impact or influence the story except indirectly. There are ghosts everywhere but they just seem to hang around. There are a couple of creepy moments during the seances - but really there are no chills or scary moments. The ghosts don’t have much agency and they don’t offer clues or help solve the mystery. This book could have been a straightforward spy mystery with no ghosts at all and nothing would be different.
Since I don’t like spy stories and read this specifically for the ghosts it was a big disappointment. The story was fine but I was actually distracted by the weird way the ghosts were used. I kept waiting for something to happen so their presence would make sense.
It was a tidy little mystery story with some surprises. Just don’t expect it to keep you up at night.
Since I don’t like spy stories and read this specifically for the ghosts it was a big disappointment. The story was fine but I was actually distracted by the weird way the ghosts were used. I kept waiting for something to happen so their presence would make sense.
It was a tidy little mystery story with some surprises. Just don’t expect it to keep you up at night.