Scan barcode
directorpurry's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
sabrinz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I really could not put this one down. Despite it being a bigger book the pages flew by.
The story is told from the point of view of different characters, but the different chapters all fit seamlessly together and provide a cohesive and continuous story.
The story mainly follows 14-year-old Lauren (typical teenager - and I mean this in a very convincing way that she is contrary, emotional and not as wise as she would like to be, but it's not in a way that would make reading her chapters annoying).
We are in the 90s and 1 year has passed since Lauren's father has been killed - allegedly by a drifter. While Lauren navigates teenage life and realized that she and her best friend are slowly drifting apart in their friendship and what they find important, there are strange things going on in this small town. When two young girls are found murdered in a backyard, it is only the beginning; and Lauren is determined to figure out what happened to them and why no one seems to care about their death - or her father's.
The story is told from the point of view of different characters, but the different chapters all fit seamlessly together and provide a cohesive and continuous story.
The story mainly follows 14-year-old Lauren (typical teenager - and I mean this in a very convincing way that she is contrary, emotional and not as wise as she would like to be, but it's not in a way that would make reading her chapters annoying).
We are in the 90s and 1 year has passed since Lauren's father has been killed - allegedly by a drifter. While Lauren navigates teenage life and realized that she and her best friend are slowly drifting apart in their friendship and what they find important, there are strange things going on in this small town. When two young girls are found murdered in a backyard, it is only the beginning; and Lauren is determined to figure out what happened to them and why no one seems to care about their death - or her father's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Racism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Eating disorder, Vomit, Death of parent, and Child death
harleyqueen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Loved it but at times felt like it read so fast that you would lose sense of what's happening. There is a town under a curse where once a year a girl has to be sacrificed to the ghost tree but when the wrong sacrifice is offered all rules no longer exist
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcoholism
bastieboi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Death, Child death, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Vomit, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Eating disorder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Racism, Racial slurs, and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual content
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The ghost tree is one of those books that isn’t really in my favorite genre but that I do like to read now and then. It’s refreshing to read something different. Now, what did I think of the ghost tree?
Summary
This book is about Lauren and the other residents of the little town named Smith’s Hollow. There town is a quite peaceful one. Nothing ever really happens is Smith’s Hallow accept for the murder of Lauren’s dad of course almost a year ago. While her family is still healing from his death, strange things are starting to happen. Two broken bodies of out of town teens are found in the backyard of a villager and now it’s up to Lauren to find out the truth about the murders.
Characters
This is a though one. These characters are very well done but the aren’t written to please. They symbolize all different kind of people from Bigots to friendly mothers. There are characters with toxic ideals and there are characters that you will want to root for. Christina Henry doesn’t shy away from racism as well. If your looking for a book with lovable characters then this isn’t it. Are you looking for realistic characters? This might be the book for you.
Worldbuilding
The ghost tree is set in a world like ours so there isn’t a lot of world building but it has some twists that are well done. The only thing I miss is clear rules for the “magic/supernatural ” parts of this book.
Plot
The book started really strong but in the middle of the book it lost its flow for a bit. I feel like that has something to do with the repetition of the storyline. Towards the ending the book finds its way back on track. Just hand in there!
Writing style
Christina Henry had a way with writing that makes all the story’s she writes read like a fairytale. It’s a really compelling way of writing that I don’t get enough of.
Overal thoughts
This book is a good read for readers that are looking for a start in the horror genre. It’s fast, witty, a bit creepy but not to scary. I would recommend it to ages 14-18 but 14 years old is on the younger side of things.
Summary
This book is about Lauren and the other residents of the little town named Smith’s Hollow. There town is a quite peaceful one. Nothing ever really happens is Smith’s Hallow accept for the murder of Lauren’s dad of course almost a year ago. While her family is still healing from his death, strange things are starting to happen. Two broken bodies of out of town teens are found in the backyard of a villager and now it’s up to Lauren to find out the truth about the murders.
Characters
This is a though one. These characters are very well done but the aren’t written to please. They symbolize all different kind of people from Bigots to friendly mothers. There are characters with toxic ideals and there are characters that you will want to root for. Christina Henry doesn’t shy away from racism as well. If your looking for a book with lovable characters then this isn’t it. Are you looking for realistic characters? This might be the book for you.
Worldbuilding
The ghost tree is set in a world like ours so there isn’t a lot of world building but it has some twists that are well done. The only thing I miss is clear rules for the “magic/supernatural ” parts of this book.
Plot
The book started really strong but in the middle of the book it lost its flow for a bit. I feel like that has something to do with the repetition of the storyline. Towards the ending the book finds its way back on track. Just hand in there!
Writing style
Christina Henry had a way with writing that makes all the story’s she writes read like a fairytale. It’s a really compelling way of writing that I don’t get enough of.
Overal thoughts
This book is a good read for readers that are looking for a start in the horror genre. It’s fast, witty, a bit creepy but not to scary. I would recommend it to ages 14-18 but 14 years old is on the younger side of things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Vomit
missbreathing's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This wasn’t perfect, but it was fun. It was exactly what I was looking for. It had an intriguing premise and lots of creepy imagery and scary moments.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The characters are all interesting, complex, and layered. Lauren is an endearing MC, and her reluctance to grow up is relatable and enriches the story. The multiple POVs work well: they each have a distinct voice, and we get lots of information from each one.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The prose does feel awkward at times, and it could use some polish, but it’s easy enough to get used to.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While this book starts off strong, it does become a bit slow and repetitive. The story, tensions and intrigue would work better if this was a shorter book. As it is, it is a tad predictable and spends a lot of time repeating itself. Additionally, the last act feels a little convenient. The very end feels unearned and a bit abrupt.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Still, I looked forward to picking this up in the evenings. I had a good time reading it. I’d recommend this to fans of small-town horror or of “My Best Friend’s Exorcism,” since it’s similar in its themes and imagery.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The characters are all interesting, complex, and layered. Lauren is an endearing MC, and her reluctance to grow up is relatable and enriches the story. The multiple POVs work well: they each have a distinct voice, and we get lots of information from each one.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The prose does feel awkward at times, and it could use some polish, but it’s easy enough to get used to.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While this book starts off strong, it does become a bit slow and repetitive. The story, tensions and intrigue would work better if this was a shorter book. As it is, it is a tad predictable and spends a lot of time repeating itself. Additionally, the last act feels a little convenient. The very end feels unearned and a bit abrupt.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Still, I looked forward to picking this up in the evenings. I had a good time reading it. I’d recommend this to fans of small-town horror or of “My Best Friend’s Exorcism,” since it’s similar in its themes and imagery.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Murder, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Eating disorder
lauriereadslohf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
The Ghost Tree is a tale set in the 80’s about murder, secrets, witches and a friendship that’s falling to pieces. It’s gorier than I expected and not quite as creepy as I’d hoped. It was a pretty solid 3 star read for me and 3 stars are type of books I absolutely dread reviewing but I’ll take a stab at it . . .
Things start off when two young women are found torn to pieces in the local bigots backyard. This is a quiet, sleepy town and this is a big deal. Or one would think so. Instead of everyone being in a huge panic screaming “LOCK YOUR DOORS THERE’S A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE!” people seem a bit “hmm, guess I better go water my lawn and mind my own damn business”. Weird, right?
Well, things only get weirder as the story moves along.
Told from multiple POV’s the main voice that stuck out for me was that of teenager Lauren who has been having migraines and visions and finds the forest a calming place. Her father died a year earlier, a grisly victim of murder whose killer was never found. Hmm, perhaps this town isn’t so “quiet” after all. The case gets brushed under the rug as everyone moves on with their lives but Lauren can’t move on quite so easily. She has a strained relationship with her mother and her best friend has suddenly gone boy crazy so she’s having a real shit time now and I felt for her. She starts her own poking around into all of these deaths that no one seems interested in solving and what she finds is far more than she could’ve dreamed up.
If the story had focused more on Lauren’s POV I think I would’ve enjoyed it more than I did. There’s a lot going on here and some of it is important but feels a bit underdeveloped even though the book is over 400 pages. There’s also one big reveal that read like a dark fairy tale. I love dark fairy tales but as far as this one goes I feel like it’s one that’s been told too many times. Or perhaps I’ve just read too many books or maybe I'm just too grouchy. Either way that reveal didn’t work for me. I’m also going to complain about Lauren’s love interest here because I’m me and also because I do believe she was 13 or 14 years old and he was in college (if my brain is remembering correctly) and he was at least 18 and maybe I’m just an old biddy now but that felt like too big of a gap at those ages and it bugged me.
What did thrill me were the imperfect and sometimes unlikable characters. There’s enough fiery rage, grief and assholery going around to fuel this whole cursed town and some of these people made me crazy but in the best way because it felt realistic to coming of age and also to the situations. There were few unblemished angels here. Almost everyone (except the innocent brother & the new to town policeman) had the potential to be a bit of a cruel dick at one point or another and there’s quite a few characters who are just despicable through and through and I don’t know why but I enjoyed that type of character honesty in this story even if some of them aggravated and upset the hell out of me at times! I'm looking at you Miranda (kiddo don't let boys ruin your self esteem) and also at you Mrs. IForgotYourNameButYour'reAnEvilBigot.
I guess I’m going with a 3.5 and I hope that rating matches my words.
Things start off when two young women are found torn to pieces in the local bigots backyard. This is a quiet, sleepy town and this is a big deal. Or one would think so. Instead of everyone being in a huge panic screaming “LOCK YOUR DOORS THERE’S A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE!” people seem a bit “hmm, guess I better go water my lawn and mind my own damn business”. Weird, right?
Well, things only get weirder as the story moves along.
Told from multiple POV’s the main voice that stuck out for me was that of teenager Lauren who has been having migraines and visions and finds the forest a calming place. Her father died a year earlier, a grisly victim of murder whose killer was never found. Hmm, perhaps this town isn’t so “quiet” after all. The case gets brushed under the rug as everyone moves on with their lives but Lauren can’t move on quite so easily. She has a strained relationship with her mother and her best friend has suddenly gone boy crazy so she’s having a real shit time now and I felt for her. She starts her own poking around into all of these deaths that no one seems interested in solving and what she finds is far more than she could’ve dreamed up.
If the story had focused more on Lauren’s POV I think I would’ve enjoyed it more than I did. There’s a lot going on here and some of it is important but feels a bit underdeveloped even though the book is over 400 pages. There’s also one big reveal that read like a dark fairy tale. I love dark fairy tales but as far as this one goes I feel like it’s one that’s been told too many times. Or perhaps I’ve just read too many books or maybe I'm just too grouchy. Either way that reveal didn’t work for me. I’m also going to complain about Lauren’s love interest here because I’m me and also because I do believe she was 13 or 14 years old and he was in college (if my brain is remembering correctly) and he was at least 18 and maybe I’m just an old biddy now but that felt like too big of a gap at those ages and it bugged me.
What did thrill me were the imperfect and sometimes unlikable characters. There’s enough fiery rage, grief and assholery going around to fuel this whole cursed town and some of these people made me crazy but in the best way because it felt realistic to coming of age and also to the situations. There were few unblemished angels here. Almost everyone (except the innocent brother & the new to town policeman) had the potential to be a bit of a cruel dick at one point or another and there’s quite a few characters who are just despicable through and through and I don’t know why but I enjoyed that type of character honesty in this story even if some of them aggravated and upset the hell out of me at times! I'm looking at you Miranda (kiddo don't let boys ruin your self esteem) and also at you Mrs. IForgotYourNameButYour'reAnEvilBigot.
I guess I’m going with a 3.5 and I hope that rating matches my words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia
sizzlingsaturn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, and Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs
More...