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directorpurry's review against another edition
- 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
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
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism
sonygaystation's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Racism, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Pregnancy, and Infidelity
thekissballad's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Second, Miranda's POV was completely unnecessary. Her "slutty" thoughts and behaviors had no real purpose. She was so vapid and shallow that when she died, I wasn't moved. I was actually kind of glad. Sorry, not sorry.
Third, the witchy aspects were completely wasted and not thought out very well. Hell, Lauren ignored it and refused to believe it until the very end. Then David, the one character who even did anything truly witchy, was a side character.
Not to mention the "end the curse" moment was so anti-climactic, and the ending itself left much to be desired.
Fourth, the whole dynamic between Lauren and her mom, Karen, is ridiculous. There's so much hate between them over the most pointless of shit, and then Lauren finally gets her first period and suddenly things are better? How tf does that make any sense? If this were a day or two thing, sure, I could see it, but the fact that Lauren alludes to their discourse having started shortly after (if not before) her father died, makes it such a cop out.
Additionally, Lauren suddenly switching personalities all because Jake expressed his feelings? Ugh.
Fifth, the repetition and abundance of minute details was the real killer of this book. I feel like you could have cut out all of this, plus Miranda's POV and a few others, and reworked Mrs. Schneider's existance, and you'd have a much better story. Possibly novella. And I'd probably have enjoyed it then. This just felt like an attempt to write a full novel, without having enough content to actually write the length needed.
Graphic: Blood, Toxic friendship, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Death, and Racial slurs
meecespieces's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gore, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia
Minor: Gun violence
baptized_in_salt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Gore
bastieboi's review against another edition
- 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
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
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
leahrosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I could've done without the racial slurs and slut shaming. I get that this was set in the 80s, but it was a bit much at times.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence
sararainsberry's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Racism, Racial slurs, and Murder
Minor: Grief and Vomit