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yodamom's review
3.0
Pippa's story. A sad tale of a hard life filled with poor choices. I found it slow and hard to stay focused on. There were some background detail of Perry and Declan that were slightly revealing but noting shattering. She just didn't hold my interest for what ever reason.
divapitbull's review
2.0
2 stars is being generous and rounding up from 1 1/2. Old Blood is a novella that chronicles the life (and by life, I mean ENTIRE life AND death) of Pippa – The Creepy Clown Lady. The beginning – when she saw her first ghosts as a child was interesting. The end – which gets into how she came to be Declan’s Nanny; and the bits about Jakob her spirit guide and the Thin Veil were interesting. Everything in between was tedious and boring. Pippa’s story would have been better served being told (in an abbreviated version) in a prologue.
I may have been particularly harsh with Old Blood because it felt like the cherry on the icing of the cake of a festering pet peeve of mine. Back in the day – authors wrote mostly standalone stories. They let the reader have closure and they went on their merry way until another original thought struck and then they wrote another original story. In recent years every book written has turned into a series – and not just a series but a never-ending series – sending the reader down one rabbit hole after another. Every time a side character farts it requires a novella if not a complete spin-off. Storylines spinning out forever. And if you want to know what’s going on and get to a conclusion that makes sense – you must read the majority (if not all) of it. Sometimes it makes reading feel like less of a joy and more of a hostage situation. But I digress.
My takeaway from Old Blood is that Pippa is not an especially sympathetic or likeable character. She has consistently throughout her entire life made poor decisions without any thought to the possible consequences or how other people could be impacted, when negative consequences have occurred she has failed/refused to take responsibility and (even worse) actively blamed other people for the consequences of her choices. I don’t know if the intention of Old Blood was to make Ingrid (Perry’s mother) a *more* sympathetic character – but it did. Ingrid was not responsible for the culmination of Pippa’s life; and I can understand why the déjà vu she experienced with Perry freaked her out so badly.
I may have been particularly harsh with Old Blood because it felt like the cherry on the icing of the cake of a festering pet peeve of mine. Back in the day – authors wrote mostly standalone stories. They let the reader have closure and they went on their merry way until another original thought struck and then they wrote another original story. In recent years every book written has turned into a series – and not just a series but a never-ending series – sending the reader down one rabbit hole after another. Every time a side character farts it requires a novella if not a complete spin-off. Storylines spinning out forever. And if you want to know what’s going on and get to a conclusion that makes sense – you must read the majority (if not all) of it. Sometimes it makes reading feel like less of a joy and more of a hostage situation. But I digress.
My takeaway from Old Blood is that Pippa is not an especially sympathetic or likeable character. She has consistently throughout her entire life made poor decisions without any thought to the possible consequences or how other people could be impacted, when negative consequences have occurred she has failed/refused to take responsibility and (even worse) actively blamed other people for the consequences of her choices. I don’t know if the intention of Old Blood was to make Ingrid (Perry’s mother) a *more* sympathetic character – but it did. Ingrid was not responsible for the culmination of Pippa’s life; and I can understand why the déjà vu she experienced with Perry freaked her out so badly.
faith99's review against another edition
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Infidelity, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Child abuse
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Child death, Abandonment, and Excrement
laurenm2111's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed reading Pippa's story in this one. It was wonderful that she went from a creepy clown lady to a important and relevant character. Poor Pippa had such a sad, exhaustive story - so sad to see her decline from her own point of view, and really made me start to question Perry's parents. Loved that it set up Perry and Dex being together - as if designed by fate, or grandma Pippa!!
bmg20's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
This is Pippa... Crazy Clown Lady... I don't know. I was expecting her to be a bit more interesting. Still enjoyable and a good insight into Dex's childhood and the connection between him and Perry.
This is Pippa... Crazy Clown Lady... I don't know. I was expecting her to be a bit more interesting. Still enjoyable and a good insight into Dex's childhood and the connection between him and Perry.
laughlinesandliterature's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting look into Pippa's life, and we get to see what brought her to looking after Perry. It's a shame because really everything that had happened can be contributed to Pippa and the poor decisions she made. It's pretty unfair when you look at the story, and you also learn about Perry's mom and what she did. She was a pretty terrible daughter. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.
romancebookaddict's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed reading Pippa's story and how her life and actions fall into the story. I'm also very sad that she didn't get to be apart of Perry's life. And Ingrid I am just angered how she was towards her mother.
trisha_thomas's review against another edition
2.0
I'm glad for the information but I found this one to be boring and very choppy. There were multiple incomplete or confusing sentences and they distracted from the story.
But I just didn't find Pippa's narration compelling. Maybe if this had actually been an audio book instead of reading it, it might have been more interesting but I don't think so. It wasn't the typical creepy.
What is revealed
But I just didn't find Pippa's narration compelling. Maybe if this had actually been an audio book instead of reading it, it might have been more interesting but I don't think so. It wasn't the typical creepy.
What is revealed
Spoiler
that crazy clown lady is named Pippa. Pippa helped raise Declan (Dax) and is the maternal grandmother of Perry. she visited perry when perry was 6. She knew Dax most of his life. Dax's mom was ill, tried to hurt him and constantly scared him and Dax saw the same ghosts that Pippa did. Dax's dad left him (and seemed to favor his brother Michael over him).annapsxx's review against another edition
3.0
This was so sad. In the end, I don't know who I hate the most: Perry's parents or Dex's parents.
kyleg99's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0