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shh_reading85's review
3.0
I received this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cross posted to Shh, I Am Reading
Personally, I wouldn’t have labelled this story a horror. Paranormal with mystery maybe, but this didn’t have any horror elements and there were no major scares in this.
While this has a classic paranormal story tale air about it with the mystery of a haunted house, it kind of fell flat for me. More so because of the characters rather than the story itself. Dale was tedious and displays misogynistic qualities, especially in his belief and treatment of Lucy. While Lucy was an air head with the ability to be a cruel Mean Girl. She almost seemed like she didn’t want to even be a part of the project.
The end of the story was even more odd with Lucy and Dale suddenly being a couple and engaged. There was so little romance especially from Lucy. It seemed odd that even their experience at Sker House would have drawn them together.
The only character’s I liked were Old Rolly and Izzy the barmaid. At least their personalities suited each other.
Like I said, this seems to be more of a paranormal novel. It had elements of possible creepiness and the landlord of Sker House was perfect in his drunken stupor and false happiness, despite his life having fallen apart since moving to Sker House. Hints of the occult littered the book, another common paranormal element.
For the longest time, Old Rolly’s presence in the book made no sense but near the end, it finally did. It was a little cliche as to the presence. But I feel if Dale and Lucy had smaller parts in the book or more effort put into the ghost story line, it would have been a stronger novel.
Cross posted to Shh, I Am Reading
Personally, I wouldn’t have labelled this story a horror. Paranormal with mystery maybe, but this didn’t have any horror elements and there were no major scares in this.
While this has a classic paranormal story tale air about it with the mystery of a haunted house, it kind of fell flat for me. More so because of the characters rather than the story itself. Dale was tedious and displays misogynistic qualities, especially in his belief and treatment of Lucy. While Lucy was an air head with the ability to be a cruel Mean Girl. She almost seemed like she didn’t want to even be a part of the project.
The end of the story was even more odd with Lucy and Dale suddenly being a couple and engaged. There was so little romance especially from Lucy. It seemed odd that even their experience at Sker House would have drawn them together.
The only character’s I liked were Old Rolly and Izzy the barmaid. At least their personalities suited each other.
Like I said, this seems to be more of a paranormal novel. It had elements of possible creepiness and the landlord of Sker House was perfect in his drunken stupor and false happiness, despite his life having fallen apart since moving to Sker House. Hints of the occult littered the book, another common paranormal element.
For the longest time, Old Rolly’s presence in the book made no sense but near the end, it finally did. It was a little cliche as to the presence. But I feel if Dale and Lucy had smaller parts in the book or more effort put into the ghost story line, it would have been a stronger novel.
lilyn_g's review
3.0
Sker House, by C.M. Saunders, is a paranormal mystery set in South Wales. Though it is fiction, the location (and title of the book) is not. Sker House was first built over 900 years ago, and then completely rebuilt in the 1600s (per Wikipedia). Like most old buildings still around today has a few legends attached to it. After all, what would a historic site be without a few rumors of things that go bump in the night?
C.M. Saunders does a decent job in Sker House. The writing is fairly well done, and his characters are believable for the most part. Believable but, on the whole, not particularly likable. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, per say. It just kept me, I felt, from connecting with the characters as well as I could have. Dale and Lucy are your typical college-age kids, which means he’s a jerk and she’s a mouthy witch at times. The landlord’s been broken under the weight of the badness that’s happened in the house, and spends most of the novel as a fumbling drunkard. Rolly is probably the most unreal feeling character, but that’s simply because he is your stereotypical ‘old wise man in the ghost story’.
I’ve labeled it a paranormal mystery rather than a horror because I did not, at any point, even feel uneasy when reading the book. It was entertaining enough, but easy to put down. Overall, it’s not a bad book, but it just didn’t appeal to me. I think the main problem is that I never got that creepy atmosphere feeling which you really need in this type of book. Still, if you’re a fan of classic haunted house stories, you’d probably like it.
C.M. Saunders does a decent job in Sker House. The writing is fairly well done, and his characters are believable for the most part. Believable but, on the whole, not particularly likable. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, per say. It just kept me, I felt, from connecting with the characters as well as I could have. Dale and Lucy are your typical college-age kids, which means he’s a jerk and she’s a mouthy witch at times. The landlord’s been broken under the weight of the badness that’s happened in the house, and spends most of the novel as a fumbling drunkard. Rolly is probably the most unreal feeling character, but that’s simply because he is your stereotypical ‘old wise man in the ghost story’.
I’ve labeled it a paranormal mystery rather than a horror because I did not, at any point, even feel uneasy when reading the book. It was entertaining enough, but easy to put down. Overall, it’s not a bad book, but it just didn’t appeal to me. I think the main problem is that I never got that creepy atmosphere feeling which you really need in this type of book. Still, if you’re a fan of classic haunted house stories, you’d probably like it.
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