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books_unraveling's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.5
I’m not going to knock this book because it wasn’t my style. There were some really great things about this book, especially the descriptive writing and creepy elements. In the beginning, I was worried the writing style was just random ramblings, but toward the middle and end it shifted into better storytelling. I also liked the incredibly creepy haunted house that “replays” memories from the past. Also, how cool that it’s set in Virginia?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty
aparker89's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
This book. This book is going to stay with me. A haunted house in an honorable homage to Haunting of Hill House, this story delves deep into our greatest innate fears while leaving most of the ghosts in shadows. A true ghost story that leaves you wanting for nothing. The last 100 pages (of a relatively short book) are a race to find out if our admirable narrator will prevent the horrors of the future from happening! The ending will tear out your heart out! Goddamm!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, and Bullying
kristiealexis's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
2.0
The biggest issue with this book is the overworked purple prose, which reviews elsewhere have gone into. I also found the occasional use of second person jarring.
I'm also pretty sure the author is not familiar with the location she was writing in. Aside from the Maroons, there wasn't anything that rang true about the setting and sense of place is very important to me. Zero acknowledgement that the most rural part of the Great Dismal Swamp (on the west side) is still 15 minutes from a city of 100K and a popular pass-through for Virginia Beach. And on the east side you're like 15 minutes from Chesapeake/Norfolk and 400K people. So the rural comments kept making me roll my eyes. I also refuse to believe that the house wouldn't be swarmed with ghost hunters since the swamp is touted as the most haunted place in VA and ghost tourism is a thing there.
No mention of the wildlife refuge. Randomly brought up coal mines (in the Tidewater... bitch, where??) but not the absurd number of peanut farms. And so on. And I'm not even from there!
This is probably small for most people, but atmosphere and place is very important for me in a haunting book.
Also I'm not a huge sucker for totally downer endings, but I will say I don't think this one was executed poorly.
I'm also pretty sure the author is not familiar with the location she was writing in. Aside from the Maroons, there wasn't anything that rang true about the setting and sense of place is very important to me. Zero acknowledgement that the most rural part of the Great Dismal Swamp (on the west side) is still 15 minutes from a city of 100K and a popular pass-through for Virginia Beach. And on the east side you're like 15 minutes from Chesapeake/Norfolk and 400K people. So the rural comments kept making me roll my eyes. I also refuse to believe that the house wouldn't be swarmed with ghost hunters since the swamp is touted as the most haunted place in VA and ghost tourism is a thing there.
No mention of the wildlife refuge. Randomly brought up coal mines (in the Tidewater... bitch, where??) but not the absurd number of peanut farms. And so on. And I'm not even from there!
This is probably small for most people, but atmosphere and place is very important for me in a haunting book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
curiouslykatt's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Holy shit. I loved this one. It Will Just Be Us is a grotesquely fascinating Frankenstein, pulling together my favourite parts of horror and the macabre to create a very creepy gothic horror novel.
After Sam is assaulted and left on the streets, she decides to return home. Not the flat she was living in, no, no, her ancestral home the Wakefield manor. The derelict manor in disrepair and rotting with decay. The manor sinking at the edge of Virginia swampland. The manor haunted by memories. Sam and her ailing mother see flickers of memories and are accustomed to reliving the past in the winding halls and behind locked doors. Soon their uneasy peace is turned over when Sam’s sister Elizabeth has decided to leave her husband and return home to the manor to see through her pregnancy.
Sam is used to the house showing her flickering memories of former manor residents, but something is different now that Elizabeth has arrived. Are these memories, or are some ghost flickers of future Wakefields?
Right from the hop Kaplan begins her creepy story and she doesn’t let up. There is a weird section in the middle that gets a bit too meta for my personal brand of horror, but it doesn’t last long. I thought I was going to get House of Leaves but I got so many pieces of classic horror I adore.
If you’re a fan of The Winchester House, Shirley Jacksonesque horror style around grief, the Netflix series of The Haunting Of Hill House, the film aesthetic of Kubrick Re: The Shining and a slow burn haunted house story, you’ll want to pick this one up.
CW: animal abuse (frogs and birds), suicide, domestic violence, physical assault
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Animal cruelty
Minor: Physical abuse and Domestic abuse
readwithbells's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Possibly the best haunted house story I’ve ever read. The atmosphere was ominous but not too oppressive, the haunting tropes were twisted upside down, and the combination of supernatural horror and humanity horror was unparalleled. I loved how we assumed it was going to turn out ok, and then when you realize what exactly is going on, the horror gets even deeper. The final image Kaplan leaves us with is truly something I will never get out of my brain. Flipping fantastic. Perfectly horrible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent
Moderate: Slavery and Domestic abuse
Minor: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship
ktrecs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Slavery
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Vomit
ae_young's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
jmbz38's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Alcoholism
Minor: Abortion
tracyreads's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This book definitely has its moments of haunted house creepiness and there were a few moments I really enjoyed. Overall I found quite a lot of it to be almost over-written and it took way too long for me to get invested in the story. Sometimes less is more. The book draws from very familiar tales in the HH sub genre, ones I truly love, but it just didn’t work for me. I think other readers may still have a good time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty
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