Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

26 reviews

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

The basic premise is that main character Louise gets the call no one wants to get and learns both of her parents have died in a car accident. She has to go back home to deal with the funeral, the estate, and the messed up family she's kept at a distance since moving away decades ago. Her younger and only sibling is the most difficult part as they continually bicker over the estate and past hurts/trauma but it gets a whole lot worse their mother's doll & puppet collection seem to be moving on their own.

So yeah, if horror series like Puppet Master and Chucky freaked you out you'll certainly find this story creepy. Be forewarned there is some eye stuff and body mutilation. And a fuck ton of grief and trauma over losing a parent/parents.

If you've ever had to go through an estate process you may relate hard to Louise's exhaustion and sorrow. At least I did and I think the author accurately captured the experience. My only complaints are: One, I felt like it dragged a bit near the end when Louise's daughter Poppy became a larger part of the story and two, while Mark's background reveal was interesting (and makes me want to know more about radical puppets) it felt disconnected from the story especially with the big reveal at the end. Like, what happened to Louise & Poppy makes sense with the reveal but Mark's made less sense once you know the real reason all these things happened.

Still, I'd recommend it especially if you already like Hendrix's other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Death, and Medical content

Minor: Gun violence

snazzy10101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

ninahuynh's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 Been wanting to read Grady Hendrix book after hearing all the hype around his writing and around this particular book, and I gotta say, it delivered! The gore. The blood. The puppet. It has you on your   toes while also wanting to curse the curse’d. The only thing I have issue with is

why do the parents, especially the mom, blame Freddie’s death on Nancy when them parents were the one leaving a seven-year-old child to look after her five-year-old brother? They should have also seen how they were also at fault.

Generational trauma, man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Murder

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

3.0

What a VERY weird and creepy AF book! It was bizarre, and puppets have always creeped me out! But I did like the twist with the puppet. I HATED the MCs for the book's first quarter, especially Mark, but he improved once the book got going. I would not recommend eating while reading this book as it gets gorey at parts and pretty violent as well. Pumpkin got extremely annoying at parts.  Overall, it was an okay book, that did keep me engaged. It was better than the other book of his I read which I DNF'd.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cursing, Blood, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Violence, Body horror, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death, and Car accident

Minor: Animal death, Gaslighting, and Child death

mpswans1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

jodierose14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, and Child death

julieyael's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

3.5 stars but rounded up

This is a book that I took time to really appreciate. 
The first half of it (that’s the first 200 pages!) were just ok. It’s a bit slow and I did not care too much for the characters. 
For a moment, I even thought about not finishing the book, because I felt that this was not what I expected from the story. 

But then it becomes more intriguing and you feel that there is more to it. 
When you enter the last third of the book, it becomes hard to leave it. 
I wished the slow part of the begining was not that long, because it’s all well written and you feel the creepy atmosphere building up. 

In the end, the book kept its promises, it’s a fun and creepy horror novel, with a good dose of paranormal, and a light touch of gory details (very light, but I guess it can be triggering for some people)

So I would recommend it, if you are ready to spend some time on the first part which is less exciting and a bit long to my taste. 
The second half of it really deserves a good 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Car accident, Physical abuse, Child death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Vomit

darumachan's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed the dark humor and wild twists.  The sibling relationship went through just as many rollercoaster swoops as the plot, but was touching and rang true in how they connected. This was a total romp with plenty of good suspense, peril, and creepy thrills along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Medical trauma

Moderate: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Dissociation

hideouscharm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief