Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

425 reviews

kaywhiteley's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

Probably one of the most fun books I’ve ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, and Body horror

ajnorelli's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death of parent

jessicake1's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death and Grief

hkrobock's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Car accident

vanessamariebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

This story is about grief and loss and I liked that Hendrix broke up each section into one of the stages of grief. I also thought it was interesting (and well done) how Hendrix not only shows us how Louise and Mark move through the stages of grief, but also how Pumkin (a puppet) deals with his grief as well. 

In the 3rd act, towards the end, the story started going in a direction I didn't expect and I would've been disappointed if it continued this way (simply because I don't like this trope in supernatural stories), but luckily it didn't and changed directions again (back to what I originally thought was going to happen).

I will say, if you're used to ghost/haunted stories like this, you'll probably see the "twist" at the end coming from the beginning (I knew where this was headed the moment we're introduced to Louise's family), but I still enjoyed it anyway. Something about Hendrix's writing makes you not want to put the book down even when you know what's coming.

Also, while this story does have a gross scene with squirrels, it's definitely not as bad as the rat scene in The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (though I probably still wouldn't recommend eating while reading this). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Child death

Minor: Car accident

margolovie89's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Car accident

nicoletiff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Death of parent

go2hellstephanie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I really loved this book, and it really caught me off guard.

I've read a couple of other of Hendrix's books and usually I see more comedy that balances out the horror. How to Sell a Haunted House had moments where I could feel my heart racing from terror. And I don't even really find puppets, dolls, or clowns scary.

Hendrix did an amazing job with this story. This story about grief and about family and about secrets. Highly recommend anyone looking for a good horror book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Child death

marleyjade123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

kneezbooks's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Gore, and Blood