Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

25 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I was originally saving this book to read during peak spooky season in October, but I could not resist picking it up during Summerween.
"How to Sell a Haunted House" follows Louise, a single mom to a beautiful, young daughter. Louise left her life in Charleston behind for a new life on the west coast, and she hardly looks back. Especially because she has a very strained relationship with her younger brother, Mark. Louise feels like her parents favored Mark and always made his life easier, and Louise is resentful. One night, completely out of the blue, Mark calls Louise to inform her that both of their parents were killed in a car accident. Now, Louise and Mark have to decide together what to do with their parents' home, filled to the brim with puppets that haunted their childhoods.
Prior to reading this novel, I was quite ambivalent towards puppets, but now, I am kind of weary. These puppets are so unsettling, and especially the fact that there are so many in one home. Learning how much their mom loved one particular puppet, Pumpkin, makes the story all the more unsettling.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was the brother sister dynamic between Louise and Mark. Their relationship is very strained, and it is not too far off to say that they really hate each other at the beginning. I even really empathized with Louise in the beginning because Mark seemed like such a wreck of a human being. But the more I learned about the story and the more I learned what Louise did not know, made me really grow to enjoy Mark as a character, and feel badly for him. I ended up really rooting for them to work together and mend their relationship.
As with all of Grady Hendrix's books, this story is unsettling and has some very graphic scenes. There is one particular scene involving a needle that I cannot erase from my brain, no matter how much I try. I really enjoyed this story, and I will forever pick up Grady Hendrix's titles in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

brizlee's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Genuinely made me scared of a puppet. Also loved the twist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Pregnancy

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark tense 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? Yes

3.0

I'm so torn about Grady Hendrix. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism , but nothing has been as good before or since. This was very middle of the road for me. It felt like things dragged on forever - so much time was spent building up Mark and Louise, and frankly I could not bring myself to care about them. They were both just kind of shitty people. Not bad enough to outright remove them from your life, but I wouldn't be rushing to invite either of them out to dinner.

The main plot (once we got there) was cool - unfortunately, that was mostly just the last 150 pages. Once things got going, they moved quickly and really got interesting. Honestly, the last 50 pages changed the book from 2* to 3* read. If Hendrix could write everything as well as the last bit of this book, that would be amazing. Unfortunately, he spends a lot of unneeded time trying (unsuccessfully) to build a background.

Hendrix does get points for recognizing that puppets and dolls are creepy af and should not be tampered with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Medical content and Pregnancy

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Excrement, and Pregnancy

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol

rebeccalaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Oh my gosh, I didn't realise how much puppets freaked me out until I read this! 

The first section of the book is titled 'Anger' and I totally agree. There were a few scenes at the beginning that made me rage at one of the characters, as the main character does, although I think that is the goal.

I love how there is always an element of humour in Grady Hendrix's books. In How to Sell a Haunted House, I found the main characters' aunts and cousins, so funny, especially when

they all got together to try to defeat the evil menace

. I was picturing a room full of Jamie Lee Curtises ala Halloween haha!

Pupkin was super scary. Particularly that he could completely take over someone's mind even with just his likeness. The scenes where the college students put on Pupkin masks and wreaked havoc were a bit disturbing!

I really enjoyed reading this book and felt so many different emotions throughout. Another great instalment from Grady Hendrix.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

Puppets are a big theme throughout the book.

Pupaphobia

maddireads13's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Pregnancy

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

I was not expecting a book about an evil clown puppet to make me cry like that.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Car accident, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Self harm

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

I think this was pretty good, probably my second favorite Grady Hendrix that I've read so far. I think what really took it over the edge was the sibling dynamic and the themes of grief of several types throughout. It became less about the horror of it all and more about the humanity of our main characters, even when the horror became just a little absurd. I think the only reason this isn't a 5 star for me is just that I think there are some aspects that could've been explained better in the narrative. I still have some questions that are annoying me. Overall though, a decent read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy