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A review by starsandvellum
The Cottage by Lisa Stone
2.0
2.5 Stars
I'm going to start off by saying, I don't think I'm the target audience for this book.
I went into The Cottage thinking it was a horror, which is more on me I suppose, although it made for a major letdown at the end. There is no real climax or tension. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. And repeat, repeat, repeat until the end.
Ian is possibly the most dislikeable character I have ever read, he's a grown child for the majority of this book. Jan, while irritating, is not the worst and I could look past a lot of her decisions, but Ian... UGH!!! To be fair, I think the only character I actually liked was Camile.
The story had a LOT of promise but was let down severely by underwhelming writing and lackluster characters. There was a lot of "Jan made coffee, and then got dressed, and then poured coffee, and then sipped the coffee", it read like filler. What's more frustrating is the parts that were integral to the story, like the knocks on the window, were gone in an instant. The mundane parts that really needed no explanation were overexplained to death, yet the important parts were barely more than a couple of pages at a time.
The dialogue is not it for me either. It feels so forced, I struggle to believe people actually talk like that...
And the plothole that is bugging me.
I did really like the story, and I did find myself WANTING to read it to see how it played out. However, the writing was just so poor that I felt so let down.
This was my first book by Lisa Stone and I don't think I will pick up another one.
I'm going to start off by saying, I don't think I'm the target audience for this book.
I went into The Cottage thinking it was a horror, which is more on me I suppose, although it made for a major letdown at the end. There is no real climax or tension. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. Jan hears knocks at the window, phones the police, the police check it out and assure her there's nothing there, Jan goes to sleep. And repeat, repeat, repeat until the end.
Ian is possibly the most dislikeable character I have ever read, he's a grown child for the majority of this book. Jan, while irritating, is not the worst and I could look past a lot of her decisions, but Ian... UGH!!! To be fair, I think the only character I actually liked was Camile.
The story had a LOT of promise but was let down severely by underwhelming writing and lackluster characters. There was a lot of "Jan made coffee, and then got dressed, and then poured coffee, and then sipped the coffee", it read like filler. What's more frustrating is the parts that were integral to the story, like the knocks on the window, were gone in an instant. The mundane parts that really needed no explanation were overexplained to death, yet the important parts were barely more than a couple of pages at a time.
The dialogue is not it for me either. It feels so forced, I struggle to believe people actually talk like that...
And the plothole that is bugging me.
Spoiler
Anne says she only lets the children out at night when no one is around. Yet when Jan walks to the shop, it is daytime and she still sees something. That is never explainedI did really like the story,
Spoiler
the whole fertility clinic and feral incest babies thing was interestingThis was my first book by Lisa Stone and I don't think I will pick up another one.