A review by vanessamariebooks
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

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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