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A review by dowryofbooks
Horrid by Katrina Leno
3.0
Rating: 3 stars
To anyone still looking for spooky books to pick up— this book is the (and I can’t stress this enough) PERFECT atmospheric read for October.
Despite my average rating, I am so glad I finally decided to try one of Katrina Leno's works, because her writing is fantastic.
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This story opens with our teen protagonist Jane and her mother Ruth moving from California to small town Maine after the sudden death of Jane’s dad and Ruth’s husband. Ruth’s old family home is a gothic mansion everyone in the town refers to as North Manor. Shortly after living in North Manor, Jane starts to realize that something isn’t right. Her mom and the townspeople all seem to know something she doesn’t about the house and Ruth’s past. On top of that, strange things begin to happen inside the house that only Jane seems to be seeing.
The book leaves us guessing up until the end, are the things Jane is going through a manifestation of her grief, mental illness, or something more...horrid?
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I’d say much of this book is a slow burn, but it’s very atmospheric. I was just taking my time with this and enjoying the beautiful, descriptive writing. I wanna talk about the things I really enjoyed before I get to the one thing I didn’t.
Ruth and Jane’s relationship. Especially towards the beginning, the cute banter they had with each other. I really love a sweet mother/daughter relationship. I also enjoyed Jane’s relationships with Alana and Susie. I loved the setting and for the thousandth time—the atmosphere!! It didn’t feel fall to me until I read this book.
One of my favorite things were all the things this book had to say about grief and anger. Jane's struggle with both made her such an interesting character to me.
Small towns are also some of my favorite settings in books so this really ticked all my boxes. The first 80 ish percent is amazing. My issues were with the ending.
The way this was written was just SO good. I thought everything in this book was going to build up to something much more climactic. Which is why the ending was so disappointing for me. I can’t say much without spoilers but the ending definitely needed to be more fleshed out in my opinion. It felt too abrupt and I don’t understand the author's purpose for ending it the way she did. I honestly can’t make any sense of it. I have so many questions!!!
Ambiguous endings are usually a hit or miss for me and this one was unfortunately a miss. I’m so disappointed, because I loved the rest of this book so much. If you’re the same way about endings, you may love the ending. I would still highly recommend this to anyone if the premise sounds interesting to you and you’re a fan of YA horror.
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Recommend if you’re looking for:
- An autumnal/spooky read to get in the spooky season spirit (seriously the atmosphere in this is 10/10- theres a halloween dance!)
- Gothic (possibly haunted?) house setting
- Small town vibes
- Agatha christie vibes
- A nice mother/daughter relationship
- Themes of grief and genetic mental illness (i.e. anger and an eating disorder)
TW: the eating disorder is specifically pica.
To anyone still looking for spooky books to pick up— this book is the (and I can’t stress this enough) PERFECT atmospheric read for October.
Despite my average rating, I am so glad I finally decided to try one of Katrina Leno's works, because her writing is fantastic.
————————
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
This story opens with our teen protagonist Jane and her mother Ruth moving from California to small town Maine after the sudden death of Jane’s dad and Ruth’s husband. Ruth’s old family home is a gothic mansion everyone in the town refers to as North Manor. Shortly after living in North Manor, Jane starts to realize that something isn’t right. Her mom and the townspeople all seem to know something she doesn’t about the house and Ruth’s past. On top of that, strange things begin to happen inside the house that only Jane seems to be seeing.
The book leaves us guessing up until the end, are the things Jane is going through a manifestation of her grief, mental illness, or something more...horrid?
————————
I’d say much of this book is a slow burn, but it’s very atmospheric. I was just taking my time with this and enjoying the beautiful, descriptive writing. I wanna talk about the things I really enjoyed before I get to the one thing I didn’t.
Ruth and Jane’s relationship. Especially towards the beginning, the cute banter they had with each other. I really love a sweet mother/daughter relationship. I also enjoyed Jane’s relationships with Alana and Susie. I loved the setting and for the thousandth time—the atmosphere!! It didn’t feel fall to me until I read this book.
One of my favorite things were all the things this book had to say about grief and anger. Jane's struggle with both made her such an interesting character to me.
"Grief doesn't have a rule book. You're allowed to feel every emotion under the sun. You're even allowed to invent new ones."
Small towns are also some of my favorite settings in books so this really ticked all my boxes. The first 80 ish percent is amazing. My issues were with the ending.
The way this was written was just SO good. I thought everything in this book was going to build up to something much more climactic. Which is why the ending was so disappointing for me. I can’t say much without spoilers but the ending definitely needed to be more fleshed out in my opinion. It felt too abrupt and I don’t understand the author's purpose for ending it the way she did. I honestly can’t make any sense of it. I have so many questions!!!
Ambiguous endings are usually a hit or miss for me and this one was unfortunately a miss. I’m so disappointed, because I loved the rest of this book so much. If you’re the same way about endings, you may love the ending. I would still highly recommend this to anyone if the premise sounds interesting to you and you’re a fan of YA horror.
————————
Recommend if you’re looking for:
- An autumnal/spooky read to get in the spooky season spirit (seriously the atmosphere in this is 10/10- theres a halloween dance!)
- Gothic (possibly haunted?) house setting
- Small town vibes
- Agatha christie vibes
- A nice mother/daughter relationship
- Themes of grief and genetic mental illness (i.e. anger and an eating disorder)
TW: the eating disorder is specifically pica.