Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The House Next Door by Darcy Coates

6 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

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3.5

Setting the Scene: 🌎 A fictional neighbourhood where one home sticks out because of its dated architecture and spooky history. 
POV: Our main character is adulting alone, no-contact with toxic family, barely paying attention to the revolving door of neighbours that have come through the house next door. Until they befriend and start finding common ground with the latest homeowner.  
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Straightforward, don’t think too hard magical realism mystery
  • Grown up Goosebumps vibes with YA-style fast friends 
  • Morally ambiguous paranormal activity
  • Themes of friendship, abuse, safety, protection, mental illness, madness, devotion, and history
 
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
 
🎬 Tale-Telling: Our MC, Jenny, was narrating the story in a no-nonsense, to-the-point way. It was a fun, easy read - no deep dives into the soul, just a straightforward recount of “a day in the life” with a side of supernatural. 
 
🤓 Reader’s Role: Audience around the campfire. It felt like a story told at night over drinks and marshmallows where we are leaning in and getting jumpy at the shadows. 
 
👥 Characters: Jenny and her new BFF/neighbor Anna became a ghost-hunting duo; although sometimes the friendship seemed one sided it wasn’t a bad one. Ultimately the budding friendship amidst paranormal chaos was the heart of the story and pretty heartwarming in a way that gave found family vibes. Some men are jerks in this story, but it doesn't cross into “all men are jerks” character arcs.
 
🗺️ Ambiance: I liked the haunted house atmosphere. The layout of the house was annoying. Only certain areas were described, it wasn’t clear how the rooms were placed in relation to each other (like how could or couldn’t see certain parts of the house) and it seemed to change in parts, in a way that made my imaginations shatter, leaving the setting feel half drawn. 
 
🔥 Fuel: There are a good number of layers to the story – from the surface level “boo!” and jump scare stuff, to the deeper mysteries about why we’re drawn to places that should send us running, the things we’re willing to overlook for a friend, the danger in assuming, and what it really means to face our fears. 
 
🚙 Journey: Our heroines might be facing the supernatural, but their decision-making skills were kinda suspect. Their logic and the risky decisions they make especially near the end had me rolling my eyes at the characters and feeling a little annoyed by them. Still, the twists were good, if you can overlook a few “Why would you do that?!” moments.
 
Random Thoughts
🤓 What worked: Fast-pace, plot twists, rationale for Anna staying in the house even when it got spooky, and a friendship that I was rooting for.  
🫠 What didn’t: The house’s layout and my struggle to imagine the scenes, the high-stakes + contrived/convenient decisions leading up to the ending.  
 
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Content Heads-Up: Domestic abuse (partner; stalking, threats, physical abuse, controlling). Child abuse (emotional/mental). Narcissistic parent. Medical (diabetes; off page/recall). Suicide (off page, mention). Murder (off page; mention). Animal death (wild birds;
flying in to house
). Misogyny. Misandry. Confinement (inside a house). Mental illness. Possession.
Rep: Cisgender. Heterosexual. White or ambiguous characters.
 
👀 Format: Kobo Plus
 
“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”
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morgan_c_rose's review

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

4.0

Having read so much of her work already, this was not my favorite Darcy Coates, but it was the first of hers that truly gave me the creeps! The ghost was terrifying, and the setting was ominous and mysterious with unnerving findings in every room. The story intensified until the very end, but the final scene fell just short of my expectations. It was a quick read that made it hard to sleep, and that’s what Coates does best!
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hyperashley's review against another edition

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

5.0

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voilajean's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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the_books_music_life's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I have meh feelings about this book. My main problem is the vagueness of Jo, we don't know much about her. We don't even know her age and that made it hard for me to picture her as a character let alone the person telling/living the story.

The plot of the haunted house was interest but the execution could have been done better in my opinion. I felt the big twists were lack luster and the characters felt very one dimensional.

I think if you are just getting into scary/spooky ghost stories this is a really good book to start with. 
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kathkas's review

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

3.25

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