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ddemille29's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thatlibrarynerd's review against another edition
2.0
This was... not good. The author does have a genuine talent for building a sense of suspense, the foreboding that accompanies a haunting. Other than that... meh. I gave it 2 stars for the scares.
Mara was a genuinely unlikable person. That's not a very strong place to start. She thinks every single person she encounters is disgusting and everyone of her attributes aside from determined, manipulative, and mean was informed. The author made me feel her fear during some of the haunting scenes but definitely didn't make me care if she lived or died.
All of the characters were pretty awful. I don't know if that's just because Mara's a bad person and was drawn to other bad people. Her "friends" are awful. For all the narrative likes to go on about her and Carlie's unshakable friendship, Mara is a horrible friend. So it stands to reason her friends are horrible people. I didn't understand why it was necessary to add so much ugliness into almost every single character. It really wasn't necessary. Her dad could have been oblivious without being spiteful. Other than justifying the narrator (and possible the author's) self-righteous jaded meanness, what did that add to the story?
The problem with making your main character a mean-spirited brat, other than making her impossible to root for, is that it makes any not-awful character immediately seem out of place. I loathed her relationship with Sam. He's probably the least offensive character in the book. He and Mara have zero chemistry and she's literally using him. This should not be portrayed as romantic. It isn't.
The inclusion of Wicca was bad. I'm not Wiccan and can't speak to its accuracy, but the attitudes surrounding it were bad. It felt like another version of the "Indian mystic" stereotype. Also I don't recall Mara having any religious inclinations at all until she needs a reason to look down on Wicca. Which again, fits with her being awful, but makes me hate her even more.
The plot. There were a couple of good twists, but the main one was incredibly obvious, yet played for the most impact. There genuinely were things that surprised me and I thought moral questions really could have been raised. They weren't. It was really easily resolved, too, which is annoying in a book where the main character realizes what she needs to do halfway through and then continues acting like an idiot.
Finally, it really obviously needed another read-through from a copy editor. Probably the most egregious example was the use of "the Sullivan's house". Small, but it occurred so many times it was clear the author literally did not understand how to create a plural possessive. Sullivans' house. It's that simple. I'm not sure this was ever done correctly and by the end it really annoyed me. Just like the rest of this book!
Mara was a genuinely unlikable person. That's not a very strong place to start. She thinks every single person she encounters is disgusting and everyone of her attributes aside from determined, manipulative, and mean was informed. The author made me feel her fear during some of the haunting scenes but definitely didn't make me care if she lived or died.
All of the characters were pretty awful. I don't know if that's just because Mara's a bad person and was drawn to other bad people. Her "friends" are awful. For all the narrative likes to go on about her and Carlie's unshakable friendship, Mara is a horrible friend. So it stands to reason her friends are horrible people. I didn't understand why it was necessary to add so much ugliness into almost every single character. It really wasn't necessary. Her dad could have been oblivious without being spiteful. Other than justifying the narrator (and possible the author's) self-righteous jaded meanness, what did that add to the story?
The problem with making your main character a mean-spirited brat, other than making her impossible to root for, is that it makes any not-awful character immediately seem out of place. I loathed her relationship with Sam. He's probably the least offensive character in the book. He and Mara have zero chemistry and she's literally using him. This should not be portrayed as romantic. It isn't.
The inclusion of Wicca was bad. I'm not Wiccan and can't speak to its accuracy, but the attitudes surrounding it were bad. It felt like another version of the "Indian mystic" stereotype. Also I don't recall Mara having any religious inclinations at all until she needs a reason to look down on Wicca. Which again, fits with her being awful, but makes me hate her even more.
The plot. There were a couple of good twists, but the main one was incredibly obvious, yet played for the most impact. There genuinely were things that surprised me and I thought moral questions really could have been raised. They weren't. It was really easily resolved, too, which is annoying in a book where the main character realizes what she needs to do halfway through and then continues acting like an idiot.
Finally, it really obviously needed another read-through from a copy editor. Probably the most egregious example was the use of "the Sullivan's house". Small, but it occurred so many times it was clear the author literally did not understand how to create a plural possessive. Sullivans' house. It's that simple. I'm not sure this was ever done correctly and by the end it really annoyed me. Just like the rest of this book!
amandaannettee's review
5.0
I’ll be the first to say, I am not a fan of horror (like at all), but let me tell you, Shelbi Wescott really blew it out of the water here. Her writing varies from just enough unsettling, to making my heart ache. Definitely going to become a book that I recommend for others to read.
frantic_vampire's review
4.0
This book was such a ride. It went from being sweet and a little emotional to creepy to slightly disturbing REAL fast. It was such a compelling and completely captivating read. I didn’t want to put it down until it got to be too much, it was just that good.
When I first started this book I had no real idea of what I was getting into. I knew this was gonna be creepy, but not as creepy as it got. There were a couple of nights when I was reading this that I had to stop and read something a little lighter and fluffier. There were also a few points that had me nearly in tears. This was so intense with all the feels and I loved it. This was probably one of the most well rounded books I’ve read in a while. It balanced all the scares, the family drama, the hurts, and the angst. All against a mix of paranormal ghost story, horror mystery, with a dash of psychological thriller thrown in for fun.
This is a genre that I’m not normally drawn to, but this book was pretty fantastic. It was pure spooky perfection to read around Halloween. It’s got that perfectly creepy small town atmosphere to really give you a scare. This one gets a solid four out of five stars.
When I first started this book I had no real idea of what I was getting into. I knew this was gonna be creepy, but not as creepy as it got. There were a couple of nights when I was reading this that I had to stop and read something a little lighter and fluffier. There were also a few points that had me nearly in tears. This was so intense with all the feels and I loved it. This was probably one of the most well rounded books I’ve read in a while. It balanced all the scares, the family drama, the hurts, and the angst. All against a mix of paranormal ghost story, horror mystery, with a dash of psychological thriller thrown in for fun.
This is a genre that I’m not normally drawn to, but this book was pretty fantastic. It was pure spooky perfection to read around Halloween. It’s got that perfectly creepy small town atmosphere to really give you a scare. This one gets a solid four out of five stars.
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