Scan barcode
sare1125's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Stalking, Mental illness, Death, Blood, and Murder
terriblelynne's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
laurenkara's review
4.0
Wanted to keep up my tradition of reading horrors at night in the dark. I was expecting this to be like every other YA horror I've read and not be scared in the slightest. Yeah.... I was wrong. Extremely creeped out right now.
the_horror_maven's review
3.0
"Still, the question awakened memories of last winter unmercifully, the ones that were too painful to bear, the ones that ended up causing all sixteen years of my life to slip away from me like water through open fingers."
I had such high hopes for the novel. The fact that it had been marketed as "Stephen King writing Little House on the Prairie" immediately grabbed me, but upon finishing the first chapter I knew that this book was going to drag on and on - and it did.
The main character, Amanda Verner, is a sixteen year old pioneer who has been sleeping with another young man and becomes pregnant. The young man, of course, refuses to ever see her again, but she and her family move anyway, so it didn't really matter. She never tells her parents about the pregnancy, and instead prays for a miscarriage. Not surprisingly, she does suffer a miscarriage and begins to wonder about the evil inside of her.
Throughout the novel we suffer through Amanda's repetitive thoughts and fears that she might be evil - which is already blatantly obvious. We also have to listen to her complain about how much she hates her baby sister who is blind and deaf, and how those thoughts are connected to the evil within her as well.
I expected this book to be much scarier, but it failed me. The first 2/3 of the novel was a chore to read due to the dullness of the main character and her same thoughts being expressed over and over. And it wasn't until the very end of the novel that the horror actually began to happen - and it happened too fast, and all at once.
Within the last few chapters, Amanda's baby sister gets attacked by ants, and her father takes the baby away to the doctor to see if she can be saved. During that same period of time, Amanda's mother becomes possessed and immediately starts spouting nasty things at Amanda. During this time we just have to follow Amanda and her sister walking through the woods to go find their father and sister, but they eventually find out that their father and sister both died, and that the doctor sacrificed himself as well.
The ending after this is ridiculously rushed. It is as though the author realized that she didn't add in any horror elements and throws in as many elements as she can before the book abruptly ends as though she couldn't wait to get the novel done and published. I was extremely disappointed since the last chapter or so of this book are the only parts that are worth reading, and this novel would have fared much better if the author had focused more on the elements that she threw in at the end of the story.
I do not recommend this novel to horror fans. It might be a good novel for those trying to get into horror, but I do not think that it represents the genre well. In my opinion, it is an incomplete novel.
I had such high hopes for the novel. The fact that it had been marketed as "Stephen King writing Little House on the Prairie" immediately grabbed me, but upon finishing the first chapter I knew that this book was going to drag on and on - and it did.
The main character, Amanda Verner, is a sixteen year old pioneer who has been sleeping with another young man and becomes pregnant. The young man, of course, refuses to ever see her again, but she and her family move anyway, so it didn't really matter. She never tells her parents about the pregnancy, and instead prays for a miscarriage. Not surprisingly, she does suffer a miscarriage and begins to wonder about the evil inside of her.
Throughout the novel we suffer through Amanda's repetitive thoughts and fears that she might be evil - which is already blatantly obvious. We also have to listen to her complain about how much she hates her baby sister who is blind and deaf, and how those thoughts are connected to the evil within her as well.
I expected this book to be much scarier, but it failed me. The first 2/3 of the novel was a chore to read due to the dullness of the main character and her same thoughts being expressed over and over. And it wasn't until the very end of the novel that the horror actually began to happen - and it happened too fast, and all at once.
Within the last few chapters, Amanda's baby sister gets attacked by ants, and her father takes the baby away to the doctor to see if she can be saved. During that same period of time, Amanda's mother becomes possessed and immediately starts spouting nasty things at Amanda. During this time we just have to follow Amanda and her sister walking through the woods to go find their father and sister, but they eventually find out that their father and sister both died, and that the doctor sacrificed himself as well.
The ending after this is ridiculously rushed. It is as though the author realized that she didn't add in any horror elements and throws in as many elements as she can before the book abruptly ends as though she couldn't wait to get the novel done and published. I was extremely disappointed since the last chapter or so of this book are the only parts that are worth reading, and this novel would have fared much better if the author had focused more on the elements that she threw in at the end of the story.
I do not recommend this novel to horror fans. It might be a good novel for those trying to get into horror, but I do not think that it represents the genre well. In my opinion, it is an incomplete novel.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
4.0
Amanda Verner has been meeting the postboy in the woods behind her family’s cabin. After the events of last winter, she thinks she’s going to hell anyway, so she might as well enjoy the sins of the flesh while she can. She realizes she’s pregnant at about the same time that her Pa announces they’re moving off the mountain and onto the prairie. Farmers are predicting an even worse winter this year and Pa hasn’t forgotten about last winter either. He knows his family of seven needs more room to breathe than the tiny cabin they currently inhabit affords them. But it’s too late in the year to build something bigger himself. Rumor has it that there are plenty of abandoned cabins for the taking down on the prairie. So the Verner family leaves the only home they’ve ever known.
But there aren’t as many cabins available as rumor would have it. They pass one that appears occupied and finally settle on the next one they find, a home with plenty of room for the family. But when they open the door, the furniture inside has been destroyed and everything is covered in blood….
Oh my goodness. This scared me to death! I got worried that I was going to have to put it aside. I gladly read most horror but one trope in particular seriously gives me nightmares and this book went there. I soldiered on though and holy cow, what a ride this was! I keep seeing it compared to a horror version of Little House on the Prairie so I started calling it The Little House on the Shining when I was telling my husband about it. That’s pretty apt!
I don’t want to say much more because half the thrill of the book was watching everything slowly unravel. What exactly did happen last winter? And what happened at the new cabin?
Jorjeana Marie’s narration was suitably creepy for this book. I’m curious if I just felt that way because of the content or if she’s that good at telling “spooky stories” as they say in the book. Either way, I can’t imagine anyone else reading it, so she did a fantastic job.
I definitely recommend this for anyone looking for some pretty serious horror. I’ll have to give my nerves a break for now, but I’ll look for more of Amy Lukavics’s work in the future.
But there aren’t as many cabins available as rumor would have it. They pass one that appears occupied and finally settle on the next one they find, a home with plenty of room for the family. But when they open the door, the furniture inside has been destroyed and everything is covered in blood….
Oh my goodness. This scared me to death! I got worried that I was going to have to put it aside. I gladly read most horror but one trope in particular seriously gives me nightmares and this book went there. I soldiered on though and holy cow, what a ride this was! I keep seeing it compared to a horror version of Little House on the Prairie so I started calling it The Little House on the Shining when I was telling my husband about it. That’s pretty apt!
I don’t want to say much more because half the thrill of the book was watching everything slowly unravel. What exactly did happen last winter? And what happened at the new cabin?
Jorjeana Marie’s narration was suitably creepy for this book. I’m curious if I just felt that way because of the content or if she’s that good at telling “spooky stories” as they say in the book. Either way, I can’t imagine anyone else reading it, so she did a fantastic job.
I definitely recommend this for anyone looking for some pretty serious horror. I’ll have to give my nerves a break for now, but I’ll look for more of Amy Lukavics’s work in the future.
carolineinthelibrary's review
4.0
Spoiler
Ooh I love a good unreliable narrator!kaleighmadden's review
dark
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Blood, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, and Sexual content
Moderate: Animal death
justlily's review
4.0
Really scary and gory for a YA novel! I was surprised/impressed. I'll definitely be checking out more by this author. A few scenes in here sincerely turned my stomach and nothing makes me a fan faster.