Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix

7 reviews

kshertz's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

What a weird wild ride? I guess that’s Grady’s specialty. It gets really twisted with dolls, clowns, and puppets. I almost threw up once. I had to put the book down a few times. Im very happy my house had none of these things. Read it if you want to be grossed out and horrified by puppets and dolls and clowns. I liked it but also, probably something i’m going to need to bring up in therapy next week🙃

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Body horror, Cannibalism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Injury/injury detail, Violence, and Medical trauma

nrogers_1030's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.25

Meh…
I usually love G.H.’s books, but not this one. Slow, mostly unlikeable characters, not scary… I could keep going, but it would be a moot point. I did have a soft spot for the great aunt. She reminded me of Roz from Monsters, Inc. His sense of humor helped the rating. I wouldn’t recommend this one, but I’ve enjoyed several of his others & have every intention of reading his next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Car accident, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Animal death

brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This haunted house is filled with dolls, puppets, and even a stuffed squirrel Manger scene.  One of the puppets is the cause of all the weird stuff that happens.  Don't put the puppet on your hand!  Louise and her brother Mark have to deal with years of built up sibling resentment before they can start to unravel the family secrets and lies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Emotional abuse

Do not read if you have a fear of clowns, puppets, or dolls.

rqdreads's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is ridiculous from start to finish. It’s giving RL Stine but for adults. There’s definitely a lot of creepiness, especially if you don’t like puppets or dolls 🤮 it’s not terrifying to where I can’t sleep at night but it’s creepy enough to where I had to talk about it with my friends.

One thing I liked was how it kept twisting and turning. At one point I legitimately was rolling my eyes at where it was going because I just couldn’t understand what was happening and then it came together 😂

If you like campy horror, this is for you 👻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Injury/injury detail, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Car accident

Minor: Gun violence, Fatphobia, and Excrement

jaedia's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, I could not put this book down. How to Sell a Haunted House follows Louise as she returns home following the sudden death of her parents, only to find herself feeling frustrated by her brother Mark who has already taken control of all of the funeral arrangements and she's not happy. The entire book is about grief and family, and just happens to include a haunted house as its backdrop, although this one is not exactly as you would expect. And I will say no more because the way this story unwinds is so good. As I said, could not put it down. All this did was remind me that I need to pick up his other books because this is the second time I have fallen in love with his writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Blood, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Gun violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

kkalicky94's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Injury/injury detail, Death of parent, Violence, Car accident, Death, and Grief

fivecatsinacoat's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure what I expected going into this book, but boy was I wrong. Perfectly spooky and tense - Hendrix is fantastic at keeping the tension high. There was some very descriptive body horror

Spoiler

an eye injury, an incident with a power saw, and general "beating up"

, but it was not the whole book and was easy enough to skip if you don't like that. 

My only complaint is that the ending got a little silly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Injury/injury detail, and Body horror