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dnemec's review against another edition
4.0
My second book by the author and both were solid, ghost & haunted house stories.
pellbogen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
andipants's review against another edition
1.0
This was bad. Bad characters, bad writing, bad plot -- I was actually yelling in frustration by the end.
The author can't decide if she wants the teenage daughter to be sympathetic or an annoying brat, so there are a lot of whiplash-y moments and her character never actually feels like a cohesive whole. The reverend is a cardboard cutout posing as a love interest (in a romantic plot thread that is as contrived as it is unnecessary). The servants may as well be informational plaques, since their only function in the story is to conveniently dispense the next plot-relevant piece of information at each step of the way. And the protagonist at any given time just has whatever personality traits are most convenient for the current scene.
The writing is clichéd and ineffective. There's a book-within-the-book at one point, written by a totally different character some five decades in the past, but the narrative voice is indistinguishable from that of the modern-day protagonist. A ghost appears to warn Grace she's in danger from "her", insists he doesn't have time to explain the nature of the danger or who "she" is, but manages to hang around for another page and a half lamenting that he didn't get to meet his granddaughter and what a nice girl she seems to be. The villain straight-up unironically monologues toward the end; her lines here include the exact phrasing, "Don't you see, you silly girl..." (Had she had a mustache, she absolutely would have been twirling it.)
The plot is needlessly convoluted (and not to mention heavily reliant on some super outdated and nasty tropes demonizing the mentally ill). The book fails to take its own stakes seriously; several times, the answers are RIGHT THERE and the characters know it, but they go off to do something else first for no good reason. And worst of all, THE SERVANTS KNOW THE ENTIRE STORY THE WHOLE TIME. They just choose not to divulge everything right away because...reasons? Even though Grace is a member of the family and clearly in danger and needs to know, but nah it's not important let's go do a bunch of other stuff first. You can't have a mystery where half the cast knows the whole story the whole time and just choose not to share it for no good reason. (And don't even get me started on the reporter. Um, fuck off.)
The mystery isn't a mystery; the ghosts aren't scary; and the story as a whole is just ridiculous. Hard pass.
The author can't decide if she wants the teenage daughter to be sympathetic or an annoying brat, so there are a lot of whiplash-y moments and her character never actually feels like a cohesive whole. The reverend is a cardboard cutout posing as a love interest (in a romantic plot thread that is as contrived as it is unnecessary). The servants may as well be informational plaques, since their only function in the story is to conveniently dispense the next plot-relevant piece of information at each step of the way. And the protagonist at any given time just has whatever personality traits are most convenient for the current scene.
The writing is clichéd and ineffective. There's a book-within-the-book at one point, written by a totally different character some five decades in the past, but the narrative voice is indistinguishable from that of the modern-day protagonist. A ghost appears to warn Grace she's in danger from "her", insists he doesn't have time to explain the nature of the danger or who "she" is, but manages to hang around for another page and a half lamenting that he didn't get to meet his granddaughter and what a nice girl she seems to be. The villain straight-up unironically monologues toward the end; her lines here include the exact phrasing, "Don't you see, you silly girl..." (Had she had a mustache, she absolutely would have been twirling it.)
The plot is needlessly convoluted (and not to mention heavily reliant on some super outdated and nasty tropes demonizing the mentally ill). The book fails to take its own stakes seriously; several times, the answers are RIGHT THERE and the characters know it, but they go off to do something else first for no good reason. And worst of all, THE SERVANTS KNOW THE ENTIRE STORY THE WHOLE TIME. They just choose not to divulge everything right away because...reasons? Even though Grace is a member of the family and clearly in danger and needs to know, but nah it's not important let's go do a bunch of other stuff first. You can't have a mystery where half the cast knows the whole story the whole time and just choose not to share it for no good reason. (And don't even get me started on the reporter.
Spoiler
"Oh yeah, you kidnapped a psychotic murderer from a mental asylum and unleashed her on our family and she killed two people and almost got a third, but it's totes cool, you're one of us now, bro!"The mystery isn't a mystery; the ghosts aren't scary; and the story as a whole is just ridiculous. Hard pass.
ponderinstuff's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very light read with a lot of plot twists and turns, so it will probably be appealing to many. Although I found it entertaining, I really wanted a little more from it; it was kind of a 'fat-free' version of a 'heavy' Gothic ghost story.
swilson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
cschere1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence
parlezkate's review against another edition
3.0
Man, everybody on this site really is just such a critic, aren’t they? I guess that’s the point of Goodreads — give everyone who has internet access the opportunity to be a literary critic. It’s my turn! I really enjoy Wendy’s books. This one made me giggle in parts at the well-worn but beloved tropes. At one point our protagonist get locked in a vault with the potential love interest! A VAULT. I mean, chef’s kiss. Love that shit, truly. These are cozy horror novels — a little romance, a little mystery, a little spookiness and/or paranormal activity, a big old weird house … mwah. Again, chef’s kiss. I was particularly impressed that the author created a character who was supposed to be a literary great had he not died unexpectedly, just after writing a novel that had gone missing. There are excerpts from that great American novel IN this book! In this book, that is not trying to be a great American novel! Do you know what kind of big brass boobs you have to have to do that, as an author?! Big ones. And brassy. Brava, Wendy Webb.
kate_reads_books's review against another edition
5.0
This is the most I've been excited by a book for a while. The story has so many good elements- witchcraft, family drama, a spooky house... What more could you want? The romance in the book is predictable but not too mushy & gross which is good. The twists in this book will keep you guessing until the end. This is the kind of book you want to stay up all night reading. I was sad when it was over.