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honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Pregnancy, Grief, Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Alcohol, Death of parent, Violence, and Car accident
murmurations_x's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Our biggest takeaway from reading this book is.... I'm a Grady Hendrix girly.
I really wasn't expecting to love this story
Hendrix is one of the few horror authors that I actually enjoy how they write women. Louise was likeable, unlikable and very real and Mark was definitely my favourite character of the book and I loved how his backstory is given to us from his own POV. I really enjoyed reading about them both coming back together as siblings to face their family trauma and defeat the entity of the story. Also worth a mention is I loved how the move was broken up by the stages of grief, super clever!
Hendrix does what Hendrix does best in this book which is write a funny, campy, tropey horror story that has elements of some pretty intense body horror. A perfect read for October, definitely recommend.
Graphic: Car accident, Gore, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Cursing, Self harm, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Stalking
Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol
mx_harpstar's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Pregnancy, Self harm, and Alcohol
major CW for creepy puppets/dollsmagmck's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Vomit, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Confinement, Abandonment, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"How to Sell a Haunted House" follows Louise, a single mom to a beautiful, young daughter. Louise left her life in Charleston behind for a new life on the west coast, and she hardly looks back. Especially because she has a very strained relationship with her younger brother, Mark. Louise feels like her parents favored Mark and always made his life easier, and Louise is resentful. One night, completely out of the blue, Mark calls Louise to inform her that both of their parents were killed in a car accident. Now, Louise and Mark have to decide together what to do with their parents' home, filled to the brim with puppets that haunted their childhoods.
Prior to reading this novel, I was quite ambivalent towards puppets, but now, I am kind of weary. These puppets are so unsettling, and especially the fact that there are so many in one home. Learning how much their mom loved one particular puppet, Pumpkin, makes the story all the more unsettling.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was the brother sister dynamic between Louise and Mark. Their relationship is very strained, and it is not too far off to say that they really hate each other at the beginning. I even really empathized with Louise in the beginning because Mark seemed like such a wreck of a human being. But the more I learned about the story and the more I learned what Louise did not know, made me really grow to enjoy Mark as a character, and feel badly for him. I ended up really rooting for them to work together and mend their relationship.
As with all of Grady Hendrix's books, this story is unsettling and has some very graphic scenes. There is one particular scene involving a needle that I cannot erase from my brain, no matter how much I try. I really enjoyed this story, and I will forever pick up Grady Hendrix's titles in the future.
Graphic: Death, Car accident, Gore, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Minor: Pregnancy
creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Car accident, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Alcohol, Child death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Death of parent, and Cursing
brizlee's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Pregnancy
siobhanward's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The main plot (once we got there) was cool - unfortunately, that was mostly just the last 150 pages. Once things got going, they moved quickly and really got interesting. Honestly, the last 50 pages changed the book from 2* to 3* read. If Hendrix could write everything as well as the last bit of this book, that would be amazing. Unfortunately, he spends a lot of unneeded time trying (unsuccessfully) to build a background.
Hendrix does get points for recognizing that puppets and dolls are creepy af and should not be tampered with.
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Medical content and Pregnancy
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Child death, Animal death, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
chasingpages1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Alcohol and Pregnancy