Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

15 reviews

sshpurple1's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

stardustvein's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Blood, and Mental illness

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Body horror, and Vomit

magmck's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

This book FR terrified me I almost didn’t keep reading but I’m glad I did it was fascinating 

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Content Warnings

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

samburkhouse's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, and Medical trauma

Minor: Self harm, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Mental illness

thatoneguyjm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad 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

3.5

Half Sam Raimi-esque spook-a-blast and half family drama about the secrets we keep and the thing we (mis)remember, How to Sell a Haunted House might be Grady’s most emotionally affecting book. Not that it’s all feelings and family - there’s also attacking taxidermied squirrels, puppets shoving needles where needles shouldn’t go, and emergency amputations. While you may or may not resonate with the characters, the moments of horror carry the book quite ably for those who are into that sort of thing. (And I am.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Violence, and Gore

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

mpswans1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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: Child abuse, Abandonment, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Murder

julieyael's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.75

3.5 stars but rounded up

This is a book that I took time to really appreciate. 
The first half of it (that’s the first 200 pages!) were just ok. It’s a bit slow and I did not care too much for the characters. 
For a moment, I even thought about not finishing the book, because I felt that this was not what I expected from the story. 

But then it becomes more intriguing and you feel that there is more to it. 
When you enter the last third of the book, it becomes hard to leave it. 
I wished the slow part of the begining was not that long, because it’s all well written and you feel the creepy atmosphere building up. 

In the end, the book kept its promises, it’s a fun and creepy horror novel, with a good dose of paranormal, and a light touch of gory details (very light, but I guess it can be triggering for some people)

So I would recommend it, if you are ready to spend some time on the first part which is less exciting and a bit long to my taste. 
The second half of it really deserves a good 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Car accident, Physical abuse, Child death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Vomit

vercopaanir's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not what I expected based on the reviews I’ve seen!  Some of the dialogue tags were repetitive and annoying to me as I listened to the audiobook version, but the story was compelling and captivating even when it didn’t totally make sense to me.  

How did Pupkin bring Spider to life!?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, and Gaslighting