Book Review: The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Series: N/A
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 15th 2015
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . .

Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.

Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?

Chilling, creepy and utterly compelling, THE DEAD HOUSE is one of those very special books that finds all the dark places in your imagination, and haunts you long after you've finished reading.

*Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from Netgalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.


I've been trying to figure out a way to adequately express how I feel about this book for a while now. It's really hard to make myself seem half-intelligent when all I can come up with is "OMG I LOVED IT!" But it's true, I did love this book.

This book stayed with me for a few days after I finished reading it. Not in a "book hangover" way, but in a "this made me think about stuff" way. I love when a book can be about a million different things, depending on how you choose to read it. Kind of like a "Choose your adventure" story, only it's entirely up to you how you interpret it.

On one side there's the mental health aspect, which I loved. I liked that there were scenes which showed that the main characters were in therapy, but also that they had seemingly normal lives. I also loved the idea that you kind of don't know who's "healthy" and who's not. I kept wondering if there would be a twist at the end where everyone, including the detective, where all patients, The Sixth Sense style, if you will. I know, I watch too many movies :P

Then there's the supernatural, horror element. I know not many people were scared by this book, but I was. I stay away from true horror books, so this is as close as I could get to being really freaked out by a book. And I don't scare easily either.

Kaitlyn and Carly. Man, I felt so sorry for them. The entire time I was reading their story I kept wondering what had happened to them to  make them live the drama that they were living in. It doesn't matter if you think it's supernatural, therefore they're twins or if it's mental health, and as such there's only one girl with multiple-personality disorder, the fact is that this is a drama. And it's heartbreaking. There are a lot of little details that could make your heart break a little bit for these two girls.

I can also say that this is one of the few books where I didn't trust any of the secondary characters. Anyone could be a villain, anyone could have ulterior motives for hanging out with Carly and with Kaitlyn. I actually loved that the author made me doubt everyone, because, like I said earlier, it made me think about stuff and it made me see the book from different perspectives.

I loved the format of this book. There's diary entries, transcripts of interrogations and detailed descriptions of video and audio recordings. I loved that. In a way, it reminded me of some Hidden Objects video games, which I love, so I really enjoyed the format of the story. On the other hand, I reaaally wanted to know who the storyteller was, who was reading the diaries, who was "seeing" those videos. I really would've enjoyed seeing a glimpse into who that person was.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this story and I am definitely going to read more books from this author!

Early Book Review: Broken by A.E. Rought

Author: A.E. Rought
Series: -
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release Date: January 8th 2013
My Rating:4.5 cups
Source:Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

I have to be honest and say that this was another one of those "Oooh, pretty cover *clicks for request*" situations. I had already read a review on this book and I had read the blurb, but since I haven't read the original Frankenstein, I had no idea what it was about. Oh, sure, I've heard about Frankenstein and his monster before (I think I might have seen this monster in a cartoon or so before, too) but hey, I don't like the classics *shrugs*.

I did love this book, though. There's a mixture of cute, funny, dramatic, creepy, romantic, sad, mysterious, dark, with some teenage angst and fights with overprotective parents. And it was a good mix. It had basically everything I could wish for.

I really liked Emma. She started out as a sad teenager, mourning the loss of her boyfriend, and blossomed towards the end of the book. I also liked her dreams. Those were very creepy.

Alex is one of those mysterious until the end character. I couldn't figure him out. I liked the way he treated Emma and how he helped her when she needed it. And he seemed kind of old school, with the proper attitude towards her and their relationship and towards her parents. I liked that.

Something happened while I was reading this book. See, if you read the blurb closely, you might realize what I'm talking about. It's practically like a mantra: "Alex, Daniel, Daniel, Alex, Alex, Daniel". But this is one of those moments where my brain reverses the information it receives. For more than half of this book I thought the connection between the two boys was the exact opposite. So when I got to the ending of the book, I think I had my eyes open very, very wide (think about those big, round plates they bring you when you order pizza in a restaurant). Yes, I was that surprised by the ending. It really is good when a book surprises me that much.

There's another character in this book that surprised me, but this time not in a good way. I thought Josh was a nice guy at first. Then things happened and I realized how wrong I was. Part of me was sad about it. I mean, I loved the initial banter between him and Emma, they were quite funny. Oh well.

The reason why I can't give this book 5 cups is a small one, really: the ending felt too... abrupt. Part of me wanted a "Years later" chapter. I wanted to see them safe, still together, sure that they do in fact love each other and not a memory or an idea of what the other should/could be.

I have to say I was surprised by this book. I feel more open to "classic tale" retellings now, than I was before I read Broken. So if you like the story of Frankenstein and want a more modern spin on it, or even if you're like me and have no idea of how the original story goes but you want something different, try this book. I think you'll like it :D

 

Book Review: Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Author: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Series: Saint-Germain #1

My Rating: 5 cups

Blurb: (from Goodreads):

France 1743 (Sun King era). Le Comte de Saint-Germain - cultured, well-traveled, articulate, elegant, learned, honorable, an alchemist, and a man of many secrets - he is a mystery to the court of Louis XV. For Madelaine de Montalia, making her debut in society, he is as fascinating as he is enigmatic, an admiration he returns. But others are interested in her as well. The dark folly of her father's youth exposes her to danger that only someone of Saint-Germain's vast experience can comprehend or repulse.
In this first book of the Saint-Germain cycle, Saint-Germain establishes himself as the compassionate hero whose adventures span continents and millennia.

This is one of the books that have a real special meaning for me. First of all, it was the first vampire book I read after Anne Rice's that I loved. Second of all, it was a book recommended to me by a girl from college (the same one who introduced me to Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman). There's another reason, but I'm going to tell you about it a bit later.

If you haven't yet read this book (and the series), you shouldn't wait any longer. I think this is one of the best horror books I've read. Saint-Germain is one sexy vampire. I was actually disappointed by the fact that he can't have sex, but the author makes up for it. He's dark, sexy, mysterious, compelling. I can't think of a flaw this vampire has (besides being impotent, of course).

Madelaine is a sweet, innocent young woman that becomes a target for the villain, Saint Sebastien. She also catches the eye of our sexy vampire. Saint-Germain falls for her, though he tries hard to hide his true nature from her. He ultimately decides to risk exposure to save her from the bad guy and his friends and followers.

I loved the difference between what is believed to be evil (the vampire) and what really is evil (the Satan worshipers). I really wasn't that surprised by the ending, but it still made me hold my breath a few times.

The thing I loved about this book were the letters. I loved how every chapter started with a letter. It was something very new, a glimpse "behind the scene", small subplots that developed at the same time as our main story.

I have the second book in this wonderful series, The Palace, but I'm pondering about reading it. The reason for that is that you can read these books in two ways: either in the order in which they were published, of chronologically. I decided to wait a little while and buy the entire series and then decide how I'm going to read it.

Remember there was a third reason this book was special to me? Well, this is going to sound weird a little. I first read this book 5 years ago, during my first semester in college. I think it was either November or December. I remember it was a work day and it was about...7 or 8 pm. Anyway, there was a blackout for about an hour, no electricity whatsoever. This book gets creepier if you read it surrounded by candles and with classical music as a soundtrack.

Anyway, I loved this book and I can't wait to read the entire series.