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The Mark
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
95 of 235
Kindle
The Mark
By Lee Mountford
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It isn’t the house that’s haunted…

It’s the person.

Kirsty is no stranger to trauma, but when her house is invaded one night, she is left with a strange mark carved into her skin.

And that is when the horrifying ghosts start to appear.

As the experiences grow more frequent—and dangerous—Kirsty must fight for her life and unravel the mystery behind the occult symbol etched into her flesh. This forces her into the terrifying world of the occult, where she learns of a Bible written by the Devil himself.

Can she save her very soul from damnation?

You will love this gripping ghost story, because it ramps up the fear and doesn’t let go until its thrilling climax.

I clearly didn’t learn my lesson from the last Lee Mountford book! So I read this at night in the dark and it truly scared the living daylights out of me. I actually had nightmares it doesn’t help that I one read it in the dark and two have an overactive imagination. It takes a lot for a book to genuinely scare but that creepy shadow and his puppets from under the bed and stair climbers were enough to do it! Ok so bring on the next one!
  
TL
The Lost Girls
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In 1935, on the last evening of summer vacation, six-year-old Emily disappears from her family's vacation lake home. Emily's doting mother is devastated, and she and her two daughters (Emily's older sisters) spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, waiting for Emily to return. Six decades later, only Lucy, the middle sister, is still alive. Afraid of dying without telling her story, she writes the tale down in a notebook and leaves it, along with the house, to her sister's granddaughter, Justine. When Justine receives the news that her great-aunt has left her a house in Minnesota, she's shocked. They've only met once, after all, and Justine's flighty mother is still living. But Justine realizes the house represents a way to flee the suffocating life she's living now, and to give her daughters a better life. So they pack up for Minnesota, only to find the house run down, the Minnesota winter cold and isolating, and their only neighbors two elderly men who live in the nearby lodge. Justine's older daughter, Melanie, becomes interested in Emily's disappearance; her mother, Maurie, returns, bringing her usual craziness; and ghosts from Justine's own past threaten their safety. Justine doesn't know what happened at the lake sixty years ago, nor does she know if it's safe for her family now...

This novel was a quick read, which pulled me into its tale immediately. The POV alternates between present-day (late 1990s) with Justine and then flips back to the 1930s, as Lucy tells her story via letter. In this way, we get snippets about the past in chunks, allowing for the story to unfurl slowly, building up suspense. Young does an excellent job in creating her characters: Lucy and her older sister Lilith practically jump off the page, as does little Emily. Lucy was the star of the show for me, both as her younger self and via her letter-writing. Her sadness is easily apparent as she tells a tale of a family trapped by their own secrets.

This is a somber book with serious themes; it's not always an easy read. Still, the back and forth POV works well in this case, and you'll quickly become enraptured in Lucy and Lilith's past, in particular. Justine and Maurie (her mom) are more frustrating characters, but their story is still interesting, especially as you learn about Maurie's life growing up at the lake house with Lilith and Lucy. Overall, this was a different book (in a good way), with insightful and well-drawn characters, and an intriguing plot. Lucy sticks with you, even after it's over.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available everywhere on 07/26/2016.

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The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
2018 | Horror
Fantastic thoughtul and moving horror
The much-hyped horror series, telling the story of the Craine family who lived in "Hill House" during an ill-advised renovation project until the mother died in mysterious circumstances. The story moves between the present day, when the 5 Craine children are all grown up, and the past when they lived in Hill House.
The bulk of each episode is more focused on the drama of the family, and less focused on the horror aspects. But in each episode there are moments of utter, heart-stopping terror - either through true unexpected jump scares (there are few of these, but when they come, they are effective) or just complete bone-chilling creepiness.
As is so often the case, the viewers reaction to the ghostly interactions relies heavily on it happening to a child, really hitting hard at times.
I'm not a fan of horror films going all metaphysical and time-travelly (Paranormal Activity for one) but it is reasonably well handled here and isn't a forced point.
The cast is decent, if not outstanding, especially the younger child actors who are fantastic. And there's still something about Carla Gugino that makes me feel all funny.
I got a little distracted looking for the hidden ghosts throughout the series (there are over 40 of them, some are pretty much impossible to spot, others catch your eye after a few seconds and totally creep you out).
The series is somewhat toned down horror, there is virtually no gore and the jump-scares are few but effective, with much more focus on the drama. For me this was a refreshing twist on the genre and made it a much more enjoyable series than if it were all-out horror. A nice alternative to American Horror Story.
  
TD
The Deception of Harriet Fleet
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
176 of 235
Book
The Deception of Harriet Fleet
By Helen Scarlett
⭐️⭐️

1871. An age of discovery and progress. But for the Wainwright family, residents of the gloomy Teesbank Hall in County Durham the secrets of the past continue to overshadow their lives.

Harriet would not have taken the job of governess in such a remote place unless she wanted to hide from something or someone. Her charge is Eleanor, the daughter of the house, a fiercely bright eighteen-year-old, tortured by demons and feared by relations and staff alike. But it soon becomes apparent that Harriet is not there to teach Eleanor, but rather to monitor her erratic and dangerous behaviour - to spy on her.

Worn down by Eleanor's unpredictable hostility, Harriet soon finds herself embroiled in Eleanor's obsession - the Wainwright's dark, tragic history. As family secrets are unearthed, Harriet's own begin to haunt her and she becomes convinced that ghosts from the past are determined to reveal her shameful story.

This started of well but then fell flat for me. I was waiting for something to happen that grabbed me and shook me but it didn’t come. The ending wasn’t what I expected either.