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Charlotte (184 KP) rated Dagger Hill in Books

Sep 10, 2021  
Dagger Hill
Dagger Hill
Devon Taylor | 2021 | Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Silent hill for teenagers....Creepy and pretty terrifying.

The potential to be made into a film is definitely lurking there.

The four main characters, teenagers on the threshold of their senior year, are interesting and quirky. Each has a different personality that gels well with the others but doesn't then blend into one boring entity.
    Set in 1989, a time before the internet and mobile phones (as we know them now and the actual ability to carry one) Dagger Hill has a small town charm. A charm that contrasts against the awful things that happen there.

This is at least a young adult read with themes of horror and violence. It could easily sit on a shelf with books written by such greats as King and Laymon. It's the kind of book that crawls into your thoughts when you least expect it and creates vivid scenes in your mind.

 @Merissa
  
Death of a Bookseller
Death of a Bookseller
Alice Slater | 2023 | Contemporary, Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
🐌🐌🐌

I loved this book about two booksellers: Brogan (or Roach to her work colleagues) who has a fascination with all things true crime, and Laura, the object of Roach’s obsession.

To say Roach is obsessed with Laura would actually be an understatement, and she becomes increasingly creepy as the book goes on. To be fair, neither Roach or Laura are particularly likeable characters, but Roach and her rather questionable personal hygiene practices may just clinch it for me. Although she does have a pet giant land snail, so that may be her one redeeming feature 🐌

This is a really unsettling book, and I couldn’t find anything to like about either character (err, the snail was nice!) - even though I did try to feel sorry for Laura. She goes through a lot, and her background is traumatic.

I can see this being very popular and for good reason - it’s a great read!

🐌🐌🐌
  
TF
The Faerie Prince (Creepy Hollow, #2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
<b>It's weird to get back into a series after over an entire year.</b> Everything that happened back in the <a title="Read Sophia's review of The Faerie Guardian" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-the-faerie-guardian-by-rachel-morgan/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">first <i>Creepy Hollow</i> book</a> has either been entirely forgotten or stored away and wouldn't be recovered unless Rachel Morgan refreshed me in the sequel.

I suppose the memorable ones – the ones I'm extremely passionate or enraged about are the ones that are remembered. Someone do an experiment on this. I digress.

<b>The second book in the <i>Creepy Hollow</i> series brings us back to Creepy Hollow (of course)</b>, shortly after Violet was handed over to the Unseelie Court by Nate, a half human and half faerie she fell in love with. Violet and Ryn decide to forget their ugly past and become friends, and Violet gets her final assignment as a trainee before becoming a guardian and finding out whether or not she gets the top prize of her graduating class.

<i>The Faerie Prince</i> <b>isn't exactly as action-packed</b> this time, mainly focusing on Violet's final assignment as a trainee before graduation – definitely <b>the slowest out of all three books in this first arc of the series</b> (I just hope Morgan doesn't pull off a Cassandra Clare/Erin Hunter). It's more of an observation, lose the magic, and walk home – in midst of <b>developing the overall plot of the first arc and Violet's relationship with Ryn.</b>

Reading <i>The Faerie Prince</i> probably <b>opened up my eyes on quite a few things about the series</b> that I probably wouldn't have noticed while reading the first book, and had I actually read the first book again this year, I may not have rated it as high as I did. However, <b>the series definitely has the majority of everything I would want in a book:</b>

<b>A fantastic main character – Violet is just like any other ordinary teenager</b>, even if she's not a human. She has her moments and her quirks. She's extremely determined, wanting to do things on her own if at all possible without any help. She also <b>kicks butt and she has an attitude filled with sass and the occasional sarcasm that makes the book more entertaining</b>. It certainly made the second book entertaining. I suppose part of that sarcasm is to be blamed on Ryn.

<b>The writing</b> – It's fantastic. The way Morgan writes, <b>you can almost <i>feel</i> Violet's emotions</b> – her anxiety, fear, nervousness, happiness, joy, etc.
<blockquote>Oh dear Seelie Queen I'm going to trip in these heels and land on my butt and my dress will tear right down the middle and everyone will see my ridiculous enchanted underwear and –</blockquote>
<b>A world I want to live in</b> – I would love to live in Creepy Hollow. It might just be the faeries and other cool creatures (like Filigree, who I want as a pet), but <b>I imagine the world to be absolutely magical and fantastical</b>. I even want a story from another guild, so long as the traditions are different. Maybe from another creature? (I repeat: I seriously don't want a bunch of spin-offs, but that topic will be discussed another day.)

<b>The ending of <i>The Faerie Prince</i>, however, felt a little abrupt. It also felt appropriate for some unknown reason</b>, but with the slowness of the book, the fast ending just felt skewed and a little out of place. <b>Everything seems to be going well and peachy for Violet, but all of a sudden, everything just falls apart and the book ends.</b>

I'm not too sure how I feel about that.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-the-faerie-prince-by-rachel-morgan/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
The Girlfriend
The Girlfriend
Michelle Frances | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Tense & creepy (1 more)
Draws you in to characters
Slow at times (1 more)
Melodramatic pieces
Creepy psychological suspense novel
Laura is a wealthy woman with a successful career in the entertainment industry and a very close relationship to her son, Daniel, who is studying to be a doctor. She cherishes this closeness, but that all changes when Daniel meets Cherry, a beautiful young woman who hasn't had all the opportunities that Laura and Daniel's wealth has brought them. When Daniel meets Cherry while searching for a flat, she immediately recognizes all that he could bring to her life. The pair quickly form a romantic relationship, and Cherry and Laura are eager to meet. But the meeting doesn't go well and the two get off to a rocky start. Laura worries Cherry is only after Daniel's money; Cherry
feels that Laura is standing in the way of her happiness with Daniel. Will they ever see eye-to-eye?

This was a slow build novel focused on a limited cast of characters, but it had a remarkable ability to draw you into its tale of an overbearing mother and overachieving young woman. Its strength is in its characters, its slow, tense reveals, and the careful buildup to the ending, which while potentially inevitable, will have you frantically flipping pages, wondering what will happen to these crazy people.

The book works the popular unreliable narrator trope well. There are certainly early clues that neither Laura or Cherry are exactly as they seem, and you are left wondering what is going on, and who can you trust. If you're like me, you'll take sides early on, even both seem a bit outlandish.

Indeed, I found some parts a bit melodramatic. Laura initially seems a little overprotective of Daniel (who is in his mid-20s!) and Cherry a bit to harsh to jump to conclusions; a lot of childishness and pettiness reigns early on. Poor Daniel probably would have been better off jumping on a plane and leaving both behind. The book dragged at times, but really had some power in its characters. Cherry could be quite frightening and there was quite an intense, ongoing mental fight between these two women. It accompanies a slow, tense creep to the book that I definitely enjoyed.

The novel was not exactly what I was expecting. It takes a dark turn about halfway through and then there are some twists and turns in the latter half. Laura is a sad figure even if her actions are a bit insane. I found myself empathizing with her, even if she was a bit frustrating at times.

Overall, this was rather enjoyable. It's slow sometimes and perhaps not really a true thriller. My ARC version was a bit hard to read (words were stuck together and the lines didn't go all the way to the end of the page, plus it's hard to tell when we change POV). Nonetheless, this is a very creepy psychological suspense novel that you'll want to keep reading. 4 stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss in return for an unbiased review.
  
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Sensitivemuse (246 KP) rated Quietus in Books

Feb 28, 2018  
Quietus
Quietus
Vivian Schilling | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
1
1.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Was off to a great start, then goes downhill
Contains spoilers, click to show
***Possible spoilers you have been warned***


I was absolutely into the first half of the book. I loved the dark setting, the dark descent of madness for poor Kylie and trying to figure out what is happening to her and her world. The mood and the setting is dark and meant to be so, this part is excellent and sets the tone of the book. You get the eerie creepy feelings and the writing style is good enough that it could be played out like a movie in your head.

So Kyle as a character is all right. She has her flaws, her marriage has flaws but I’ll be honest to say I really did like her and Jack together. You knew they had major flaws and issues that should have been resolved but they just never got around to it. But their chemistry was excellent and you could feel their love even though sad to say, it was going on a path that just wasn’t meant to be. Although their relationship wasn’t that great to begin with, love was never a problem and they looked and seemed great together but it just wasn’t meant to be.

So let’s get to the plot. It started off on the right foot. Lots of creep factor. The plane crash incident well done. Kylie’s recovery, and the slow descent to what looks like madness (but isn’t) and the book tries to explain this to you while you read. Okay. I can handle this. I wanted to know what happens next.

Then we come across this incident in Kylie’s past that’s coming back to haunt her (see what I did there? Har har) okay. It’s pretty traumatic, and well you did send the guy to death because of a crime he committed so I get it.

Julius though….This guy was a grown man while Kylie was a little girl when he died and all of sudden he’s going all creepy touchy feely and managed to induce this semi wet dream/alternate reality sequence with present day Kylie while she was on public transportation. Yeah. Ok. And stop calling her Kylie Rose. It’s annoying but also creepy in a Pedo kind of way.

So after being introduced to Julius the incubus ghost wannabe the plot just slides down the hill and it becomes almost a chore to read through. I can’t believe this book has to be 608 pages as we already know what’s going on with Kylie and her crew about 200 pages in. It gets too descriptive, too mushy and it attempts to do some sort of surreal thing about life after death yadda yadda yadda.

I tried to like it. I can’t. If you cut the book in half and redid the ending so it wasn’t one long dreary part then the book would have been much better and more enjoyable to read. But this falls so short and it’s unfortunate the theme had promise and even the characters had potential.