House of Furies by Madeleine Roux

Let's close out the month of October with the latest YA Horror phenomenon, House of Furies. The hype around this book is pretty real. Lots of people were telling me that this book is super scary and the best/scariest book to come out this year. Naturally, I was pretty excited to get a chance to read it and seeing as I liked Asylum pretty well, I found myself really looking forward to it. How did it hold up to my expectations? Let's find out.

Louisa Ditton is down on her luck. Shipped off to school by her family, running away from said school, and now living on the streets telling fortunes just to get by. But she's then offered a place at Coldthistle House, a boarding house run by the mysterious Mr. Morningside. But more goes on at Coldthistle House than Louisa could ever have imagined. Those who visit the house are sinners who receive their just desserts at the hands of the House's otherworldly staff. Louisa soon fears for Lee, a young man boarding at the house with his uncle, and hopes to save him before he, or herself, is next to suffer the wrath of those within the house.

First things first, I actually really liked Louisa as a character. Much like Roux's last protagonist, Dan, Louisa is more than meets the eye and is a mystery even unto the readers. She's a very complex character as well and nicely flawed (yes, flaws are a good thing). She's short tempered but never to the point where it became annoying. She steals and can come off as selfish at times, but she's not a bad person. She's a product of her circumstances and yet manages to genuinely care about Lee. She keeps her head a lot of the times, even when faced against terrible creatures of darkness. She worked really well for me.

Now...for the big problem. The pacing in this book is slow! Very, very slow. So much so that, for me, it kind of kills the mood of the book. It's hard to be on edge and scared of what's to come when there's page after page of nothing scary happening! She gets to the house, nothing happens. She meets Morningside, nothing happens. She starts working at the house...nothing happens. Then, when things do get started, you have to wake yourself up and realize that it's finally happening. Granted, when the scary moments finally come they are pretty intense. Running into a group of wraiths that chase you through the house, witnessing the aftermath of a ritualistic sacrifice, and a rather nasty encounter with a cannibal all manage to do their job in scaring the reader. The problem is that they are too far in between long stretches of nothing happening that does little to capture the reader's interest. The pace really killed a lot of this book for me.

But the pace isn't the only problem with the book. Mostly, outside from one of the boarders at the house, there's almost no threat to Louisa in this book. They make it pretty clear right away that everybody in the house, all the staff that live there and are supposed to add to the horrors of the place, are all very friendly and kind to Louisa and do their best to help her. If we know she's safe, then the reader is comforted instead of nervous. Even when she attempts to flee the house, she's met with little in the way of obstacles. And she's so desperate to flee the house yet...she keeps going back of her own free will. It's hard to sympathize with her inability to get away when she get's away but goes back on her own. Now, when she does go back, she does so for unselfish reasons so, there is that, but it's marred when she just goes back to the house and is already plotting to get away again.

The book also includes hints about what is to come in this story. This comes in the form of pictures and excerpts from Mr. Morningside's book about rare dark creatures. Now, the pictures I don't mind as they're vague enough to leave you guessing, but the excerpts feel like overkill. Plus, the excerpts come right out of nowhere, meaning the actual story has to take break while we're spoon-fed information that we probably didn't need. Instead of telling me what these people can do, how about you show me. That's what they do, they tell instead of show. Aside from some Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark-esque illustrations, I could have done away with them all together.

Final Verdict
I was a bit disappointed in this one. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and it wasn't as good as Roux's other works. Still, there is some good stuff to be enjoyed and, if you like it or want to read it, feel free to do so just probably wait for it on paperback.

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Next Time: We're not done with horror stories yet. Try to banish your worst fears, they'll just come back...with a vengeance.

Tales from the Haunted Mansion: The Fearsome Foursome by Amicus Arcane

I sometimes find I have little patience for "scary" stories for kids. Why? Because they're never scary! Finding kid friendly material that actually delivers scares is pretty rare these days. They usually either try too hard or don't try at all. Luckily for us, we have a collection of tales that both the young and the old can enjoy and be perfectly scared by. Let's proceed.

Tim, Willa, Noah, and Steve are known as the Fearsome Foursome, a group of kids from the same school who just love to make up and tell scary stories. One night, they find an invitation at their usual meeting place...an invitation to a creepy old mansion in the Louisiana bayou. It is within this creepy mansion that the Fearsome Foursome meet the mansion's librarian who wants in on the fun. He then proceeds to tell them four frightening tales featuring the Foursome...an they're not allowed to leave until theirs stories are finished.

One thing I really appreciated about this book was its voice. The narrator of the book, presumably the  Mansion's Ghost Host, is a riot! The sarcastic wit and hilarious jibs are just perfectly timed, giving this book an admittedly dark sense of humor but a good one. It often breaks the fourth wall and addresses the reader, pointing out flaws the characters make and cliches. While it is funny and very well done, it doesn't shy away from the scares either. That same tone of voice that makes you laugh can also make you shiver and never mixes the two, keeping everything in tone. As the stories get more intense, the jibes lessen and you really feel the urgency and fear the stories. It was brilliantly well done.

I also like the four heroes and the stories that went with them. While the plots to each of these stories isn't exactly unique, they help to build the kids as characters and give us an idea of what they're really like. Tim gets possession of a demonic baseball glove, Willa longs for a dead pet back, Noah tries to spite his stepfather with poor results, and Steve makes a dare that goes too far. As each of their situations gets worse, you feel for them and you want them to come through from the horrors they're facing. They felt like real kids and I appreciated that about them.

The peril that the kids face in these stories is, while fantastical, intense. Will kids find this scary? Well, I hope so because that's what the book is for. Scaring kids! Even so, the humor in the narration and the fact that this is a kids book soften the blow just enough to where I don't think anyone will be psychologically harmed. I mean, come on, this is Disney's Haunted Mansion, remember? It's not going to scar somebody for life. Kids can read this and be enjoyably afraid. I would feel perfectly comfortable letting a kid read this. Just the right amount of tension, high stakes, and otherworldly creeps come together in just the right amount of terror, which everyone can appreciate.

As this is based on the Disneyland ride, it did have to include several references scattered throughout the stories and not just in the framing device. These are most noticeable in Steve's story, but they can be found all over. Sometimes these are nicely integrated and other times they stick out like a hitchhiking ghost's thumb. But this is an extreme nitpick and my trying really hard to find something wrong with the book and that's saying a lot.

Final Verdict
Ghoulishly delightful and just the right amount of scary with a sharp sense of humor, this book had it all. I really enjoyed this one and it got me eager to read the books that come after it (this is the first in a series). And it is with a grim grin that I welcome this book to the Shelf of Recommendation!

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: Now this is a haunted house of epic proportions....

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather

Written by the actual descendent of Cotton Mather, we get a story of the fake descendent of Cotton Mather! Yeah. Inspired by the infamous Salem Witch Trials, we have a story of curses, accusations, spirits, and high school. Should be interesting. Let's dive right in.

Samantha Mather didn't mind the move to Salem at first. Vaguely interested in the dark history her family has there, she looks forward to seeing what the mysterious town has to offer when she moves in with her stepmother. But Sam quickly learns she's not entirely welcome in Salem. A clique at school known as the Descendants, whose ancestors were the victims of the trials, have singled Sam out and make her life miserable. It doesn't help that mysterious occurrences are taking place around Salem, and people are dying. Now Sam must break an ancient curse set upon the denizens of Salem before she, or her father, are the next to die.

Now the concept of a curse in Salem and using the actual people descended from the victims is actually not a bad one. There's a lot of potential here and that's where some of the highlights of this book shines through. The fact that the situations are reversed, that the family of the accusers is now being victimized, is also pretty clever. The author is trying to relate the trials with modern day bullying and, while that may seem like a stretch to some, the themes have much in common. While there are times when it isn't exactly handled well (I'll get to that in a bit) it is a valiant attempt. The messages of speaking up and refusing to continue the cycle are good ones and I did appreciate that in this book.

What doesn't work, unfortunately, is that this book relies on a lot of typical YA tropes to tell the story. The additions of things like a love triangle with the boy next door and a magical convenience fairy...I mean...ghost just kind of feels forced and doesn't help the story overall. There's no denying that Sam is a self insert character (they have the same last name and heritage for crying out loud!) and her personality is a bit...lacking at times. While she's certainly not perfect and does have natural reactions to situations at times, her general reaction to most paranormal scenarios is "Seriously?" There was no real spark of life to her. Also, she doesn't do much to help her situation and can make matters worse for herself at times. For example, there's a scene when she goes to a local coffee shop and the barista asks for her name to put on the cup and, knowing full well that her name is going to get her grief from the other patrons, she just gives it to her. Here's an idea, Sam. If you don't want a barista to shout out your name to the whole world...lie! It's a freakin' coffee house, they don't care if you tell the truth or not. You can tell them your name is "Batman" and they won't question it. You could have just given a fake name and avoided the grief but no, you just had to make things worse for yourself. Little touches like that make Sam come off kind of stupid and that's the biggest problem with her character. It's hard to convey her as a victim being bullied when she's not really doing anything to help herself.

The supernatural elements to the story can be interesting, but those are often ruined because, again, YA tropes. That ghost boyfriend I brought up before is by far my biggest complaint. He's available at her beck and call (he only complains about being summoned once and is totally fine with it the rest of the time), he does all the hard work and research the story requires so she doesn't have to, he's able to magically produce a picnic feast with yummies from all over the world to cheer her up, and he's corporeal, so they can make out. He's strictly there for wish fulfillment purposes and it was just silly! While there were fun things like curses and a truly interesting mystery for most of the book the resolution of the mystery...was a bit of a let down. I really didn't like what they ended up doing. I saw it coming, for starters, and the villain's motivations were...head scratching. I won't give it away but I was just underwhelmed by the big reveal of the story.

Finally, what kind of bothered me about the story was some of the historical inaccuracies. I liked studying the Witch Trials when I was in school and so some of the stuff that was changed around or excluded was...irksome. Now, sure, creative license is a thing and I understand and respect that. I liked Stalking Jack the Ripper a lot even though that was pretty inaccurate too. The problem here is that this is written by the actual descendent of Cotton Mather. I just feel like, if anyone should get the facts straight, it should be this person! But no. No, we just throw details away for the sake of a pretty story with the world's most perfect undead boyfriend. Such wasted potential.

Final Verdict
If you're just looking for a typical YA story, Mean Girls in Salem, or what-have-you, this book won't bother you and you'll like it just fine. I ended up disappointed but that doesn't mean you will. If this sounds like your cup of tea, go ahead and give it a shot but maybe check it out at your local library.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time:(singing) Grim, grinning ghosts...come out to socialize....

The Assassin Game by Kristy McKay

This is something I've always secretly wanted to try. A murder mystery game where you fight to "stay alive" and rock out your own personal detective skills (though admittedly I'd probably be the first one out). But I'm too antisocial for such things so I got this instead! The ultimate high school appropriate game of cat and mouse goes too far in this mystery thriller. Let's dive right in.

Cate has longed to become part of the Guild at Umfraville private school since she first came there. Now, she finally has her chance to join and become a player in "the game". The game is "Killer". One Guild member goes around "killing off" other players in thrilling yet harmless pranks until they are caught or one remains. It's a daring adventure full of secrets and suspicion...until the pranks take a seriously dangerous turn for the worst. Kids are getting badly hurt and the school itself is in jeopardy and Cate must figure out who the "Killer" is and put a stop to him...or risk becoming his next victim.

The concept of "Killer" is a lot of fun and a great idea...even if it would never really pass in a real school. That's what the creation of Umfraville is about. It serves as both an isolated (it's a private school on an island in the Irish Sea) area where any good murder mystery can take place as well as being probably the only location where such a game could exist. Something like this game would never go by in a public school (in America anyway) and so the author gives us a great location for such events to take place, but also a place where immediate help is hard to come by. There's a big stretch of water keeping you isolated from cops and hospitals so it's just the creepy setting we'd want for a story such as this.

The quality of the characters in this story...vary. While Cate is a bit bland, she never outright bothered me or made me angry. She often makes a point of saying how she's average and insignificant (despite a whopping THREE guys wanting to date her) but it never got pretentious or annoying. She was just okay. The Guild members...honestly, I think there were too many of them. Certain ones I remember clearly like Alex, the Game Master, and Vaughn, the computer whiz, and Martin the overeager one. The rest, however, just kinda start blurring together and I had a tough time keeping track of who was who. This is particularly vexing when you're trying to solve a mystery and can't even remember who all the players and potential suspects are.

But the best aspect of this book was the mystery. I was genuinely stumped for a good portion of this book. There was a nice amount of red herrings, twists, and the kills were both interesting and inventive, even the dangerous ones. Honestly, I could have done with more pranks. They come pretty far in between each other and I would have liked to have seen what else the killer had up their sleeve. That does, however, lead to another downside in that it takes over half the book for things to get really serious. There are some vague threats but things don't really go down until well into the book. A bit more intimacy was needed for the first bit, but it does lead up to a good reveal and intense climax, so I'm happy overall.

Final Verdict
Just the type of murder mystery I like to read. Creepy, dangerous, thrilling and fun. A bit slow in places and not quite enough action, but overall a good idea and a story that I'd say, is worth your money at your local bookstore.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: I really hope this isn't an instruction manual....

Court of Vampires by Megan Linski

I tried. I tried! I really, really tried, you guys! It's been five years since the last Twilight movie came out, all those rumors about a TV series turned out to be crap, it's time to give vampires a second chance. And I want to give them a second chance! I liked vampires when I was a kid. There's so much potential with them. They're classic creatures of darkness capable of extraordinary things. But...*sigh* it seems that we're still not done ripping off that ridiculous franchise and coming up with ridiculousness like this thing!

Lysandra Romanova-Dracula is revered among her family as The Chosen One, who will defeat their great enemies, the shifters (werewolves), once and for all. After years of learning how to hunt wolves in Moscow, she's ready to return home to Romania and earn her place amongst her brutal father's court and marry her betrothed. But when a pack of wolves attacks her home and she finds an injured shifter among the rubble, she... takes him in, hides him, and nurses him back to health....okay. As she tries to hide the wolf from the vicious vampires that live in the castle, Lysandra and the wolf, Lisar, form a bond that could reshape the destinies of the two races forever....or something.

Yes, my friends, this story deeply, deeply suffers from all the tropes of the paranormal romance genre. Or, as I like to call it, the-same-piece-of-crap-story-over-and-over genre. Everything in this book, everything, is predictable, lazy, and asinine to the tenth degree! It's like the author didn't even try with this book! Every tried line, every exhausted self-insert pandering trick, every done-to-death cliche you can think of is in here. We have the forced love, the brooding third wheel (but not evil, no, because that might hinder the shipping war), the ridiculously over-the-top villains, it's all here.

We are told, over and friggin' over again, that this broad Lysandra can take care of herself. That she's been training for years to get ready for this war and she even wins a fight right in front of everyone's eyes. Yet, whenever there's fighting going on, the hot men all have to protect her and shove her in her room until the danger is past. And helping this werewolf (I don't give a crap what they call them), even when she's supposedly trained for years to fight these things and even has some force-fed backstory about wolves killing her mother (which I don't buy for a second), she does because "I don't know why." Yeah! Every time she questions why she' doing contrived, stupid things her response is "I don't know why." I'll tell you why. BECAUSE THE FRIGGING SCRIPT SAID SO! There's no other reason! She just does whatever the script tells her to do, taking NO action herself, and spews exposition that could get her whole family killed because, again, "I don't know why." There's a direct quote in here that says, "I told him everything he needed to know and practically fed him specific instructions on how to end the vampires for good." She openly admits it! Having a character never take action, make ridiculously stupid decisions, and just meander through the plot of their own story doesn't make them interesting or likable. It makes them look like a FRIGGING MORON! How are we supposed to take such a brainless bimbo seriously? WE CAN'T!

The borrowed details and terrible writing in this thing stick out like a sore thumb. From the fact that Lisar, our hunky werewolf character, doesn't like shirts (wonder where that little tidbit came from) to a "Paint me like one of your French girls, Jack" scene (okay, that wasn't a direct quote this time but if they'd thought of it they'd have thrown it in and you know it!) everything is tired and forced. Everything in this book is borrowed or forced and I just hate it all! Her father, Csar Dragomir, is your typical, cartoony bad guy who tortures and hits his daughter in the face because "pride" and is just a massive douche for absolutely no reason. We get these ugly vampires and you know they're evil because they're ugly and they frigging admit it, who do absolutely nothing for the story except give Lysandra and excuse to be saved yet again. And, yes, I've admitted that I'm not the biggest romance fan but even a genuine romance fan would gag at some of these "love" scenes. Frolicking in the gardens, cuddling up and watching TV, using words like "spellbinding" and "passionate love affair rivaling the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet", to the addition of this books version of imprinting just adds to the painfully cliche tone of this thing.

Funny enough, one of my biggest gripes in this book doesn't even have to do with the special-kind-of-stupid heroine or the cringe-worthy attempts at "romance". Lysandra lives in this huge castle lavishly decorated with expensive, gothic attire. She has designer clothes, a bathroom with a waterfall shower and a Jacuzzi tub, a fully stocked armory and gym, a gorgeous ballroom, custom made cars worth millions of dollars and just about everything else you can think of. Now, here's my question: where the heck did all this money come from? The answer....there is no answer. They're just rich for no reason. They're descended from Romanian and Russian royalty, sure, but both those lines went extinct and have no money or privileges left to their names! As far as the world in which they live knows they have no right to anything! I can march up to a bank and claim to be the long lost descendent of some ancient royal line, heck I could even have proof of it, and y'know what I'd get? A PAT ON THE BACK AND SHOWN TO THE DOOR, THAT'S WHAT! These vampires have no jobs, do nothing except sit around and talk about their stupid war with werewolves that makes no sense, and do NOTHING that would earn them the rights to live in the lap of luxury. This is just another example of pandering to the readers so they can think, "wouldn't it be nice to be a modern day princess living in my dream castle with everything I could ever want and hunky boy toys vying for my affection?" If I didn't already think that this book was absolute garbage, this tidbit tips the scales.

Final Verdict
Do you even have to ask? This book is HORRENDOUS! It's pandering, brainless tripe and, for the first time in a year, we have found our second ever entry into the FURNACE OF EVERLASTING TORMENT! Vampires deserve better than this. Literature deserves better than this. YOU deserve better than this. Spare yourself the pain.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: All fun and games until someone gets fatally poisoned or thrown to their deaths....

Sabriel by Garth Nix

While this is technically more of a fantasy story than a horror one, I definitely felt that it counts as a good Halloween book, mostly because it deals in horrific creatures of the undead. A typical quest but spiced up with grim creatures, rotting corpses, and magic of death and the undead...yeah. I'd say this counts.

Sabriel has lived most of her life at a boarding school in Ancelstierre. She's top of her class, a prefect, and has learned everything from Charter magic to table manners. But her roots lie in the Old Kingdom across the Wall, a medieval world full of magic and mystery. When her father, the Abhorsen and master of the dead, goes missing it is up to Sabriel to find him and save him. Armed with several enchanted bells and a sword bestowed with magic, Sabriel sets off to take on the terrible evil that threatens, not only her father, but all the world.

Already the make-up of this universe is just great. The wild, untamed Old Kingdom is a great setting for an adventure. Full of magic and mystery, the universe just comes alive. The undead creatures, which vary from wolflike beings that stalk your every move to waves of rotting hands clawing toward you, sent genuine chills down my spine (granted, I am reading this all alone in the dead of night). The slightly more advanced world of Ancelstierre is interesting too and made me genuinely curious at how the Wall was created and how things came together.

Sabriel is a fantastic main character. Slightly older than most protagonists in this genre, she's very mature and thinks things through. While she is still very compassionate and does get emotionally invested in certain matters, she knows what's best and is capable of making the hard decisions rather than barging in without thinking. The inclusions of the hilarious Mogget and the strong yet emotional Touchstone make a great cast of characters that you do care about and want to see things through. Even Sabriel's father, the Abhorsen, while dark and brooding and we don't see too much of him, is still a likable guy who truly cares about his daughter. It has truly threatening baddies, a great cast of heroes, it all comes together very nicely.

While classified as Young Adult, it never gives in to the typical tropes one finds in the genre. I didn't know where things were going most of the time, and I was thrilled with that. Even the budding romance between Sabriel and Touchstone is kept very minimal. They have genuine chemistry and I liked them together, but it wasn't in-your-face-make-you-want-to-puke-over-the-top like we've seen it done before. There are a couple of moments that might be a little risqué (including a surprisingly detailed event taking place on the other end of a wall at an inn) but other than that I can see high schoolers, and maybe even slightly younger, getting through this without issue.

Sabriel's powers as a necromancer are also very fun to read about. Each of the bells she uses has a name and unique power, very concepts of Charter magic and Free magic, it's all very well thought out and interesting. I really wanted it to dive into the mythology and lore of this universe but it mostly just stuck to the main story. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it left the audience yearning for more which is always a good sign.

Also, if you get the audiobook...Tim Curry.

Enough said.

Final Verdict
A very fortunate find! Great action, good characters, chilling suspense, everything comes together in a great story with an interesting set up and a satisfying end. All in all, I'd say that this book is totally worth your money at your local bookstore.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: I will not judge. I will not judge. I will not...(gets three pages in)...DANGIT!

The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn

Admittedly, I'm only vaguely acquainted with Ms. Autumn and her works. I bring this up so most can understand where I'm coming from when it comes to this book. Yes, I've heard of Ms. Autumn and know a couple of her songs but I don't know much about her or even deserve to call myself a big fan of hers. Therefore, my attitude in going into this book is that of someone who recognizes the name and thought to give it a shot. As I have no solid opinion of Autumn as a musician, I can go into this venture with a clean slate, as a book critic plain and simple. Let's dive in.

Emilie's suicide didn't exactly go as planned. Now she's sent to a mental institution where she's granted very little freedoms and is watched over by the creepy Dr. Sharp. But Emilie starts to receive messages from another time, another place, similar to her own. Emily with a "y", a young woman living in the Victorian Era, has been bought and sold and abused only to find herself in the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls for her efforts. Both girls document their misfortunes in the hopes that they will once again see the light of day and form a bond between time and space.

One thing that you've got to just accept with this book is that it is exaggerated. While parts of it are, at least, semi-autobiographical (the segments with Emilie with an "ie" are anyway), it's definitely pushing the boundaries of what's real and what's going on in our protagonist's head. This hospital takes away everything she has, including paper and books, because she's suicidal and yet lets her keep her very long, I-could-totally-hang-myself-with-these stockings? Hm. Also, the horrors of electro-shock therapy are described in this (a rarely-used-anymore technique they numb you for) and how another young woman never returned after receiving it and placing her with the violent patients instead of the depressed ones...like I said, it might be a little exaggerated. Still, I can't exactly fault the book for this. There's a reason I chose this book to be read for October, my month of scary books, and not just because of my own discomfort with the topic of asylums. While "asylum" and "mental hospital" are essentially the same thing, people are given certain expectations about what the book entails. People pick up books about asylums to be grossed out and horrified by man's inhumanity toward man. If you wanted a book talking about how a person was actually helped in a safe, clean environment, they'd pick up a book about a mental hospital and learn about how a person was successfully cured of mental illness. This is not that book. The cover and title alone are enough to let you know about that.

On the subject of "man's inhumanity toward man", which we expect from an asylum book, this book delivers it in spades. Someone once described Autumn's works as being "not for the faint of heart." The "Emily with a y" story arc features all those lovely things that one expects in an abusive asylum story. Experimental treatments unfairly done to young women in the hopes of "curing" them which involve surgically removing their uterus, bloodletting, and (everyone's favorite) lobotomies. It even goes a step further into a twisted scheme to create a plague and the deeply discomforting process of prostitution. Yeah, "Emily" goes through some serious crap in this book and it's enough to make anyone cringe (granted you are supposed to). Yet, there's a whimsical edge to the story that doesn't entirely leave the reader, or Emily for that matter, without hope. Whether it's the talking rats, the sharpened spoons, the dwindling will of the asylum's matriarch, or the colorful gathering of patients that makes the reader want to keep going. You want to see them get through this. You want these women to find freedom and justice. It all comes together in an admittedly satisfying, mic drop of a climax that I actually quite enjoyed.

While I was satisfied with the bittersweet conclusion of Emily's story, Emilie's story...not so much. It doesn't even really end it just kind of...stops. Granted, this could all be further pushing the idea of "how much of all of this was in her head the whole time?" that is hinted at in this book but I'd rather it came to an actual conclusion instead of twenty pages of diary excerpts going on and on about how unpleasant depression is and how cutting yourself makes everything better. You can read about these things and learn from them but...I'd rather you finish the story. But, that's just me and what do I know?

Final Verdict
Kind of on the fence with this one, people. There's no arguing that this is a bit romanticized and not everybody (especially mental health professionals) is going to appreciate that. That being said, I enjoyed the story and liked the main character(s) and carried on reading in morbid fascination about where it would go and what would happen. If you're someone who can stomach the extreme grossness that comes from ancient mental remedies and uncomfortable themes portrayed in this book, feel free to check it out just maybe wait for it on paperback.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: It's not often that you find a book where the necromancer is the protagonist....

The Merciless by Danielle Vega

If you took the movies Mean Girls and The Craft and mixed them together, you'd get this book. It was actually pretty impressive. The book reads just like a movie with similar pacing and atmosphere and keeps you invested up to the very last word. Let's take a look at it.

Sofia Flores is the new girl in Friend, Mississippi and already she's caught in the midst of high school drama. She finds herself drawn to two potential friends, the popular and deeply religious Riley and the wild, adventurous Brooklyn. But when Sofia confides in Riley about Brooklyn's behavior, Riley and her friends come up with a plan to save Brooklyn's soul by preforming a violent exorcism...and Sofia will either help them or be next.

The story is a desperate little tale of survival and extremes. Most of the book takes place over a single night and possesses all you could want in a horror story. Things get violent pretty quickly in this thing, and it's pretty cringe inducing. You find out pretty quickly that there's a lot more going on than an attempt to save a girl's soul and the line between trying to save someone and hurt for the sake of causing hurt are quickly crossed.

The girls in this story are all kept wonderfully mysterious. At first glance, you think you have these girls figured out but they all have secrets and pretty messed up lives. Sofia, the one we're following throughout this story, is not immune to this. She comes off as being likable and pretty much the most reasonable person in this story, if not the only one. But she's far from perfect and there's much to discover about her as the story progresses, leading us to wonder just if anyone in this book is truly who they say they are. It's that untrustworthy atmosphere and knowledge that you don't really know any of these people that makes this story work as a horror. You have no idea who to trust and, therefore, no idea who to root for.

As I said earlier, the book reads a lot like a traditional horror movie. The pace is fast yet gripping and filled with uncomfortable and gory details to keep the reader engrossed and desperate for more. There are close calls and sheer brutality all throughout the book, but it does take just enough time to breathe and let the reality of these situations sink in. It also takes place in mostly the same location as well, an abandoned house on the outskirts of town where nobody goes and there's no way out. This claustrophobic environment just adds to the feeling to dread. It was masterfully done.

That being said I'm not entirely sold on the ending of this book. While it did have the satisfyingly horrific climax and crap-your-pants scary moments, I don't know if I really understood the twist they threw in at the last second. But, then again, I guess you could say it's all part of the sequel fodder and, yeah, I'd pick up the sequel to this book. It's well written, well executed, and if the sequel is the same as this, I'll be adding it to my list.

Final Verdict
A wonderful way to kick off October! Genuinely scary, violent, gripping and well put together piece that horror fans will enjoy. If it sounds like your cup to tea, then I'd say it's totally worth your money at your local bookstore.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

Next Time: Asylums....why did it have to be asylums.....