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Fear Street Sagas #2

House of Whispers

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Welcome to the house of Fear.

The dark power of the Fear family consumes all those connected with it, The Fears. Those they love—and hate. The entire town of Shadyside. All are tainted forever by the evil of the family’s curse. No one can escape.

Amy Pierce knows nothing of the terrifying Fear history when she arrives for a visit with Simon and Angelica Fear. Their New Orleans mansion is beautiful—but Amy senses something evil there. Something that watches her. Waits for her.

Will Amy be strong enough to escape the powers controlled by the Fear family?

149 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

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1419 people want to read

About the author

R.L. Stine

1,733 books18.8k followers
Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

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5 stars
432 (32%)
4 stars
377 (28%)
3 stars
397 (30%)
2 stars
91 (6%)
1 star
14 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
Profile Image for Ragan.
1,130 reviews8 followers
June 19, 2022
no bc i was really confident that david was a goode just for him to like not be lmao
Profile Image for Courtney Gruenholz.
Author 13 books24 followers
June 29, 2022
My rating still stands BTW.

The Fear Street Sagas were very good at least in the first dozen or so to try and tie back to the original Fear Street Saga that told the origin of the Fear Family. The entire series was completely ghostwritten and you could tell sometimes by the writing style especially when it seemed to have a more romantic flare (not that men can't write romance you know )

A book released in June I figured I would re-read it before I started back up on the Fear Street Nights since we had some mention of Simon and Angelica Fear.

This is purely a more Angelica focused book on her treachery than that of both her or just Simon. The other person it focuses on is Amy Pierce, Angelica's second cousin. It's set in New Orleans during the Civil War around 1863 and the seventeen-year old Amy is sent to stay with her cousin while her mother goes off to see to her wounded father.

Amy gets along well with Angelica's three little boys and oldest daughter Julia and even spoiled Hannah and it is so sad to read about the girls before we knew what became of them and even sadder because not even their brothers could escape. That Fear family curse works in even more psychological ways than just horrific, gruesome deaths...

Back to Amy, there also is power in the Pierce family that the women inherit and Angelica is sure she can teach Amy how to use it. Amy is also told by Julia that at night it isn't safe to wonder through the house and it is again tragic just how different the girl is portrayed before that Fear family curse had time to do its work.

Amy soon can sense the presence in the Fear Family mansion but it isn't the only feeling. This second one is more the attraction to handsome David Hathaway the first time the two meet when Amy saves his mother, Claire, from a water moccasin. With a wounded arm and a patch over one of his eyes from the fighting that has now left him discharged from the war. He is a young man hard to read as his emotions are always switching.

Angelica tells Amy to stay away from David saying the war has made him dangerous but she can't resist being drawn to him. After that warning is when the terrifying events start up with death around every corner.

Amy has to learn how to trust her own instincts when she can't be truly dependent on her cousin or even when the man she loves tells her...she can't trust in him either. Is the curse going to overtake Amy's life or can she truly escape this house of fear?

Our protagonist Amy is a pure hearted person and a good counterpart to Angelica as they both seem to have the same paranormal abilities and even though David might just seem to be a thrown in love interest he's shown to be very caring to his mother and someone not intimidated by threats Angelica throws his way.

There's still plenty of gory descriptions and supernatural tension in this thinly veiled love story and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you haven't had a chance to read this one and you can find it, I recommend it highly.
Profile Image for Liliana.
1,006 reviews216 followers
December 26, 2024
Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book

It would not matter to Angelica that Amy was part of her own family. If Angelica found out the truth about Amy, she would kill her.
Because Angelica was evil. Pure evil.


I love the Fear family lore. It’s so interesting and often evil. One of my favorite families to follow has always been Simon and Angelica Fear, so I was very happy to see that Angelica played a big role in this book! We first met Angelica in the Fear Street Saga trilogy where we saw that even before she married into the Fear family, she herself had a little bit of magic at her hands. Well, in this book we meet her cousin Amy who may or may not have an an affinity for magic as well. I thought this aspect of the book was SO interesting! When I first read about Angelica in the trilogy, I was a little surprised to learn that she already possessed magic, so it was nice to learn a little more about the Pierce family.

Unfortunately for Amy, she immediately realizes that something evil lurks in the house, and the cousin she didn’t know well soon shows her true and evil colors. And then people start to die around the property.



I know this series is for the most part, if not all, ghostwritten, but the gory descriptions are something these ghostwriters got right! They were disgusting and I loved every minute of it! 😆 I also enjoyed the nice bit of action we got during the climax, which was crazy! One reason why I love the Fear family lore is because of the dark magic, and the climax was chockfull of it! It was SO good!

I really enjoyed this book! I loved that the Fear family made an appearance, the descriptions were great, I enjoyed the setting in New Orleans, the climax was exciting, and the ending was hopeful which was a nice change of pace for a Fear Street novel. Overall, it was a solid entry in the Fear Street Sagas series.
Profile Image for paige turner ♡.
292 reviews9 followers
January 2, 2019
Amy has to go and stay with her cousin Angelica Fear; she’s excited but wary. The Fear’s are strange people, there are many rumours about how the Fear family is evil, and they practice dark magic, which is how they achieved their fortune.

Amy immediately feels out of place; her family isn’t well off, and the Fear’s live in a giant house, with housekeeping and fancy clothes and dresses, but she tries so hard to enjoy herself.

In this story, there are so many mysterious things that happen right off the bat. Amy asks people to speak about the Fear’s so she can learn more about them, but they all seem frightened to even think of the Fear’s names. There are strange noises in the house, Julia even warns Amy not to leave her room when the house is dark, and everyone is asleep, but why? There’s also David, he gives off weird vibes, but you don’t know what it is exactly. He has fought in the war, he has probably seemed some horrible things, but there’s something else that’s not quite right, what Angelica says can’t be true. A man with, a pretty face can’t be evil, but a woman with a pretty face sure could be. Also, what’s happening to Amy? Ever since she stepped foot in that house, she’s been acting strange too. SO MANY MYSTERIES!

There’s so much action packed into this little book; it’s insane; everything that seems like an accident is followed by someone saying, “that was no accident.”

The drama is real.

This book is so much fun though; I loved every minute of trying to figure out everything that was going on. One minute I thought I had it all figured out, but unlike the last one, this one had some surprises left for me.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
2,104 reviews64 followers
December 1, 2018
This book is actually ghost written, the whole series is and it's painfully obvious in the difference of writing styles. Though it certainly attempts to mimic the style of Stine, the build up is lacking.
In book 2, Amy goes to live with her cousin Angelica Fear and her daughters while her father heals from wounds gained in the Civil War. Angelica senses a power in Amy and wants her to use the magic for evil, teaching her how to hear the voices in the tarot. Amy meets and insta-loves the neighbor who has a sling and an eye patch but every female thinks is the sexiest. Angelica tells Amy that he's bad news those and forbids her from ever seeing him...so they meet secretly. Then all these women that "know" David are dying and Amy is suspicious cause the tarot cards kept predicting death...only to reveal Angelica is evil as the readers already knew if they've ever read literally any Fear Street book before this one.
The entire novel lacked the suspense or urgency it needed to truly be successful but it was a quick ending that was satisfying and the deaths were gruesome and graphic.
Profile Image for Just A Ginger.
568 reviews27 followers
June 16, 2017
Fear?! As in?! Like why Fear Street is NAMED Fear Street? Is this why the street is so haunted?!?

Speaking of the street being haunted in all the books I've been reading there has been little, little, haunting, and more psychos just killing people off here and there. Are psychos just drawn to the evil of Fear Street?

This was a great book, seeing a peak into the beginning of Fear Street itself!

Pierce, related to the Fear family. I need to know more behind this! It did seem a little awful but what else was to be done?

It was rushed, the power was unfocused, I wonder what these books would have been if he would have made them lengthier, instead of always seeming like a rough outline.
Profile Image for Shannon.
1,114 reviews51 followers
October 29, 2016
Hmm. This was alright. The build-up was really good. Given the other book she appeared in, it was clear that there was something up with Angelica, but it felt like David was hiding something as well. There was this sense of mystery that I liked and I wanted to know who was behind the deaths. Also, it was a little eerie reading about Hannah and Julia when I know what ultimately happens with them in ‘The Burning’.

It was the ending that left me feeling like the book was kind of mediocre. The scary factor just wasn’t there and the final showdown wasn’t very exciting. It was like I didn’t hate this book, but it could’ve been much better.
Profile Image for Ashlee.
87 reviews
July 17, 2022
I decided to re-read some of my childhood favorite so naturally I couldn’t leave R.L. Stine out of it. This book was one of my favorites as a child and, for what it is, it’s not bad but it’s certainly not great. There is absolutely no conclusion to this book whatsoever and the plot is barely tangible but I’ll give it two stars for nostalgia alone.

Most importantly, who was letting me read these? Did I have parental supervision at all? The book might be poorly written but the death scenes were still pretty gruesome even to adult standards. I should probably bring this to my therapist. It might explain a lot.
Profile Image for Noelle.
218 reviews2 followers
June 27, 2020
R.L. Stine has some interesting ideas, but his YA stories always read more like a detailed outline or summary than a fully fleshed out novel. So interesting how much YA has changed in the last two decades.

I don't know if it was the historical setting but this also read at times more like a Gothic romance than a horror. Middle school me would have really enjoyed this. Adult me was left very underwhelmed. Black magic. Tarot cards. Hero with an eye patch. Civil War. And lots of murders for 150 or so pages.
Profile Image for Khurshid Ali.
853 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2023
We are returning back to the Fear Mansion where evil lives and breathes

Before
Imagine having to stay with cousins that you have not seen in years.
Imagine locals trying to stop you from going

During
You feel the evil around you
The tarot cards call out to you
The power strong and visions of death around you
Falling
Burning
Drowning

No one is safe
Not even family
The cards have spoken

Read to find out what they say
Profile Image for Mackenzie.
111 reviews26 followers
June 29, 2018
Compared to other Fear Street I’ve read this one was spookier and had a pretty solid plot. I found this book at a thrift store so I haven’t read #1 and didn’t realize this was #2 until I was done. The build up to the end was well done. I enjoyed the mystery around 99.9% of the characters, I’d like to know more. Over all a quick read. By no means is this a best seller but a good Fear Street book.
Profile Image for Joan.
106 reviews3 followers
February 16, 2020
I actually liked this better than book one, it wasn’t as fast and there was a bit more time for the horror to build than in the previous book.
Magic played a bigger role here than on the previous story. I would still call this a paranormal slasher.

I saw the twist coming but I think I was meant to, it was still a fun read.
Profile Image for Nicole Gay.
2 reviews6 followers
October 28, 2020
Pretty good book but.....

Pretty good book but would have loved if they did a epilogue of like a year or two later with a surprise like Amy and David married and someone came to visit and it's Hannah and she threatens Amy for 'stealing' her man or something. Just felt there was something was missing at the end to me.
Profile Image for Jean Wetmore.
34 reviews
October 31, 2018
Slightly confusing as Angelica did not die in the same way as described in "A New Fear" And why couldn't this have been the first one as it was chronologically before "A New Fear". Otherwise very good story.
1 review
March 15, 2022
Fear street book 2

It was a good book. I love how he writes. You can just picture everything happening and you want to root for the characters. Whether your rooting for the "hero" or "villain" is entirely up to you and your little secret 😉
Profile Image for christine.
6 reviews
June 24, 2022
Pretty easy, decent read but I didn't feel too attached to any of the characters and I did not really find it very thrilling or scary. However, love that I kind of did not trust David lol (that was fun and tricky).
Profile Image for Yuthika.
697 reviews45 followers
January 18, 2018
Three murders and such a disappointing ending. I found the description of the murders to be quite grotesque, and that was the 'horror' this book contained. The Fears were not so scary in this one.
Profile Image for Sara Strack.
117 reviews17 followers
October 9, 2018
Short read.

This was a nice quick read. A little too short and rushed though. I wish we got to learn more about David and maybe had more explanation to the card thing.
Profile Image for Erin.
36 reviews
August 7, 2019
This is, again, one of the best RL Stine books I’ve read. The writing style is great, the characters are memorable, and the story has good pacing. I love the amount of imagery as well. Well done.
Profile Image for Jane.
251 reviews2 followers
November 19, 2020
Quite liked this one. Almost afraid to mention that it's a "happy" ending, possibly dooming the characters in future books.
4 reviews
March 17, 2021
Once Again

R. L. Stone is one of my favorite authors. The Fear Street Saga is an easy read for me. Yeah!
Profile Image for Marina.
428 reviews3 followers
June 7, 2024
Finally someone escaped!

Also I love the artwork for this one
Profile Image for Tabitha.
229 reviews1 follower
July 14, 2025
Amy is Angelica's cousin and discovers she has powers of her own.
Profile Image for Lieselot Mauroo.
456 reviews20 followers
September 20, 2025
This one is so creepy and intense. Really had me hooked!
It was scary and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
I loved it!
Profile Image for Sean E.D. Kerr.
Author 1 book15 followers
February 26, 2017
I quite enjoyed this book. Again, it is a part of my "memory lane" reading for the year. It was nice to see that it took a few pages or chapters before the main characters fell in love this time. In the earlier books, the characters fall in love in sentence one.
Profile Image for Patricia (Patricia's Particularity).
208 reviews98 followers
October 7, 2011
Amy Pierce is sent to stay with her cousin, Angelica Fear, and her children while Amy's mother is taking care of her father from being wounded in war. Amy has heard some rumors about the Fear family and their involvement in the dark arts. But Amy refuses to believe in idle gossip... but things change the moment she walks across the threshold of the Fear Mansion. Right away Amy feels something is not right, confirmed when her cousin shows her a pack of tarot cards, which literally call to her! Form then on Amy is surrounded by death, and it could be her own... Amy finds solace in Angelica's neighbor, David... that is until she starts to have visions of David being the cause of all the death surrounding her. Who can she trust?

Once again R.L. Stine has created a wonderful and engaging story of fear. And once again R.L. Stine has created wonderful yet gruesome images that will leave you haunted...

Nellie had no face. Only a mass of bloody flesh.
Huge patches of skin had been scraped away by the rough flagstones. Amy could only see thick strands of muscle and spidery veins.
One of Nelli's eyes was shoved deep into her skull... Nellie's bottom lip had been torn away completely...


Gruesome and haunting indeed. But that is why we love R.L. Stine!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews

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