Dollhouse

by J.C. Bratton

"Aren't you a little old to be playing with dolls?" John's wife Myra was not impressed with his whimsical purchase. The elaborate, handcrafted dollhouse from Japan came with three beautiful dolls, each one identified by name: Muffy, Buffy, and Duffy. Little did John know that each doll also came with her own chilling, macabre backstory, presented in a mysterious book sent along with the dollhouse. Fact or fiction? Unfortunately for John and Myra, they would soon find out...

Genres: Horror

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2020

About the author

Growing up loving horror and mystery tales, JC Bratton writes short stories that pay homage to the Point Horror novels she would read as a kid: stories such as Slumber Party by Christopher Pike and Twisted by RL Stine. Some of her biggest influences are Alfred Hitchcock, Lois Duncan, Stephen King, and Richard Matheson.

Reviews

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

To a child caught in the middle of turmoil and conflict, dolls can become many things: friend, defender, guardian.

Living doll the twilight zone

Dollhouse (ebook)
by J.C. Bratton

My review:

This is a good one people!

I seem to be back on my creepy doll kick. Last year, I read quite a few of these types of stories. This is one I'd downloaded and forgot about because I am just so behind on my TBR.

Am so glad I read it! ONE OF THE CREEPIEST OF THE DOLL SHORT STORIES! If you like horror and like doll stories and want something less that 30 minutes, might I suggest this frightening li9ttle tale? It will creep you out!

I now want to read more of this author's work. The scare factor was high in this one!

Without giving anything away...plenty of dolls, a book within a book and much terror. Hope you read it and enjoy it like I did!

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man buys a Japanese dollhouse and three dolls. There’s a book that came with the dollhouse. While reading it, the man discovers each doll has its own scary backstory.


It’s an okay short horror story that’s actually composed of multiple very, very short horror stories. It’s amusing. And it’s nothing too scary. But all these stories are just really short.

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dollhouse by J. C. Bratton is a short horror story that I grabbed in order to reach and surpass my reading goals on Goodreads at the end of the year of 2020. The story was OK, not necessarily creepy enough, not necessarily scary enough, and the ending was nowhere near impactful enough. One of the things you sacrifice in a short story is characterization, so the quick nature of the narrative has to end in a jolt. For me, there was no jolt, and not enough characterization for a story that simply does not have enough of anything: setting, story, mood, nor even denouement. I do not know the writer and certainly do not want to negatively affect her rating, when I know that she is just starting out. So I will go middle of the road with this rating for this independent author that shows promise.

[Paula Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dollhouse had captured my attention on Booksirens as it sounded a bit creepy and it did not disappoint as we are first introduced to John who is a doll collector. He buys an old dollhouse from a Japanese creator and along with it, three dolls named Buffy, Muffy, and Duffy. Along with the dollhouse is a small book which talks about the origins of the three dolls. One night John picks up the book and gives it a read. As he reads the book, he realizes that maybe just maybe his dolls aren't actually "just" dolls but at one point "real humans". Dollhouse was a very creepy read and a quick read which is perfect if you are looking for something short and easy to sink your teeth into and with it being creepy, you will find yourself reading this novella even quicker. Dollhouse is the perfect read for those who love horror and creepy dolls like Annabelle and Chucky.

[Sylvia Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is an insult. 5 min read. Totally not worth the description nor the price paid for it

[Felicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

My cousin and my mom both read this and gave it 1 star so I had to read it too a see if it really was so bad. It is. My first thought after finishing it was, "what the fuck did I just read?" If it had been any longer I would have DNF it after the first few pages and I really only continued reading it to have it listed as a completed book for my yearly challenge count. Other than that, don't bother picking this one up.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short novella I won from Goodreads and was pretty freaking creepy. I would 100% looooooove to see this fleshed out into a full novel, the concept was totally there.

Dolls are something I own a handful of but CANNOT watch movies of. Chucky seriously ruined my life. Only time I've ever had to sleep with the lights on and I hadn't even seen the movie haha. This novella was super good though! I loved how it's a book inside a book with three separate stories. It was almost like ready FOUR short stories instead of one! If you like creepy dolls, and horror books, this novella is definitely for you!!!

[Hanh Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave me goosebumps

It’s a page turner. The creepy factor was there throughout the stories. I might get nightmares from these stories. I probably will never buy dolls or a dollhouse after this. Not that they didn’t creep me out before this. I recommend!

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story about a cursed dollhouse, but I wanted more! I do enjoy a bit of mystery in my horror, but I have far more questions than answers with Dollhouse. I could have used details on where the dollhouse came from, how it was cursed, and if there had been other victims of the dolls. Also, who wrote the book that was with the dollhouse? Is there a mastermind behind the curse?

I definitely got some thrills and chills from the stories, but I just wanted more details. I would read more from JC Bratton.

I received a copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few short stories that were very creepy. I’d love to read a longer book by this author around next Halloween, but I’ll probably have to sleep with the lights on.

[Candra Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short

I enjoyed these stories but I felt like they were too short. I wanted to read more about the dolls and the dollhouse.
I won this book thru a goodreads.com giveaway

[Anne Marie Cardone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye Opener! Mine!

I saw this book before I wanted it and didn't get it. I saw it was for younger readers, I am 73. So I passed, but, not this time. I have a dollhouse my daughter built for me many years ago, it's still on display. My daughter has several she built. We are into dollhouses, obviously. I knew I had to read the book. Then I saw the dolls are Japanese, that made my day. I am a collector of Japanese and Chinese anything and everything. Back to the book, I absolutely love it and I wish it could have been longer. The author did state that's next on her agenda. Great, I can't wait, and I am hoping the stories will be for an older crowd. I loved each story and each picture of the dolls. They are beautiful! I wish I could buy them, not really. I don't want to be haunted. Saying that, I popped my eyes open again , because I have beautiful, porcelain, and cloth dolls. I have them for many years, so, yes, phew! This is a well-written book that I am happy to read from the author. I do recommend this book for alk ages. It is so good!

[Chanda Spaulding · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won the kindle edition of this book through a good reads give away. This book is about some dolls and their dollhouse. The dolls are supposed to be haunted. I didn’t really like the writing style of the book. I think it was supposed to be a short story but it glossed over many details. It was supposed to be a scary story as well but I didn’t find that it really had any suspense or scare factor.

[DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creepy dolls!

This was a great quick scare story. Some people hate clowns, I find some dolls a little creepy. These are those dolls. Always watching you.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently came across this short read on amazon and I'm glad I did.

It's a throwback to books like point horror and goosebumps where you get a creepy little tale that leads to a final twist (spoilers sorry!)

John buys a set of three Japanese dolls, even though his wife finds them creepy. As he opens the package he finds a book detailing the story of each one, and with this the reader gets three more tales to enjoy.

It's short but is well written and I really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge fan of large dolls myself so I can say I did find this a little creepy so definitely a good one in my eyes.

[Stephanie Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this as part of a goodreads giveaway; so first off: thank you to the author for providing me a free copy.

I was immediately disappointed at the length of the book. I wanted to be engrossed and the entire book took me about 10-15 minutes to read.

The short stories are a book within a book, which I thought was a great idea. In regards to the short stories, my favorite was buffy. The other two were really campy, but after reading the author's literary influences, I'm gonna assume that was purposeful.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay.

I love a good creepy doll story and I feel like these 3 short story’s could have been great if there was just a little more description.

I didn’t feel creeped out or scared at all, maybe if the dolls were described in a more haunting way but otherwise this was a super short story that I don’t mind having read.

The tales being told through the book that comes with the dollhouse was an intriguing idea and how that bled into poor John’s world.

Read for my honest opinion via BookSirens

[Johnie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short stories

Very good read. A change from my usual reading. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a change of pace

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a mess. About 100 pages too long. Premise was good but it played out badly

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was happy to win this in a giveaway. I knew it was a short story and was hoping it would be a very creepy story. Sadly it was not that interesting to read.