Books in the Freezer discussion

How did the novel wrap-up? What is the temperature rating you wold give the book?

There were some good, solid refrigerator moments. If it had been tightened up to get rid of the several hour slog through warm mud to get there, it might have even made it to the freezer.

I loved the underlying mythology and the basic plot. The description of the dark rooms and the presences in the house were truly chilling. I also loved where it ended up, but would have loved it more with about 200 pages trimmed from the first half.

Maybe it should have been two separate books? Just so, so drawn out. I liked the ending, but I almost wanted to skim some of it to get there. Way too much repetition and unnecessary description that didn’t add anything. Ultimately it was a good story that needed to be cut almost in half.

Wow. Okay I finally finished this one. When I first started it I didn't quite understand why everyone thought it was too long. For about the first third I was really loving it and didn't have any complaints.

For me I struggled a lot with the loss of agency Steph experienced when the book suddenly switched from "character experiencing strange things in a haunted house" to "murderous landlords lock young girl in a room and take away all connections to outside world. Threaten her with rape and/or death". I was going along really loving all the ghostly voices and bumps in the night. I had been thinking to myself "Ooh this is fun, more scares!" and then suddenly "No wait. Not like that". I don't really do well with or enjoy stories where the character has their sense of agency taken away. It makes me uncomfortable, but not in a way that I can get on board with.

I also felt that the second part of the book that takes place AFTER Stephanie/Amber has left the house felt almost like a different book? As Hollie said above, this almost felt like it should have been a sequel or something? I enjoyed it quite a bit, but by this point I have definitely jumped on the "needed more editing" train. It seemed to me almost as though the part at Edgehill road was one story and the part dealing with what happened to her three years later was book 2.

ALL of that being said, I actually really enjoyed this overall. Although it got a bit repetitive and could have done with some paring down, I found that once I got into it I actually had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the story and found that I actually really liked the spirits themselves. The idea of the voices coming from where the bodies were buried and repeating certain broken sentences over and over make me shiver a bit. I liked it.

I'd probably put this one in the fridge? It was a fun read. :)