So Addison Lockhart's mom passes away
and Addison inherits a very grand house in the country that she
didn't even know existed but is where her mother grew up. When she
arrives at the house she find that it comes with locked rooms, a
hunky contractor willing to work on it, a ghost haunting it unable to
move on because of unfinished business and...Wait a minute. Do these
elements feel familiar? Is there any cliché for haunted house
stories that this book has missed? I don't think so. The longer I
read, the more it felt like every plotline I've ever seen used in a
haunted house story was here in this book. The grandmother that she
didn't know she had reappears. The blood stained dress found in the
house. I found it so cliché that I had a hard time enjoying it.
There are many types of horror stories
that I have no interest in but haunted house stories are one type I
really enjoy. This looked like a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately,
it felt like a retread of many other haunted house stories and a
shallow one at that. I didn't feel like there was much depth to the
story or to the characters. The one thing that I always need in my
stories is atmosphere and that was sadly lacking here. It wasn't
creepy and it didn't make me feel haunted. When we had “an eerie
stillness” and “a deadly quiet” in the same paragraph, I felt
like the author was just trying too hard. I would be willing to give
this author another try because I know she has written other things
that have been well received, but this one did left me very flat.
Would I pay money for it? No
Would I read more by this author? Yes
Would I recommend this to a friend? No
