ARC Review: Harmony House by Nic Sheff

Title: Harmony House
Author: Nic Sheff
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: March 22nd 2016
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



Jen Noonan’s father thinks a move to Harmony House is the key to salvation, but to everyone who has lived there before, it is a portal to pure horror.

After Jen’s alcoholic mother’s death, her father cracked. He dragged Jen to this dilapidated old manor on the shore of New Jersey to “start their new lives”—but Harmony House is more than just a creepy old estate. It’s got a chilling past—and the more Jen discovers its secrets, the more the house awakens. Strange visions follow Jen wherever she goes, and her father’s already-fragile sanity disintegrates before her eyes. As the forces in the house join together to terrorize Jen, she must find a way to escape the past she didn’t know was haunting her—and the mysterious and terrible power she didn’t realize she had.

A classic horror story finds a terrifying home in Harmony House, drawing on favorite tropes and edgy, modern characters to create a chilling tale of blame, guilt, and ghostly revenge.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Okay, I was actually really interested in Harmony House because it sounded so good on paper. I thought I would finally get a legit horror novel that would freak me out but nope, this book failed on all accounts; because as I was reading Harmony House, I viewed the scenes in the book like a movie. Slowly uncovering the secrets of the house and the Noonan family. But about two-thirds into the book, I felt like I was duped and if this book/movie wasn't free, I would want my money back.

Jen, the protagonist? I hated her. She was a shit character. I get that she was grieving for her mother's death but I didn't understand why she had to be so rude to her father. Sure, he's a religious zealot but to call him a "cocksucker" within his hearing distance? I really did not understand. And the way Jen reacted to some of the townspeople who were only being nice? Really not good. (And there was this scene in the latter part of the book which involved a bathtub after a storm, wherein she just brushed off this crazy thing that happened like it was no big deal when, in fact, it was a very big deal. Also, this big deal had no explanation whatsoever how it happened, why it happened or anything at all.)

One of the things that confused me about Harmony House is its time setting. Nic Sheff set the main parts of the novel in 1997 but I hardly saw any traces of that time in the book. I don't understand why he chose that particular year if nothing significant relevant to that time happened/was going to happen.

Regarding the actual plot/story of Harmony House, I was actually feeling this creepy vibe as I was slowly delving into the book. It started to kind of resemble The Amityville Horror but that all went down the drain when Rose, this nice lady with a gift, mentions Jen's power. WHY. Why did Nic Sheff have to ruin the book with all that "You're gifted" crap? Even more than that, I feel like this book was confused whether it should be a thriller or a horror novel because there is zero explanation as to how things came to be. Hell, the prologue didn't even make any sense by the end of the book. Everything was so disjointed and so unorganised. Harmony House lacked explanations and not in a teasing way that you normally find in horror movies/books, it was as if Nic Sheff would throw out ideas into the book and then drop them abruptly with no reason at all (he doesn't even tell you why its there and how it happened).

Harmony House failed, not only as a horror novel but as a book, period. I was a confused mess majority of the book when all I really wanted were some answers; answers that I never got. I was stuck with a mean/unlikable-and-not-in-a-good-way MC, a creepy dad, a hella confusing house and questions that don't mean anything anymore. Harmony House went downhill, and fast.

Rating:

Review: Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Title: Asylum (Asylum #1)
Author: Madeleine Roux
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication date: August 20th 2013
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

I have always been and always will be a horror junkie so when I heard about Asylum, my interest was immediately piqued. I love anything that has to do with haunted asylums, and plus points if there are any creepy clowns (disturbing? Yes, I know, but I love them). I will admit that I only got around to reading Asylum because of how awesome a person Madeleine Roux is, I was fortunate enough to meet and have an interview with her, so her awesomeness bumped Asylum way up into my reading list. The way Madeleine Roux explained the process of her research and the different creepy things she learned made me want to read her book even more... but unfortunately, I hyped myself up a bit too much.

As I started reading Asylum, I didn't really expect anything crazy to start happening immediately and I was pretty patient going along with the book. The pacing was slow but tolerable (I liked-ish the pictures but more on this later) and as the book went on, it started to kind of gain momentum. Why kind of? Well, the darkness of Asylum creeps on you and you won't actually know if the bad stuff is already happening or not, mostly because there was too much teen drama in the book. Yup, you heard me right, teen. Drama. *headdesk*

Our hero, Dan Crawford, a high school student turned college-student-for-the-summer started off super excited to finally find a place where he belonged, with a group of really gifted and smart teens. He meets his roommate Felix (whom he really doesn't connect with) and instantly becomes friends with Abby, an artist, and Jordan, a homosexual Math genius and no, he isn't a GBF. And then the three of them venture into the campus' creepy basement in a moment of rebelliousness even though the gate was locked and there was a "No Trespassing!" sign on the door. And then a bunch of crazy stuff happens. Now let's get down to business. Dan gave me... anxiety. That guy was seriously not right in the head and it wasn't just the memory loss that tipped me off, he was constantly paranoid and quite honestly, a douche. Even though he wasn't vibing with Felix, didn't mean he should just blow him off, there'd be moments when he'd consider inviting Felix to go out with him, Abby and Jordan but then he'd remember that he wanted Abby all to himself. And that's another probably regaring Dan, his constant need to isolate Abby, I mean, I get that he wants to date her but that doesn't mean he should get all territorial over her. They've only known each other for a couple of weeks, jeez! Honestly, I felt like Abby, Dan and Jordan weren't even real friends. It's like Madeleine Roux threw them all together to create some kind of pseudo-Harry Potter gang, which didn't really work. There was no chemistry between the three and definitely no trust. And each one was always hot or cold, either one person gets pissed or all of them get pissed at each other, it was so annoying. Gosh. I'm not even going to go into what happened with Jordan, his room and his legal pad. Nope. Not even.

Now, I'm sure you noticed the bit about the pictures so yes, the book does have pictures. Kind of like Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series but nowhere near that magnitude. If you were a person with no knowledge of how to properly use Photoshop and took the pictures from Ransom Riggs's books and actually used Photoshop to tack on super random torture devices into the pictures, you'd have the photos from Madeleine Roux's books. The images were so amateurish and there were times when the description of the picture being detailed in the book didn't even match the photo they picked for that part. Consistency has always been a big deal for me so I was very disappointed by this. There were some that were interesting but generally speaking, they were too "meh" for me to leave any sort of impact.

While I generally did not enjoy the book, there were still parts that kept me interested. I really liked the idea of The Sculptor, this murderer who would position his victims in whimsical poses after he kills them. The concept reminded me of an episode of Hannibal with the guy who would position his victims in religious ways (the angel praying pose was horrifyingly awe-some). I appreciated the fact that Madeleine Roux was able to still keep that character significant until the latter part of the book and I am actually curious as to what happened to him... However, the whole __________ thing didn't really do it for me. I have no idea where that came from but I do want to know more about _________ _____ and h__ role in the story. And the plot thickens...

The whole horror aspect of the book was lacking too. You will be able to feel it creeping up on you and curling around your body but once you look away from the book, the connection will break. There were no lasting impressions or fear. The build up was too slow so it didn't really work out... unfortunately.

Overall, Asylum was a series of contradictions and while I did enjoy certain parts, the ones that I disliked won out more. From character development to the whole horror genre thing, the whole thing just didn't work out. I felt like Madeleine Roux tried to save the book by adding that one nugget at the end that will leave you curious and also aware that there will be a sequel. I am still unsure whether I will read Sanctum but if I do, I won't be coming in with high expectations, that's for sure.

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Review: One Night Promised by Jodi Ellen Malpas

Title: One Night Promised (One Night #1)
Author: Jodi Ellen Malpas
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: July 17th 2014
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



Livy notices him the moment he walks into the coffee shop. He's heart-stoppingly stunning, with a blue-eyed gaze so piercing she's almost too distracted to take his order. When he walks out the door, she thinks she'll never see him again. Then she finds the note he left on his napkin . . . signed M.

All he wants is one night to worship her. No feelings, no commitment, nothing but pleasure. Every defense mechanism Livy has adopted during her solitary life is at risk of being obliterated by this confounding man. He's obnoxious but well-mannered. He's a gentleman but aloof. He's passionate but emotionless. Yet the fascination is so powerful, Livy can't deny him... or herself.

M awakens something in Livy, something deep and addictive that she never knew existed -- and that she fears only he can satisfy. But she senses that behind the fast cars, fancy suits, and posh apartment, he's aching inside. To have him, body and soul, she'll have to brave his dark secrets. Delving into his world and breaking down his defenses become her obsession - an obsession that could shatter her heart beyond repair.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

You know that moment when you are eagerly anticipating a new release from one of the authors you absolutely adore but upon cracking that new book open and reading all 400+ pages of it you realize how much you did not like it and were just forcing yourself to read it all? Well, that was what it was like for me. While I may have enjoyed Jodi Ellen Malpas' This Man trilogy, One Night Promised was definitely not for me. One Night Promised had a pretty strong start, the prologue was enough to keep me reading and had me asking a lot of questions, but as the story went on, pretty much everything crashed and burned, in my opinion.

First let us talk about the protagonist, Livy, a beautiful girl who lives with her grandmother, works at a coffee shop and has a fabulously gay best friend but oh my goodness, please, just stop. More than half of the book was her saying "no" to "M" and then giving in after 5 seconds of denying him. She was so childish and I pretty much wanted to smack her all the time. BUT Malpas tried to redeem Livy by giving her a really sordid and crazy background that did not have its desired effect on me but might have worked for other people (the shock effect was just not there). Just warning you, her "secret" was really predictable. Sigh.

Next, onto the mysterious "M", who does not even stay mysterious, at all. You will be given his name about forty pages into the book (and trust me, it is not a sexy name). I have never been so creeped out and annoyed at a potential book boyfriend before. Let me list the things that turned me off about "M":

1. He gave off stalker vibes and not in an attractive way. No matter how hot you are and no matter how much you like someone, you never follow someone around like that or badger them. If it were me, I would have had a restraining order put on his crazyass but here is the crazy part, it was kind of like Livy liked it. Maybe some girls are into that but just, no.
2. He just can not take a "no". I have no idea how many times I have seen Livy tell him no but he was relentless. When a girl tells you "no", she means "no" no matter how much her body might seem to want you or whatever. Get it through your head, man.
3. His bluntness borders on offensive. I do not think I would ever be with a guy who tells me that he wants exactly 24 hours of my time just to rock my world. Nor would I ever be with a guy who talks to me the way "M" speaks to Livy. Sorry, I am not that easy. He was way too emotionally unattached as well. Like, hello, am I speaking to a Lego block or a person? I could not tell the difference.

Other than the very questionable characters in this book, I felt that One Night Promised was a bit to reminiscent of the This Man trilogy. If you changed the name of the characters into Eva and Jesse, it would be like reading the same series except in a different scenario. The love scenes were boring and very repetitive, the story went around in circles and the cast in general did not impress me.

I will say this: One Night Promised had one redeeming quality, its ending. It felt like Malpas' last ditch effort to save her book because maybe even she knew that it was not that good. The way Malpas ended it guaranteed that the reader will want to read the next one, and yes, that also applies to me. She managed to squeeze in one last bomb that even I did not expect and one that left me very curious. So I will reluctantly be waiting for the second book, I am certainly hoping that the next one will be better than its predecessor.

I really wish that I enjoyed this book more but I would be lying to everyone if I said that I liked it. And you will not see me recommending this to anyone anytime soon. Read at your own risk, I guess.

Rating:

Review: Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy C. Cherry

Title: Loving Mr. Daniels
Author: Brittainy C. Cherry
Publication date: May 11th 2014
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



To Whom it May Concern, 

It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates. 

When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss. 

When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons. 

Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.

It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.

It was ours. 

And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for loving Mr. Daniels. 

-Ashlyn Jennings

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

I was pretty excited to read Loving Mr. Daniels, not only because of its very lovely cover but also because one; I have a huge love for student/teacher romances and two; a lot of the bloggers I follow seem to have enjoyed it so I decided to give it a try. End result? A very confused Louisse.

If there's one thing I absolutely hate when it comes to books, it's insta-love. The whole "love at first sight" bit just doesn't do it for me. I mean seriously, what if the guy/girl you instantaneously fell in love with has some kind of quirk you absolutely hate? And there's really nothing romantic about insta-love. Which is why it was really difficult for me to thoroughly enjoy this book, the way Ashlyn and Daniel connected so easily seriously peeved me. But, yes there is a but, I did enjoy the banter and quips between Ashlyn and Daniel. Their chemistry was palpable and as the story goes on, you do see an authenticity to their relationship.

It took me a while to like Ashlyn as a heroine because there were times she was just too self-centered. She always mentions her sister's death, always tries to make a deal out of things and is whiny. Period. And she was super confusing and indecisive in general. Still kinda annoys me when I think about it. However, on the flip side, Ashlyn was an intuitive person, she was intelligent and gave as good as she got. I wish that Brittainy Cherry took more time to really shape Ashlyn's character because she had so much potential to be someone great but in the end, just fell flat.

Mr. Daniels (full name: Daniel Daniels, I pity the guy) was kind of "ehhhh" for me. Sure he was hot and had insanely beautiful blue eyes, as Ashlyn never fails to mention, and was super witty; but like Ashyln, he fell flat. There wasn't enough personality in him to make him "swoon-worthy" or just likable. I did like the lyrics that the author placed in each chapter because they were pretty awesome, so the whole band thing worked out for Mr. Daniels. What didn't work out was the fact that he pretty much quoted Shakespeare all the friggin' time. I mean yeah, the guy is a romantic but man, it gets old... and creepy. I'm not even going to mention the inappropriate times Mr. Daniels has quoted Shakespeare. Sigh.

Okay, there was a scene in the latter part of the book that completely confused me. I didn't understand why it needed to happen because nothing good came from it. People reacted for a bit but after that? Nothing. Life just went on. I was left pissed off that it happened and emotional after reading the paper. And can I just say? This book has so much death in it. Seriously. Seriously.

Can't say that I completely disliked the book, it did have good parts but they really weren't enough to salvage the book, in my opinion. The parts that I really liked didn't last to the end and the parts that I liked were too few. I do understand the appeal of the book to other readers though, it talks a lot about life, love and other typical things that most people go through but they were imbalanced and incomplete. The characters would focus on one thing and then abruptly move on to the next topic with giving the earlier subject closure. If I could enumerate everything I didn't like about this book, I would but I can't. There was just too many. But I will give props to Brittainy Cherry for creativity and slight depth, which is why this is a 2-star review and not a 1-star one.

I really wish I could say that I enjoyed this book, but I would be lying to you and myself. There were just too many downs when it came to Loving Mr. Daniels, because by the end of the book, I didn't love Mr. Daniels. So yeah, that's it.

Rating: