e-Audio, 7 h 43 m
Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Published by: Brilliance Audio
Read from: October 8-9, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received an e-ALC from Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review)
Content Warning: Death, Violence
For Readers Interested In: Fat Leads, Horror, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Afro Latina- Puerto Rican), YAFrom Printz Honor winning author Lily Anderson comes a young adult horror that follows Arden and her three best friends as their graduation party at an abandoned mansion turns into a bloody fight for survival.
Red Solo cups? Check. Snacks? Check. Abandoned mansion full of countless horrors that won’t let you leave? Check.
The Deinhart Manor has been a looming shadow over town for as long as anyone can remember, and it’s been abandoned for even longer. When the final Deinhart descendent passes, the huge gothic manor is up for sale for the first time ever. Which means Arden can steal the keys from her mom’s real estate office…
It’s time for a graduation party that no one will ever forget. Arden and her best friends each have different reasons for wanting to throw the party to end all parties. But when the manor doors bar everyone inside and the walls begin to bleed, all anyone wants to do is make it out alive.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This one is going to be hard to review. On the one hand I loved it because it made me think, but on the other hand, there were so many unanswered questions that I’m like uuhhhh what do I rate this?
So the part of this that I did like was the creepy part. The way Anderson set this up was genius! It like made you think about gossip and why you should think before you speak. Or at least it made me think twice. Because Lordt knows if it can make things like that happen? I don’t want it lol And to have each story told by each of the people in the way they heard it was very cool. That way the reader is kept guessing and never really knows how it’s going to end because it could literally be anything.
I also loved that even though its a horror book I still learned something. I have never heard of certain things like “haint blue” and I hadn’t heard that there was a superstition that they can’t cross water. Both of these things are tied to the Gullah Geechee people. This definitely aligns because the main character is described as Afro Latina.
However, even though I loved the way the story was told, I didn’t actually like the way it ended. There was this whole build up of everything, but nothing is really answered. Like what was the actual reason all of this started happening? What caused this? And how did this happen? The wall thing wasn’t exactly explained either. It wasn’t bad, but it confused me on how I wanted to rate this.
To be honest, the vibe is on a thousand in this book tho. It’s not exactly scary, but it all the different stories and the old abandoned house with literally every creepy type thing ever makes it unsettling at the very least. Even the characters had something to do with it too. Like I know there was no way her parents were that blasé about using her money or the fact that she was the valedictorian and they were making it so she couldn’t go to school? I was gagged because as a parent, wtf you mean? That wasn’t something that HAD to be done. I was glad she stood up for herself. Even if it did basically put her and all her friends in danger lmao
This book was pretty fun! Do I wish some things were more fleshed out? Sure. But it wasn’t bad. I still loved this more than I thought I would based on the reviews. I did wish it was a bit more scary, but that’s a me thing. And this is YA lol So I took what I could get lol
Overall, I give this
