Saturday, August 25, 2018

A haunting tale...


Title & Author:  The House Next Door by Darcy Coates
Genre:  Paranormal
First line:  I live next to a haunted house.

Summary:  Jo has never been inside Marwick House; her cats won't even enter its yard. And she's never met any of its occupants either, mostly because none of them stay for very long. Until Anna moves in. She seems nice, and a little fragile, and Jo tries to warn her that sometimes strange things happen in Marwick House, but Anna doesn't seem to mind. Not even when she sees the ghost of Helen Marwick who died a very unhappy death there years ago. But things change when Helen starts to make her presence known.

My thoughts:  I love novels about haunted houses and Darcy Coates writes some good ones. At first, Marwick House seems fairly benign. There's a little ghostly activity here and there--flickering lights, doors that open and close, haunting piano music in the hall--but it's not until the second half of the book that things ramp up and start to get really suspenseful and scary. I was intrigued by Marwick House itself, and I liked the quiet build up at the first, and how I almost felt sorry for Helen. Jo and Anna were a little too passive at times for me to really like them, but Jo made up for it at the end. And what an ending! Although I thought the The Carrow Haunt was better, I liked this ghostly tale enough to give it 3.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

20 comments:

  1. I love when the ending of a book saves the whole story. This one sounds fun and I love the cover.

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    1. I've been impressed by the two books by Coates that I've read...and I've liked both of her endings!

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  2. :) As we finally get a little closer to fall and Halloween, my interest in ghostly books and haunted houses grows even stronger.

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  3. I've never heard of Darcy Coates, but she sounds like an author I need to check out! Thanks for bringing her to my attention. You always introduce me to great authors I've never heard of!

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    1. Coates has written several ghost/haunted house stories. I've only read two of them, but I like her style. :)

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  4. It's almost time of the year for me to enjoy these types of books. I love a good spooky read in the fall!

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    1. So do I! What is it about autumn? For some reason, it's the time of year that always makes me want to read something eerie and scary.

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  5. Sounds like a good Halloween read!

    Seriously though, if there were someplace my cats were afraid to go, I would think three or four times before entering the premises. At home occasionally they perk up their ears and stare at something I can't see. Freaks me out every time!

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    1. Right? You should always trust a cat's sense of self-preservation! :D

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  6. I've never read anything by this author but I'm about to feature a book of hers on CWW! I might just have to check out more of her books!

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    1. I've only read two so far, but I liked them both enough to want to read her others.

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  7. I like reading books about haunted houses; and the same goes to movies. :) Will have to check out her books.

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    1. I like books about haunted houses, too! And movies. :)

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  8. I'm going to have to check this author out. I see her name around a lot and this one does sound good.

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    1. I only ran across her books this year, but I'm really glad I did. :)

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  9. This sounds like a great spooky story. I don't read many 'scary' books, but I've been venturing out of my comfort zone lately so I'll have to check this author out.

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    1. Her books are good ones to try, because they're a fun suspenseful scary, not a dark, give-you-nightmares scary.

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  10. You know it is bad if the cats won't even go into the yard! I like haunted house stories too--of the suspenseful kind, like you described it--not the nightmare scary kind.

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    1. You should try one of Coates' books and see how you like her. :)

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