The Woman in Black, Susan Hill – A Review. [SPOILERS].

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! If I really thought about this review I could have saved the book until October and done like a spooky reading of it by candlelight but as it happens I’m impatient and wanted to read it straight away…

So, here is my review of The Woman in Black! Read in January 2020.

Overall rating – 3 stars out of 5.

Where to start… With the positives! The writing was excellent, with a book that is “horror” or “supernatural” the setting is a big part of what makes it a frightening read, and I think Susan Hill really captured that. I felt like we were inside the house and hearing Spider scratching at the door, or with the wind whipping outside while the mist rolled in upon us. It was really descriptive which set the supernatural theme.

I was properly shocked by the ending too, I did not expect that to happen and once it clicked in my head how it was going to end I had goosebumps all over. 

That being said, I really wanted to be scared by this book, everyone had told me how chilling it was and how I shouldn’t read it alone or at night, but I just feel a bit let down on the horror front. Whilst the setting was creepy and eerie, the actual supernatural and horror element didn’t really shine through the writing.

I was most disappointed with the lack of expansion in terms of The Woman in Black who the book is written about.

It had promise, and the descriptive writing was excellent, however, it just wasn’t scary enough for me 😦

Em xxx

Camp Leanpe, Timothy R Baldwin – A Review. [SPOILERS].

WOOP welcome back to my blog ladies and gentlemen! I’ve got another review coming your way, this time Camp Lenape by Timothy R Baldwin. This was published on 5th May 2019. 

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review both on NetGalley and my blog. 

Overall rating – 4 out of 5 stars. 

This book was actually brilliant, I have to admit I didn’t expect it to be this good. I thought that the four main characters were brought to life on the page so well, I was really rooting for them! Alissa, Marcus, Janice and Nate and even some of the younger campers were really 3D and all acted typically to the age they were being portrayed as – which I really enjoyed.

The storyline itself wasn’t over-complicated, but that lent itself well to the development and allowed the reader to feel like we were going on the journey to discover what was going on.

At points, I felt like this book was a bit Goosebumps-esque which is likely why I enjoyed it so much, it had that level of thrill that makes you want to keep reading but at the same time makes you want to check under the bed for monsters.

Then, the development about two thirds of the way through made it feel more grown-up, which I think will go down well with YA fans.

On the whole, I really really enjoyed this and as it’s book 1 in the series then I’m really looking forward to reading later books!

Have you read Camp Lenape? Let me know if you have! 

Em xxx

Shade of Night, Stephen R Deppermann – A Review. [SPOILERS].

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog! Today (if you hadn’t guessed from the title) I’m reviewing Shade of Night by Stephen R Deppermann – this was published on the 13th July 2019 and be purchased here on Amazon.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review both on NetGalley and my blog. 

Overall rating – 2 out of 5 stars.

Let me preface this review by saying this is a DNFR situation! I really struggled to get into this book, I found it too complicated and like the storyline wasn’t really making sense to me.

According to my Kindle, I was 31% of the way through (so I gave it a good go!) but it felt like so much more had been crammed into those pages and that it was rushed. Too much happened in that space of time, but at the same time, it felt like it was dragging to reach a climax.

I actually found the concept really interesting, almost a bit Dan Brown-y in a way that it was addressing things hidden just out of the public eye by the Government, and I do think it would be a really good book, but there were just too many different aspects, and too many characters to keep up with. 

I’ll try and give this book another go later on, but I really feel it just isn’t for me.

Have you read Shade of Night? Let me know if you have and what you thought! Em xxx