Tom Deady

This was a quick read and some of the story has already started without us. No disrespect to Dickens but Zadie was dead, to begin with. Who is Zadie you ask? Well she was the love of Dalia's life, soulmates who met purely by chance when they both wanted to put an offer on the same house. Now Dalia is on her own, mourning her loss and living her lonely life... until he shows up. Slade knows a secret about the house that Dalia and Zadie so lovingly restored. It holds something he wants. He has already gone to great lengths to get it and it seems unlikely that he will let Dalia get in the way. Before the night is over Dalia will learn more about Zadie than she ever did during their time together. I don't want to portray this as just a melancholy love story or a flame snuffed out too soon. There's a mystery to unfold and a touch of the supernatural in this engrossing tale.


I received a complimentary copy for review.… (mere)

I wasn't really sure about this book at first, with the opening scene being kind of philosophical, a girl in the woods with her dog, thinking about stuff, sittin' on rocks, etc. but then the foot!

The two main characters, Hannah and Ashley, I really liked them, which I usually never say. The mystery that the girls had to solve was very interesting to me, and involved a cult and possibly voodoo/hoodoo. Having a degree in Library Science and loving to do research, I was happy to see young people use the library!

These girls love Coke. Good thing they ride bikes to work off all that sugar. It was cute to see Hannah go out on her first date, her date being all shy and stuff. It is rated for 12 and up, but I would say PG-13, just because there is a shooting, kidnapping, disembodied body parts, etc. I'm not sure what the extra year would do, but 12 just seems little to me, lol.

Overall, this was a good book. It was an easy read, it took me I think 4-5 days but I could have easily read it in a weekend if I had had the time.… (mere)

3.5/5 stars!

Haven is a coming of age story, set in a small town in Massachusetts. Narrated beautifully by Matt Godfrey, and set in a such a perfect place, how could the story itself not be fabulous? Truth is though, it's just okay.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and as I said the narration was excellent. However, I didn't find that this book added anything original to the genre. 80's horror nostalgia is a big thing now and that may have soured my opinion a little. I recently saw the movie of Stephen King's "It" and I just don't think it's possible to compare the two without having Haven come up short. I'm not sure that it's possible NOT to compare the two- which may be my whole problem.

There are some differences, but at its heart, this is a very similar story. We have our plucky kids going up against a mysterious monster, while they're getting bullied at every turn, and Denny's mom is in just about the same state as were Bill Denbrough's parents from IT. There's even a chance that the monster will return in the future. Sound familiar? The only thing that's really different is the origin of this creature and I won't spoil that here.

This is an engaging "coming of age"/"evil in a small town story", it's just that I didn't find the writing or the story itself to be outstanding. Good? Yes, definitely! And who knows? You may enjoy it a lot more than I did. So, if this sounds interesting to you, I say give it a shot.

Recommended!

*I received this audiobook free from the narrator, in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*
… (mere)