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popthebutterfly 's review for:
Threatening Souls
by N. M. Lambert
Disclaimer: I received this e-book from the author and then I paid for my own copy. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Threatening Souls
Author: N.M Lambert
Book Series: Threatening Souls Book 1
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: paranormal , horror, mystery, thriller
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Genre: Paranormal Horror (characters are MG age)
Recommended Age: 18+ (Child abuse, Torture, Gore, Violence, Romance, Language, Religion, Cult, Sexual assault Drug use, Possession, Abelism)
Explanation of CWs: Child abuse is prevalent throughout the texts as the main antagonist of the book tortures and harms the children of the town and even his own kids. There is a lot of gore and violence. There is a scene where the characters are trying to cure mental health. There is some very slight romance. There is some cursing. Religion and cultism play into this book heavily as well as possession. There is also a scene where a child is almost sexually assaulted and there is talk about that when remembering it. There is also some small drug use.
Publisher: Green Tree Press
Pages: 480
Synopsis: The sacrifices, the drama, the horror within.
In the year of 1860, a curse was performed over the suburb of Roseway, Washington, which rests about twenty miles south of Seattle, that killed nearly every living resident. After coming back to Earth as spirits, they form a twisted plan that not only provides them with bodies of their own but also kills off all who venture into Roseway in the future.
Thirteen-year-old Rebekah Jensen has lived a fine life in Marywood, Florida with two best friends, a clique that strives to make her one of them, and a boyfriend who happened to be one of the most popular guys in her school. But all that is about to change when the date of her arrival nears, when she starts to see things that she presumes are spirits—and she is sure that she has gone insane.
After moving to Roseway, she gets sucked into an illusion of the dead, coming to regard Roseway as some sort of cult in which they worship a mysterious being that is introduced to her as the Master. Within the months of enduring Roseway, she finds out more about herself and her purpose in the suburb. Teaming up with a friend, who has a dark secret, Rebekah must put an end to the curse before she ends up like the rest of the victims.
Review: For the most part this was a good book. The book is full of scary and horror elements that make this a great read for Halloween. The book has some cult stuff that rivals the Stepford Wives in it. It’s multi POV and the story has a lot of potential. The plot overall is constant throughout the book and the character development was really well done. I also loved that the CWs were in the front of the book and I am appreciative for that as a reader with triggers.
However, I do feel like the book could be perfected some more. The characters are wrote older than what they really are in the book (they’re 12 in the book, but they read as if they’re 18-19). I think this is the biggest reason for my confusion about the book because 10-12 (sometimes 13/14 depending on the content of the book) is for middle grade readers. Middle Grade isn’t really a genre, but an age range, and when you have a book that has middle grade aged characters but the story is for 18+ than book sellers don’t know what to do with the book and readers don’t know how to read it. This book is extremely horrific and gorey and contains a lot of content warnings that’s nor appropriate for even most YA book sections, but the characters are too young to be placed in general horror… so where do you shelf it?
Along with that, there are some things in the book that aren’t really possible. I know, I know, real world doesn’t apply to books sometimes, but if the book had some sort of throwaway line like “nothing in this situation seems normal” or “this world feels out of place doesn’t it?” than it would have helped to explain to the reader that a lot of the scenarios in this world aren’t commonplace. The issues I’m speaking about are like how all of the children got through security by themselves as minors in an airport when that’s not realistic. Taxis also can’t take minor children by themselves if their policies don’t allow for it and most of them don’t allow for it out of an abundance of caution (and insurance liabilities).
There are some other little things about the book that I feel need to be worked on. The book also has an issue with things for the plot being revealed too early or the characters just knowing certain things. The two Rebecca’s in the book are very confusing, especially for someone who sometimes doesn’t comprehend which one is talking. I had to skim Holly’s chapters towards 40% and onward because the material kept repeating itself. When I did that, the book kind of got better which makes me wonder how much is needed of her chapters at all. My biggest problem with her chapters are that the magic in this book is not very well explained. There’s this whole other plotline about Holly and the magical world and this royal family and all of the things with Henri, but I don’t understand most of it because the book jumps from point A to point V without B-U. I also find it funny that whenever the characters mention where they are from, everyone acts like they know where that is. It’s funny because the two main cities mentioned are across the continent from one another and I got the vibe that they were both fairly normal sized towns of no great importance on the outside.
There’s a lot going on in this book and while the plot of this story is good and the story overall is great, I really think that the story needs to be either simplified more for a middle grade aged book or it needs to be rewritten for adult audiences with adult characters. Most adults don’t want to read books with middle grade characters unless they’re looking in the middle grade section. They want to stick with a book that is targeted to their age range or group. This book won’t have a good home or foundation unless it conforms to one of the age groupings that normal books fall into. I also think that the book needs to be broke up into two or more parts, maybe with Holly’s viewpoints and chapters in a separate prequel book that would explain the magic system and each book showing the viewpoint of the story through only one character’s eyes only throughout. There’s a ton of material and information that is presented in this book that make it a chore to get through and there’s so much to understand that isn’t available in the read. Either way, the book feels too packed with material and it needs to breathe, especially when you consider that the second book takes place in a totally new area and time, standing alone from this one.
Verdict: it’s good, just needs more work.
Book: Threatening Souls
Author: N.M Lambert
Book Series: Threatening Souls Book 1
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: paranormal , horror, mystery, thriller
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Genre: Paranormal Horror (characters are MG age)
Recommended Age: 18+ (Child abuse, Torture, Gore, Violence, Romance, Language, Religion, Cult, Sexual assault Drug use, Possession, Abelism)
Explanation of CWs: Child abuse is prevalent throughout the texts as the main antagonist of the book tortures and harms the children of the town and even his own kids. There is a lot of gore and violence. There is a scene where the characters are trying to cure mental health. There is some very slight romance. There is some cursing. Religion and cultism play into this book heavily as well as possession. There is also a scene where a child is almost sexually assaulted and there is talk about that when remembering it. There is also some small drug use.
Publisher: Green Tree Press
Pages: 480
Synopsis: The sacrifices, the drama, the horror within.
In the year of 1860, a curse was performed over the suburb of Roseway, Washington, which rests about twenty miles south of Seattle, that killed nearly every living resident. After coming back to Earth as spirits, they form a twisted plan that not only provides them with bodies of their own but also kills off all who venture into Roseway in the future.
Thirteen-year-old Rebekah Jensen has lived a fine life in Marywood, Florida with two best friends, a clique that strives to make her one of them, and a boyfriend who happened to be one of the most popular guys in her school. But all that is about to change when the date of her arrival nears, when she starts to see things that she presumes are spirits—and she is sure that she has gone insane.
After moving to Roseway, she gets sucked into an illusion of the dead, coming to regard Roseway as some sort of cult in which they worship a mysterious being that is introduced to her as the Master. Within the months of enduring Roseway, she finds out more about herself and her purpose in the suburb. Teaming up with a friend, who has a dark secret, Rebekah must put an end to the curse before she ends up like the rest of the victims.
Review: For the most part this was a good book. The book is full of scary and horror elements that make this a great read for Halloween. The book has some cult stuff that rivals the Stepford Wives in it. It’s multi POV and the story has a lot of potential. The plot overall is constant throughout the book and the character development was really well done. I also loved that the CWs were in the front of the book and I am appreciative for that as a reader with triggers.
However, I do feel like the book could be perfected some more. The characters are wrote older than what they really are in the book (they’re 12 in the book, but they read as if they’re 18-19). I think this is the biggest reason for my confusion about the book because 10-12 (sometimes 13/14 depending on the content of the book) is for middle grade readers. Middle Grade isn’t really a genre, but an age range, and when you have a book that has middle grade aged characters but the story is for 18+ than book sellers don’t know what to do with the book and readers don’t know how to read it. This book is extremely horrific and gorey and contains a lot of content warnings that’s nor appropriate for even most YA book sections, but the characters are too young to be placed in general horror… so where do you shelf it?
Along with that, there are some things in the book that aren’t really possible. I know, I know, real world doesn’t apply to books sometimes, but if the book had some sort of throwaway line like “nothing in this situation seems normal” or “this world feels out of place doesn’t it?” than it would have helped to explain to the reader that a lot of the scenarios in this world aren’t commonplace. The issues I’m speaking about are like how all of the children got through security by themselves as minors in an airport when that’s not realistic. Taxis also can’t take minor children by themselves if their policies don’t allow for it and most of them don’t allow for it out of an abundance of caution (and insurance liabilities).
There are some other little things about the book that I feel need to be worked on. The book also has an issue with things for the plot being revealed too early or the characters just knowing certain things. The two Rebecca’s in the book are very confusing, especially for someone who sometimes doesn’t comprehend which one is talking. I had to skim Holly’s chapters towards 40% and onward because the material kept repeating itself. When I did that, the book kind of got better which makes me wonder how much is needed of her chapters at all. My biggest problem with her chapters are that the magic in this book is not very well explained. There’s this whole other plotline about Holly and the magical world and this royal family and all of the things with Henri, but I don’t understand most of it because the book jumps from point A to point V without B-U. I also find it funny that whenever the characters mention where they are from, everyone acts like they know where that is. It’s funny because the two main cities mentioned are across the continent from one another and I got the vibe that they were both fairly normal sized towns of no great importance on the outside.
There’s a lot going on in this book and while the plot of this story is good and the story overall is great, I really think that the story needs to be either simplified more for a middle grade aged book or it needs to be rewritten for adult audiences with adult characters. Most adults don’t want to read books with middle grade characters unless they’re looking in the middle grade section. They want to stick with a book that is targeted to their age range or group. This book won’t have a good home or foundation unless it conforms to one of the age groupings that normal books fall into. I also think that the book needs to be broke up into two or more parts, maybe with Holly’s viewpoints and chapters in a separate prequel book that would explain the magic system and each book showing the viewpoint of the story through only one character’s eyes only throughout. There’s a ton of material and information that is presented in this book that make it a chore to get through and there’s so much to understand that isn’t available in the read. Either way, the book feels too packed with material and it needs to breathe, especially when you consider that the second book takes place in a totally new area and time, standing alone from this one.
Verdict: it’s good, just needs more work.