Rumors about Hill House have been around for years, none too pleasant rumors at that. Someone has finally decided to see if those rumors are true. An unlikely group gather at Hill House to spend the summer and see if they can discover its secrets. 

 

One of things that makes THHH so creepy is it’s plausibility, if you believe in the supernatural. The events that occur could be explained by the odd construction of the house but some of them are just improbable enough that it’s easy to attribute them to something unnatural, something supernatural. 

Very reminiscent of The Shining in some ways. The house felt like it was an entity all to itself that prayed on those it could keep lost in its halls. 

 

But I was left unsatisfied in the end. I felt that there was so much build up only to be left with the sensation that the rug had been pulled out from under me. I wanted to know more and discover all the secrets that the house had to hold. 

Book Review 

 

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina 

 

This book is a beautiful description of how the grieving process affects people differently. It also stresses that there is no one right way to grieve; each person must grieve in their own way and in their own time. 

But it also goes beyond grieve and sadness. This book shows that acceptance and joy after grief is possible. 

 

Yui’s life is forever changed by the tsunami that tore apart Japan in March 2011. She is left alone, struggling to come to terms with her new reality. Until one day she hears about a phone booth in a garden at the edge of the world. People travel far and wide to use this phone to talk to those who they have loved and lost. Yui decides to make her own pilgrimage to this phone booth and it changes the course of her life. 

 

This is a powerful book. I could feel Yui’s grief and anxiety and hopelessness. But I could also feel her moments of joy and surprise. It’s a powerful book that can evoke such emotional reactions. 

The prose is poignant and beautifully written. If you have ever lost someone, you will feel a cathartic release upon reading this book. It may bring up some unwanted emotions but it doesn’t leave you there. It helps you traverse the stages of grief, or at the very least see that there is a way out of what can seem like a bottomless pit of sorrow. 

 

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

 

ARC Review 

 

The Melody of Shattered Gold by James Michels 

 

I am privileged to have been chosen to receive and review an advanced copy of The Melody of Shatter Gold by James Michels. This is a mafia/crime thriller that is centered around several different crime families in New York City. 

 

War seems to always be simmering under the surface between the various crime families in NYC. Most often, there is a begrudging peace out of mutual benefit. But all that is going to change with the hasty actions of one underboss trying to move his family to the top of the food chain. 

 

I found this book to be kind of like potato chips. I would start to read and there would be a point where I would look down, realize I had just read 50 pages in what felt like the blink of an eye. Kind of like when you pop open a bag of chips intending to eat a few and the next thing you know, you’re staring at the bottom of the bag. 

I did find the story to be a little predictable. I do read quite a bit of thriller/psychological dramas so that could be why. 

The characters were almost all stereotypical representations of the various ethnicities associated with organized crime. Their actions were also typical of an organized crime themed book or TV show. 

 

One of the interesting things that I ran into with this book was that it is being narrated in the third person but follows many different characters. While this is normally not an issue for me, in the version I read, there are no page breaks or headings to denote that we are now following a different character. I had to be a little more vigilant about my character tracking than normal. 

It is possible that this is a formatting issue in the version I read but I think that some sort of page break or header when changing to a different character that is not already in the scene would be helpful in keeping the storyline straight. 

All the switching between multiple character storylines did make for a fast read. 

 

Something else to watch out for is the number of characters portrayed, many of whom were referred to by nicknames or aliases. For me personally, I think a character list at the beginning of each chapter, divided into the various represented families, would have been helpful in keeping everyone straight. With all the crime families involved and the shifting alliances, it would also be a good way to keep track of everything that was happening. 

 

While being as spoiler free as possible, I felt that the ending was fairly open. It definitely left an opportunity for books to follow. If not, I guess the ending could be seen as leaning more toward a “real life” portrayal. All in all, I wanted to know if there was going to be more in store for the Oro family. 

 

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️