I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

👻 I loved seeing both the POV of the mom and the daughter. If it was just the daughter… well I would have DNF-ed the book SO FAST. I mean, nothing against Scout, she is 100% a teen, but she just got on my nerves. So I am happy that we also got to balance it with Jules/the mom, and get some insights on why mom made these decisions. We learn that not everything is as it seems, that mom really cares, but she had to make some tough decisions and also made the decision to shield Scout from her father’s depressions/mental health.
👻 The dolls! So many dolls. You know, I would have said HECK nope to it all, but apparently both Scout and Jules aren’t that scared of dolls. I would for the life of everything NEVER marry someone who makes dolls. I am terrified of them.
👻 Vivi, the house AI/bot, was well written and made some moments much tenser. She controls the house. She only listens to one person. You know the deal with that in horror stuff like this.
👻 Seeing a ghost haunt the gardens. But is she an evil or a good ghost?
👻 Finding out about that ghost, but also get some other hints that something is NOT right at the estate. Something is wrong with Kirin. That was a lot of fun to read!
👻 The ending, and then specifically the last bit of it. That scared the jeepers out of me.
👻 I love that Scout found her people so soon.

💀 But it was just too rushed. If you didn’t think about the time it is fine, but as soon as you think that it was only merely 2-3 days that is when the story collapses for me. It just doesn’t make sense for everything to happen so quickly. It just loses the build-up if you think about that time elapsed. Scout’s friendship just feels weird then, the possible romance between Racer feels like a love at first sight. Why is everything found so quickly? It just goes too fast. So I think that should have been better. Even if that meant adding a few more pages, or I don’t know, a time skip of a month with a small bit of a recap on spooky things that happened. That would have worked.
💀 Again, Scout was a true teen, but at times I wanted to yeet her in the nearest garbage mountain. Bye.
💀 I am not sure how I felt that Jules suddenly saw Doug (her dead husband). That just made it weird, especially when she started talking to him. I am still not sure if it is because of the whack on her head, or something else. Again, with a bit longer time line it may have worked out. Now it was just weird.

But in overall, again don’t think about the short time line, it was a good spooky read with several thrills. I would still recommend it.