Well… this was a disappointment.

Had I known there was so much pandemic/Covid mentions? I wouldn’t have gotten the book. We lived through it, we have been there, I don’t want to read about it. No thank you.
If I had known it was mostly yap yap boring boring and only a few things happening? I wouldn’t have gotten the book. I wanted a thrill, not a yawn. I want a steady drip of spooky scary stuff.
I don’t mind reading about poverty, but I was just so tired of hearing how poor Harry was and how hard she had to work and how many things went wrong financially or how she had zero saving or how much she struggled. Again, if I read a book specifically about it? I wouldn’t mind. If it was just bits and bobs, sure. But now, eh. It just didn’t fit for me and distracted away from what could have been a potentially scary tale.

What I had hoped for was a spooky scary read, and sure a costume wandering around and things going bump at times? That was scary (in fact thanks for the nightmares). But it happened so little I was just bored for most. Not to mention I thought they would move in sooner but it didn’t happen until the very end. Which is just disappointing because can you imagine all the cool things that could have happen, though given the general vibe of the book I guess nothing would happen, but IMAGINE them living there and things ACTUALLY happening, that would be so cool. And then there is the rushed ending, infodumping us with what has happened, while I loved it… I also would have liked to have gotten more hints for them. Plus, that it felt like I missed pages because it just suddenly stopped. So an epilogue? Would have been great. Like an article from the newspapers about what happened, what is happening to Gabe/Harry after all this? Now it felt like the amount of max pages was reached and the author just didn’t care to pace it right.

Oh, and Mr. Castillo? He was an ass.

But lets end with a good note, while I am disappointed, I will give the book two stars. The cover is fab (love the colour and the house and the trees just reaching out of it). The ghost was terrifying and gave me nightmares (thanks). The bumps and scary voice in that room, scary. While it was info-dumpy and rushed, I did like the flashback we got in the last part that showed what happened (though it wasn’t a surprise but I liked that we got that clarity that it wasn’t just hints/rumours, but truth). I loved that the house was full of props and definitely would have loved to see them (though without murderous costumes, please). I love Harry and Gabe’s relationship and how sweet and supportive they were together.

All in all, I am sad that this one turned out to be a disappointment. On to the next read, hopefully it fills my need for spookiness~