“Remembering is not always a light shone into darkness. Sometimes it’s a claw reaching out and dragging you back.”

A haunted house story but with much more! I already knew of the writer (tried The Return and it didn’t click), but when I found Bad Dolls at a second hand part of the a bookstore I frequent and fell in love with that I wanted more. This is my second book by her and I loved it! I definitely want to read more of the author, I got my eyes set on Black Sheep or So Thirsty. Hopefully by the time this review goes live (writing this in October) I will have either read or gotten at least one of the two.

Meet Clio, a girl who has the dream life. She is an influencer/fashion girlie and has an amazing life travelling, partying, and doing what she loves. But the one day she is thrown back in the past when her mother passes away. The mom who wasn’t the best. The mom who always drank and was constantly drunk. The mom who told them there was a demon in their home. Yep. Not good stuff. But I loved that despite that Clio went back home and went to the funeral (even when her sisters were telling her not to go). She finds out she inherited the house (apparently not sold like any normal person would do) and of course, Clio being Clio, she goes to the house to see if she can fix it before selling it. She doesn’t believe in any of the strange stuff that happened as she has zero memories of it. I was definitely invested in the house, but also very invested in the family situation. The sisters who seemed to have their own things and thoughts about it and how they react to Clio just going her way. The dad who does everything for his girls (but it felt so fake at times) and how he reacts to all of it. I was curious to see what was real and finding out more about all that happened. Plus, I was curious how Clio would react to her family acting the way they did (very much like she was being crazy).

The spooky stuff going on in the house? Perfection! Spooky and scary! I also loved that we got to read Clio’s mom’s book, first with annotations and later just the normal stuff with some spooky things in the sides. It gave some more insight on what was going on back then, how Clio’s mom felt, about Clio’s dad, Clio and the monster in the closet, and much more. I found myself looking forward to those parts.

I also loved the unreliable narrator stuff, I would call it at least that. Because you don’t know if what is happening is really happening or if Clio is just seeing things that aren’t there due to stress over her family, over the past and the trauma she got from that, over her life, and then there is the drinking/drugs/smoking that she does. So I was eager to find out if things were truly real or if Clio and her mom just had too much on their plate and saw things due to that. It made things even more exciting. Even up to the end I was like is this all real? And then the end happens and we get to see various things there and then I was like, OH SHIT. I love it when a book can keep on you on your toes, keep you guessing. It was definitely spooky. The dead animals. The notes in the sketchbook. The shadow with white eyes.

I did like the romance, sometimes it doesn’t fit with something like this (horror/other spooky things) but in this case it brought some light in the darkness. And I was actually delighted to see Clio open up, to see her discover romance. I mean, her youth wasn’t the easiest with divorced parents, a dad who quickly remarried (and later we learn more about him), a mom who was very against guys and was telling her girls about the danger/bad stuff all the time. So I was shipping Austin and Clio, they made for a cute couple and I was hoping that they would last and not that the house would ruin it.

Though I wasn’t a fan of how much drugs and alcohol she used. With a parent that was an alcoholist it just seemed off and weird. Maybe it was the house all along but from what I can read she has been this before it.

All in all, a fantastic read that will have you on the edge of your seat (or curling up in bed under several blankets). I would recommend it!