My Book Reviews

The Stone House by A.K. Benedict
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The synopsis on the back of the book sounds like a typical horror novel: A (haunted) stone house that draws you in and won't let you leave. Said house conjuring nightmare after nightmare to torment the unlucky captor. But somehow, I grew attached to the story.

I was very confused when I first read it. Maybe that was why it took some research on my part to understand the peculiar (at least to me) dynamics of the story.

From the synopsis of the book, I understood that Miss Quill was the kids' teacher. I was a bit perplexed at how a teacher would be directly involved in the kids' haunted house quest, but I counted on the book to eventually reveal itself.
Then I read that Miss Quill was living with 2 other students, Charlie & Matteusz (for the record, I've been searching YouTube and all for how exactly to pronounce 'Matteusz'). And then there was something about Charlie and his involvement in 'the war'. Seeing as both Charlie & Matteusz were students, I was confused.
I read on the cover that it was supposedly from the world of Dr Who, but then I still couldn't understand how. And I couldn't stand being so befuddled in what seemed like a promising story. Also, I read More Than This by Patrick Ness before (the first book I read of his), and I loved that book. So I admit that I was slightly disappointed when I found that I couldn't make heads or tail about this one, and even tried to recall if this had been his writing style in More Than This.

So I looked up the details of the Class series. And then I learned - aaahh. Class was a spin-off of Dr Who, Miss Quill and Charlie, like the Doctor, are aliens. After that bit of research, everything made more sense.

Anyway. Seeing as this isn't exactly a full-fledged novel (being only 272 pages), it was good. It was interesting enough to keep me in a book - nerd mode; that is to say, I had to force myself to stop reading when it got too late at night or when I had other things to do/other places to be. I even got a bit teary at the ending.
The story finished off well, and I felt a sense of satisfaction at how everything played out.

Ahh. Now there's the Patrick Ness I'm familiar with.

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You in Five Acts by Una LaMarche
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FINALLY, I found a book about the dance world (Ballet, to be specific) that isn’t too cliched. This book reminds me of a paperback version of something like Dance Academy.

Not too Center Stage-y, the story revolves around 5 friends (Joy, Diego, Liv, Ethan & Dave) and their road to the final Showcase of Janus Academy. As expected, drama and love ensues.

What I really liked about this was that it was all very light. Make no mistake though, this story deals with some important and serious issues; enough to make the reader understand the severity of what goes on, but not too much that it would confuse someone who is unfamiliar with the issue.

Nothing was dragged out longer than it should, or overplayed/over-dramatised. The characters are all relatable in some way, which makes things almost seem somewhat familiar, and in my opinion, able to pull the reader into their world.

Non-competitive dancers, if you are ever looking for a decent story that revolves around Ballet that isn’t kiddish or corny, this is it.

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HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A 17th-century woman (witch?) with her eyes and mouth sewn shut roams the town of Black Springs. With it, comes what is known as the Curse of the Black Rock Witch: From the moment you buy a house there, there's no going back. You'd be under the curse forever, as will any future kids you may have, as they would be born into the town and thus, cursed by default.
The witch whispers too. Listen to whatever she's saying, and you'll be overcome by this strong urge to kill yourself. And chances are, you will. Hence, her mouth being sewn shut (doesn't seem to stop her whispers from being heard though ).
And let's face it; even before reading the book, we'd know that somehow, somewhere, an idiot (or a 'rebel', some might argue) will at least try to get those incisions open. And so all hell will break loose.

Having said that, this book still packs a punch, with twists at every corner. In the first chapter itself, the slow burn for the foreboding that is the witch had already begun. Heuvelt makes sure that readers get the idea of how it feels to have a century-old witch, eyes and mouth sewn shut and arms and feet in chains, randomly appear throughout the town; yes, even in people's homes. Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the witch right beside you? *shudders*

The climax is full of tension, so palpable that you can feel it just by reading the words on the pages. However, there was a small detail that had been totally unpredictable (at least to me), but in a pleasant way. There are some stupidity by some people that frustrated me so much that I was cursing and gesturing wildly by myself as I was reading (and we all know that that's the marking of a really great book, to be able to invoke such a response).

Also, read the acknowledgements.
Trust me. It isn't like usual acknowledgements where an author commonly bores the reader (as acknowledgements normally just involve the author thanking whoever needs to be thanked in the process of making/publishing the book). I read the entire thing; something I've never normally do.

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