The House with a Clock In Its Walls
Directed By: Eli Roth
Grade: B+
I’m going to be completely honest here. I literally could have watched two hours of Jack Black and Cate Blanchett snarking at each other and I would have enjoyed it. The actual movie is about a young orphan Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his Uncle in a wild house full of secrets. Blanchett plays Mrs. Zimmerman Uncle Jonathan’s friend and neighbor.
the cheerleaders
by: Kara Thomas
Grade: A
5 years ago a series of back-to-back tragedies involving the deaths of 5 cheerleaders shocked a town shocked a small town. Now Monica Rayburn- the younger sister of the last cheerleader to die that year discovers a series of strange warnings and finds her sisters old phone all of which makes her start to question what actually happened.
Who really killed the cheerleaders?
The Anomaly
By: Michael Rutger
Grade: B
This book is full of things I would never do. Explore a cavern high in the walls on the Grand Canyon… nope. Especially a cavern that I believe the government concealed discovery of the first time around… nope. And maybe if I did one day strangely get that far the rest of it would go like this:
Oh, it’s just a cavern! Kind of a disappointment.
Wait, look is that stairs over there?
We should follow them and see where they go!
Me: Nope. I’m out. Sunshine please!
Something in the Water
By: Catherine Steadman
Grade: C
Two newlyweds who find something in the water on their perfect tropical honeymoon and everything goes to shit after that because that’s what happens when you find something in the water. It’s rarely something pleasant.
I will say I listened to this on Scribed and the chapters were way off. Also I gave points for the audio because after going back and forth in the beginning I thought Steadman did a fantastic job- I just didn’t like Erin.
Paris By The Book
By: Liam Callanan
Grade: B
Every now and then when Robert Eady’s life gets to be too much for him he leaves a note for his wife and daughters and disappears for a “writing retreat” as he feels he can write better this way.
One day there’s no note and Robert Eady never returns leaving his wife to wonder whether he walked out for good or whether he’s dead in a ditch somewhere. There’s credible evidence of an accident but also an unfinished manuscript about Paris and hidden tickets.
The Witches of New York
By: Ami McKay
Grade: B-/C+
Beatrice Dunn arrives in New York for the first time and immediately begins seeing ghosts and experiencing strange happenings. Luckily she gets a job at a tea shop run by Eleanor St. Clair and Adelaide Thom, who are more than capable of helping Beatrice, if they can get past their own problems, the accusations of witchcraft, and the strange things happening in New York.
![Kurtagich_TheDeadHouse[1]](https://bookbeachbunny.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/kurtagich_thedeadhouse1.jpg)
Scare Scale- 7
Creep Factor- Climbing ended at 9/10
The Dead House
Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Genre: YA/ Psychological Thriller
Grade: A
Years ago there was an incident at Elmbridge High School after which troubled student Carly Johnson seemingly disappeared. Recently a journal has been discovered whose author is Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s twin sister. Only Carly didn’t have a twin.
Honestly, I’m one of those people that find the break down of the mind one of the scariest things imaginable. This story is told through the found journal, through police records, and psychological interviews and notes. Kaitlyn was Carly’s “other.” An identity that Doctor’s believe was formed through trauma. She is a highly unreliable narrator and the journal going deeper and deeper into her mind, into her psychosis really, is quite creepy in the fact that it could be so real.
The story and the events in the story start off rather slow but escalates in direct terms with Kaitlyn/Carly’s mind disintegrating. I really enjoyed this one. It’s definitely hard to put down once it gets going and I don’t want to give too many spoilers away. Kaitlyn’s friends are an interesting bunch as well. I actually liked how she wrote it. What happens when an incredibly sick girl meets a slightly less troubled girl who believes that it’s all magic or a haunting and she can cure you better than any Doctor?
That was an interesting element of the story because it does serve to introduce the idea of a supernatural element without ever losing the strength of painful truth of the psychological.
Was it real?
Was it all in her head?
Considering the extent of what was in her head and the damage caused does it even matter if it was real?
So yeah, entertaining, scary and made me think and question reality. Plus excellent job with the creepy cover art.
Recommend: Yes.
Scream Queens
Scare Scale: 4/5 out of 10 (so far)
Creepy Factor: 6 out of 10 average
This show is so not me.
Even when I want to scare myself I don’t gravitate toward the killer genre. I never even saw all the Screams. Plus network television these days well, I never get to attached.
So far Scream Queens, about a killer in a Red Devil costume who targets a sorority, is exceedingly flawed, over the top, silly, offensive, funny… In other words it’s just plain old guilty pleasure entertainment. Plus it’s really nice to see Jaime Lee Curtis outside of the Activa commercials again.
The main questions seem to be:
1.) Whose behind the Mask?
2.) Whose the baby? (The show starts off twenty years ago with a baby born in the sororities bath tub and the mother meeting an unpleasant fate.)
3.) What is up with the Dean?
Frankly I’m putting my money on Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin) being the answer to question number one or two. She seems way suspicious.
Anyway this show is silly fluff but it’s fun for a couple of weeks. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. Along with Jaime Lee Curtis and a vicious Emma Roberts I’m really enjoying Niecy Nash as possibly the worst security guard ever and surprisingly Glen Powell as the idiotic (but probably not deadly) Chad Radwell. A character whose grown on me but at the same time I’d be fine if they offed him soon.
Recommend: I’m not going to rate this until I’ve seen more. The basic bottom line- sometimes you just want to laugh and be entertained (and occasionally scared) this show is fulfilling the bill so far. Hopefully it will keep up the run.
Someone died at the Elvis and Audrey school trivia night. They were murdered. The book tells the story of the major players in the year leading up to that event with little funny tidbits of the characters chatting with reporters and cops at the end and the beginning of the chapters.
This is basically a parents behaving badly (worse than the kids) kind of story. I mean the showpiece of the story is the parents getting dressed up like Audrey Hepburn and Elvis Presley and getting wasted on spiked pink drinks. Madeline and Renata are the argumentative worst of the parents (and the most fun.) Jane is a sad sack single mom to a sweet little boy accused of being a bully and Celeste is the super beautiful, super rich mother who everyone wants to be.
I liked this book overall. It made me laugh in some places, made me cringe in some places and I both disliked and loved the characters throughout. There is a serious storyline of domestic violence in this and it provides an interesting POV from that character throughout as she slowly realizes that just because she likes to hit back doesn’t make it right and that it’s escalating probably into her death. Madeline’s a hoot though I wanted to slap her teenage daughter.
The best part? I honestly didn’t know who was going to die or who was going to do it until the end. Do I think they took the easy way out with the victim? Yeah, a little bit. I did figure out who the bully was pretty early on though. It was a shockingly quick read for a book that I’ve sat on since November because I always wanted to read something else first. I really like this author’s writing though- right in the beginning I didn’t think it was going to work too many characters all at once they all sounded the same (except Jane) but as the story goes on and the characters unfold it’s easy to keep them straight and not want any of them to die!
Recommend? Yeah, although I think I’m a bit last to the party with this one. The domestic violence is well done psychologically but I understand that and a small but nasty sex scene (a memory) could be hard for some people to read.
