Ana

Five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore one night in October to prepare for a break-in. The Paragon Hotel, an Asbury Park landmark built by a reclusive millionaire in the city's glory days, is now boarded up and slated for demolition.

They are creepers, slang for urban explorers investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. Their group is joined by a reporter who wants to profile them anonymously for the New York Times, as this is a highly illegal activity.

Upon entering the tunnel leading to the hotel, the group realizes that they will get much more than they bargained for. Among the ravaged ruins of a forgotten time, the creepers will encounter danger, terror, and death.

It all starts so promisingly in Morrell's novel! A group of five “creepers” who enjoy history and investigating abandoned buildings (in a way that is not legal) gather to explore the Paragon Hotel. They encounter much more than they bargained for, and the expedition turns into a bloody, gory nightmare that threatens their lives.

There was nothing particularly frightening about the horror.

While this concept was great, it didn't connect with me. The plotting was so tight and propulsive that it didn't allow us to provide the characters with a breath, making them seem flat. My only other gripe would be the characters' constant monologues delivering exposition. The relentless pace left little room for character introspection and growth. As a result, the characters felt more like archetypes than fully fleshed-out individuals, making it difficult for readers to connect with them on a deeper level. The focus on nonstop action overshadowed meaningful character interactions and emotional resonance.

While the book's premise was intriguing, its execution fell short due to a lack of character development and overreliance on action.

Merit Voss collects trophies and secrets that she doesn't deserve. While browsing the local antique shop for her next trophy, Sagan caught her eye. As his wit and unapologetic idealism disarm her, she finds renewed life inside her until she discovers that he is unavailable. After learning a secret, no trophy can fix, Merit retreats into herself and watches her family from afar.

Getting fed up with the lies, Merit shatters the illusion of a happy family she's never been a part of before leaving them behind. Merit's escape plan fails, and she must deal with the devastating consequences of telling the truth and losing the boy she loves.

There is nothing good about this book. The book dealt with mental illness, sexuality, suicide, abuse, and even the Syrian refugee crisis, AND it had a romance, too. All of them were poorly done.

The story revolves around Merit Voss and her family. Because their father cheated on their sick mother, they live upstairs in a renovated church with their father and stepmother. The sick mother lives downstairs in the basement. It is not surprising that Merit retreats more and more into herself as she feels further alienated from her siblings—especially her older brother, Utah, and twin sister, Honor.

One day, Merit gets kissed by a hot dude named Sagan. When she reciprocates, she realizes she has been mistaken for her twin and kisses Honor's boyfriend. To make matters worse, she cannot stop thinking about him. Even worse, shortly after, Honor moves Sagan into the Voss household.

There is a difference in writing between creating well-rounded, complex, and unlikeable characters and just creating self-centered, obnoxious characters. Voss and his family certainly behave like assholes in this book, but it is all pardoned and forgotten without consequence.

I dislike more things about this book. The characters' actions are often selfish and hurtful, yet they are never held accountable. This lack of consequences undermines the story's credibility and makes it difficult to sympathize with them. Additionally, the plot feels disjointed, with certain events feeling rushed or unresolved, leaving readers frustrated and unsatisfied.

Ultimately, the lack of accountability and disjointed plot make this book frustrating and unsatisfying read.

Emma Westlake has always dreamed of owning her own business. As an adult, she invested all her savings into the job of her dreams: travel planning. However, she saw her services diminish as her customers became increasingly internet-savvy. When she's lost for what to do, an elderly friend suggests she try being a paid companion, something she has a lot of experience doing.

The idea seems wild to Emma until the requests begin to pour in. A neighbor from down the block wants her as his wingman at an upcoming dance at the local senior center, a nurse practitioner needs a workout buddy, and a writer wants Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic.

When Emma balks, he tells her the room will be full of people he's invited–most of whom will want him dead when he finishes. She laughs, thinking he's joking. Upon stepping up to the mic, Brian drops dead. As one of the last people to see him alive, Emma becomes an immediate suspect. She must cozy up to a killer to save herself and the business she's just started.

I had a tough time getting through this book. My first impression of the main character was that she was so stupid. The suspect was poisoned, and she fled the scene, taking evidence with her. My jaw dropped in disbelief at how stupid she was.

There is barely any discussion of the murder mystery until about halfway through the book when it focuses instead on the main character's new job. This doesn't add anything to the plot.

I skimmed through many of the pages because there was so much fluff. One chapter would feature the main character talking to one person, and then the next would feature the same conversation rehashed with very similar dialogue. It seemed overly redundant. Despite the main character's apparent love for her dog, I did not enjoy their incessant dialogue. Emma's occasional conversation with her dog would have been fine if it had added anything to the plot. Once again, though, most of it seemed like unnecessary fluff, so I skipped over it.

Overall, the book was disappointing due to its lack of focus on the murder mystery and excessive filler content.

One of the worst books I have ever read. Every sentence this writer writes contains an absurdly erroneous comparison. This story was supposed to be set in the Lake District in a coastal town, but the setting and topography had no sense of place. As far as northern speech is concerned, the main character calls everyone ‘luv.'

The author should hire an editor, as the book reads like it's made up of about separate pieces sewn together without attention to continuity. Another possibility is that a group wrote different sections of the book and sold it as if it came from one person. Toward the end of the book, the author seems to have decided enough was written, so they use the confession of a character that wasn't in the story until the end.

This author is not worth reading anymore (if an actual person is writing). This book is poorly written and lacks coherence.