Ness

First and foremost, I genuinely love how the series reads. You don't have to read the previous to understand the next book, though it will offer some extra insight into how the characters are and why they do or say certain things.

I love the small and manageable story; it got to the point with little effort and kept you wanting to read until you were finished. And I was a little sad when the book ended! I love how you think there's something paranormal happening, but there's actually a scientific reason behind it.

I didn't like that the copy I received had a bad format. It seems that for every set of 10-15 pages, the format would change from a regular paragraph to a sentence on a line, then two to three words the next, and then back to a full sentence. It really pulled me out of the story itself because I had to keep trying to reread to understand what was happening. Once and a while there were random 0s and 1s as well which threw me out of the atmosphere of the novella too. I hope by the time the novella is published that this is cleared up.

Because of this issue, I found that the novella is less engaging than its predecessor. I would definitely like to the final version before I make the call officially on how engaging.

It's good for a spooky read, and it's good if you need to pad your reading challenge! I would recommend it!

Jokes on you if you thought I learned my lesson with book 1 about finishing these books at work. This one is more emotional, and I finished it at work

I don't think I was in the right headspace to read this book - I struggled through it. I enjoyed the Beowolf-eque-ness of the book and the callout to the poems/stories/characters; I enjoyed how the author spun the poem and made it their own thing. The multiple third-person POVs were tricky for me to track; I lost count of how many it seemed to have and how fast it would change.

In saying that, I will be rereading at a later time and a better headspace; hopefully, it will allow me to have a better appreciation of the book!

I was genuinely lost for words with this novella. I thought I was getting into pure horror and gore, and I got feelings instead.

Don't get me wrong, there are still aspects of horror, and aspects of gore (in the sense of digging into your skin and pulling out bones spurs, and feathers). I loved how detailed the minor things were.

I loved how there are no names mentioned for the main characters. They are simply the boy and the girl. And I love how.. simple that was. It took a couple of pages to get used to.

By the end, I was rooting for them. I hoped there was a happy ending; I guess in a way it was their happy ending.

I would reread this down the road; it's quick and easy to read.

I swear this plot twists get better and better.

One, Freida McFadden hands down is my new favorite thriller author. She knows how to weave words like a sorceress. Two, I need to stop guessing so early in the book - this time I did guess a couple of things, but not the -big- one.

There were a couple of times I went, “Yeah, that doesn't make sense,” purely because if it was my friend group and I, that scenario wouldn't have happened. That's just the battle of perspectives though.

Overall enjoyed the book. Once I read more of her work I feel like this would be a top ten.