The House at Midnight
Joanna and her friends are all at that stage in their very late twenties where they are starting to make their way in the real world after college, when Lucas’s uncle commits suicide and he inherits Stoneborough Manor. Lucas intends for this large property in Oxford to be the place for their group of friends to get together every weekend, but things don’t always go as planned.
Soon the malevolent atmosphere surrounding the house starts to have an effect on everyone there - especially Joanna and Lucas. Lucas has also become obsessed with films that he found in the house of his parents, uncle, and their friends at the same age where Lucas, Joanna and their group of friends are now. When Lucas starts living at the house full-time, things really start taking their toll on him - he has become, to say the least, unstable. Things continue to get worse for him when he uncovers the secret between his father’s and his uncle’s deaths.
While I enjoyed this book, I had the feeling throughout the whole thing that it wasn’t quite as good as it could have been. It was just creepy enough, didn’t push the boundaries of creepiness. There was almost thick atmosphere that you could taste, but it was only almost there. Then, at times the narration felt extremely awkward. Whitehouse seemed to merge the present with memories of what happened in the past without a noticeable break, which lead to confusion until I realized what was going on. I got used to it as the book progressed, but it never flowed really well for me in those instances.
There were, however, certain redeeming qualities about the book. The characters were well developed, and the growth they went through during the year that the book takes place was sometimes frightening, and sometimes invigorating. The house itself had a characterization that overtook the whole book as well. Rather intense at times (though not as eerie as I had hoped it to be).
I did enjoy this book, even though it wasn’t everything I hoped for. It was a good fluffy read, perfect for the rainy weather we’ve been having recently.
Based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty is the story of three girls working at a drive-through coffee shop for the summer. Geena, our main Betty of the story, is determined to have a fabulous summer. But things don’t go according to plan - her best friend, Amber, and her cousin, Hero, hate each other at first meeting. When they do start getting along, it seems that it’s only to trick Geena into believing the boy she has always had a rivalry with actually likes her. Then, someone posts nude photos of Hero on MySpace - except, Hero didn’t actually pose for any nude photos. This of course causes the boy that Hero loves to ditch her because she is, as he says, a “hoochie.” Now, it’s up to the Geena to get to the bottom of this, and try to put everything to rights before the summer is over.
Hildy Biddle is a high school reporter trying to prove that she is ready to bring the truth to the world. And her community is definitely a place where the truth needs to be brought forth - the local newspaper has been covering very little other than the haunted house in town, there are mysterious signs appearing on the fence of the haunted house constantly, and there was a staged robbery at the same house recently. Not to mention that there’s something fishy going on with the psychic who has recently moved to town, and the real estate agents from out of town trying to buy a good number of the town residents’ properties. But will Hildy and the rest of the high school newspaper be able to get to the bottom of this story before it’s too late?
This is the fourth (and most likely last) book in Swendson’s Enchanted, Inc series. While Swendson has mentioned that she had originally planned it as a five-book series, the publisher apparently hasn’t bought the fifth book. Very sad, because I love this series - it’s definitely one of my favourites, and I’ve reread the previous books numerous times.