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lane_vespertine wrote:I know that the author reads these posts, and so I am very hesitant to say anything bad here. But there is something in this book that irked me enough that I'm doing it anyway.
The ghost is a rapist.
The raped women 'like' it.
The only one who is properly motivated by this rape is a man (e.g. Doug, pg 75).
Rape has been used in books and movies far too often as exclusively a motivation for male characters.
This bothers me, especially once I put words to the problem.
Not sure if I can like this book.
Sorry.

I appreciate any and all comments, I don't think of your feedback as negative. I knew going into this that I wasn't going to please everyone with this book. I have a very tough skin. Yes, Asa was a very bad man in life and as a ghost he was still terrible. He was married to the antagonist, Martha in life and they did very bad things together. The book is definitely not for everyone. There is something to be learned from all opinions and I thank you for yours.

I had to DNF this book as I just couldn't get into it. The characters seemed like they were all just thrown together to solve this problem without any backstory as to who they are. To be fair, maybe it goes into more of their background later in the book, but I couldn't connect to any of them when I didn't know anything about them.

ashley_claire wrote:I had to DNF this book as I just couldn't get into it. The characters seemed like they were all just thrown together to solve this problem without any backstory as to who they are. To be fair, maybe it goes into more of their background later in the book, but I couldn't connect to any of them when I didn't know anything about them.

I'm sorry you didn't like the book. Thank you for giving it a shot though.

In general I liked the characters and felt they were well developed and I would read more stories with these characters. The story line had some inconsistencies and the aspect of time passing did not seem to fit with the story. I also found in some parts things were "over explained" I did not need to know each time they got it to Scott's car it was because it was big enough for them all. The information was provided when Doug's call was mentioned and then when Scott drove an SUV- after that it did not need the detail.

AlyssaC wrote:In general I liked the characters and felt they were well developed and I would read more stories with these characters. The story line had some inconsistencies and the aspect of time passing did not seem to fit with the story. I also found in some parts things were "over explained" I did not need to know each time they got it to Scott's car it was because it was big enough for them all. The information was provided when Doug's call was mentioned and then when Scott drove an SUV- after that it did not need the detail.

Thank you very much for the feedback! I am soaking in all of the information I get from all of you. I love to hear your thoughts. I'm glad you like the characters because they are coming back in Book-2!

I love this book. I got into it so much that I didn't want to go to work. I wanted to finish the book. I like the paranormal story line, and I don't see this much tied in with romance very much. These are very well developed characters who are easy to like. There were some basically insignificant parts of the book that were dwelt on too long, and I think Doug and Charlie fell in love a little too quick, but I know that was done for the story line. Overall, though this is a great book. I would definitely read more.

sfanntastic wrote:I love this book. I got into it so much that I didn't want to go to work. I wanted to finish the book. I like the paranormal story line, and I don't see this much tied in with romance very much. These are very well developed characters who are easy to like. There were some basically insignificant parts of the book that were dwelt on too long, and I think Doug and Charlie fell in love a little too quick, but I know that was done for the story line. Overall, though this is a great book. I would definitely read more.

Same here! One day I started reading on my lunch break and before I knew it, I had been gone wayy longer than I had meant to!

klbradley wrote:

sfanntastic wrote:I love this book. I got into it so much that I didn't want to go to work. I wanted to finish the book. I like the paranormal story line, and I don't see this much tied in with romance very much. These are very well developed characters who are easy to like. There were some basically insignificant parts of the book that were dwelt on too long, and I think Doug and Charlie fell in love a little too quick, but I know that was done for the story line. Overall, though this is a great book. I would definitely read more.

Same here! One day I started reading on my lunch break and before I knew it, I had been gone wayy longer than I had meant to!

I'm so happy you liked the book! I hope you like the coming books as much or more! I did get Charlie and Doug together pretty quickly, but they just felt like the kind of people who would jump right in to me, so I let them. Lol!

Keep reading and tell all your friends! Haha!

lane_vespertine wrote:I know that the author reads these posts, and so I am very hesitant to say anything bad here. But there is something in this book that irked me enough that I'm doing it anyway.
The ghost is a rapist.
The raped women 'like' it.
The only one who is properly motivated by this rape is a man (e.g. Doug, pg 75).
Rape has been used in books and movies far too often as exclusively a motivation for male characters.
This bothers me, especially once I put words to the problem.
Not sure if I can like this book.
Sorry.

I'm afraid I can't agree with you here. We are talking about a work of fiction, and of horror fiction at that. The rapes are essential to the plot, not gratuitous. And by a ghost. There are other rapes in the book not to mention murders, and they are all essential to the plot. And Charlie is a strong woman who is in fact repulsed by the rapes except when in the presence of the ghost when her senses are influenced by the Supernatural. You refer to Doug as the only character motivated "properly" by the rapes. Yet so far as I can tell Charlie and the Investigators put their all into the investigation. I'm not sure how more motivated they could have been,

I'm also not too sure what you require when you say that rape is used too often as a motivation for male characters. Do you mean that fiction should pretend that rape does not exist and not include it at all? Should it be used as a motivation for female or trans-gender characters? If you are saying rape is used inappropriately in some other books and movies that does not seem to be the case here.

I appreciate that it makes you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes reading about certain topics can be confronting. I am not trying to offend you and respect your point of view. It's just that I don't really understand your criticism here and would like to.

DB44 wrote:

lane_vespertine wrote:I know that the author reads these posts, and so I am very hesitant to say anything bad here. But there is something in this book that irked me enough that I'm doing it anyway.
The ghost is a rapist.
The raped women 'like' it.
The only one who is properly motivated by this rape is a man (e.g. Doug, pg 75).
Rape has been used in books and movies far too often as exclusively a motivation for male characters.
This bothers me, especially once I put words to the problem.
Not sure if I can like this book.
Sorry.

I'm afraid I can't agree with you here. We are talking about a work of fiction, and of horror fiction at that. The rapes are essential to the plot, not gratuitous. And by a ghost. There are other rapes in the book not to mention murders, and they are all essential to the plot. And Charlie is a strong woman who is in fact repulsed by the rapes except when in the presence of the ghost when her senses are influenced by the Supernatural. You refer to Doug as the only character motivated "properly" by the rapes. Yet so far as I can tell Charlie and the Investigators put their all into the investigation. I'm not sure how more motivated they could have been,

I'm also not too sure what you require when you say that rape is used too often as a motivation for male characters. Do you mean that fiction should pretend that rape does not exist and not include it at all? Should it be used as a motivation for female or trans-gender characters? If you are saying rape is used inappropriately in some other books and movies that does not seem to be the case here.

I appreciate that it makes you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes reading about certain topics can be confronting. I am not trying to offend you and respect your point of view. It's just that I don't really understand your criticism here and would like to.

Well said! Thank you.

klbradley wrote:I reviewed this book recently, and I was so happy with how the story turned out. I enjoyed reading the part of the story about the history of what had happened in the home the most. I partially agree with the post above, in that I was not a fan of how quickly the relationship moved along with Charlie and Doug, but it did add a little something extra to the story.

I also am not a fan of insta-love. I enjoy reading about the trip of falling in love. Hopeless romantic here.

mommyreadsbooks wrote:

klbradley wrote:I reviewed this book recently, and I was so happy with how the story turned out. I enjoyed reading the part of the story about the history of what had happened in the home the most. I partially agree with the post above, in that I was not a fan of how quickly the relationship moved along with Charlie and Doug, but it did add a little something extra to the story.

I also am not a fan of insta-love. I enjoy reading about the trip of falling in love. Hopeless romantic here.

I felt that Doug and Charlie were just those kinds of people. They would just jump in feet first! My husband and I had a quick courtship, so I believe you just know. ??

lane_vespertine wrote:I know that the author reads these posts, and so I am very hesitant to say anything bad here. But there is something in this book that irked me enough that I'm doing it anyway.
The ghost is a rapist.
The raped women 'like' it.
The only one who is properly motivated by this rape is a man (e.g. Doug, pg 75).
Rape has been used in books and movies far too often as exclusively a motivation for male characters.
This bothers me, especially once I put words to the problem.
Not sure if I can like this book.
Sorry.

I liked the book but I do agree on some of your points. The ghost is a rapist (and twisted) and the raped women 'liked' it. I understand that the women were just taken over by the ghost but it's still disturbing. Charlie and Doug's relationship also progressed too quickly. I mean, even if we say it's love at first sight, does it really happen that fast? Don't you usually keep your distance first (especially in Charlie's case, since she had a painful experience with her ex)? I think the alternate ending was also better. It was more exciting than the first.

If you like your ghosts stories you'll totally dig this one. At times it may seem predictable but in general it is a real good reading. The plot really sucks you in and the characters are interesting.

I thought the work was original, clever, and though twisted at times, it was something that was hard to put down.

The only part that I took "issue" with is the editing and at times the one-dimensional characters. However, the author has stated that she is working on a rewrite that will better these two areas, so I am not overly concerned.

I almost forgot that I felt really bad about Beth, the librarian, getting murdered, and how it didn't seem to affect many of the characters. I would have thought that the brothers would have been more bothered by it, but I guess they had bigger things on their minds.