Author Archives: kirstyes
Channel Fear by Lisa Richardson – Book Review
About the Book
A Heart-in-mouth YA Horror-Thriller, perfect for teen fans of The Haunting of Hill House.
Iris is obsessed with star YouTube ghost hunting duo, Zach and Lucas, who disappeared at an undisclosed location several months ago. Iris- who heads up her own unsuccessful channel with co-hosts Byron and his girlfriend Molly – has been searching for the location ever since.
When they stumble across Long-abandoned Thornhanger House, the trio set aside their toxic love triangle to explore, and find Zach and Lucas’s abandoned equipment inside… complete with their last day of filming.
As they watch the footage? A horrifying truth emerges: whatever came for Zach and Lucas is coming for them too…
Lisa Richardson bursts onto the YA scene with a spine-chilling horror-thriller, bringing a terrifying fresh new angle, haunted with breathtaking twists.
About the Author
Lisa Richardson has a first-class honours degree in Creative and Professional Writing and works as a production editor. When not writing, Lisa can be found reading, binge-watching Netflix with her sons, or running and taking photographs along the Kent coast.
Follow her on Instagram: @lisarichardson_21
What I Thought
This book was a wild and thrilling ride. So much so that I needed a break half way through, even though I desperately wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
This leans heavily into lots of horror tropes and does it so well. Creepy dolls – check. Rocking chair – check. It’s The Blair Witch Project meets The Ring meets The Haunting of Hill House all wrapped up in one.
As a YA Horror there is nothing too gruesome featured but the suspense barely lets up. My poor racing heart.
We have 3 sets of characters. The original missing ghost hunting duo of Zach and Lucas who we meet through their found footage. Iris, Molly and Byron who we follow on their hunt for the duo, and finally the house, it’s grounds and its inhabitants. It’s up to you to determine whether those inhabitants are former or current!
Despite making some very questionable choices I did like all the characters and didn’t want to see any of them harmed. And as if all the ghost hunting wasn’t angsty enough we also have a love quadrangle but which pairing survives the night? (It’s described as a love triangle in the synopsis but in a haunted house tale who is to say the missing supposed deceased Zach is out of the picture!). Finally whichof our trio lives to reap the fame that having a viral ghost hunting video brings you. And is that worth the horror to get there?
For the reader I say yes it is well worth picking this one up. Not everything is 100% explained at the end but that leads to the unease, a call for a re-read, and maybe even opens up the chance for a sequel?
For the characters – hmmmmmm. I think I’ll leave the seances and EMF machines to them.
I’m off to read a rom com stat.
Mini-Review in page numbers:
Page 339 – Final page. I’d like to say this was when I sighed in relief – but I’d be lying!
Page 219 When our intrepid trio actually decide to leave the house!!!
Page 170 Where I literally noped out of reading because my adrenaline was spiking and it was dark.
Page 57 When any sensible person – who would be willing to visit a haunted building in the first place – would have left.
Page 8 Where I would have noped out of this adventure. That is – I would never have entertained the thought of going.
Thanks to Chicken House who reached out and provided a gifted copy. The level of fear expressed in this review is all mine!
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The Secret of the Blood Red Key by David Farr – Blog Tour: Extract and a Giveaway
About the Book
The dazzling follow-up to the phenomenal The Book of Stolen Dreams from master storyteller David Farr, perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Philip Pullman.
Step inside the pages of an immortal adventure…
Rachel and Robert have defeated the tyrant Malstain and become the heroes of Krasnia, but all is not how it should be. Robert is swept away with his new friends, leaving Rachel alone to take care of her ailing father, who’s lost without their beloved mother.
From nowhere, a boy appears knowing the secrets of the hidden blood-red key. For the key is a way into the Hinterland – and Rachel must promise that, as a new key keeper, she will answer when it calls. When a young girl, Elsa Spiegel, is illegally smuggled into the Hinterland, Rachel has no choice but to use her key to save Elsa. But her fate is linked to Krasnia, and Rachel must battle to save her home as she knows it.
About the Author
David Farr is one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and directors for film, TV and theatre. In 2009, he was appointed Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his productions of The Winter’s Tale, King Lear and The Homecoming all opened to critical acclaim. David is known for his work on Spooks and his 2016 BBC adaptation of The Night Manager, starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. He completed his first feature film, Hanna, in 2009, and has since adapted it into a hugely successful series for Amazon Prime, and has recently adapted The Midwich Cuckoos for Sky. The Book of Stolen Dreams is his first novel.
Extract
Here is a short extract of Chapter 13 The Lock which also demonstrates the wonderful illustration in the book. PDF version of the extract for download below.
Giveaway
The publisher sent me an extra copy of book one so I’m hosting a giveaway. To enter comment below where you would want the key to open to (U.K. addresses only).
What I Thought
To come… unfortunately I have been unwell again so have been unable to read this one. I will reshare this blog post with my review later in the month when I’m feeling better.
Do check out what everyone else on the blog tour thought – follow along on social media using #TheSecretToTheBloodRedKey and #TheStolenDreamsAdventures
Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the Publisher Usborne for the copy for review. The blog tour poster is below for reference.
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Scareground by Angela Kecojevic – TWR Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!
Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?
Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
About the Author
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
What I Thought
Nancy Crumpet is a girl at home on the rooftops of Greenwich and with her family of baker parents. She knows she is adopted but when black balloons, raven feathers and music only she can hear arrive in town, she begins to realise that maybe they didn’t tell her the truth about her origins.
Along with her friend, Arthur, Nancy gets a ticket to the mysterious Scareground and although she’s made a promise to stay away it’s one she simply can’t keep when the truth is out there on the wind.
Author Angela Kecojevic has created a perfect spooky middle grade read with sumptuous writing. The descriptions leap off the page and the scares leap out at the scareground’s participants. It’s not too frightening for the reader but, as the book describes the Scareground, it is macabre. I think this would make a marvellous Tim Burton cartoon.
But are the scares as innocent as they seem and are the enigmatic Skeltor and his fairground crew to be trusted? After all the fair takes in boys that are otherwise unwanted. Waltzer, Shy, Racer and Dodge remind me of Fagin’s boys but they deal with illusion rather than thievery.
Without giving things away, and probably because people reading this will be too young to remember, but this gives me the same vibes as one of the 80s Care Bears Movies. But there are no Care Bears here to save the day it’s up to Nancy and Arthur and the Sky!
Love that this is all wrapped up but with the promise of a new adventure. I think our protagonists are ready to tackle the next one.
Huge thanks to The Write Reads tours and Neem Press for the gifted copy. Opinions are, as ever, my own.
kirstyes 