It Will Just Be Us
by Jo Kaplan
A terrifying new gothic horror novel about two sisters and a haunted house that never sleeps, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
They say there's a door in Wakefield that never opens...
Sam Wakefield's ancestral home, a decaying mansion built on the edge of a swamp, isn't a place for children. Its labyrinthine halls, built by her mad ancestors, are filled with echoes of the past: ghosts and memories knotted together as one. In the presence of phantoms, it's all Sam can do to disentangle past from present in her daily life.
But when her pregnant sister Elizabeth moves in after a fight with her husband, something in the house shifts. Already navigating her tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth, Sam is even more unsettled by the appearance of a new ghost: a faceless boy who commits disturbing acts--threatening animals, terrorizing other children, and following Sam into the depths of the house wielding a knife. When it becomes clear the boy is connected to a locked, forgotten room, one which is never entered, Sam realizes this ghost is not like the others. This boy brings doom...
As Elizabeth's due date approaches, Sam must unravel the mysteries of Wakefield before her sister brings new life into a house marked by death. But as the faceless boy grows stronger, Sam will learn that some doors should stay closed--and some secrets are safer locked away forever.
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Momma Says: 3 stars⭐⭐⭐
I seem to be in a rut lately when it comes to books. Either that or I've managed to run into a mess of mediocre stories. Books that aren't bad, that are worth the read, but they don't stand out as something I'll remember later. This one doesn't fall into that category, and it's definitely not mediocre, but it does have its issues. It's a rare thing for me not to finish a book, but I very nearly did just that with It Will Just Be Us. The first half was way too bogged down in flowery prose. Now, I get wanting to paint a picture for the reader, and I get creating an atmosphere, especially when it comes to getting that creepy Gothic feel like this one has. The problem is this one went completely over the top with nearly everything mentioned. I'm all for setting a scene, but some things can be left to the imagination. Some descriptions had such odd and overly flowery wording that they just didn't work. Fortunately, things started to improve just about the time that I was ready to give up. The second half of this book is where it really starts to shine. It's thoroughly creepy, and it kept me up into the wee hours, reading to see how it would all play out while listening to every noise my own house decided to make. Like I said, creepy! I won't go into the details because I feel like too much information could ruin the vibe of this one, especially if you already know what to expect. In the end, I split the difference between the irritating first half and the stellar second half for a middle of the road rating. My advice would be to grit your teeth and persevere to get to the last half, and then it's everything a sinister thriller should be.
❃❃ARC provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books
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