Audiobook Review: The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

Title: The Amityville Horror
Author: Jay Anson
Publication Date: August 1, 1977
Publisher: Pocket Star Books
Pages: 256
Add to Goodreads

The shocking true story of an American dream that turned into a nightmare beyond imagining...

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in the house, but the property - complete with boathouse and swimming pool - and the price had been too good to pass up. Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror...

This is the spellbinding, bestselling true story that gripped the nation - the story of a house possessed by spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena too terrible to describe.

When I first grabbed an audiobook copy of The Amityville Horror, I was pretty excited about reading (listening to) it. I'm a huge horror junkie and I really loved the movie (2005) based on the book, even if some of the details were totally different. Of course I'd really enjoy the book, right? Well, this is one of the few times I can honestly say the movie was better.

I feel like I should preface the rest of this review with a kind of disclaimer. Yes, I know the book was presented as non-fiction when it was first released in 1977 and no, that doesn't bother me. I'm not a believer in ghosts and poltergeists and I'm very aware that this is, in fact, a work of fiction that is based on real events. This doesn't offend me as it seems to have some other reviewers. I'm totally okay with fiction "based on true events." Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, I'm cool with it. That isn't why I didn't love The Amityville Horror.

This book just didn't work for me. The writing style (perhaps because it was marketed as non-fiction) was very dry and "factual." The things that should have been terrifying, like an invisible marching band or a moving lion statue, were not nearly as frightening as they could have been. What really disappoints me about this book is the missed potential. This story could have been the kind that would keep me up late at night with the lights on! Instead, I was able to listen to this while getting ready for bed and then go right to sleep. The only truly scary scenes in this book had to do with the pig. Because... um... humanoid pigs? Nope.

The characters were fine, no real issues there. I could definitely feel the slow creeping insanity that came over George and Kathy as the book went on. I only wish the rest of the book was written in such creepy detail as the development of the characters as they discovered more and more things going wrong in their house. That being said, these characters are dumb. A normal person would leave a house as soon as basically anything in this book started to happen. But I can't really blame the author of this book for that since this seems to be the theme in most haunted house books and films. Father Mancuso seemed to be the only one with any common sense.

I really wanted to love The Amityville Horror! I chose it as my first Horror Challenge read of the year for a reason. Unfortunately, it was a total let down. I would definitely point others away from this book. There are way better horror novels out there. But the movie is still near the top of my list!

Feature & Follow #32: Bookish doubles

Happy Friday, fellow book lovers! Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The goal of Feature & Follow is to meet new bloggers, make friends, and gain readers.

This Week's Question: 

Do you own any doubles of your books?
What led to getting that second...or third or fourth...copy?

There is only one book that has ever made me want to own multiple copies: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I know it's totally unrelated to anything I would normally read, but after I was forced to read this book in my 12th grade English class, I was obsessed. I've since made it my mission to find old copies of Wuthering Heights and I'm slowly getting closer to a first edition as I get older and more financially stable. 

Editions from 1927, 1939, 1942, and 1980.

Oh, and here's the song by Haley Westenra, which I was also obsessed with in high school:

Book Tour & Giveaway: Hydro by A.C. Waltower

Title: Hydro
Author: A.C. Waltower
Publication Date: September 19, 2014
Publisher: Waltower Publishing
Pages: 302
Add to Goodreads

The year is 2091. 75 years ago, a nuclear war desolated Earth. The top 2% of the world fled to Hydro, a compound on the Moon. The rest of the population were left trying to survive on a barren Earth.

Seventeen-year-old Blake lives on Earth with his dad and little brother. When Blake’s father is given the grave sentence of terminal cancer, Blake decides to save his dad by sneaking onto Hydro and making a deal with Hydro’s council. In exchange for them saving his dad, he will give them the answer to everyone’s problem; the location of a new habitable planet.

The unexpected and unannounced arrival of Blake leaves many citizens with mixed feelings, none more confusing than those of sixteen-year-old Ziva. The more she learns about Blake and where he comes from, the more she learns that not everything she is being told about the situation on Earth in true, including those told by her beloved grandfather. Why has he been lying to her? And more importantly what is he hiding from her?

Purchase

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

Excerpt

“Here,” Nicole says, handing me a gun. She is standing next to Danny, Levi’s brother. I give
him a hello. I notice that he is loading up also.

“Are you coming?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says. Danny is an orphan. The group found him wandering the streets
crying and starving. Levi’s mother took him in and raised him as her own.

Ziva and Martin are idling behind me. Nicole attempts to hand Ziva a weapon. Instead
of taking it, she looks up at me.

“No,” I say to Nicole.

“They need weapons,” Danny agrees.

 I shake my head while Nicole gestures for Ziva to take the gun.

“No,” I say again, shaking my head.

“Yes,” Nicole says. I catch a glimpse of the fear that creeps onto Martin’s and Ziva’s
faces.

“Trust me, if they get caught the squadron won’t do anything to them,” I say.

“Yes, but they have to recognize them first,” Nicole argues.

I catch her drift. “Fine, take the weapon,” I resign.

“If you don’t know how to protect yourself, you are a liability,” Nicole says. She hands
them each a weapon.

Cautiously they look at each other and take the guns offered.

“Only shoot if you have to,” I warn them.

They nod.

I have a gut feeling this is not a good idea.

“It’s very easy to use. Just aim and shoot.” Nicole smiles.

“Keep the safety on,” I warn them. They anxiously nod and flip the safety on. “And
keep your finger off and away from the trigger.” 

About the Author

My name is AC and I am an aspiring writer. I've always had a passion for writing, but find it difficult to write while juggling long hours at my day job. I, also, had to get the courage to publish my work, but this has always been a dream of.

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday #32: Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

Happy Wednesday, fellow book lovers! This week's "can't wait to read" is:

Sweet
by Emmy Laybourne Publication Date: June 2015

*People would kill to be thin.*

Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

*But will they die for it, too?*

Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.

Um... hello?! Did you read that blurb? This book sounds awesome! I enjoy cruises while being simultaneously terrified of the ocean, but I love the idea of stories about people being stranded at sea in horrifying situations like the one I think this book is going to be about. While the description doesn't give much away, it's enough that I know I definitely want to read this book!

---

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Top Ten Tuesday #28: 2014 releases I still need to read

Today's Topic: 

 Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant 
To Read But Didn't Get To

This topic was by far the hardest to narrow down to ten. While I totally love the blogging world for keeping me up to date with new books, it's kind of disheartening to see all of the amazing ones you know you just won't get to! Hopefully I'll be able to read some of these this year - I've already purchased Servants of the Storm, so that one for sure!

        

  

After the End by Amy Plum

Crane by Stacey Rourke

Creed by Trisha Leaver & Lindsay Currie

Cress by Marissa Meyer
Jackaby by William Ritter

        

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
Ruins by Dan Wells

Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Winterspell by Claire Legrand

---

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish -  a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers. Each week they post a new Top Ten list and everyone is welcome to join. Click here to get involved!

Book Review: Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Title: Ensnared (Splintered #3)
Author: A.G. Howard
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pages: 384
Add to Goodreads
Reviews for book 1, book 2, and book 3.5

After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world--a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?

When the final chapter of the Splintered series arrived on my doorstep last Tuesday, I was feeling a lot of different feels. I was super stoked that it had finally arrived, but I was really sad that such a wonderful series was going to end. I didn't know what to expect and, as a diehard member of Team Morpheus, I was terrified of not getting the ending I so desperately wanted. As I cracked open the beautiful cover and dived in, I kept my fingers tightly crossed in hopes that A.G. Howard wouldn't let me down.

And she didn't.

Ensnared is just as perfect as the previous two in the series - maybe even more so. The book begins as Alyssa and her dad prepare to enter the looking-glass world in search of Jeb and Morpheus who they hope are still alive, whole, and sane (well, as sane as they ever were). But that's not all Alyssa is looking for there... She has a plan to beat Red once and for all. She just has to keep it a secret from, well, everyone. Once they find Jeb and Morpheus (obviously), things are not as they should be, though they did manage not to kill each other in the meantime, and Jeb has discovered a new side of himself that Alyssa isn't sure she likes.

While I'm obviously not on the Jeb train, I did enjoy watching Alyssa and Jeb continue to discover the limits of their relationship. Even more than that though, I enjoyed Alyssa and Morpheus! Morpheus is up to his old devious ways, trying to constantly one up his competition (and succeeding, in my opinion). Favorite Morpheus quote:

"If you'll but be mine, your heart will forever be sheltered in my care...For although you've made me feel things I am not equipped for...I cannot stop feeling them...You opened Pandora's box within me...and there is no closing it ever again."

-Ensnared, page 212

Simply stated, this book is beautiful. The characters are beautiful. I loved watching Alyssa grow and find herself, becoming the mad queen that she was born to be. The worlds and landscapes are as beautiful and mad as ever. I loved the looking-glass world despite the fact that it was supposed to be an ugly, terrible place. Even the story itself is beautiful. Ensnared is much like Splintered and Unhinged in that Alyssa is constantly pulled back and forth between her two lives and the two men she cares about, though now there are more serious consequences for her indecisiveness. The madness is real with this one and I found myself with head spinning more than once as some scheme or another came to light.

And then there was the end... I've seen mixed opinions on the ending of Ensnared. I, for one, was not quite sure what I would think once I had a good idea of where it was heading. Without giving too much away, A.G. Howard did a perfect job of wrapping up the series and the love triangle in a way that really worked for me, although I can see why it might leave some people a little peeved.

I can't find anything I didn't love about this book! I'd give Ensnared a million stars if I could! My only real complaint is that it ended when it did. I've recommended this series to everyone and now, after reading the series ending, I have no regrets about doing so (unlike some other series I loved until the ending let me down). Seriously, if you haven't picked up this series yet, I don't know what's stopping you. You're going to regret waiting so long!