Story was a little dead

The dead and buried by Kim Harrington

Rating: 2 out of 5 hearts

295 pages

Released: January 2013

Buy it @ book depository

A haunted house, a buried mystery, and a very angry ghost make this one unforgettable thriller.

Jade loves the house she's just moved into with her family. She doesn't even mind being the new girl at the high school: It's a fresh start, and there's that one guy with the dreamy blue eyes. . . . But then things begin happening. Strange, otherworldly things. Jade's little brother claims to see a glimmering girl in his room. Jade's jewelry gets moved around, as if by an invisible hand. Kids at school whisper behind her back like they know something she doesn't.

Soon, Jade must face an impossible fact: that her perfect house is haunted. Haunted by a ghost who's seeking not just vengeance, but the truth. The ghost of a girl who ruled Jade's school — until her untimely death last year. It's up to Jade to put the pieces together before her own life is at stake. As Jade investigates the mystery, she discovers that her new friends in town have more than a few deep, dark secrets. But is one of them a murderer?

Review

"And perhaps heavier than the ghosts were the secrets we carried"

Ok, I have to start by saying that this book wasn't horrible, it just wasn't for me. I was expecting a really chilling story and a mystery behind it to boot. It was all a little sub par.

The idea behind the book was really intriguing and I liked how the book was written. The book was written from the main character, Jade's, point of view but every now again there is a diary entry written from the ghost girl back when she was alive. This was cool because we as the reader get a little more insight to maybe what happened to her, while the characters don't know.

I think what did let me down though was the mystery, I had it pegged from very early on who murdered the girl. At one stage though the author did manage to make me second guess myself which was good. Another thing that let the story down a tiny bit was the less than eerie feel. I was hoping for real moments of spookyness but I didn't get that.

On a little side note, something I really loved was that Jade collects jewelry with precious gemstones in them and It was awesome to read the different meanings for each stone whenever Jade would wear one. It got me inspired to want to have a gemstone collection of my own.

The Dead and buried got two stars from me because I was very disappointed and was expecting so much more from this because it had lots of potential.

On the cover

I've read a couple of books recently where girls are lying on the ground. Its a bit weird, is she dead? If so I don't like the idea of showing off a cover with a dead person on the front. I guess a lot of crime/thriller writers have some sort body part on the cover of their book but I really don't think this books warrants a dead body.

What I'm reading next: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge

We are more than halfway through the year and I am more than halfway through my goodreads 2013 reading challenge. I decided to challenge myself with reading 60 books this year, At the moment I'm 4% ahead of schedule. I wanted to show off all the books I've read so far. I love looking at the different covers, It shows that I have a wide variety of books that I like to read. Here are all the covers so far...

Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you thought and check out my good reads account to see reviews of these books.

Who is the real ripper?

The Name of the star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts
372 pages
Released: September 2011
Buy it @ book depository

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

Review 

"The Name of the star is what you fear"

I have wanted to read this one for such a long time! A Jack the Ripper story sounds really creepy and I like a good creepy tale. But I was a little disappointed. The blurb promises: edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance but all of this was on the slight side.

Yes, there were moments of suspense and humor but the romance was on the cool side and there were small amounts of gruesome horror. I hadn't really read any reviews about this book and didn't know what the mystery behind the story was. Unfortunately that's what let the story down a bit, I was able to pick up on what the mystery was very early on in the book. I don't know if I'm getting better at figuring out the mysteries in books these days or it wasn't hidden very well. I guess after reading that blurb and seeing what the series is called could make you figure it out quite quickly but I never read the blurb. All I knew was that it's a book about Jack the Ripper, so I was expecting lots of horror and suspense.

Rory was a pretty cool character though. She's from Louisiana, so her trying to get used to British slang and sayings was quite funny. I realised that England & Australia have quite a few things in common, like calling it 'Maths' instead of 'Math' and drinking lots of warm tea, not iced tea. I also liked how the book gave us plenty of time to really get to know Rory and the place she spends a lot of her time, it helped develop who she was and let us as readers make a connection with her.

I read this a few weeks ago and I'm finding it hard to bring any feelings back to me, which is probably a bad thing. It shows it was a little forgettable. I did enjoy this and plan on reading the others as it turned out to be a good story, I was just a little let down because it wasn't what I was expecting. So if you're a gore, horror fan then you may want to sit this one out.

On the cover

Everytime I see this cover I think how creepy it looks. So perfect for the feel of the book. One thing though, if that's meant to be Rory on the front cover why is her hair red? Because her hair is brown in the book...

What I'm listening to next: The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Trilogy? I don't think it's necessary

Amber House (The Amber House Trilogy #1) By Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts

368 pages

Released: October 2012

Buy it @ book depository

"I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ."

"Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she's never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds--and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house's past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house's secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever."

Review

The whole premise behind this book - an old house full of treasure & memories, maybe even ghosts sounds fantastic and is right up my alley. After reading this though, it wasn't what I was expecting. It started quite slow and I was expecting a spooky, stay up all night kind of book but it wasn't. I'm not saying this was terrible, it just turned into something different.

Sarah, her mum & her autistic brother are staying in her recently deceased grandmother's house (Amber House) because Sarah's mother is getting it ready to be sold. Sarah's mum used to live in Amber House when she was a little girl but something happened and she never really wanted to come back. I didn't pick the reason why the mother wanted to stay away but other things were quite easy to pick up on. I'm pretty bad at picking out what is going to happen next in movies and in books, so for someone like me to get clued in means others will know the ending quite easily too.

Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed reading it once I got halfway through mainly because the mysterious back story to who this little girl in white is and why can she see & interact with Sarah if she isn't a ghost? Of course with any teenage fiction these days there has to be a love triangle, luckily I was really glad with who Sarah picked in the end.

The ending was really good and I don't think there needs to be a trilogy written, I feel this book was great on it's own. I've seen the blurb for the next book and I don't think I'll rush out to read it when it's released mainly because this ended really well.

My final thoughts are that this would make a fantastic teen movie. It has everything in there. Suspense, mystery, romance, rich guy on a boat and a ball party where the main character can dress up in a ball gown.

Thanks to NetGalley & Scholastic Inc. for my kindle edition.

On the cover

You couldn't get a more perfect cover that tells you what happens in the book. A spooky house, a maze and a ball. But as this was a kindle edition I didn't get to close the book to look at the front cover, which I like to do often. 

What I'm reading next: The Happiest Refugee by Ahn Do