Thursday, November 22, 2012

Review: Darkhouse by Karina Halle

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Darkhouse
Karina Halle
Series: Experiment in Terror, #1
Publication date: March 10th 2012
by Metal Blonde Books

 

With all the vampire, werewolf and faerie books out there, it’s easy to become numb to all things supernatural. The antidote? Darkhouse introduces two real and unforgettable characters, Perry Palomino & Dex Foray, amateur ghost hunters who are “attractive, relatable and oddly heroic,” “flawed but loveable,” “slightly crazy” and just the most endearing pair to ever tackle the paranormal…just don’t call them normal. Darkhouse is a thrilling and sexy new take on concepts like Supernatural and The X-Files, bringing a breath of fresh air to a genre that has been inundated with the dead.

*A copy was provided by Karina Halle for review purposes*
Coming highly recommended by so many friends, I couldn’t resist from checking out this creeptastic looking series any longer. All you need to convince me, really, is to tell me it has ghosts–and these are not the sweet ghosts you can fall in love with either (which I will never be fond of), these are evil: truly and relentlessly evil.

Having been reading a lot of Young Adult novels, it was a nice change to get a protagonist that’s a bit older. At 22 years old, Perry is dealing with an unfulfilling job, a non existent sex life, and her bubbly teenage sister. Then she gets a pretty unexpected surprise when she goes to explore an old light house and something… more than normal, occurs. Talk about an exciting start! Not to mention this hot guy she happens to stumble upon–Dex. These characters are a lot of fun to go through this story with. They both have mysterious pasts that lends even more creepy to this story. Dex, especially, with his more than secretive personality. I was always on edge when he was around, yet somehow, I didn’t feel threatened, just highly suspicious. He has this bizarre aura that screams something is not right with this fella. Nonetheless, the two of them have a lot of chemistry, making this book very compelling in a lot of ways.

While the characters are endearing, it takes a little bit to get the story moving along. The pacing at the beginning wanders. Like I mentioned, it starts with a bang when something hugely creepy happens, but afterwards it slows down tremendously until the half way point. I wasn’t bored per say, mostly wondering where the plot was headed. Once we do reach the half way point, however, it’s a pretty fantastic and spine chilling ride until the end. There’s more than enough menacing encounters and strange discoveries to make up for the slower half. If it was not the first in a series, though, I would have been disappointed by the lack of answers from both the characters’ lives and the plot. We don’t get very deep into the mysteries surrounding everything, but knowing there are a lot more books to follow, it simply makes me indefinitely curious for answers. Everything is so cryptic and perplexing, it’s certainly feeding our thirsts for mysteries and the unexplained.

From terrifying old ladies (I mean, she stares! Creepily! And that’s just creepy!), to adrenaline filled paranormal occurrences, this is a book any ghost fanatic should absolutely check out. The description of “Supernatural meets X-Files” says it all! 

4 Hot Espressos
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Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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24 Responses to “Review: Darkhouse by Karina Halle”

  1. Megan K.

    To be honest, DARKHOUSE didn’t really catch my attention when I read the synopsis, but after you mentioned ‘truly and relentless evil’ ghosts, it got my ears perked! Yup, I’m a fan of those ghosts that exist to scare the hell outta peeps. Not those you can go all cuddly with. I’m so glad to hear that the characters were great, and that the story was creepy. 🙂

    Your review definitely makes me want to check the book out, Giselle! Fantastic review!

  2. Mel@Thedailyprophecy.

    I like the fact that the main character is around my age 🙂 I haven’t heard of this book before, but some spooky, evil ghosts are always welcome in a book! I hope that you will get the answers in the next book 🙂

  3. Eileen

    Ooh I’m glad you liked this so much! 🙂 I’m glad the characters were really fun and endearing! I also hate when the pacing is kind of missing on me because I’m like “LET’S GET THIS ROLLING” and then I’m like “….Where is the rolling?” And dude! Old ladies are like my kryptonite. And I’m like the most horrible scaredy cat in the world I screamed when my toaster went off >.< Great review as always Giselle!

  4. Rachel

    Oh I loved the X-files Giselle! It’s nice to read about a little older characters after reading so much YA. I like to go back and forth. I love mysterious and creepy stories packed with chemistry. Wonderful review Giselle. I may have to pick this one up. 🙂

  5. Megan

    Giselle – Karina’s books get better and better! Keep reading!! You won’t be disappointed. This series is one of my favorite series of all time. 🙂

  6. Alexa

    I’ve been hearing quite a bit about this series lately, and I can’t wait to read it for myself. I’m not always a fan of creepy reads, so I’m going to have to wait until I’m in the right mood. It sounds awesome though!

  7. Melliane

    I hope you’ll have more answers in the next one. I didn’t know this one, but once again I just love the cover. It’s funny because with this kind of cover I would have thought the heroine would be younger.

  8. Sam

    Sometimes I get tired of teenaged protagonists and always appreciate one a little older. I’ve heard such great things about this series, especially from Kara. Brilliant review, Giselle!

  9. Amy

    Awesome review chicky!! I have all of them except the one that just came out (and the novellas) and have been wanting to get to them. So many people who I tend to have the same taste with love this series. Now seeing that you gave it 4 espressos too, I have no doubt when I finally do get around to it I will enjoy it.

  10. Kara_Malinczak

    I definitely agree with you on this. I love this series, but the first book was the weakest for me. I still really liked it, but it WAS a little slow and the pacing was off in places. I was also disappointed by the lack of any resolution. I at least wanted something small so it didn’t feel unsatisfying.

    But…BUT, I really loved the story, writing, and characters. I moved on to the second book as soon as I could and they get even better. The third book, Dead Sky Morning, is my favorite so far and I hope I can move on to Lying Season soon. I’m dying to get back to these and find out what happens next.

    So very glad you liked it!

  11. Nikki Jefford

    I finally downloaded this to my Kindle a couple weeks ago and am looking forward to reading it. It turns out Karina now lives on neighboring Salt Spring Island. So close, yet a country away. You Canadians. 😉

  12. Christina

    ‘Older’ protagonist is still younger than I am. Reading all of this YA makes me feel SO OLD.

    Moving on, I really want to read this, because everyone seems to love it. Also, chemistry and terrifying old ladies sounds pretty awesome. I picked up the first one free in the Kindle store, so someday!

  13. Jenni @ Alluring Reads

    Oooh you are at exactly 3600 readers!!!! Woohoo!

    I really want to jump on this series soon. First Kristilyn, then Kara and now you, I know I need to dig in. I love that it is so creepy, it’s so hard to find a truly scary book. Awesome review!

  14. Ali @ Ginger-read

    I read Halle’s The Devil’s Metal earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so picked this one up. Have not had a chance to start it yet but am really excited to. Love a good ghost story and I too am not a big fan of falling in love with them…weird.