I received this book for free from Harlequin Teen in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics
Published by Harlequin Teen on September 27th, 2016
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, YA
Source: Harlequin Teen
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Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They're inseparable—a family.
When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she's ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother's voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.
I literally don’t know how to start this review because there are a lot of things to say but they can all just be covered with a big NO. There is potential in this book but it’s all potential that is unrealized. From the spoilt MC who is a cardboard cutout to the world building, this book is just lacking. It isn’t BAD but it isn’t GOOD which is especially disappointing because I was really looking forward to reading this book.
The MC was a clear let down but I was really upset that the MC’s cutting is not at all talked about in ways that isn’t a character trait. It’s used as a description of the MC in the way an adjective might be used.
There are some interesting relationships that I could have gotten behind but all of them are toxic. There are bad parents, bad friends and there is no positive relationship in the book. I get it, this is not the kind of book you’d read if you wanted cuteness but that doesn’t mean that literally everything has to be awful in the book. It doesn’t make sense, in my opinion, for every single thing to suck with no positive things in sight.
On top of that the entire synopsis is a giant spoiler for the book. It takes 2/3rd of the novel for something to happen and that is way too long given how short the book is. This also meant that all the cool things that actually happened in the last 1/3rd were rushed and just make me ask more questions.
To sum up this very short review, I am not entirely sure I would recommend this to anyone unless they were looking for a quick read with some scary but not a whole lot of substance. It might work for some readers but unfortunately did not do much for this one.
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