LaTanya McQueen

I’m angry. Furious. This had mountainous triggers and I felt each of them.
Kids brought up in a broken world, who experienced trauma and unwarranted hate. Life goes on and they get older. One tries to forget about an experience while the other makes it their sole focus. Nothing has changed in this place, and maybe elsewhere is just as pathetic. The audacity of some of the guests, and how they assume. Is it their f*cked up lineage?! Is it their perceived right?!
I WANTED TEETH! I wanted a raw guttural revenge with these pathetic self centered ancestors.
Did YOU know about those special shoes?! Well, you can’t I know that shit.
I’m giving it 3/5 because I did feel the exposed nerve endings and I wanted revenge. They got off too easily for way too long. Maybe that makes me just as bad? How can you call yourself a human after doing those things to another, and support others to do such also?! I need a cool down…..… (plus d'informations)

Mira grew up in a small town where small minds allowed racism to flourish. She hasn't been back in years, and who could blame her. But she still thinks of Jesse, her school girl crush, and what might have been had things turned out differently. Out of the blue she gets a phone call from her childhood friend Celine, practically begging her to attend her wedding. When they were children, Celine often said they could be sisters, it didn't seem to matter to her that she was white and Mira was not, or maybe it was that the white kids didn't really accept her because she was poor. Maybe she was just using Mira all along. When Mira learns that Jesse will be attending the wedding, she reluctantly agrees to make the drive, even though Celine is getting married on the old plantation where countless slaves were tortured and killed. When they were kids they heard the rumors and ghost stories about the plantation, and may have even witnessed something otherworldly themselves. Now it's all been renovated and turned into a vacation resort where the wealthy and privileged can watch slave reenactments while they pretend there was nothing wrong with owning people. But fresh paint and new construction can't hide what lurks beneath.

This was a more subtle kind of horror, very atmospheric and dark. The pace was a little slow although there is a pervasive sense of "wrongness" before Mira even reaches her destination. More than just a ghost story it shines a light on the stark contrast in the way the haves and have nots perceive the world.

3.5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.… (plus d'informations)

Two stars for the beautiful cover, and how much it fit the theme, and the title put it all together so neatly. I admire that a lot. Well done, author. I don't consider this a horror novel. It had the tropes of one, sure: ghosts from another time reveal themselves to modern time and show something that happened, then there's an action scene of some kind. Three of my favorite haunted house books have those tropes, so I'm positive towards them. This book was mostly sad and uncomfortable. Some of the history, I knew. Some of it was a much-needed history lesson. Everything was horrifying, don't get me wrong. It was awful. It needs to be in every history book. But this book was not scary in the least. It's a character study with weak attempts at action scenes and slow dread that just do not work. What passes for plot are events that come out of nowhere and are barely discussed after. I felt like I was missing something when the book ended. I want to read other stuff by this author; I have a feeling this book was just kind of a dud for me and other works of hers could be great.… (plus d'informations)