The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Hardback

Published: October 2010

Number of Pages: 224

Book: For Review From Bloomsbury*

Genre: Ghost, Thriller, YA, Pre-Teen, Fiction

“My name is Michael: Michael Vyner.  I am going to tell you something of my life and of the strange events that have brought me to where I now sit, pen in hand, my heartbeat hastening at their recollection.”

A boy, a mysterious guardian and a haunted house with a terrible secret.

When Michael Vyner goes to spend the Christmas holidays with his distant and aloof guardian, he finds himself in a dark and desolate East Anglian house – a house that harbours a terrible secret which it will fight to retain.  Michael’s lonely task soon becomes clear as he is haunted not just by a solitary woman in the mists but by the terrible reason behind her death.

Review:

I don’t know whether it was the writing, the characters or the anticipation and hints of what was to come, but I sped through this book, completely addicted from page one. 

It starts off at the end of the story, with flashbacks that make no sense at the time, but make you want to read on to find out what they’re about more than anything.  You know something huge and scary is there in the book, but you don’t know where or what and you just need to find out. 

Told from the point of view of the main character, Michael, it is about how after his mother dies, he is sent to live with a man (Lord Stephan) he’s never met, but knows because his father died to save him.  The house he’s sent to is thoroughly depressing from the beginning, the only points of light being the servants.  But there’s something evil, dangerous in the house...  Is Michael just going mad or did something terrible really happen there?  Was the woman he saw really there?  And if so, why could no one else see her?

Well, I just had to know the answer to that question from the first sighting of her. 

Michael’s a good character, smart, brave and very good at noticing the little things.  The other characters are good too, getting a nice range, from the mad Lord Stephan to the beautiful Miss Charlotte to the cheerful .

And I must admit, I really didn’t see what happened in the end coming, although I had a mild suspicion on a couple of things.  I would definitely recommend this book, as it has a nice blend of ghosts, scare-factor, and mystery.  Perfect mix!  The only downside is that it’s too short, which makes the end a little abrupt, and that I never found out the time period it’s set it, which kind of bugged me all the way through.  But, despite all of that, a brilliant, smart and spine-tingling read that’s positively addictive.  A must read!

Star Rating:

4 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Tyme’s End by B. R. Collins

Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley


Challenges It's Taking Part In:
100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
British Book Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)
Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
Off The Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)

Happy Reading

Megan

*This book was recieved from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Tyme's End by B. R. Collins

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: ARC

Published: January 2011

Number of Pages: 336

Book: Proof From Bloomsbury*

Genre: Ghost Story, Ghost, Supernatural, Thriller, Romance, Psychological Thriller, YA

Bibi feels out of place wherever she goes – everywhere, that is, except for Tyme’s End, the deserted house she breaks into whenever she thinks nobody is nearby.  There she meets Oliver, the owner, who has returned after ten years away.  Bibi’s and Oliver’s lives become inextricably linked as they are both pulled towards Tyme’s End.  For Tyme’s End is more than just a house.  It is a house that can be by turns romantic, beguiling, sinister and malevolent.  It is a house that once had an evil and manipulative owner.  And anybody who enters Tyme’s End must prepare themselves for terror...

Part supernatural tale, part psychological thriller.  Spans three generations with narrative ease, twisting the tension tighter and tighter with each protagonist’s voice.  A consuming and compulsive read that will have readers on the edge of their seats...

Review:

Bibi feels alone in the world, having been adopted by family friends after her parents died.  And although they love her and she loves them, she’s not theirs, and they’re not hers, not really.  She doesn’t feel at home anywhere, longing for her birthplace in the Middle East. Nowhere, that is, apart from Tyme’s End, the old house in the village where she lives.  There she feels safe, she feels as if she belongs.  And so, when the mysterious owner, Oliver, appears and claims he is going to sell that house, she just has to change his mind.

But why?  What enchantment does Tyme’s End have over her and what possibly could have happened there for Oliver to be so desperate to get rid of it?  And what scared him enough to stay away for ten years?  As the first part of the story goes on, Bibi’s and Oliver’s lives become entwined, as they experience the beauty of first love.  But all the while, through all the magic, there’s Tyme’s End, hanging over the story remotely, hinting at the darkness to come...  For Tyme’s End has a sinister past that involves death, betrayal, and an evil, manipulative owner, H. J. Martin...  (See why it had me hooked?) 

Tyme’s End is made up of three parts, that start in 2006 and end up in 1936, the year of the events leading up to the murder of H. J. Martin.  Each of the three narrators feels real; each has their own unique voice, and I found it incredible that the tale slipped so smoothly between the generations.  I must admit, the first part of the tale is a little slower than the rest of it, but it’s so beautiful you really don’t care.  And, besides, from the first page, even if you don’t really notice at first, B. R. Collins winds up the suspense, tempting you with snippets that make it impossible to stop until you know the reason of the house’s evil: this book is absolutely addictive!  I also love the way the story started at the end and slowly went backwards to the core of the tale; the reason the house is malevolent and evil, the death of the owner.  Beautifully written, Tyme’s End had me hooked from the first page, and haunting and scary, I knew that B. R. Collins could make me believe anything after the first few paragraphs.  A psychological thriller, with a side of ghosts; it builds suspense from the first page, tightening its grip on you with every chapter.  Managing to both shock me by the twists and causing me to be riveted by the evil of the house, I needed to get to the end, to find out who killed H. J. Martin.  An absolute page turner that promises to both chill and absorb you, this book is a must read for all readers who want to be on the edge of their seats for an entire story.  With a killer ending – literally! – this book is absolutely sensational!

Star Rating:

5 Out of 5

Read This Book if You Liked:

What I Was by Meg Rosoff

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley


Challenges It's Taking Part In:
100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
British Books Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)
Horror and Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
Off The Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)

Happy Reading

Megan

*This book was recieved from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Publisher: Arrow books

Format: The Christmas Books Volume I, special edition, with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd

First Published: 1843

Number of Pages: 96

Book: Bought

Genre: Classic, Christmas, Ghost
Recommended Age: 9+
Contains: No: Violence, Sexual or Drug References Or Swearing
Could have some language that's hard to understand for some children

A Christmas classic for more than 150 years, A Christmas Carol tells the timeless story of the cantankerous Ebenezer Scrooge, his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit, and Bob’s frail son Tiny Tim, one of Dickens’s most enduring and popular characters.

When Scrooge, a miserly money-changer, is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future one cold and snowy Christmas evening, all three of their lives change forever...

Review:

With that unique writing style that made Dickens one of the greatest British writers to this day, this is a brilliantly festive story, all about the spirit of Christmas and how to become a better person. Touching and funny in places, it’s the heart-warming tale of how the selfish Ebenezer Scrooge is changed through Christmas, with a few scares and laughs along the way.

Let’s face it, everybody knows the story: Scrooge is greedy, cruel and hates Christmas with a passion. One cold December night, he is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, who has been cursed into roaming the world forevermore because of the unkind, ungenerous deeds he did when he was alive. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be haunted by three ghosts that night, to give him a chance of not ending up like him. And each ghost in turn show him Christmases past, present and yet to be.

Although I already knew the tale so well from all the various adaptations of it into films, reading the actual book is somehow... different. It makes it more powerful, more realistic. Almost as if, I think, you can actually feel the emotions Dickens’s put into it. And back in the 19th century, just after Dickens passed away, a young girl asked, when told of his death, “Mr Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas too?” Shows just how much he was associated with Christmas when his books first came out, and I think this book is still absolutely incredible, and it really feels like he still is an absolute Christmas legend. This is by far my favourite book by Dickens, with its characters that feel so realistic that they almost just off of the page and a plot that has you laughing one minute, scared the next. It shows the consequences of selfishness and of generally being a bad person; you get an excellent read and a useful life skill in one go! Uplifting and full to the seams of Christmas magic, anyone who doesn’t enjoy this story is... well... a Scrooge!

Christmas Star Rating:

5 Out of 5: for good old Christmas cheer!

Read This Book If You Liked:

Most if you like Dickens’ other books, mainly Oliver Twist

If you want a good Christmas book!