Elizabeth from Book YAbber, Marci from The Plot Bunny and I are showcasing Amy Lukavics for the second post for Sisterhood of the Traveling ARC! Because the three of us love reading ARCs, we decided on sharing our ARCs with one another, not only to allow each of us to read a new title, but to promote how obtaining an ARC is not about trying to hoard an ARC for yourself.
ARCs are meant for promotional reasons. We figured that if we can share one ARC amongst the three of us, it means that the publisher is getting three times as much promotion from one ARC. Each of us will be doing a post on the title we decide to share.
Elizabeth, Marci and I have read Lukavics's first book, Daughters Unto Devils and it was just the right amount of creepiness. Her sophomore book, The Women in the Walls, is actually even better than her debut! The Women in the Walls have been on our list since we heard about it at the Halloween Teen Scream event in Salem, MA last October.
Author: Amy Lukavics
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication date: September 27, 2016
Pages: 304
Source/format: ARC from Elizabeth from Book YAbber
Rating: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Synopsis (from goodreads.com):
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.
"Something isn't right in this house."
M Y T H O U G H T S
From the first page, I was hooked. The Women in the Walls devours you whole. From the beginning of the novel, Lucy Acosta knew something is wrong with the house she lives in. With all these random deaths and disappearances, she is suspicious about the house.
Amy Lukavics's sophomore novel blew me out of the water. I read her debut, Daughter Unto Devils last year and I couldn't wait to read The Women in the Walls. And boy, does it not disappoint. Lukavics writes description and dialogue well. The attic, the sinister voices in the walls and the creepy cemetery build up the eeriness. There are some instances of grotesque things in the book but it doesn't hinder the plot.
However, I was not a big fan of the lack of character development with some characters such as Margaret and Lucy's father. I did not see the twist at the end of the book. The ending is crazy but it's perfect!
Lukavics created a masterpiece. The Women in the Walls is equally intriguing, unsettling and chilling. This is a horror novel you want to pick up for sure!
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