***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

This book is far from perfect but I absolutely adored it.When I first dived into this book, I pretty much had no idea what it was about, I remembered reading the blurb and being intrigued but the only concrete detail I remembered was that this book had something to do with woods. I had thought I was diving into a paranormal book, instead I found myself amidst a horror and a well written one at that.

I am not going to say there weren't loop holes, there were but I think what really matters in a story like this is that the author actually manages to make you the feel the fear the characters felt and I did. I find that I don't frighten easily (although I startle very easily) but when I was reading this book, I was SO JUMPY. Every time someone opened the door, I would freak out. I am just glad I didn't scream!

This isn’t some loosely plotted horror novel. The author takes her time to develop aspects of the story. It isn’t just meant to scare the readers but to actually make them feel more than just fear. To make them connect to the main character (as well as the other characters) and to make them cheer for her not just because someone has to survive but because they like her and want her to come out of this alive!

Penny is a very likeable character. You don’t need a likeable character to make a story work but hey likeable characters are... likeable and Penny is likeable. What I think makes her character a little interesting is the way her own doubt can make her some what of an unreliable narrator. My only complain was that we never actually find much about the ‘old’ Penny. We are given hints as to what she was like but we never really find out more about the kind of affect Rae had on her especially given how much the story focuses on the negative impact Rae’s friendship had on Penny. That said, I did adore Penny. She was far from perfect and that made her all the more rootable.

This book doesn't have any romance (heck yeah) but what it does have is a heep of fantastic secondary characters. My favorite is obviously Rob (who was the stepbrother) but both April and Miller are fantastic in their own right.

April is the stepmother and she can be pushy but the one thing that strikes you about her is that she is genuinely trying to get to know Penny better. I think that’s what gets to Penny too. Her stepmother isn’t the best person on the planet but at least she is trying to reach out to her.

What makes Miller so interesting is how so very abnormal he is. He would be the love interest if this were any other book but he is Miller. I think it’s very interesting to see how he spirals out of control over the course of the book as we find more and more about what has happened to him and the tragedies that he has to live through (and has played an indirect part in).

The author puts so much work into developing the atmosphere of the book and she does it just right. I was genuinely scared and my eyes were glued to the pages. This book is quite frankly, creepy as fuck and I am just incredibly glad I didn’t have nightmares that night.

What makes the horror aspect of this book work so much is that the author actually develops the back story of the events that lead to all this creepy stuff happening. We may not get all the answers but I think in this kind of situation, it's almost impossible to have all the answers. And anyway, what fun would that be?

One of my complains was that the author didn’t actually give us any details about how they were survivng in the creepy house. Considering they were shunned by the entire town, how were they getting supplies? How were they making their food? Assuming everything works is too much of a stretch considering the condition the house was described to be in so yeah... how were they living?

Aside from that though, I thought this was a very well written story and I cannot wait to read more of the author’s works.

There may be a couple of loop holes but all in all, this book is one hell of a ride and a book I’d recommend to lovers of horror and all things creepy.

       Arc provided by Simon Pulse through Edelweiss

       Release Date: February 17

What it felt like reading this title:

Uncovering layer upon layer of truths tightly wrapped in different time dates, never knowing exactly who was going to present them, and what I was going to find next...

Also, it was _what I guess would be _ akin to be blindfolded, with no clue whatever of what was happening, with no compass, and at the  mercy of a vast number of unknown characters, who'd just make an appearance, and would immediately give it's place to another character....

Frustration may arise....and you may found yourself reading and re-reading the initial pages to see if there was something that escaped you...

That's what happened with me, but I do like uncovering a mystery, and the one in this story is gigantic as the Titanic, and also prone to take people with it when it sinks....

The beginning

I guess it depends on the reader. Some will enjoy the fact that _and once again sticking with nautical metaphors _ one has to give all it has to stay floating in this story's reality_, and others will probably DNF it.

The first chapters are simply a teaser of everything scary that will be happening in the end. And let me tell you, that what ends up happening is completely frightening.

However after that, the tale enters a more calm _although fragile _ story's depiction.

There's a heavy psychological drama underway, and that, mixed with the underlying horror that you keep waiting to jump and grab you by the throat, makes reading this at times, a nerve shattering existence.

I can't help however feeling that the story should have been shorter.

I think that that would have given it more strength, making the feeling that it was sometimes adrift, disappear.

I understand why it happened: Including the psychological thriller aspect, it was bound to give this more strength and a greater depth...however it had the consequence of derailing it somewhat from the horror department until the last third of the story.

I am afraid that those who were expecting only an horror story will be disappointed.

However the psychological drama, and all the connections that we see between the characters _the alive ones and the others _are so well done that I had to keep reading, to find out what was going to happen.

For those however who aspect a strong focus on a certain romance?

Yeah, forget about it, lol, that's not going to happen! ;)

 Despite all that happens, the misery, the heartbreak, the trying to recover from what life has brought you, the scary creepy kids...the main focus of this story are family ties.

Author's Official Site

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For me, The Murmurings is one of those reads that you can’t take too seriously. Suspension of disbelief is important, and you can’t get too caught up in logic and technicalities. Saying that sounds ridiculous. In order to enjoy a book, you shouldn’t have to turn your brain off. A truly amazing book will do well under close scrutiny—it may, even, become better, as you look at the author’s intent and execution. With that in mind, it’s probably safe to say that The Murmurings isn’t a “truly amazing” book. But I liked it anyway...

(continue reading)

It looks like I'm going to be the odd one out with this book, but not in the way you might have thought. In a surprising change of events, most of my friends did not like this book or at least, gave it a two star rating. But I did like it. I've been thinking pretty hard about this book and how I want to review and rate it. After a bit of deliberation, I've finally settled on a happy three and a half star rating.

This book isn't perfect, nor is it anywhere near perfect. It has a lot of problems, yet it also has a lot of positive points to it. While the book takes a long time to build up, the last part of the book is more then worth the wait. The supporting characters aren't all that built up but none of them are stereotypes or jerks.

Please take a moment to read the summary again and take a good look at the cover. I'm sure that by now you have vague ideas of what the book is about. Something that involves lots of scariness and creepiness and staying up all night? Nope, sorry.

THE MURMURINGS' summary isn't exactly truthful. It promises the reader a world of paranormal creepiness. Instead, the book turned out to be more of a mild psychological horror, or more appropriately a psychological thriller. There aren't any paranormal or real horror aspects to the book till the last 100 to 150 pages. Instead, West spends her time building up the story and the atmosphere. This may not appeal to some people but personally, I really liked this. 

Sophie, the main character, spends much of the book trying to figure out what exactly happened to her sister and why did she end up dead in an entirely different city - especially since she was "locked away". The book progresses very slowly here but I never felt like I wanted to drop the book. 

In the second half of the book, everything changes. Here enters the evil doctors, mental institutions, torture chambers, death, and gore. This part is the main reason I loved the book to be honest. While I enjoyed the beginning parts and Sophie's struggle with insanity or what she perceived was insanity, I do agree with most people by saying that the second part of the book was the main strength.

THE MURMURINGS avoided many of the standard clichés in YA literature. There was a cute romance that didn't overshadow the plot. It was treated as more of a side plot then the main objective of the story. Sophie's inner turmoil didn't consist of "omg, who do I love?". No, instead it ran more along the lines of "am I fucking insane or what?"

Though I found THE MURMURINGS to be a pretty awesome book, I was very disappointed by the ending. I hate easy endings. The ending wasn't in itself easy but the last chapter ruined the whole ending for me. I expect that when someone walks out of such a traumatic experience to have some scarring but from what it sounded like, everything was happy/



Aside from a few problems with lying blurbs and terrible endings, I surprisingly really liked this book. While it's definitely not my favorite, it was enjoyable and exciting, with just the right amount of scariness for the book. I recommend THE MURMURINGS someone who is looking to spruce up a boring afternoon.

Before I started this book I took one look at the cover, shuddered and then got a little excited.  I am a massive horror fan and I thought this was going to scare the pants out of me, but in truth it didn't.

Actually it was not scary at all and there is no way that I would ever label this book as a horror story at all.  Somehow along the way this book has been massively misunderstood.  All over Goodreads people are talking about how scary it looks, how the cover freaks people out.  I am not blaming them, I WAS one of those people but the problem is that this is not what this book is and I am afraid that people will dislike it
because they wanted to be scared.  The Murmurings is not a ghost story (although there are `ghosts' in it) it is a psychological thriller and it is a pretty good one.

I thought the writing was very good this is Carly Anne West's first novel and it is a promising start.  There are a few moments where I thought it could have been richer, or more developed but for a debut novel this is pretty good.  I cannot fault her for her imagination The Murmurings is different from other books of this sort and has a very interesting storyline that manages to draw me in effortlessly.  There was a few times where I felt things maybe went a little too far but it did not happen often and it did not put me off.

The main character Sophie was likeable and she had to be because she was kind off on her own.  There was no real parental input in this novel or her life, she had no real family apart from an aunt that was more concerned with helping her grieving mother.  She had no friends apart from Evan, the love interest, and things could be awkward between them. Sophie carries this and if you don't like her then you won't like this. There were a few times when she did things that I felt were stupid and I wanted to scream at her to make her stop but it was never annoying enough to put me off her.  She was mostly sensible and genuine.

Evan was sweet to and added some much needed lighter moments.  This is a fairly dark book and his input stopped it from being too heavy.  The romance was sweet and awkward like a lot of new teenage romances are.  I liked the way it was played out, it was not a main part of the book and there was no relationship drama that swallowed up everything else.

The Murmurings is a good thriller that does have some spooky aspects but is far from horror.  I really hope that readers will see this for what it is and not be disappointed in the lack of horror.