"The house surrounds us. I feel like it’s watching me."

This book isn’t really about a dollhouse. Nor is it about creepy dolls. It’s about family secrets and I love those almost as much as creepy dolls so I was good with that. Unfortunately, I guessed the biggest secret way too early and you probably will too.

Sisters Corrine and Ashley are being watched/stalked/terrorized by a third person without their knowledge. Corrine starts to catch on when someone begins leaving pieces of her old childhood dollhouse where she can find them. Everyone else thinks she’s starting to go a little mad. She’s always been a little jumpy, anxiety ridden and seen faces in windows that have spooked her. Recently, she’s been desperately trying to have a child through IVF and this is the conclusion her friends and family jump to – bunch of jerks. Ashley, the sister, has her hands full with a secretive husband who is spending far too much time at work, a baby who won’t stop screaming and who won’t sleep, a teen headed for trouble and mouth-breather phone calls. I felt for poor Ashley. Had I been in her position I might’ve got behind the wheel and just kept on driving . . . 

The heart of this story rests on its day to day family dramas so if you’re not into all of that you may find things a little slow going. I have to admit that I found it a struggle at times and too slow moving and I typically love this sort of thing. This is not a fast paced thriller, by any means. The stressful atmosphere is almost claustrophobic and there’s an underlying sense of dread but discovering that I was right about the “why” behind the big secret with still many pages left, took a lot of the thrill away for me. I was oh-so-wrong about the who though and I enjoyed that tasty little surprise.

This is a nice debut but it wasn’t quite compelling enough to grab and hold my attention, nor did I ever get fully emotionally invested in the characters. I’m giving it a three for those reasons.

On the outside it appears as though Corinne has a perfect life, but after three failed IVF attempts she has one more chance at having a baby. When she finds a little part of a doll house at her door she feels as though it's a good sign. But as more pieces show up she realizes these aren't good signs at all. These are pieces to her childhood doll house. Someone has been inside her home. But why?

Corinne's sister, Ashley, has three children. Her baby girl won't sleep through the night and her  teenage daughter doesn't seem to like her much these days. An exhausted Ashley is becoming more and more frustrated with her husband as he spends more and more time at the office. When phone calls from an unknown number start up, she thinks that maybe her husband is having an affair. What else could phone calls like that mean, right?  

I tried picking this book up a few times, but wow - boring. I was bored until about 25% at which point I was disgusted. I don't enjoy reading about dead animals, real or fictional. And the author mentioned this same animal over and over and over. I get the connection, but there was no need for it to be in the book. It didn't add anything. Neither did the dead pigeon. I hate that and I was so close to dnfing because of this. But anyway, the story eventually picked up. It was suspenseful. I had to find out who was stalking Corinne and Ashley. And then it kind of fell apart for me at the end. So the middle part was fun but overall it's not going to be a memorable book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Digital for an ARC.

I had a hard time with this graphic novel. Since this is the second book in the series, this novel takes right off where the first novel ended and I had no problem following the beginning of this story as Lucien is counting the arcana in the dreaming world for the Dream Lord. Lucien finds there are four major subjects missing and that there is a new vortex who happens to be girl. Dream is already aware of this new vortex as he has seen her watching them and her name is Rose. Rose has been in their dream world yet she is not aware of who these individuals are. Rose and her mom got free tickets to England and on their way, Rose has been napping, experiencing unique dreams that she cannot explain. When Rose arrives in England with her mother, they were whisked away to meet an elderly woman who is later revealed to be Rose’s grandmother. I am thinking something sinister is about to occur as Rose’s dreams are starting to become reality.

Then it happens…… the book becomes jumpy and I am not sure what really happened. Another storyline comes into play and I am thrown off. New characters come out of nowhere and I turn back the page to see if I missed something but there is nothing. I continue reading and again, I think I have stumbled into different characters and another storyline. Finally, I find Rose and she is somewhere different. She is in a hotel room, alone and she trying to locate her brother whom she hasn’t seen in years. New characters are added and I am following her story again but later, I am lost again. This was frustrating but I did continue reading, hoping it would all come together. In the end, it was hopeless for me. I did love some of the illustrations. These illustrations were bizarre, distorted and really unique. The characters looked lost to our world, dark and wanting out. What they meant I have no idea. I tried to picture walk this novel: trying to read the pictures to figure out the nature of the book but I got nothing. I’m throwing in the towel for this novel and the series. Why the stars? For the illustrations and the how the book came full circle.

Olivia is grabbed from the street on her very first day of leaving home for university by two men wearing animal masks and is not seen again for several years. The graphic, gory descriptions of violence are definitely not for the faint hearted and are liable to give some people nightmares. There's a strong sense of menace and fear running throughout the book - a page turner if ever there was one. Could people be as horrible as this pair? One would hope not and it makes you aware of who you might pass in the street, of who might be watching you, which is a good thing. Make sure the windows are closed and the doors are locked! I'm afraid the ending was far too abrupt to be satisfying.

Olivia is ready for the next chapter in her life. She is starting college. Before she even gets to spend one night in her new dorm she is kidnapped. For the next 5 years she is help in a tiny room that is all pink, everything is bolted to the floor and there are 2 kidnappers who never visit her alone. one wears a Gorilla mask, her beats, rapes and tortures Olivia in the most unimaginable ways.  The Jackal stands by and watches and never speaks, but when the Gorilla has had his fun the Jackal cleans her up and tends to her wounds. At first she thinks maybe he could be an adversary but soon realizes he is actually the leader.

Five years later the Gorilla visits her alone and takes his mask off while raping her. She figures out a way to get rid of him and escapes. While escaping she realizes she is not the victim. She finds and releases 2 other girls as well. Now home disfigured and terrified because the Jackal is still free, Olivia tries to put a life together. 

To me this book basically has 3 parts. The first part is the kidnapping, torture and finally breaking free. The 2nd part is Olivia's returning home to her father. Her Father has become an alcoholic during her imprisonment.  Olivia and her Uncle do and intervention on her Father and get him the help he needs. Olivia also talks him into moving. Then the 3rd part of the book is Olivia starting to heal. But we also have the full on return of the Jackal and his plan for Olivia and the other 2 girls he was holding.

The book is a very dark story, but it is also a story of hope and healing. Depends on how you read it.  Like it or not this book is not that far from reality. We hear about these type of things to often lately in the news.  This book is not for the young or the faint of heart. Parts of the book are very hard to read or even think about.  That being said it was next to impossible to put it down though. 

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.