I really loved the writing in this book. It drew me in and I just wanted more. I loved the concept, I loved the narrator, and I just wanted more of Fowley-Doyle’s words. Unfortunately I also wanted more from the story. It was so clear that a twist reveal was coming that when it happened it like “oh okay *shrug*”. I liked the relationship between the family members and friends in this book (though I will give you that the one is really weird and straight out of a reality tv show I saw once). This book is full of weird prose, it’s a great October read (since that’s when the story takes place), and I’ll be reading her next book.

I have such conflicting feelings about this book. The writing style seems to capture what I love most about magical realism and the plot seems to capture what I most dislike about YA lit. If I could excise the maudlin (and distastefully incestuous) romance from it, and half of the teenaged angst, I’d have thoroughly enjoyed the story.

“The house likes this. All the while dancing, the pulsing music, the slamming of so many shoes on the floor, so many drunken bodies against the walls and against each other, so many lips meeting, and hands meeting other places, in shadowy corners and on the dusty mattresses of the smaller bedrooms upstairs. The house revels in it. The walls beat like hearts, the floorboards groan, the staircase moans, and upstairs the bedrooms whisper sweet nothings.”

Colby Minifie’s performance in reading this audiobook really made it work for me. She brought it to life and gave it a warmth that kept me listening, when I would  have probably abandoned it had I been reading the text.

I read this for the Magical Realism square in the 2016 Halloween Bingo.

Ah-ha! Now we're starting to get to the bottom of things. I still like the prose and imaginative imagery. That, together with Colby Minifie's performance on the audio, is enough for me to forget to be annoyed with the first-person present-tense most of the time. The adolescent love drama is getting worse, though. 

So far, the story is pretty interesting. What's up with the "accident season"? Why does it happen, and to just that family? Is it tied to the house they live in, since non-blood relatives are subject to it? Who (what?) is Elsie? What's the deal with the mirror/reflection people?

The writing is pretty good - enough so that, together with an excellent audio performance, I can *almost* not notice first person/present tense. And the story elements are interesting enough that I can *almost* disregard the tedious high-school politicking and adolescent romance. 

I didn't dislike it. I just couldn't get into it. I don't blame the book, either, it's probably just my mood, so I'm not rating it. 

This was supposed to be for my Magical Realism square for Halloween Bingo, and I need that square for my first bingo. After looking around at what others are reading and recommending for magical realism, I decided to break my rule and use one of my Audible credits to get a new book, "The Accident Season". The blurb looked interesting, but what sold me was the audio sample. I'm really looking forward to this one.