Review: Starter House by Sonja Condit

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (December 31, 2013)
• ISBN-10: 0062283057
• Source:  Publisher

When Lacey and Eric, a young expectant couple, began their home-shopping journey, Lacey knew exactly what she wanted in a house.  Growing up with unstable living arrangements and a flighty mother, she wanted more for her unborn child. When she saw “the house,” she knew it had to be theirs. Their realtor tried to warn her that deaths had occurred in that home, but Lacey would hear nothing of it. The house had to be theirs.

Soon after, a dark presence envelopes the house. The “spirit” of a young boy, Drew, makes his presence known. He’s tied to the house, unable to leave. His temperament is uncontrollable and soon his very existence, along with the dark presence in the home, begin to affect Lacey and her baby physically.  As she begins to investigate the history of the house and its inhabitants, she uncovers the first of many dark secrets: No baby has survived in that home in over 40 years. Determined to save the life of her unborn child, Lacey will stop at nothing to bring to light the secrets that have been haunting this home for all these years.

I’m all about a spooky story and, in a large part, Starter House succeeded at sending chills down my spine. The dark presence, the horrific family secrets long ago buried, all added up to a wonderfully creep experience.  The images of the spirit of young Drew and his emotional outbursts was truly terrifying. I don’t know about you, but creepy ghosty kids truly terrify me.

That said, there were aspects of the story that irritated me. Lacey, before the move, was a teacher. Fine, that’s great. I like teachers. Yet the author repeatedly brought up the fact that she was a teacher, that she would have what it would take to tame this emotional and unruly young ghost.  One or two times, I’m okay. Repeatedly? It makes me feel like the author things I’m an idiot or have a short term memory.

Additionally, there were connections between characters that I think were a bit far-fetching. I’m not going to specifically mention which characters as I don’t want to influence the perceptions or experience of other readers but when you come across it, you’ll understand what I’m referring to.

That said, despite these few issues I did honestly enjoy this novel. Starter House succeeded at spooking me! An impressive debut, I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me the opportunity to participate in this tour. Please be sure to check out the official tour page for additional stops in the tour!