#the bargaining

Missing children, a haunted house and unfriendly townspeople arrive in "The Bargaining!"

Warning: If you have not read “The Bargaining” by Carly Anne West, do not read this review if you want to avoid spoilers. If you don’t mind spoilers or already read the book, feel free to read this! I’m back with another book review, and this time it’s “The Bargaining” by Carly Anne West! Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about: “The fact that neither of her parents wants to deal with her is…

I don't read a lot of paranormal books, but the most recent one I read was The Bargaining by Carly Anne West.  It was actually paranormal and horror – so two genres I don't read very much!

I went into the book not knowing what to expect and not actually expecting to be scared (though it was Halloween, so I really wanted to be creeped out).  This book had a slow build up which I think would have been fine, had the details of the mystery not been so hard to piece together and had the ending been more explicit.  But the slow build coupled with a mystery that felt unsolved left me wondering if I had missed something in one of the earlier chapters.

What this book did do well was creep me the heck out.  Maybe I scare easily (and thus stay away from horror?), but I think this book did have some truly creepy moments.  Particularly concerning a particular mural painted in the upper story of the house in the woods that the main character and her step mom are trying to fix up.  *shivers*  What made this read even scarier is that I had a haunted house ambient noise mixer playing in my noise cancelling headphones... ohhhh boy, I was sooo jumpy.  The mix is Death House in Village of Barovia from ambientmixer.com if anyone needs creepy background noise! 

The Bargaining - Carly Anne West

The fact that neither of her parents wants to deal with her is nothing new to Penny. She’s used to being discussed like a problem, a problem her mother has finally passed on to her father. What she hasn’t gotten used to is her stepmother…especially when she finds out that she’ll have to spend the summer with April in the remote woods of Washington to restore a broken-down old house. Set deep in a dense forest, the old Carver House is filled with abandoned antique furniture, rich architectural details, and its own chilling past. The only respite Penny can find away from April’s renovations is in Miller, the young guy who runs the local general store. He’s her only chance at a normal, and enjoyable, summer. But Miller has his own connection to the Carver House, and it’s one that goes beyond the mysterious tapping Penny hears at her window, the handprints she finds smudging the glass panes, and the visions of children who beckon Penny to follow them into the dark woods. Miller’s past just might threaten to become the terror of Penny’s future

Read if You Like:

Horror

Paranormal/Supernatural Stories

Mysteries

Thrillers

Haunted House Vibes

Creepy Woods

Recommended if You Enjoy:

Dawn Kurtagich (And The Trees Crept In)

Chuck Wendig (The Book of Accidents)

Darcy Coates (Gallows Hill)

What I Liked:

The creepy haunted house vibes and the mystery aspect

What I Could Have Lived Without:

The main character was a little tedious at times. As an adult reader, teenage rebellion can only be so interesting.

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