Dream House

by Marzia Bisognin

From YouTube sensation Marzia “CutiePieMarzia” Bisognin comes a debut young adult paranormal thriller about a girl whose dream house quickly becomes a nightmare.

When Amethyst stumbles upon the house of her dreams, she can’t help but be enchanted by it, even if there’s something a little…off about the place.

It’s everything she’s ever wanted in a home, so when the Blooms invite her to stay the night to avoid an impending storm, she instantly accepts.

Yet when she awakes the next morning, alone and unable to bring herself to leave, Amethyst comes face-to-face with unexpected twists and turns—like Alfred, the creepy gardener; Avery, the handsome but secretive neighbor, and a little girl who keeps appearing and vanishing within the house.

As Amethyst searches for the Blooms and tries to unravel the truth, her connection to the house only grows stronger. Will she be able to break free of the house’s allure, or will its secrets keep her trapped forever?

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Mystery, Thriller

213 pages, Hardcover

First published June 25, 2015

About the author

Marzia Bisognin better known by her YouTube username CutiePieMarzia, is an Italian YouTube personality.

Reviews

[Sara (sarawithoutanH) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was sent this book by Atria/Keywords Press in exchange for an honest review.

I personally think Marzia is an adorable person and I quite enjoy her youtube presence but I unfortunately did not enjoy a single page of this book. I had to stop reading it around page 115 because of how terrible it was. The plot reminded me of one of those free unrated horror movies you can get from Comcast OnDemand - except worse. The main character Amethyst had zero personality and none of her motives made any sense. I'm seriously expected to believe that homegirl was j chillin in this haunted house for 30 days just because she wanted to thank the old couple that let her spend the night once???? That makes -39874873 sense. Her name was not even introduced into the story until page 29. I understand that this was initially written in Italian, but the English translation was extremely awkward - at times I wondered if they had used Google Translator. While I think it's great that a youtuber published a book that is not a memoir, I do think this book was solely published because of who wrote it.

[Laure Porché · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me preface this by saying I'm a reader for a publishing house and it is my job to read international YA novels and recommend them (or not) for publication.

This is so, so bad. I didn't even know who the author was when I started reading, but I guess it makes sense in a way, though it is no excuse for putting something that bad on the shelves. Writing a book is not just about having good grammar. You actually have to create believable and relatable characters, a compelling plot, all those details that writers spend a lifetime working on, you know.

Here we have a heroine who hasn't got any kind of personality, reacts to terrifying encounters by going to bed in the same house she has had them in, asks herself almost no questions about her situation and, when she does, ignores anything that might bring her an answer. Listing all the incoherences would take me all day. Not only that, but there is absolutely no point to this story whatsoever, no character development, no depth to anything. If you want to read a good ghost story, skip this one (this is 3h you'll never get back) and pick up the amazing BOO, by Neil Smith. I can only recommend the author does the same and learn.

[Maria Lavrador · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sinceramente, que perda de tempo... confesso que só o li até ao fim porque era pequenino e queria ber até que ponto a escritora ia. Uma história sem pés nem cabeça, com personagens completamente sem substância, a unica coisa que gostei mesmo neste livro foi a capa. Escrito por uma blogger, ela que continue com o seu blog, que parece ter bastante sucesso e esqueça a escrita de livros de ficção

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm seeing an abundance of one star reviews for this book, and I honestly have not seen any real justification for it. Just look at the cover art for this novel- dreamy and ethereal, it tells you that it's not going to be your run-of-the-mill horror fixation full of gore and dismemberment. Just by looking at it, it seems mysterious. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt it was a pure thriller, with old-fashioned scares and dread that builds up suspense. I feel those who gave this such a bad review were expecting ghosts and goblins out of every crack in the ceiling. This novel utilizes a slow-boil style of building up the sense of fear with every passing decision and reasoning that the main character, Amethyst, stumbles into.
A lot of the reviews discuss over the displeasure of Amethyst's way of going about through the story, saying that her actions would be very unbelievable, this is fiction by the way, in real life. I think Amethyst's blatant disregard for all of her attacks and encounters with something of the other realm contributes to the creepy factor of this book, causing the reader to truly infer that something is completely backwards with this house, so much so that she seems to have been put under a trance. I see that many readers have shown their disapproval with Amethyst's choice to stay in this home and her reason why, to thank the Blooms for their kindness. That itself should be pulling the reader in more than draw away. With such a strange reason to stay in a complete stranger's house, it surely made me want to continue on to see why Amethyst is so compelled to do so, after many warnings that she should retreat elsewhere.
I've seen some users comment on the grammar used in this novel as well. The only thing I really have to say about this is that it does incorporate a lot of common grammar used in Britain, with different wording and phrasing than an American would usually use or hear. In my opinion, her wording seems delicate, proper, and almost somehow foreign, in almost a purposeful way to cause us to question where exactly this story takes place; Europe, North America, Asia? And, to many readers' disbelief, the text is grammatically correct.
Bisognin uses many literary techniques and motifs to beautifully craft this underrated spectacle. Her way of repetition, whether Amethyst's post-trauma kitchen raiding or her insistent way of confiding in her stranger of a neighbor nightly, gives foresight into the satisfying ending of such a roller coaster of a mystery.
I know that this book has a heavy hammer against the spine for the sole reason of the author being a YouTube personality. I honestly do not see what the stigma is with books being written by YouTubers. I do not feel that it should be an automated thought that the book will be a dud, but it seems that many have taken the author's name and background in vain with the story itself. I do not see how writing a bad book will have to do with being a social media fixture.

[beautyliterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update: After rereading this book I found the book to be okay so a 2/5 stars is perfect.

Non-Spoiler Book Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV9ET...

I am a huge fan of psychological/thriller movies and personally, I haven't read too many psychological/thriller books. For me, I feel that the psychological/thriller genre in book format is very hard to convey. There are so many elements and sometimes it might be hard to really flush out the story correctly. There were certain things I liked, for example, the ending since we got to see the book wholeheartedly and other things that made me not enjoy the book as much. I love the fact Marzia went with this idea and decided to do something completely different from other YouTubers who also wrote books.

*Was sent this book by Atria/Keywords Press in exchange for an honest review as part of the promotional book tour*

[Wendy Darling]

A frighteningly loud crashing noise awakens me from what seems to be a weird yet wonderful dream, and I'm surprised to find I'm actually here, in the same room where I went to sleep.

-- Page 7

I guess you could put down some of this to inexperience and English as a second language? Hope all these YouTube book deals are worthwhile for you, publishers.

A(n unsolicited) copy was provided by the publisher for this review. DNF.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all, I would like to say that this book was sent to me for a YouTube tour. I very much appreciate that I was sent this book, and I'm no way trying to sound ungrateful. That being said, I won't let being sent a book influence my opinions on it.

It's a really rare day when I DNF a book. And an even rarer day that I give a book 1 star. But Dream House, or at least what I could read, was terrible. When a book takes you 29 pages for you to learn the main characters name, you can realize what kind of a book it is. The main character in this book has as much depth as a paper doll; she is living in someone else's house, and refuses to leave. It's not her house! She doesn't think situations through, and she doesn't have a brain. She shows no signs of character growth, and we know nothing about her. There is no plot to this book. Every chapter is a day in the protagonist's life in "her" house (which isn't her house, by the way!), and the main things that we are told about is that the protagonist is hungry. Almost every day has a reference to hunger in it. I was on page 135 when I stopped reading this, and believe me, I tried to give this a good effort. This book is putting me in a slump, and I just can't stand it. Sorry to anyone who genuinely loved this book, but it is one I would definitely skip.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amethyst arrives to her dream house on a dark and stormy night. When the blooms let her come in and stay the night, Amethyst enters the dream house. Amethyst wants to thank the couple for their hospitality but finds out that she is all alone in the house. Can she find them and figure out what is keeping her there in the house? Read and find out for yourself.

This was a pretty good ghost story. It was spooky and more. If you like ghost stories, definitely check this book out at your local library and wherever books are sold.

[Kelly Gunderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out this and other reviews on my young adult book blog, my link text

This book gets a rare 5 stars from me, because it was just that absolutely fantastic that it has earned a special place on my "Will probably read again like 20 times this year" shelf.

I haven't seen much hype about this book from other bloggers, and I've never watched Marzia Bisognin's YouTube channel, so I honestly had no idea what to expect when I picked this up. But, as you all know, I'm in love with the horror genre, and I never pass up a potentially awesome novel that falls into that category. Plus, once I read the synopsis for this book, I knew it something I absolutely HAD to check out!

Dream House starts off with what feels like one mission: to absolutely confuse the reader and lull them into a nice suspense filled cocoon. And what a mighty fine job it does. I spent the first few chapters wondering what was going on...we don't really know anything at all about our main character (except that her name is Amethyst, and we pretty much only know that because the description tells us what her name is). Amethyst stumbles up to this house, and instantly knows that it's the house of her dreams - it's beautiful and everything she's ever wanted in a home.

"I somehow have the strangest sensation that this is all I have ever dreamt of, ever since I was just a little girl - of owning a modest yet exquisite house, a house like this, surrounded by fields and the odd neighbour."

So she stands there, pretty much staring at this beautiful house, until a kind couple opens the door and invites her inside to get out of the rain. She accepts, and that's when things start to get weird for her.

Soon the man and woman disappear - Amethyst has no idea where they have gone or when they are coming back, yet she keeps telling herself that she has to stay and thank the couple for their hospitality. She meets Avery, who lives next door, and the two of them manage to strike up a friendship, so she at least has that. However, she starts having dreams of a little girl living in the house, saying the creepiest things, and an old woman coming to the door and insisting that she leave the house, or she will be stuck there forever.



Doors open and close on their own, she hears noises and people whispering, and Amethyst swears she knows someone else is in the house, even though no matter how hard she looks, she can never find anyone else. After a few days, she meets Alfred, the gardener, who seems a little grumpy and strange, and even when she asks Avery about him, all he can say is that she should probably stay away from him.

As the dreams get more vivid and more weird things begin happening, such as the refrigerator magnets moving themselves around to spell out messages for her, Amethyst starts digging in order to solve the mystery that's going on.

Dream House is set up so the chapters reflect each day that Amethyst spends in the house. I thought this was a really cool way to set up the book. Watching Amethyst solve the mystery about the house and herself is addicting - I finished this book in one sitting and wanted more instantly. Sure, it was confusing in the beginning, but by the end of the book, all of your questions get answered (and I even got a case of the super-feels at the end). There are a lot of creepy psychological elements to this book, which really add to the suspense. While I didn't have a hard time figuring things out once I got halfway through the book, it still was shocking at the end when everything was revealed (and it's done so in a way that makes the entire book add up).

Dream House was beautifully written and a wonderful addition to the YA horror genre. Marzia Bisognin needs to write more horror novels - she has an incredible talent and I'll definitely be picking up anything else she writes!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Clube dos Livros · Rating 1 out of 5]

Link: http://www.clubedoslivros.pt/2016/05/...

A Casa Misteriosa, chega-nos através da Quinta Essência, como sendo um livro num ambiente rarefeito, perturbador e emocionante que jura mesmo que nos irá manter colados até à última linha, a juntar a isto, adicionamos à formula a sua criadora – a Youtuber Italiana mais famosa do mundo.

Amethiyst é a rapariga que aparece misteriosamente diante de uma casa Neoclássica de sonho, e que após esperar ao seu portão, acaba por ser convidada pelos donos a entrar que a recebem e lhe indicam que passe lá a noite, devido ao meu tempo que se forma no exterior.
Amethyst aceita, mas para sua surpresa no dia seguinte não vê os donos e por considerar ser algo que deve fazer, fica pela casa para agradecer a amabilidade dos donos até ao regresso dos mesmos. A sua estadia na casa, acaba por ser de 31 dias, e a cada dia vamos acompanhando as estranhas e misteriosas situações com que se vai deparando. Com o tempo, Amethyst acaba por conhecer Alfred, o jardineiro da casa que tão bem trata dos jardins envolventes da propriedade, e o jovem vizinho Avery, que acaba por representar algo mais para ela do que apenas um vizinho.

Comprei o livro pelo título, capa e sinopse. Empolgado inicio aminha leitura, e a nível de organização o livro está engraçado, dividido por dias, ou seja, descobrimos que estamos no mês de outubro quase no final do livro, portanto temos 31 dias, que são no fundo 31 capítulos. Espaçamentos e tamanho de letra, muito bons, até aqui tudo bem.
“Dia 1” do livro, leitura e capítulo, após 3 parágrafos vi logo que algo não ia bater certo, pois a capa não me transmitia em nada o que a casa que vendia, jardins idem aspas, enfim… nada faz o match, ou seja, o meu cérebro formatou-se para uma casa sombria tal e qual a capa, mas ela não é assim. Pelo menos eu nas descrições não a vejo assim, não é nenhum estilo neoclássico, não tem a frente imponente grega como a autora a descreve, não existe alpendre, não existem pedras a formar caminho desde a rua até o alpendre, não é branca, enfim, a foto da capa nem para a arrecadação se enquadra. Continuo eu a com a ideia em mente de “Paulo, ignora lá isso. Capa é capa, o que importa é que está dentro e ponto final.”. Chego então num ápice ao final do “Dia 4”, começo a odiar a escrita, tal como se esta fosse de inergume para inergume. Volta a minha consciência e diz-me “lê lá isso, foi para isso que o compraste” ora vamos lá até ao fim e chega.

História sem conteúdo na maior parte das vezes, personagens sem interesse algum cheias de mistério mas sem nada para nos dar, não se cria empática com nada nem ninguém (vá eu criei com o sofá e o frigorífico).
A nível editorial, não esperava tal coisa da Quinta Essência, uma revisão editorial tão má (gente, é o vosso trabalho, o livro já era mau mas faltar letras e palavras, tornou-o ainda pior).

Marzia, sendo uma “guru” youtuber assim tão… sei lá eu como, esperava que essa cabecinha deitasse cá para fora algo melhor já que há imensa criatividade por aí… mas não. Toda a gente sabe que as pessoas dormem, acordam, comem, vivem, e morrem. Mataste o livro ao denunciar a capa do jornal nos inícios, foi dada demasiada informação inútil pelo livro fora. Se existem espectros, que não agarram matéria física num segundo, no segundo seguinte não o vão conseguir fazer e depois voltam a não conseguir, ok?
Se a ideia era tornar o livro algo de sobrenatural, perturbador, e ao mesmo tempo romântico, esquece este livro foi um desastre e a única coisa de perturbador foi ver que escreveste algo tão péssimo.
Fica a dica, se algum dia tiveres a sorte de ler e perceber o que escrevi – mantém longe qualquer ideia relacionada com escrever o que quer que seja vai comer umas gomas, se não passar, dedica-te apenas aos vídeos, a viajar e a publicar coisas dessas ridículas como o vídeo sobre Lisboa que fizeste há semanas.


P.S.: Isto é pura e simplesmente a minha opinião sobre este livro, certamente alguém o vai amar, adorar, gostar ou mesmo detestar e odiar.
Não se deixem influenciar por mim LOL

[Maria João (A Biblioteca da João) · Rating 2 out of 5]

4 de 10*

Na minha opinião, um livro, seja ele de que género for, tem que ter um elemento essencial, a coerência. A acção pode até ser passada num local inexistente criado pelo autor, ter cenas de magia, ter situações paranormais, o que quer que seja tem que ser contextualizado e ser coerente. O autor tem que ter em mente que o leitor apenas acredita na sua história se a mesma respeitar a inteligência de quem lê.
E é precisamente a coerência o elemento em falta neste livro.. Ainda tive esperança, até ao final, que uma qualquer reviravolta me fizesse entender tudo aquilo que li desde as primeiras páginas e me deixasse de queixo caído, mas tal não aconteceu.

Comentário completo em:
http://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.pt/...

[marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna rečenica u ovoj knjizi savršeno opisuje atmosferu kojom odiše radnja:

“Such a peaceful atmosphere - and in the creepiest place I’ve ever visited in my entire life.”

Marzia je stvorila roman koji je horor priča ispričana na tako ugodan, opušten i ušuškan način da sam u toku čitanja stao i zapitao se kako je moguće da knjiga sa jezivom tematikom budi takve emocije u meni... CutiePieMarzia mi je jedna od dražih javnih ličnosti, a sa njenim radom sam se upoznao na njenom YT kanalu, gde je pored redovnog sadržaja objavljivala kratke klipove (uglavnom animacija) horor tematike. Još tada sam video da ona ima dara da ispriča interesantnu, napetu i misteričnu spooky priču, a ovim romanom, njenim prvencem, je to samo i potvrdila. Voleo sam svaki trenutak misteričnog roler kostera zvanog “Dream House”, kao i završetak koji je bio tačno onakav kakav sam se potajno nadao da će biti.

Postoji puno razloga zbog kojih mogu da kažem da mi je ovo jedna od najdražih knjiga na mojim policama. 🙈💚

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to check out Marzia's book for quite some time and I finally got the chance. Unfortunately, I did not like it as much as I hoped I would.

I disliked the writing style. Some words felt out of place. Some sentences did not feel natural. Probably due to the fact that Marzia's native language is not English. I don't know.

The story as a whole was alright but definitely nothing special or different.

It reads quickly and easily and I think that maybe a younger audience - middle grade - would enjoy it a lot. :)

[Malinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would like to start by saying that I love CutiePieMarzia. I think she is a sweet and wonderful human being and I love that she chose to write a novel instead of a memoir, as most YouTubers do when they write books. That being said, my review does not reflect Marzia as a person. I will still watch her videos and support her, even though I did not particularly like this book.

NOTE: I understand that there are some grammar issues in this novel, but I'm not going to hold that against the author since I don't doubt it was more of a translation issue since the translator doesn't seem very good and this originated in Italian

Unfortunately, while I wanted to enjoy this book, I didn't. The main character was dull, the story was incredibly slow, and while I was happy there were a few twists, they were very predictable.

First, this book seems like it would have been more successful as journal entries rather than just a first person narration of current events because I wanted to scream over how often we were given descriptions of Amethyst eating food.

I appreciated the concepts in this novel, but they were not executed very well. While I personally guessed all of the main plot twists, they were also delivered in a way that was very anti-climactic.

The only character that had any depth was Alfred, which was disappointing because clearly the story focused on Amethyst, and somewhat on Avery, neither of which were given much depth.

I think as a first novel, it was a good try for Marzia. If she were to take the criticisms from this book I think she could go on to write a good second novel. This one had interesting concepts and ideas, and with better character development and execution, she could create something worthwhile. For now though, I would skip this one unless you're a fan of Marzia and curious to read her work.

[April Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Tash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly enjoyed this book. At first it was for the most part pretty predictable (to me anyways), but most importantly the end completely surprised me but in a good way. I actually loved the ending and it's been quite awhile since I've actually liked an ending out of all the books I been reading lately. I never would've guessed who the little girl was this entire time. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good paranormal read. It's not exactly meant to be a "scary" book, though it completely annoys me that people always tend to think just cause its a paranormal genre that it must be scary, but more so a mystery that maybe one part of the mystery of Amethyst might be more easily figured out but the whole mystery together definitely takes you for a spin!

[Joana’s World · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro pequenino, que tenho de admitir, gostei bastante. Foi um pouco estranho no início e meio confuso, mas mesmo assim com aquele toque de terror e suspense que, por vezes, parecia que estava a ver tudo num filme. Aquele final que me surpreendeu porque não estava mesmo à espera.

[Angy Potter - Collector of Book Boyfriends · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook Review: 4,5 stars

This audiobook was awesome!! Terror isn’t my usual genre to read—I’m a chicken, especially when it comes to ghosts—but the enticing cover and synopsis were enough to made me listen to this amazing audio.

My first impression when I hit play was: Oh, the narrator has a British accent! YES! I know I will love it. Fiona Hardingham captivating voice, soft and young, made my interest about this audiobook increase. And then, the story started and I was hooked. The great plot, along with well developed and enigmatic characters made this horror story more interesting by the moment. And of course, Marzia Bisognin writing style was flawless and fluent. The whole package was perfect.

Dream House is the story of Amethyst. She found herself standing in front of a beautiful house wondering who would live there and then, she was invited to come inside by an elderly couple who were very gentle and very kind with her. And here is when the weird things started happening. Who in her right mind would invite a complete stranger to stay the night? And who would accept such invitation? Well, The Blooms and Amathyst did. Then, the second stranger thing happened: They weren’t in the house the next day when she woke up!—Creepy right?—, but they left clothes and food for her and she felt the need to thank them for their hospitality and she waited, and waited and waited for them. She spent a month in the house. She met the gardener, the neighbor— grins, this was my dose of romance in this book, thank god —, a weird old lady and a little girl. All these people were weirder and spookier and everything yelled to her: GET OUT OF THAT HOUSE! But she didn’t leave—if I was there, I would have never gone inside the house, thank God I’m not a character in a horror book or movie, because I’d ruin everything *chuckles*.

Anyway, she found out about so many awesome but strange things every day she spent in her Dream House. Every chapter in this book is each day she spends in the house, and I felt drawn to this story with every minute I listened to this audiobook. And despite my fear, I kept going, amazed with every discovery of Amathyst and just like in a good horror movie, halfway through I thought the mystery of it all was solved, but NO, NO, NO. There was more to add to the story and I loved it all. I even cried in the last chapter. It had the best ending ever.

Interesting note : This has nothing to do with the book, but go check Marzia’s Youtube Channel CutiePieMarzia, it's really interesting .

[Donatella Principi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recensione @ Chibiistheway

Non amo le storie dell'orrore, ma questo libro è stata una vera sorpresa, mi ha tenuta incollata dall'inizio alla fine. Inizialmente ho trovato poco convincente e inconsistente la storia: di Amethyst non sappiamo nulla, se non che vuole restare a tutti i costi in una casa non sua dove albergano presenze oscure che sembrano volerla mandare via. Sembrava non esserci trama, solo orrore e scene paranormali. Io sono una persona facilmente impressionabile quando si tratta di fantasmi e presenze misteriose e la storia mi ha veramente fatto venire i brividi. Pian piano la trama acquista più spessore e fascino grazie alla comparsa di Alfred il giardiniere e Avery il vicino. Questi due personaggi li ho amati, entrambi hanno una storia e un passato difficili che mi hanno colpita tanto. Inoltre, ci sono tante domande sulla casa, su Amethyst e sui fantasmi che a poco a poco riceveranno risposta, grazie soprattutto a questi personaggi. Ad ogni pagina è come se seguissimo realmente i movimenti di Amethyst e le sue scoperte. Io mi sono immersa completamente nella lettura, grazie anche allo stile di scrittura semplice, scorrevole e molto minimale, ma in questo caso non potrebbe essere altrimenti. In generale, ho trovato la storia molto piacevole, un perfetto connubio fra una classica storia di fantasmi da far venire i brividi e una storia sentimentale che alla fine è riuscita a strapparmi anche una lacrima

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma história de suspense paranormal que me surpreendeu!
https://momentosdemagia.wordpress.com...

[Valeria ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review will be both in italian and english language, in order to give an anticipation to the "international" readers as well.
--------------------------------
Ancora prima di acquistare la copia di questo libro, ero già consapevole del fatto che dovevo abbassare di molto le mie aspettative. Ammetto di ammirare molto Marzia come youtuber, ma di certo non potevo aspettarmi un romanzo al livello di Stephen King da una ragazza alle prime armi... E purtroppo non ho avuto modo di ricredermi.
Questo libro non mi è piaciuto, non tanto per il contenuto, ma per la forma. La casa editrice a cui Marzia si è affidata ha fatto un pessimo lavoro di revisione, lasciando in ogni pagina sbavature grammaticali, frasi incomplete dal punto di vista sintattico (mancanza di preposizioni, parole, verbi nel periodo) e anche tanti banali errori di battitura. A mio parere, la Newton Compton ha fatto un lavoro a dir poco vergognoso, e a parlarvi è una lettrice non particolarmente pignola per quanto riguarda la forma. Se sono arrivata a formulare un giudizio così negativo è perché la lettura è davvero risultata irritante a causa di ciò che ho appena elencato.
Inoltre, ciò che mi ha portata a dare una stella solitaria a questo libro, è il fatto che non sia stato ben sviluppato. La scrittrice -molto probabilmente- è stata lasciata in balia di se stessa e non ha potuto far tesoro di consigli utili per quanto riguarda lo sviluppo della sua storia. Molti bei spunti sono stati purtroppo mortificati e non si ha la presenza di indizi utili che possano aiutare il lettore a farsi un'idea sugli strani eventi che accadono nella casa.
Ogni capitolo descrive il giorno del mese di ottobre che la protagonista trascorre nella casa, e la descrizione risulta essere assai noiosa poiché, nella maggior parte dei capitoli, si limita a descrivere la fame e il sonno che sovrastano Amethyst, rendendo lento lo svolgimento delle vicende. Dopo un avvicendarsi di giorni noiosi in cui pochi risultano essere interessanti dal punto di vista dello sviluppo degli eventi, si ha un'estrema accelerazione sul finale che impedisce al lettore di godersi svelamento dei misteri legati alla fantomatica "casa dei sogni" di Amethyst.
-----------------------------
When I decided to buy the debut novel of Marzia Bisognin, I already knew I couldn't have much of expectation on what I was going to read. Even if I really apreciate Marzia as a youtuber, I knew I couldn't hope to read a good book at the same level as well-known authors' books... She is a novice.
What lead me to give just one star to this book is the fact she didn't develop the story really well. The idea is quite original and remarkable, but the book leaves the reader with a great sense of insatisfaction. You finally understand the reason behind all those misteries, but the final has nothing to do with the clues left in the previous pages. Marzia leaves no evident clue, the final is too strained in my opinion.
Each chapter describes the day that Amethyst, the protagonist, spends in her 'dream house': in most cases, the days which are described are quite boring, the author barely describes moments of suspence and limits the description to the feelings of hunger and drowsiness which "loom" the protagonist. The author is not really detailed as regards those clues that could increase the reader's impatience to understand what is going on, giving instead a lot of importance to insignificant actions, such as lying on the sofa eating tacos. There obviously are moments of suspence, but not enough in my opinion, they are not able to really help the development of the story.
In conclusion, the book is worth to read if you desire to support Marzia, but it could leave you disappointed because of the development of the story. To be honest, she had a good spark and the end actually is quite emotional, the real problem is what precedes the last pages.

[Rachel (Into a Story) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I actually finished this. It makes me sad that this was published because it was obviously only to make money.

A full review will be up soon!

[Ideally.Portia · Rating 1 out of 5]

**This original review can be found at No BS Book Reviews!!** BUT - after the end, I add thoughts that were not included on the original post.

Somehow, I gradually manage to calm myself down and force myself to accept that, even though the situation makes absolutely no sense -no sense at all- there isn’t any real reason for me to be afraid.

Unless, of course, you are afraid of boredom. It is so strange that that sentence, pulled straight from page 24, can actually be used to describe my feelings towards the book. Like, thanks for setting that up for me.

At first, I legitimately started to get kind of angry that it was so dull inside Amethyst’s head. I got so sick of only hearing her thoughts. I can’t stand her processes. I get that we spend most of the book with her on purpose, but the lack of dialogue and other characters made for a boring, annoying time. I didn’t like her. At all. But that is not even the worst thing about this book. What I hated the most was that I had it all figured out before I even made it 50 pages.



EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BOOK WAS GLARINGLY OBVIOUS. Literally NOTHING surprised me. Has this ever happened to any of you guys? Do you know how hard it becomes to finish a book when you are supremely confident about what the outcome will be? As if I wasn’t bored enough with her already, I got even more bored when I forced myself to finish the book already knowing what would happen.




At times, I felt like she was trying to have this Edgar Allen Poe vibe thing going -with the narrator slowly losing their mind and what not- and if that was her goal, then she failed. It felt immature. It’s not simply because it is YA, because most of what I read is YA. Which bothers me because her and Avery are both supposed to be over 18, with Avery being 20. I have a lot more thoughts on this book, but I will save those for my Goodreads review (so if you are interested to hear my other thoughts that expand outside of the book, please find me there). So, to wrap this up, I will say that if you want to read a paranormal novel that is not actually scary or creepy, then go for it. For further explanation, please refer back to the quote at the top of the page.

ALSO, If I have to read the word “pyjamas” one more time:



***Additional thoughts not found in original review****
We have already seen a small stream of You-tubers turning author. But I think we need to be prepared for much more of this. Which is fine - some are or may be great writers. My concern is that every super popular You-tuber who decides they want to write a book and has enough followers will get published, regardless of the actual quality of the book. This makes me angry. I have so much I want to say about it but things will get intense if I continue. But if you agree or disagree with anything in this review, I would love to hear your thoughts!

[Kira Simion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've heard of her from watching some of Felix's/Pewdiepie's videos when I was younger. I find her to be beautiful and she seems nice and I wonder how this book will turn out.

Review:

•Most of the chapters ended with the main character sleeping. While there were moments of action, I wouldn’t call them very suspenseful as many ended with her sleeping, passing out, or just plain ignoring what was going on. This bothered me because who wouldn’t do something as soon as: they hear something in their closet, that something is crying and scratching (the scratching could be the hangers against the door, but the crying? Hmm), and any random thing that just happened.

•The characters each only seemed to have either a smidge of dialogue and then disappeared and/or one role in the whole book. This kind of makes it pointless if the only ‘life-like’ person is the main character. But even she fails to maintain some sort of realism as she does not try very hard to actually figure out anything until the end as she sleeps when any hint of mystery arises, or heads toward it even when nothing gave her an idea that that wouldn’t be dangerous (bring a weapon!) or that it could lead to anything anyways. She does not try hard enough to even interrogate (but maybe because she likes the gardener and doesn’t want him to dislike her). But still.

•And finally, the writing. Sometimes there was too much and sometimes there was too little. When describing something in a moment, like suddenly being scared or falling unconscious, there are two sentences saying the exact same thing when one would have worked just as well. And once in a blue moon, I did catch the syntax being a little off, words being in an awkward order or even the wrong word being used.

•Overall, however, the plot was interesting even if I’ve heard of mysterious houses and ghosts and ‘perfect’ people hiding things before. If the above had been fixed, while the story would not have been a 5-star read for me, I would have had a better time getting to know the story and characters within.

[Camille Dent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my video review here ^.^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTpr...

I found Bisognin's writing style very interesting. She writes from a minimalistic stream-of-conscious perspective, which is rarely explored in modern literature. That being said, I can completely understand why many reviews have been so negative. Modern readers expect flawless foreshadowing and consistently logical plots, but those things are very hard to accomplish in stream-of-conscious writing just by the very nature of this writing style. Overall, I enjoyed the actual story, though the intensity of the suspense is more akin to a basic mystery novel rather than the tense psychological/haunting thriller that I was hoping for.

If you like the animated short stories on Bisognin's YouTube channel, then you will probably enjoy her full novel. It has that same quirky creativity as those animations, but I can't say this novel is particularly original. All of the plot twists are pretty standard, and the most intense scenes in the book (Amethyst being pushed into the chalk circle in the basement, the Akiko apparition being hanged, and Alfred going out into the storm of crows are the specific examples I can think of right now) are inconsistent with the rest of the story. They were apparently only written in for effect, not to actually add anything to the plot or lore of the story.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.75

The book was really good, I admit. Especially for an author like Marzia. Normally a book written by a YouTube personality isn't always as good or well written as this. But yet, I'm confused.

The book had an extremely complex plot. Which, in the thriller/mystery type genre it was, made it really interesting. There was never a dull moment with it. Though, it was only a little over 200 pages and I wish so much hadn't been jam packed in the book. I wish Marzia had taken a little more time to explore certain things she put in and just cut out certain parts.

The main character, Amethyst, seemed kind of under developed. She had certain things about her that were very under, or never, explained. And probably the thing that bothered me most was the fact that she passed out/fainted all the time. It just seemed unnecessary and like it was the quickest, easiest way to transfer between days, even though there was likely better options.

The end was really cute and I really liked it. So that's where I'm at with it. A bit of confusion, a hint of enjoyment, and an overall page turner book because I just wanted to figure what the heck was going on.

[Andre Fernandes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amethyst encontra-se a porta de uma casa que não conhece, não conhece quem mora lá dentro nem nada, a única coisa que sabe é que se sente atraída ao ponto de ir bater à porta da casa, ao bater a porta é acolhida por um casal de idosos que lhe deixam passar lá a noite.
No dia seguinte quando acorda, repara que esta sozinha na casa e vai tomar o pequeno almoço (comer numa casa de gente que não se conhece ?), a partir de um certo momento Amethyst começa a acomodar-se a casa e é a partir de ai que começam a ocorrer eventos fora do normal. ....

Ler mais aqui http://saboreiaoslivros.blogspot.pt/2...

[Elizabeth Conway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5

Full Review and GIVEAWAY!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WVR3...

[nuncamais · Rating 1 out of 5]

before i start off two things: 1) i have no idea who this author is, and i couldn't care less about her being a "youtuber" when it comes to her writing. that has nothing to do with her writing at all. so no, this 1 star review isn't because she's a "youtuber" (saw that in a comment, how silly). 2) this review is full of spoilers, so don't read this review if you don't want spoilers.

okay you guys. i started out really hopeful. for a novice writer writing her first novel and with english not being her first language (from what i have read anyhow) i think she did well-ish. that being said, it is also a rare occasion when i put a book down and the complete list of "there is so much wrong with this book i don't even know where to start" puts me into a blinding rage. which this book did to me.

first of all. it started out pretty well. pretty mysterious. as the book dragged, and i do mean DRAGGED, on i found the redundancy boring as hell. if i had to read one more time about her eating or taking another relaxing bath every chapter i was going to scream.

okay, homegirl listen up. if you come into a stranger's home you don't just stay and eat their food and use their facilities and be like "i live here now" for 30 DAYS. "i just want to thank them" was a very, very thin excuse for her being there. very thin and very hard to believe. give me something else, something believable. something that pulls me in. add to the mystery/horror aspect. "i just want to thank people that never show up for 30 days" is just....no.

also, when she constantly was being attacked by invisible beings, like that time in the dark basement, she should have hightailed it out of there or at least called a shaman or something. get some sage or something.

every time....every single time...something bad happened she went to bed. or fainted. or decided to take a bath to relax. then woke up the next morning like nothing happened.

i'm sorry but you just got the full "paranormal activity" beating of your life by an invisible being, thrown against walls and having your body hurt....you're just gonna ho-hum your way to the fridge the next morning? or when the creepy gardener is creepy and watching you you're going to confront him? a young girl, who is completely apparently unwilling and unable to defend herself?
a man with easy access to gardening and power tools and basically knows where you sleep and can bust in if he wanted?? completely unbelievable.

Another thing. this dragged on way too long. what took 30 days to finally get to the point of could have been done in 10 or less. again, only so many times i could read about her getting paranormally butt-whooped,something creepy and dangerous happening, or being left alone in the house because the owners just up and left and never came back and and she just lays down and goes to bed. again. and again. i mean like, stuff that would have even the strongest and bravest running for the hills the main character is like "i think i should lay down." no, you need to get the hell out and leave that house. there is no valid, believable reason given as to why she stayed until the end. and it's completely unbelievable that she just kept waking up and carrying on like nothing happened the day before, or even hours before. 30 days of what she experienced basically by choice (which seemed to be the case until the end) is completely unfathomable.

it was basically the same thing every page. creepy thing happens. she eats...or maybe decides not to eat and bathes instead, but only after looking at her face getting worse and worse in the mirror, more sallow, more pale. then goes to bed and wakes up to do it all over again. and basically has no bothers about the previous day/hours.

and the ending was pretty obvious. not to mention there were so many things left unanswered in this "just wrap it up quickly and give it a happy ending" ending. so, most of the stuff that happened to her was her foster parents trying to contact her? by having an invisible paranormal being body slam her repeatedly into walls? and the man with the key?? and the old woman and people telling her to leave? who were they? why did they want her to leave? were they trying to protect her? forces working against her? why? and why did she have to leave or rot if her foster parents were going to be there and keep her safe?

and about her foster parents. how did she see them and interact with them at first and suddenly she can't anymore until the end again?

almost nothing in this book made sense. and as a fan of stephen king i know and love horror. the problem is not the horror. the problem is the poor planning and execution of the novel. i would love to see this re-written, revised and replotted to make this a better novel. the general frame of the story is a good horror story, even if predictable. the filler words and everything else is the entire problem.

way, way too many plot holes, way too many things that don't add up, don't make sense and completely don't belong at all. Way too dragged out with pages and pages of unnecessary scenes that just added more questions that never got answered and were just generally "are you kidding me?" moments. it honestly felt like what should have been a shorter novella was forcefully made into a longer novel by adding additional scenes. which made it very hard to keep pushing through to the end.

again, i would love the basic frame of this story to be removed, dusted off and started over again. i think there's potential in the story but it needs better execution to be something that can be called genuinely good horror. or a well written novel at all.

again, she's a novice writer so i can't hold much of this against her but i do blame the editors and publishers for letting this get published without more editing and revising. and also all her fans blindingly giving her 5 star reviews, especially to combat the (VERY VALID) 1 star reviews, are honestly being of no help to the author and are in fact doing more harm than good. she needs the genuine and VERY VALID criticisms to grow as an author. and she does have much growing to do. so by blindingly saying "i loved this book b/c she's amazing!" is actually hindering her potential to be better. let her know her weaknesses. let her know she has much room to grow and then let her grow. she really needs it.

i really had high hopes. new horror from a young female? heck yes, right? where my horror ladies at, right?! wrong.

The only thing i will say about her being a "you-tuber" is that i feel like this book was published as-is b/c she's a popular you-tuber. just like EL James' FSOG. It seems the idea is "get it out quick, while she's still a hot commodity" but doing that is basically overlooking the fact that "this needs a lot of work to be a better novel". and when that happens no one wins. especially not the authors who should be given a chance to put out quality work after being shown and taught how to do just that.

Sure every author starting out isn't going to be perfect. but this really reads like a very rough first draft that wasn't polished at all before being sent off to be published. (again, her being a you-tuber has nothing to do with her writing. it's the "'she's famous and therefore will sell lots of copies and make lots of money so just shove it out the door as fast as you can, i don't care how good it is" that is the problem.)

if you just shove it out the door as-is you do more harm than good that way. i honestly think she has much potential to be a great writer BUT with time and lots of learning and growing. i hope to see more, but i also hope she gets better chances to grow and be shown she needs to grow. I think with more revisions and editing this could have been a fantastic novel.

I genuinely hope one day she'll make us fellow horror-loving females proud and be a good role model to the young female authors out there looking up to their idols.

[A Book Vacation · Rating 2 out of 5]

Student asked me to read this and okay it for a project. MG or young YA may thoroughly enjoy. Could easily guess plot and characters did not have enough personality for me to care for them.