The hungry ghost by Delana Storm.
This was a fantastic read with some great characters. I found it unique. Different. I liked Madeline and Sam's characters but I wasn't sure about Peter. Didnt know if I liked him or not. It didn't have the ending I liked but I did like the ending. 5*.

I am giving The Hungry Ghost 3/5 stars. The premise of the book is that there is a ghost that enters into the body of an unconscious woman named Sam. The main reason that I give this book a rating that I would consider to be average is due to how obscure this whole story tended to be. There is the definition of obscure that is inevitable when dealing with things like ghosts, comas and dreams because paranormal material can be bizarre. Hungry Ghosts definitely delves into the category of being obscure for bizarre content. However I read A LOT of horror novels and supernatural horror is one of my absolute favorite subgenres of horror. As a result, my classifying a story as being obscure should be a red flag for how well the story holds together.

The reason why I give this book the descriptor of being obscure is due to the constant sense of asking what is the author doing with this particular plot. Mystery and intrigue keeps me reading, however if I am just downright confused about how all of the different components are supposed to tie together it starts to feel like the plot has not developed enough to my satisfaction. The plot was fast paced enough for it to be a quick read that was enjoyable enough to finish and to fill my time. If you are in the mood for a quick read that veers in the direction of obscure this book will be suitable for you. My personal opinion is that it is just okay but can help satisfy the need for an obscure supernatural story..

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Hungry Ghost was unlike anything else I've read.

Sam is recently divorced and not sure what she's looking for, but decides to go on a date to see an old student she kissed and crushed on just to see how it plays out. Madeline, the student, is absolutely smitten with Sam and is annoyed she's had to wait this long to get a date! Madeline is channeling her feelings into a novel she's writing about a hungry ghost. Sam is her hungry ghost and she wants to be gobbled up by her. The date goes well, but then Sam gets a phone call from her ex-husband, Peter, and reluctantly sets off to see if he's okay.
This is where the book gets weird as hell!
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.This book was weird and suspenseful, but also fun.
I really enjoyed being in the hungry ghost's thoughts and swirling through its feelings as it adjusted to its new body. My favorite parts were all from the ghost's perspective! I actually wanted more time being the hungry ghost than inside Peter's head or Madeline's thoughts.
Jimmy and his Used Cat Emporium were fascinating to read about and very magical feeling. I want to go to there and adopt a cat!

This review feels a bit disjointed and all over the place, but honestly, that's how I found the book. I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but I was confused about what was what and why things happened the way they did and were never fully explained. Or maybe they were and I just missed it?
By the time I read the last page I was fully like, "wtf just happened?! It's over?!" and I do think that's a sign of good writing because I'm intrigued still, even though I'm confused.

An enthralling, weird, and well written book that I really enjoyed.
I loved the strange and well written characters and the plot full of twists and turns.
The style of writing was great and it creates a creepy atmosphere that keeps you reading till the last page.
I will surely read other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Hungry Ghost by Dalena Storm is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. I found this to be a unique ghost story! I liked the originality of it! Different levels of beings, lots of twists and turns, a very creative plot, unusual characters, and good creepy vibes! Liked this book a lot! It has a lot going for it if you are looking for something new in the genre!

The Hungry Ghost was a bizarre well written book, that was very entertaining. The author manages to pull off this unique story and characters.

One of the strangest, most alluring tales of possession, regret and horror I've ever read, Dalena Storm offers up a world very similar to ours with a bizarre stretch of the imagination.

I'd definitely recommend this book to those of you who'd like to read a good story just outside your comfort zone.

"Why did you get born as you? Why did I get born as...this?" asks the Hungry Ghost.

The Hungry Ghost has something for everyone (almost). It is listed under horror, but I would say horror is a small part of this this genre-collage. Dalena Storm has provided us with the Asian myth and legend of the Hungry Ghost itself, mystic and dreamy magic of Sam's conciousness while in her coma, love....straight, lesbian mother/daughter love and the love of animals, the soul and afterlife and reincarnation, and then there certainly is some suspense and a small amount of violence.

I enjoyed this book. All in all, I found it to be uplifting due to the overtones of love and soul connections. Though it is fiction, I would recommend this to readers interested in the afterlife, outer-body experiences, reincarnation and soul travel.
#Netgalley #TheHungryGhost

Storm’s debut novel is a curiosity within itself as it mixes genres and subgenres to become its own characterised genre. On paper or on book, in this case, this shouldn’t work but it remarkably works on so many levels.

The book reads like a domestic fiction which leads us to characters who are unhappy with their lives. Failed relationships, new relationships that are having difficulty getting jump started and people trying for a little bit of happiness. The story unfolds in a very realistic manner and not a lot really happens for the first half of the book. Although, not a lot really goes on, Storm shows finesse and style to show an artistic form when writing about really not a lot. She establishes mood and character development but where most authors would have you skimming the pages trying to move the story forward, but this is not the case here. I was so involved that I thoroughly enjoyed these moments.

Once the story takes a turn to a more horror based drama, Storm plays a balancing act between the two fractions of the story and as this comes past the half way mark, it sometimes feel the story is pushed hard on the gas pedal and she needs to wind this up quickly. This is where the novel slightly loses some of what made the first half special. It is not a huge or enough to stop the reader in their tracks but think a few more pages to the book would have kept the poetic phrasing and storytelling on gear.

I did love the twists and turns that the novel takes and was refreshing to see a novel that takes chances and tries something new. The only small criticism I have as stated above, it would have a total five star rating if the second half of the novel would have been given more room to breathe and would have loved to have more slow and characters driven commentary with Jimmy, Mickey, Peter life changes and Sam’s family. This was a slight miss opportunity.

The characters are very strongly written and very likeable on a whole. The characters in first half are stronger than some introduced in the second half but they are very strong. They are very relatable and likeable and thoroughly enjoyed my time with these characters.

The plot is definitely unique and works even better because of this. It shows that Storm has a talent to be able to juggle these odd different elements into an overall coherent story.

This is a strong first novel from a new author who has made a promising debut that shows guts and originality. As it balances between different genres, this novel may have a slight difficulty of finding its audience as it is not horror enough for the horror audience and not basic fiction for the basic and the thriller or mystery aspects are not quite enough of these either. Saying this, anyone who takes a chance with this book would be presently surprise and find a truly unique experience. I enjoyed this book immensely and I was able to gobble the book up rather quickly to the point that I wish there was some more. Apart from some slight narrative problems that I listed above, this is a charming, fun and exciting debut and can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Spot Books for sending me a free advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review. The Hungry Ghost debuts June 11th.

This debut novel from Dalena Storm had my immediate attention with its title. Hungry ghosts are paranormal entities in the Buddhist tradition that emerge only in specific circumstances, such as when someone is violently killed—something I’m sure Storm knows, having graduated from Williams College with a BA in Asian Studies. The marker of a hungry ghost is its bulging, distended belly—the better to eat you with, my dear. 🙂

Anyway, even though there are only a couple mentions of Buddhism in this fast-paced book, nevertheless the reader is presented with a hungry ghost, who drifts upward to the human world from a lower, hellish void and inhabits the body of an American woman in a coma. Spoiler alert that you can probably spot from a mile away: once she inevitably wakes up, the eating commences.

I appreciate the swift pace of the story; at two hundred pages, this is a book on the short side, but there’s nothing wrong with that—in fact, I think there’s a conversation to be had in modern publishing about books being too lengthy for the story they’re seeking to tell. I found it to be a nice palate cleanser—something quick to tear through in a couple hours.

The prose could use some editing, admittedly. There’s a top-down feel to the writing, where we’re told moment to moment what the characters are feeling and thinking, rather than being fed sensory details and internal thoughts via close third POV. I like a straightforward writing style to an extent, but here it grew to be too much for my tastes, to the point where some sentences felt almost utilitarian.

There were also a few leaps of faith in terms of the plot that had me raising my eyebrows, but these were counterbalanced by some genuinely surprising and horror-filled moments where I was fully on board. A couple scenes in particular will probably stick with me a good long while. If you’re looking for a page-turner and are interested in the Buddhist take on ghosts, then maybe give this a shot.

What... what just happened? The Hungry Ghost was one of the most ridiculous books I have ever read. I swear I mean that in the best of ways.
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Sam gets into a car accident and falls into a coma. As her loved ones gather around her each day wishing her to wake up, Sam is experiencing some sort of spiritual walkabout. Her “soul” decides to enter the body of an unborn kitten, and a malevolent spirit enters her body. This hungry ghost wants more than just hospital food, it craves flesh.
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I seriously can’t make this up. I requested this book through NetGalley after reading the synopsis and thinking, “oh this sounds like the campiest 70’s horror meets a LifeTime movie,” AND I WAS NOT DISSATISFIED. If you want some fun, soap opera type horror, pick this up June 11th.
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It was the most bizarre book I've read after The Library at Mount Chair some 2 years ago. And the most gender binding. At first I thought it will be a romance novel, but it happened to be more a horror mixed with paranormal thriller.

Th story is about a woman - Sam- whose body, after serious accident, was inhabitet by a hungry ghost , while her soul got into a body of a little kitten. Yeah, i know it sounds weird and it is, but tha't not at all bad, because the story is not only about Sam, it's even more about people close to her, ex-husband Peter, mother Bianca and would be lover Madeline. All of the characters are great and reader can easily connect with them and start to care. But the most I liked Jimmy, the owner of Used Cat Emporium who made a home for stray cats. Story about him and Elvis actually broke my heart a little, because I have two cats and they're like family to me, so I know how he must felt.

The prose is clear and short chapters makes the story easy to follow. I liked this book, it wasn't without flaws, but it's good read for people who like weird, sometimes scary things, and of course for every cat lover.