DNF'd because of poor writing, over use of sexual assault, and all in all icky feelings. I'm sure this book is for someone, but it isn't for me.

Oof, hard no on this one.

There was no consistency with the theme, and it overloaded on the religion.

The writing style and dialogue between characters felt stiff, awkward and often forced. The MC and others felt flat and didn’t invoke empathy or connection from the reader.

Some of the phrases used by characters were off putting. I don’t mind gore, horror, splatter, etc, but not a fan of veiled sexual or racial bigotry, even if a character is the one saying it.

I’m just really not sure who this would cater to… possibly people who practice Christianity and prefer it in their fiction?

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Sunbury Press/ Hellbender Books for a copy.

I was reading up on the reviews before I would give this a go. As a survivor, I don’t think, based on the reviews, that I would want to read something that features multiple, graphic sexual assault scenes that aren’t handled with fare.

I also don’t want to read about unnecessary racial slurs and “horror” that is used as exploitation and shock factor.

This book was just ok for me, The first half feels almost like a midday movie drama, which I'm not a fan of, and at about the 30% mark I almost gave up, there was a bit of horror but it was very light, at the half way mark it started to get darker and gorier.

This book also has a lot of religious content, which feels a bit preachy at times, there is also a lot of rape in it, and neither of theses things I like reading about.

All in all, it's not a bad book, but just not for me.

As much as I enjoyed the 'story', the fact that 2/3 of the book reads like a theology textbook was kind of a turnoff. If you don't mind a lot of religious details, you might like it.

There were parts of this book that I enjoyed and other parts that really didn't work for me as a reader. I thought the storyline was interesting and certain parts of it were compelling. The writing was engaging at times and not so much at other times and the storyline had compelling moments with a good amount of character development but I thik they could have been developed more in some cases.
I think that there were was a lot of religious commentary and description in this book and although I understand why, it became a bit mucvh at times with what felt like pages and pages of description that could have had the same effect in a shorter description.
There are some hard hitting issues in this book such as sexual assault although to be honest I felt more affected by it reading it than the character seemed to that it happened too, there was also some casual racism which just seemed totally inappropriate but also gave nothing to the storyline.

this is quite possibly the worst book i've read this year. huge TW for repeated violent sexual assault. [list item no. 5 is a spoiler, so be forewarned.]

1. good lord, the writing was AWFUL. please read the following introduction of timmy caperila, quoted below:

Timothy Caperila, who chose the stage name of ‘Timmy C.,’ had so far not experienced the luck he so dearly sought with the ladies— perhaps not the primary driver toward local rock stardom but definitely a factor high on the list. Still a virgin despite that, at six feet, he was the tallest member of the band. With thick, wavy brown hair that hung below his shoulders to frame a boyishly handsome face, he was by far the best looking, too.

Chicks only dig guys with muscles, he thought. These words often echoed in his head. He had convinced himself that girls in his class only seemed to want the brawny, loud guys. At one hundred fifty-nine pounds, brawn escaped him. No matter how much he ate, he never could seem to gain weight. Guess I’m a terminal ectomorph, dammit.

“How’s this, Boss Joda?” he said, backward stroking a D chord, then an A minor to G chord before he shredded a blues scale key of A. He delivered bending and ripping arpeggios and hammer-string pyrotechnics, all of which filled Mr. D’Alessio’s finished basement with more dark, ominous, gritty sound than it could hold.

“Yeah. Yes! I think that’s it! Okay, let me work something out on the keyboard. Tim, go have one of my dad’s beers. He won’t even know it’s missing.”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? there is so much more but this was one of the first scenes that made me want to shut the book and i can't bring myself to reread my NUMEROUS highlights.

2. the book is clearly trying to convert anyone who reads it into either a jew or a christian. there are dozens of pages of theology that do not pertain to the story whatsoever - and on top of that, the dense textbook-like theory is not even explained in a way that a non-believer could understand.

3. multiple homophobic and anti-semetic slurs for no real reason? did not enhance any "horror" aspect - really just read like an angry league of legends player.

4. cool zionist commentary - NOT! see below quote:

We are going to solve the problem like Israel solves its Gaza problem.”
“And how’s that?”
“A good plan, executed immediately and violently.”

[spoiler ahead] 5. our MC is subject to repeated sexual assault and is completely unaffected by it. our MC is stalked and has her entire home destroyed and is completely unaffected by it. our MC witnesses necrophilia (in her own house) and is completely unaffected by it. our MC and her best friend are chained to their car and sexually assaulted, have the assault stopped by a rotting corpse who rapes and tortures the criminal, and are completely unaffected by it. AFTER ALL OF THIS, SHE FORGIVES THE GUY WHO HAS BEEN STALKING AND ASSAULTING HER.

in sum, this book fucking sucked and the only reason i finished it was because it was an ARC.

thank you to sunbury press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Anna‘s best friend Naomi gives her a makeover she’s excited but nervous she likes Tim who’s in the band and they’re going to see him play at the same event Anna will be assaulted by one of the popular guys at school and when he’s arrested his“Girlfriend “will be livid. So much so she goes on a covert mission to ruin A‘s life. To make it worse and his mom is a religious fanatic and when Anna and Tim are caught in a precarious position her mom is beside herself but thankfully she has her dad who is cool and calm under the circumstances. I enjoyed this book but thought the reactions of Anna‘s dad and Anna and her boyfriend were little skilled when they came to the photos but having said that I still enjoyed it and still recommend it. I don’t know if you would call this hora or just fiction but either way it’s still a pretty good read. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate most of my review.

This was a really well done Supernatural Horror novel, I enjoyed what it brought to the genre. John James Minster has a great writing style and did everything that I had hoped for. The characters were really well done and worked in this genre. I loved the cover, it kinda reminded me of a old horror movie poster. I really enjoyed going on this journey and look forward to more from the author.

"It dawned on him slowly, as most subjects did. Carmen said, “Ah, man. After what we went through this summer, you want to keep going with this beef? Dude, we’re on probation. Do one stupid thing, and we’re right back inside that Hellhole.”