📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 Not long ago, in far too recent history, trains still carried signs that designated cars for segregation. In this time of the 1960’s, Jemma travels to the Big Easy and is immediately immersed into the charm and southern hospitality of this beloved city. Ignoring all the warning signs from locals about her new job on a plantation, Jemma becomes immersed into a truly riveting gothic horror. This Cursed House is a beautifully written atmospheric read. Perhaps Jemma should have known that she cannot escape the ghosts that haunt her, both of this world and the next but when all you have left is hope, there’s nothing left to lose. Through the page-turning suspense and alluring writing is the quiet desperation to break a generational curse; the everlasting theme of hope for redemption. Mark your calendar for October 8th because this stunning southern gothic read is one of the top books of the year!

Review is posted on Goodreads and the final review will be posted ahead of publication date.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book.

On one hand, it kept me in suspense and jumping for spooks. I’m usually good at predicting what is about to happen in these types of horror stories and I was only able to guess about half of it, which is great. I really like Jemma and a very few select other characters and I think Del Sandeen did a great job of portraying the racism and societal standards of the time the novel is set in and addressing the long-term effects of slavery and racism of the past and how that impacts future family members, creating generational trauma. She also did a wonderful job of creating a Southern Gothic novel, with ghosts, curses, a haunted plantation, and all. Overall I enjoyed the story.

On the other, I was really frustrated with the Duchon family and why Jemma stayed. Without getting into spoilers it’s hard to describe, but I just felt that Jemma was too strong of a character to be held up by the reasons she stayed. Then once she finds out the truth, after truth, and more truth, it feels at some point that things get too crazy for her not to have told the Duchon family to stuff it. Even if she had stayed to help, it would not have been under the conditions that she had stayed in. For example and a minor spoiler, the grandmother Honorine has some really weird rules about dining together, but she needs Jemma to stay. I know Jemma rebels against this in little ways but it just feels like it wasn’t enough. To understand what I mean you have to read the story. Also, the Duchon family sucks. They are horrible people who get off light in the end, in my opinion. Certain members deserve way worse than what they get.

Overall this was a great read and I don’t have to love everything about a story to have enjoyed the book, and I did enjoy it. I’m just not usually this torn on how I feel, so I would also add that this book has tapped into emotions that stories I read normally don’t tap into. This was a reach for me as horror is not the usual type of novel I enjoy reading, so that might be part of it too. Overall I recommend reading.

Jemma Barker has little to lose when she accepts a job offer from the Duchon family - she thinks it is to works as a tutor, but soon finds out that the strange family is under a curse, and they believe she is the one who can break it. The atmosphere is charged with mystery and secrets, not to mention the spirits Jemma has been able to see all her life.

The Duchons are light enough to pass as white, and make no secret of looking down on Jemma's darker skin even as they mean to use her for their benefit. There is a deadline looming, and it is all up to Jemma to figure out before another tragedy accurs.

I appreciated that the moment Jemma confronts the family about what they are keeping from her, they come clean and tell her (almost) everything, not because they are good people, because most of them aren't, but because they are afraid of what's coming. There is some editing that could have been done, especially in the middle of the story, but overall this is an impressive debut.

I really wanted to love this one since I saw a few other 5 star reviews for this one. To me the writing felt very YA and I couldn’t connect to any of the characters. The mystery/curse wasn’t interesting to me either. You could definitely tell it was a debut novel.

Jemma Barker has little to lose when she accepts a job offer from the Duchon family - she thinks it is to works as a tutor, but soon finds out that the strange family is under a curse, and they believe she is the one who can break it. The atmosphere is charged with mystery and secrets, not to mention the spirits Jemma has been able to see all her life.

The Duchons are light enough to pass as white, and make no secret of looking down on Jemma's darker skin even as they mean to use her for their benefit. There is a deadline looming, and it is all up to Jemma to figure out before another tragedy accurs.

I appreciated that the moment Jemma confronts the family about what they are keeping from her, they come clean and tell her (almost) everything, not because they are good people, because most of them aren't, but because they are afraid of what's coming. There is some editing that could have been done, especially in the middle of the story, but overall this is an impressive debut.

This was very deep south gothic to me. Highly atmospheric with characters that are deeply entwined in a generational curse of race and trauma. Which creates it's own monsters...Got a little bit scattered in the middle, maybe stretching out the storyline more than needed. Overall it was an enjoyable read. #thiscursedhouse #delsandeen #netgalley #goodreads

This was heavy reading in many ways.

So much emotion, discomfort, and horrors to face but it was so well done.

This Southern Gothic is everything you could hope for in a spooky book - New Orleans, old haunted mansion/plantation house, ghosts, and curses.

But none of that is the true horror in this novel.

The real horror is the lasting effects of slavery and racism and how they created generational trauma. The long-lasting effects make people hate themselves for what they are and hate their own because they see in their family members what society has taught them to hate. These people are so filled with self-loathing they take that out on their loved ones.

Racism and societal standards created a family of monsters who do truly horrifying things.

I’ve become quite the fan of gothic horror so I knew I had to read this. It was really good but I thought it was a little too long (of course that’s personal preference but sometimes I felt that the book was lagging) All in all, great and original story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC. This will be out in October!

4.5 stars

Oh this is the definition of a near perfect gothic novel. The characters were great, the curse, the atmosphere.
The writing really set the tone perfectly.
This is going to be a must have for my physical shelf.

I thought that this was a great spooky ready with an interesting storyline. The characters were great, and the dynamics between the characters was intriguing.