How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Losing a parent or even both parents is every child’s worst nightmare. But it doesn’t make it any easier when your brother is a world-class asshat and your parent’s house is haunted by every puppet your mother made. Welcome to Louise Joyner’s own personal hell as she goes through the steps of grief as she juggles being a mother and fighting off supernatural forces and trying to get a house ready for the market.
The praise that this book has received is well-deserved. There were many moments in which I was terrified, laughed, cried, and hated some characters while I loved others. The character creation in this story is magical. Many times I laughed because some of the voices of the puppets in my head reminded me of Mr. Bill, the claymation character.
I was definitely reminded of when I traveled back to Ohio to help my mother clean out my grandmother’s house after she had moved into assisted living. In the basement was a raggedy Anne doll that was actually a vacuum cover. It is terrifying and haunts me to this day. Once we were back home in Arizona and I took a weekend trip to my parent’s house in Yuma, I arrived in my bedroom to find that same doll there to greet me. Needless to say, every stuffed toy like this, including my American Girl dolls, is locked in a black trunk in a storage unit – and there they will stay haha.
View all my reviews