Release date: February 11, 2016
Pages: 352
Rating: 💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository
Emma is permanently confined to a wheelchair after an accident at the Waterwitch when she was ten. Seven ears later, she decides to return to the place where the awful event occurs. But the ancient inn still has its ghosts,
and one particular spirit is more vengeful than ever...
Trigger Warning: Abuse
This book has been on my TBR for two years now and I was finally ready to read it this month. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to horror, even though I love watching and reading scary things. I willing sacrifice my sleep to scary myself silly, and that was the risk I took going into the book.
I was disappointed by this book. The scariest thing about the whole book is definitely the front cover, and even that isn't too disturbing. There were a couple of scenes which had graphic descriptions of the curses that had been placed on the various characters but none of it made me lose any sleep. It was clear which parts of the book were meant to be scary and although they didn't terrify me, they definitely made me cringe from how disgusting the description was.
Something the book did do well was the disability representation. Emma is a wheelchair user who has a guide dog, and the book didn't forget that. At no point during the novel was she miraculously cured, she didn't pull herself across the floor to save the day, and she didn't go anywhere without her guide dog. Alex Bell even made to address the fact that Emma would have to have a specially adapted car to suit her needs, although she didn't overplay the disability. It was prominent, and affected Emma's daily life, but it didn't inhibit her from leaving the house or having fun. As a teen book I think this was vital, as there are children who are disabled but can still live their life. Hopefully, this will show some children that they can still do things, even if they have to use a wheelchair.
Another thing that this book did was create good family dynamics. Although we barely see Emma's family we do get to see how Jem looks after Shell, protecting her from a world that hasn't been friendly to her. This book has heavy references to the abuse that they have had to go through, and a few scenes where the abusive parent shows up, so if that would be in any way triggering give this book a miss. However, Alex Bell was sensitive when writing this book and demonstrated the children's relationships beautiful. As someone who knows siblings who have suffered an abusive household it was eerie to read this book as I could see them reflected in the novel. Jem and Shell's love for each other, as well as Emma, is so strong that it gave you hope that they would all survive the book.
If I'm perfectly honest, this book was a good read and left me with nothing but happy memories of it. the only reason why I've rated it a 3/5 is because I was expecting something very different from what I got. I was finally ready to read a scary book and I didn't get that (maybe it's a sign)!
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