Tag: Horror

Can You Just Die, My Darling? Vol. 1

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Can You Just Die, My Darling? Vol. 1 by Majuro Kaname, Sousou Sakakibara
Series Name: Can You Just Die, My Darling?
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Thriller
Intended Age Group: Mature
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781642122725
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker

Description

Neat freak Taku Kamishiro has a crush on his childhood friend, Mika Hanazono. Unfortunately for him, so does everyone else in town. After an incident outside his home, Kamishiro finds his romantic feelings have become murderous. Kamishiro fights to control his new urges in this morbid and gory romance.

Personal & Info

I got this for free from a massive BookWalker sale. I don’t normally list them in my links, but because that’s where I got this ebook, I will be including them in the listing. They had a sale not that long ago where you could get a ton of volume ones for free, so I have a huge list of them I can read when I need to post something and haven’t finished what I’m working on.

I have nothing against BookWalker. It’s just that my personal preference tends to be print books, so I usually only list links where people can find print editions. BookWalker is purely ebooks from what I can tell. If you like your manga and light novels digital, maybe check them out sometime.

This book has four stars as the rating because I docked one for the gore and general content I don’t usually enjoy. I thought everything else in the story was well done and amazing.

Characters

Taku Kamishiro is the main character. He likes cleaning for no reason, and has a sister who seems to wear her shirt backwards frequently. People call him captain clean, because he is always cleaning.

Mika Hanazono is Kamishiro’s childhood friend and crush. She seems mean and abusive hitting and kicking him all the time. It seems like she was mean to him when they were kids too.

Koji Shinomiya is captain of the soccer team. He is considered handsome and smart, and he wears a unique earring. Like everyone else, he has a crush on Hanazono.

Ms. Tanaka is Kamishiro’s neighbor.

Koki Atsumi is Hanazono’s homeroom teacher. He is popular with the students because he is kind and earnest.

Yamada is the ace pitcher of the baseball team. I don’t think we get his first name.

Story & Thoughts

Okay, so this book is…something else. I’m typing this shortly after finishing, and my nerves are just…definitely rattled. The thriller part of the story is definitely done well. The finale of the volume put me on the edge of my seat.

I didn’t know what to expect going into it, but it certainly was not what I got. There are numerous gory scenes. I don’t normally read or watch things with substantial amounts of gore. Despite the unsettling content, the story is actually more engaging than one would expect. I don’t plan on reading more of the series, but if I came across more volumes for free, I would probably read them. That’s saying a lot for something outside of my usual genre preference.

This book gives me similar vibes to zombie fiction, but it’s a little different. Basically, there is some kind of contagion that causes people to have murderous impulses. They seem to be directed at those they care about most, but not exclusively. The side effects also include super human strength, among other things. I get the feeling it’s more like an increase on all of the body’s base abilities, like making a murderous super soldier.

I cheated a little since I don’t plan on getting any more volumes. The ending of this one was a huge punch in the gut and I needed some answers, so I looked for an answer to one specific question just to quell my curiosity. If I end up reading more later, knowing this answer is not going to spoil the story for me. I just really wanted to know this one thing. If you have read this volume, you probably know what I looked up.

Wait Till Helen Comes

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Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Genres: Ghosts, Horror
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Sandpiper/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-0-547-02864-4
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Twelve-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother, Michael, have never liked their younger stepsister, Heather. Ever since their parents got married, she’s made Molly and Michael’s life miserable. Now their parents have moved them all to the country to live in a house that used to be a church, with a cemetery in the backyard. If that’s not bad enough, Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen and warning Molly and Michael that Helen is coming for them. Molly feels certain Heather is in some kind of danger, but every time she tries to help, Heather twists things around to get her into trouble. It seems as if things can’t get any worse.
But they do – when Helen comes.

Personal & Info

I found this, and a few other short spooky stories cheap. It’s October, so I figure it’s a good time to read them. I actually bought this twice by mistake, because I forgot I grabbed it already, and the store had a second copy. Not a big deal, they were about a dollar a piece.

Characters

Molly is the main character. Everyone seems to invalidate her all the time.

Michael, Molly’s brother, seems to only care about science and logic.

Heather is the step-sister. She’s seven, and her mother died in a fire when she was three.

Dave is the step-dad, and apparently believes everything Heather says.

Jean is the mom. She seems more reasonable than Dave.

Story & Thoughts

This is a good book, but I will not be keeping it for my collection. Heather ruins the whole thing for me. She is so insufferable, no amount of warm hearted happy endings in the world can make up for it.

Throughout the entire book, Heather is a bratty nuisance. She lies ALL the time. Her dad is wrapped around her finger and believes anything she says. Jean gives her way too much leeway, but at least she believes Molly and Michael sometimes. Overall, the parenting in this book is horrendous. I think most of the problems could be avoided if the parents put in more time and effort.

It does have some good going for it. It has some traditional ghost story aspects. There’s a detective segment where the kids go to the library to learn about the ghost, and they talk to a few people about strange occurrences. The story itself is enjoyable if you can tolerate Heather as an insufferable character.

There’s a map at the front of the book that shows the property. I wasn’t expecting that, but it’s kind of nice to have. However, I noticed the map shows four bedrooms. If the parents share a room, that leaves three for the kids, so why do the girls need to share? That doesn’t make sense to me.

The Haunting

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The Haunting by Lindsey Duga
Genres: Ghosts, Horror
Intended Age Group: Middle Grade
Publisher: Scholastic
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-338-50651-8
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes & Noble ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Emily’s dreams are finally coming true: The kind and wealthy Thorntons want to adopt her and whisk her away to a new life at Blackthorn Manor

At first, life is wonderful. But as Emily explores the grand estate, strange things start happening all around her. It’s almost as if someone-or something-wants her gone.

Now it’s up to Emily to untangle a dark family secret hiding in her new home-before the life of her dreams becomes a real nightmare!

Personal & Info

I’m looking to expand my collection of children’s books. I found this and a few other short spooky stories super cheap. It’s October, so I figure it’s a good time to read them.

Characters

Emily, the main character is a twelve year old orphan. Her prospects for the future are grim as she looks forward to going to a work house when she’s old enough.

Archie is Emily’s dog. She raised him since he was a small puppy.

Mr. and Mrs. Thornton are the nice couple who adopt Emily.

Miss Greer is the cook and housekeeper of the Thornton home, which is called Blackthorn.

Kat is a not so nice friend of Emily’s. She reminds her much of a mean girl at the orphanage.

Story & Thoughts

The story starts off grim. Emily is an orphan at an orphanage. She has no hopes of being adopted because she’s older and nobody considers her pretty. Supposedly everyone wants the little blond blue-eyed girls.

As the synopsis says, she finally gets adopted. She hit the jackpot. It’s possibly her last chance at being adopted, and the family is nice, and well off. They even let her keep her dog friend.

Things are strange right off the bat upon arriving at her new home. Emily sees creepy things she’s not sure are actually there. The house, while massive and beautiful, is unkempt.

The story progresses day to day with strange occurrences giving the reader time to speculate. It’s easy to figure it out before Emily. The title and book description practically spell it out for you, as well as some things that people let slip early on. I was only off on one detail, but all my other guesses were spot on.

I never know what to expect when I read horror, because I don’t read the genre often. This one has common haunting tropes. It’s relatively mellow with slice of life and creepy bits thrown in for the first three quarters. it doesn’t want to reveal anything too quickly. There’s a punch in the “feels” in the conclusion that I was not expecting. I anticipated the plot, but not the emotional value of the portrayal.

Honestly, I’m surprised I like it as much as I do. It’s a simple, but effective, short, ghost story. This author apparently writes a small variety of spooky stories. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get more, but if I see them around I’ll probably grab them.