Christopher Renna

The sudden death of a healthy high school boy brings a flurry of attention to the town when it sparks rumors that he died during an exorcism. His former friends set out to find the truth, and grapple with the guilt of not having made enough of an effort to remain friends with Jared when they first noticed the strange changes to his personality that may have marked the beginnings of demonic possession.

The beginning of the book was a little slow and seemed more like a mystery than a horror. It took a while for anything scary to happen and I was anxious for it to pick up speed and get to the good stuff. Some of the actions and reactions of the parents seemed unrealistic but the friendship between the boys felt genuine to me.

There were some creepy happenings revealed when the boys look back at a week they spent together in a cabin on the lake which was the beginning of the end of their friendship with Jared. It was not until that point that I felt fully invested in the story. I think at it's heart this was a story of good against evil, deep and abiding friendship, and the sacrifices someone may be willing to make for those they love.

I received an advance copy for review.… (mehr)

This was my first book by Christopher Renna. I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I definitely see how it is labeled a ghost story but I also feel it could be considered horror. Either genre is fine. I guess they make the distinction because I was expecting more of a chilling, scary feel as opposed to a creepy, monster type feeling.

When a family moves into a new home the last thing they are expecting is for it to be haunted.. This is exactly what happens when the Toscano moves into a new home. The odd things start happening even before they agree to buy the house. Regardless of the other child’s fears, they buy it quickly. Mrs. Cate Toscano has a history with things unknown although the book doesn’t really go into that in much detail. After moving in things quickly escalate and it turns out there is more than one ghost.

I wasn’t grabbed by the story immediately and I believe part of that was because of the interaction between the parents and the children. It did not seem real to me. It felt forced and not realistic.

In my opinion they were just a few things that saved this book for me. I enjoyed the backstory of Frank, the nice ghost. It was very sad but believable for the time it occurred. The second thing was when Cate went to buy the items needed for her ritual to banish the ghosts, the knowledge of the girl at the store was very accurate. Her explanations were perfect. I like that the author seemed to do his research on that part of this story.

Without that part of this book, I would’ve had a hard time rating more than 3 or 3.5 stars. But I’m bumping it up because of the accuracy and detail given regarding banishing ghosts.

Thank you to BookSirens for the free advanced review copy I received of this book to read and review on my own.… (mehr)

So this was totally not what I was expecting, but I loved it! This is my second book by Christopher Renee and I feel he’s just going to get better and better with each book.
The Unspeakable Kind is very different from the previous book of his that I’ve read. It’s a short book which works good because I could see this story getting a bit too far fetched if it went too long.
Ashleigh and her husband, Josh, finally take the plunge and move to the country to Josh’s family home. Her mother-in-law is very adamant that nobody going to the woods. of course, who listens to their mother-in-law? While taking a walk in the woods, Ashleigh comes across a young boy who is scared and dirty and looks like he is lost. She takes him home and this begins the real story here.
I don’t want to go into too much detail because it would be so easy to give it all away in the book is not even out yet, so that would be a bit rude of me!
I liked the characters, although they weren’t as fully developed as they could have been, but again this is a short book and it worked. We knew just enough about the main characters to appreciate what they have been through and how they react to the situation they were put in by this little boy. The mother-in-law wasn’t very likable but I’ll just leave it at that for now!
Thank you to BookSirens for providing an e-copy of this book for my voluntary review.

#booksirens #christopherrenna… (mehr)