We Live Here Now Book Review
Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am back with another book review. It's time for all the spooky season reads and what better than a haunted house trope? So, let's get into it!
We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough follows Emily and Freddie as they are trying to recover from Emily’s tragic accident. Needing to get out of the city, the couple moves to the English countryside, to this old house called Larkin Lodge. Shortly after moving in, Emily notices things like floorboard creaking, books falling off shelves, windows opening by themselves, but her husband is convinced she’s hallucinating. Her medication/medical condition can cause severe hallucinations; however, Emily isn’t convinced that all these things are just mind tricks. But can the house really be haunted?
I’ve slowly been getting into the horror genre. For me, I feel like it’s really hard to do the haunted house trope well, but I thought overall, this was alright. Is it my favorite haunted house book? No. Would I still recommend this book to others? Yes.
Despite my thoughts about how well executed this book was, I thought the overall premise of the book and the plot were really unique. I won’t give any spoilers though.
The only thing I’m not entirely sure about were the chapters from the Raven’s point of view. Throughout the book, usually when we began a new section/part of the book, there would be a chapter from the perspective of a raven. This raven would fly around outside of the house. I’m not sure what these add beyond helping to create that ominous tone. I mean big creepy house, and creepy ravens do go hand in hand, but again, I didn’t really see the point to those chapters. It didn’t add anything to the story for me.
I do like the idea of the house targeting specific couples, couples with secrets. I feel like that added an additional level to the book and the plot. We know going in that Emily and Freddie are having issues; they both have secrets.
The ending is kind of predictable once you know what’s going on. The last 30ish pages felt rushed. This book was only about 290ish pages, so not very long at all. It could’ve been more to felt a little more balanced in the end. Actually, I feel like the beginning, middle, and end could’ve been expanded upon.
Overall, I gave this 3/5 stars. I would recommend it especially if you’re a fan of the haunted house trope. It’s a quick read for spooky season.
Alright folks, that is all I have for this week! Come back next Wednesday for another blog post. As always, thank you for reading :)