The time it was about The Women in the Walls

I’ve been a fan of Amy Lukavic’s words since I heard Gretchen McNeil talk about Daughter Unto Devils.  I devoured and loved that book and was eagerly awaiting new words.  So, when I saw the blog tour for Amy’s upcoming release The Women in the Walls, I couldn’t sign up fast enough.

Instead of the normal author Q&A, I’m doing a review today.  And before we get to that hot mess, let’s check out the book!

Lucy Acosta’s mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They’re inseparable—a family.

When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she’s ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother’s voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin’s sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.

IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

Sounds good, right?

**Thanks to my pretty prancy PA AKA Christina from The Book Hookup for letting me steal borrow her review format**

Rating and First Reaction:

4 stars.  This book had me at the synopsis and that creepy cover.  It delivered with an atmospheric setting and twisty plot.

MCs:

Lucy: Being in Lucy’s head is sort of a trip.  She’s a cutter and slightly suicidal and it was difficult at times to read what she was going through.  Throw in a weird estate and hearing voices and you’ve got yourself an unstable and unreliable narrator, which is one of my favorite things.

Margaret: Margaret is Lucy’s cousin and the one who goes batshit crazy. She starts hearing things and she’s not eating or sleeping and it all adds to the way she acts.  Sometimes she’s nice, sometimes she’s far from it, and all the time I was wondering what her ulterior motives were.

Secondary Characters: There are several secondary characters {namely Lucy’s father, the new cook and the cook’s daughter}, but Lucy is so far into what’s going on that we don’t really get to know too many of them.  It was a really effective way to show her isolation.

Plot & Pacing:

Overall, it’s pretty fast paced right from the start.  Someone almost immediately goes missing and then there’s a death and then it’s all downhill from there.

There is a lot of history and backstory to the situation and that’s where I started to get a bit lost.  I wasn’t sure about the time period the book was set in: some scenes it felt like it was the early 1900s, but then someone would talk about leggings or using the internet.  I also felt like we didn’t get the entire explanation…and that’s probably what kept me from giving it 5 stars.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the ending, but I definitely wanted a lot more out of the last 50 or so pages.

Teaser Quote:

Margaret is standing at the head of my bed, her face shockingly blank, her eyes wide and her mouth slacked open as she leans over me. Her hair hangs down like a curtain, casting a shadow over one side of her face. I realize that I’m trapped between her and the wall that my bed rests against. The air is stale with my cousin’s morning breath.

Enclosed in her fist is a pair of silver scissors, the elongated blades pointing at my throat.

—- taken from at 17% of the e-arc

Rec It?

Yes.  If you’re looking for a creepy read that will leave you looking at the book cover wondering WTF you just read while having a huge grin on your face, this is for you.

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Ever since she was little, Amy was especially intrigued by horror books and movies. Raised in a small mountain town in Arizona, she sustained herself on a steady diet of Goosebumps, Fear Street, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books before discovering Stephen King in her mother’s bookshelf.

Amy lives with her husband, their two precious squidlings, and an old gentleman cat by the name of Frodo. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys cooking, crafting, and playing games across many platforms.

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Huge thanks to Irish Banana Tours for the invite and for answering my ridiculous emails. Make sure you’re checking out Amy’s website, following her on Twitter and Tumblr, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR.

Definitely check out all of the tour stops and keep scrolling for a giveaway!

Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
9/5: Adventures of a Book Junkie – Review
9/6: The Forest of Words and Pages – Q&A
9/7: No BS Book Reviews – Review
9/8: Fiction Fare – Guest Post
9/9: Fangirl Confessions – Review

Week 2:
9/12: The Fake Steph – Inspiration Board
9/13: Bookish Lifestyles – Review
9/14: The Irish Banana Review – Fast 5
9/15: In Wonderland – Review
9/16: Lisa Loves Literature – Ghost Stories

**Good Luck!!**

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