Sugar Hill - Review

Author: Autumn Barnes & Tom Lyons

Genre: Horror

Format: Kindle Read

Pages: 106

I found this while I was skimming through Kindle books on my Amazon. What started as me just unplugging from work for a second, turned into my snagging a few new books, Sugar Hill was one of those books. The simple, yet very creepy, cover caught my attention, and the premise had my attention.

I love a good ghost story, even more so when it's a haunted house. 

Sugar Hill doesn't sugarcoat anything. Right from the first page, it drops you straight into the story, and with horror novels, that's my favorite thing authors do. Especially with haunted house books. With Sugar Hill, you meet Autumn and her 'imaginary friend', who is very clearly a ghost who only she can see.

From there the story goes along the route you think it's going to go. Of course, the overworked parents don't believe her. Enter the kindly neighbors who want to give them advice and protect Autumn. But, again, they don't listen.

Until, all of a sudden they have no other choice but to listen. 

What I didn't expect from this book was how many actual jump scares there would be. I started this book while home alone stopped reading, and slept with twinkle lights on. Because I was done the second the Shadow Man made his first appearance. 

No, no thank you!

Now all of this is told through Autumn's point of view, who is five. So Sugar Hill isn't gory, but it is spooky. While the little ghost girl is tame and really does seem like she wants to be Autumn's friend. The Shadow Man is downright spooky. Like even days later it makes me twitchy. The idea of shadow people creep me out, it's worse when it's all stalker and watches you sleep. Just no.

I really liked the ending as well because it sucks in that way that doesn't really actually suck. By the time you get to the last, maybe twenty pages, you're in the thick of it. Focused on the downhill slide of bad things about to happen. The mother has seen something, the house is alive, and everything is amped up to eleven. Then right when it gets good when you know something terrifying is about to happen. No more books. No more!

I was so mad, but at the same time I was like, 'well, now I'm gonna buy Book Two because I gotta know!'

And, honestly, my only real issue with this book was the voice that the authors gave to a five-year-old Autumn. I kept forgetting how young she was through the first half, or so, of the book. She just sounds so grown up when she's in her own mind that I kept thinking maybe this book was being told by her older shelf. Only I don't think it was. So that threw me for a little bit because kept going this must be years later. Then someone would mention her age, and I'd get a little thrown off.

As a whole, this was a super spooky book, with smooth writing that kept me engaged, and packed those hundred and six pages with some quality scares. Book Two, Coffin Pond, is definitely going on my TBR. Because I really do need to know how it all plays out. I need to know how the Shadow Man is and why he's so creepy, and what happened to that poor little girl.

HAPPY READING!!