Laura Benedict (1)

I read Charlotte's Story a little while ago and was so enthralled by that book that I immediately bought this book; the first book in the trilogy. Charlotte's Story took place in the 50s and this book story takes place in present time and that means that some, not many, characters from Charlotte's Story are in this book. I also know that the Bliss House, and that the men from the Bliss house aren't really to trust.

In this book, we get to follow Rainey Bliss Adams and her daughter Ariel that show more have moved to the house after Rainey bought it back to the Bliss family after it's been sold by Charlotte Bliss after her son Michael disappeared around 30 years before. Rainey hopes that this will be good for her and Ariel. They need a new start after losing Ariels father to a fire that also disfigured Ariel. But they hardly settle in the house before the first person dies and then it's just a matter of time before the next one dies...

I really like the haunted house genre, and the Bliss House is really creepy. I'm mean the house isn't creepy to look at, it's lovely, it's just got an atmosphere that is creepy and it has its fair share of mysterious deaths. Like the previous owner who killed his wife with an ax in the woods outside the house. But, a house can not be evil, can it?

Laura Benedict has written a book that is hard to put down when you really get into the story and is both engaging and disturbing to read and I thought I had most of it all figured out when she turned the table on me with a very good twist. I was not really surprised about some of the things that happened, and that's thanks to reading Charlotte's Story before I read this one. That gave me an advantage since I had my suspicions on some people in this book.

One thing, I was a bit annoyed towards the end when Ariel did something really stupid, I mean I understand her to a certain limit, but at the same time I was really irritated because I didn't think that she would after all she had been through before would do that. But then again it leads to a very fitting ending for the Bliss House.

All and all a truly good book. What I really like is that it doesn't rush anything, everything takes it times, that can be a bit frustrating sometimes, but the reward is a well-written book.

4.5 stars show less

CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS by Laura Benedict is a supernatural suspense, a genre that I only touch lightly here at Fantasy Debut. Usually, I like heroic tales of high adventure, which this book is decidedly not. But I loved it anyway. I couldn't put it down.


CALLING is a complex tale about three women, Alice, Roxanne and Del. Alice is the ultimate follower--she would do anything that her hero, Roxanne, says. Roxanne relishes this power, and like all power, it corrupts her. Del is Roxanne's show more supportive best friend. And Roxanne is the only thing that keeps the three of them together. The story starts when they are thirteen-year-old girls. Roxanne cooks up a ritual--a spell--that will bring them a boyfriend. Del thinks they're just playing. Alice knows they're not.

Jump ahead about twenty years to a very unpleasant character, a young man named Dillon. Dillon has just had a car accident with a well-dressed man with an unusual name--Verick. It turns out that Dillon's sister is Thad's lover. Who is Thad? Thad is Alice's husband. And Verick has targeted Dillon for a reason. The whole book is like this. All these little connections that don't become obvious until many pages later. It was like trying to trace a spider's web. Not just any spider--a black widow. Which spins a web that looks like nothing more than a tangle of silk.

And then we have Romero, who turns out to be a former priest. Who turns out to have been a teacher where young Alice, Roxanne and Del went to school. And we have the sin that drew them all together years ago. And another sin that brings them together once again, years later.

One thing interesting about the horror genre is that it is not afraid to work with Christian elements. This novel has many Christian elements, unapologetically presented. It also has elements of Santeria, which is a blend of Christian saint worship and West African religious traditions. Satan is a character in this novel, and he is absolutely chilling. CALLING is about a deal with the devil--and not the sort of deal you might suspect. And it doesn't have the sort of punishments you might expect. Not all of the sinners die--and not all of the good characters live.

CALLING is not for the faint of heart. It is not a happy book. I would have preferred that there not be so many deaths at the end, but the author knew when to stop. I expected another death, but he lived. The author may take some heat for underage sex here--underage sex with an adult man--but I think she handled it well. But there is a hero by the end after all-someone I never expected. Bravo for him. It was great.

This is the sort of novel that I like to read again in order to find answers that eluded me the first time. It's one for the keeper shelf. show less

Shivering

Although this was a short story, almost a novella, it was as powerful as a novel could be. I swear the snow fell on my shoulders as I sat outside reading the story...in August. The cat may have been one of my favorite...distractions. None of the three characters were perfect by any means, but they were much more interesting because of it. If you have never read Ms. Benedict's works before what a wonderful first peek. If you have? She didn't disappoint. Not one bit.

A key element to any successful haunted house story is an appropriate setting. The atmosphere surrounding the house is just as important as the mysterious happenings inside the house. In Bliss House, the setting does not fit the insidiousness of the house. For one, the story occurs during the summer months. Summer in Virginia is too bright, too hot, and too lush to appropriately convey mystery and gloom. Then there is the house itself. The rooms are bright and airy. The ceilings soar. For show more those rooms without windows, they are still open and big. They are less well-maintained, but a quick walk through the door leads one directly into the three-story open gallery. There is none of the dilapidation or closeness that typically identifies a doomed house. Between the blazing summer heat and humidity along with a recently renovated house, it is difficult to take Bliss House as a haunted house seriously.

Other issues with the story revolve around Rainey. As the main character suffering from guilt at the tragedy that left her a widow and her daughter forever scarred, readers should sympathize with her struggles to build a new life for herself and her daughter. Yet, readers will find it difficult to muster sympathy for her. Her story is tragic and pitiable; her reactions are not. She oscillates between smothering Ariel with attention and then virtually ignoring her. She is so afraid of her daughter’s feelings that she capitulates at the slightest hint of a battle and makes excuses for her behavior or absence. Yet, she feels no qualms about packing up and moving to Virginia without discussion. It is a contradictory attitude that diminishes one’s ability to sympathize with her. Ms. Benedict tries to overcome this deficiency by showing Rainey’s burgeoning awareness of her mishandling of the move and of Ariel. However, this occurs so late into the story that it becomes something of a moot point. In trying to develop a character still struggling with the psychological trauma associated with the death of her husband and with being the unwitting reason for the accident, Ms. Benedict creates a main character that is more pathetic than sympathetic. Rainey comes across as too annoying and self-centered to be wholly enjoyable.

Ariel also has her issues, but these are so much easier to stomach given her age and her part in the accident. One expects a teenager to be moody and difficult. Their emotions should fluctuate wildly and rapidly. When combined with the mental trauma of the accident and the psychological ramifications of her injuries, there is no surprise that she lashes out at her mother, blames her for everything wrong in her life, and uses that blame to get what she wants. Her attitude and actions not only meet a reader’s expectations, her unwitting manipulation of her mother fits well into the storyline.

The fundamental issue with Bliss House is that Ms. Benedict’s efforts to create a menacing atmosphere and a sympathetic main character ultimately fail. The writing is flat, and more importantly, the story progresses too quickly to establish the appropriate tone. In addition, there are no real answers about the house. Readers will still wonder how Bliss House became so ominous and if there are even more dark Bliss family secrets that made it that way. Instead, she solves the murder mystery, unveils a decades-old family secret, and resolves the issue of living in the house without touching anything else about it. In many ways, it is a disappointing ending because all of the key elements that should make Bliss House a fantastic story are there. Her execution of those elements and some of choices she makes regarding them prevent the story from being anything other than merely okay. show less