Review: Harmony House by Nic Sheff

Title: Harmony House

Author:  Nic Sheff
Publisher: HarperTeen

Publishing Date: March 2nd 2016
Pages: 304

Genre: YA Horror

Series:  Stand Alone 
Source: ARC
 

Jen Noonan’s father thinks a move to Harmony House is the key to salvation, but to everyone who has lived there before, it is a portal to pure horror.

After Jen’s alcoholic mother’s death, her father cracked. He dragged Jen to this dilapidated old manor on the shore of New Jersey to “start their new lives”—but Harmony House is more than just a creepy old estate. It’s got a chilling past—and the more Jen discovers its secrets, the more the house awakens. Strange visions follow Jen wherever she goes, and her father’s already-fragile sanity disintegrates before her eyes. As the forces in the house join together to terrorize Jen, she must find a way to escape the past she didn’t know was haunting her—and the mysterious and terrible power she didn’t realize she had.

I was pretty excited about this book. It sounds pretty creepy and the cover is just so creepy. So I was hoping I was in for a creepy read. I did not get creepy. What I got was annoyed and bored.  I don't normally bad reviews and this ne took me a while to get to because I don't like doing bad reviews. So this will be short and not so sweet. 

Jen and her father move to an old house after Jen's mom dies. Their father thinks they need a new start. The mother was an acholoic, father is really strict and an overly religious fanatic, and Jen is nothing but rude, disrespectuful, mean, and a mess. The town is.. I believe Jen's mother grew up but could be wrong and could be where the father grew up..either way its a creepy house in a creepy town with creepy people. The house has secrets, its haunted and it causes  Jen to think she is crazy because it's trying to tell her something. Which is everyone is crazy. 

I am going to start by I love horror. I love ghosts stories. I do not like the kind of horror that is supernatatural that includes demons but ghosts I do. I really enjoy a great ghost story or a great slasher horror. I was super excited for this book and was so disapppointed. I really didn't care for anything in this book. Here is a list of my issues. 

• Jen was totally unlikeable. There was no redeeming her. She was just mean and disrespectful and poor poor me all the time. 
• There were no likeable or connectable characters in this book. I cared for no one. 
• Jen's dad was a freak and just horrible. Jen's mother was an alcholic. So no food family values.. none. 
• The story was not interesting. It could have been but it didn't make sense and just didn't flow right. 
• There was a cult aspect within religion that gives religion a bad name. Either be a cult or not be a cult. Don't make people who believe in God feel crazy or wrong. 
• The ending just didn't hit home. 
• The book just didn't have any redeeming qualities for me. 

So I just didn't like it at all. The only reason I finished it...  It was a fast read and I felt that maybe somewher in the end it would all come togehter. Nope.  

I honestly think the author could write. The writing was there just not the concept or characters. So maybe horror just isn't his thing. 

A very disappointing read. 

Due to his parents' divorce, at age 4, Sheff spent much of his childhood bouncing back and forth between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. He began using alcohol and drugs early on, even before his teen years. By high school he was a regular user of ecstasy and cocaine. Living on the street much of the time, Sheff became involved in various destructive behaviors such as selling drugs and working as a prostitute in order to support his addiction. Eventually, faced with the choice of jail or rehab, Sheff dropped out of college to seek treatment, at which time he was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder.