Review: Alone by Cyn Balog

Title: Alone

Author: Cyn Balog

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publishing Date: November 1st, 2017

Pages: 277
Audio Length: 6 Hours and 6 Minutes

Genre: YA Thriller
TW: Gore and death

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they're not going back to the city…or Seda's friends and school.

As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.
Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality…

What made me pick this book up: 

I was looking at books we need to review and the cover combined with the title definitely caught my eye.

What did I like about the cover: 

It's kind of creepy looking. Gives you kind of a freaky feeling when looking at it. What's behind the door? What's hiding?

What made me read this book: 

Well. We needed to review it. 

But besides that it sounded great. 

First of all, a horror themed hotel?! Yes please! I need to go like NOW. 

And it's a horror book. I love horror. 

What did I like the most: 

First I loved reading about all the things in the horror hotel. It sounded amazing. I loved hearing about the props, the stories, the things they did. I want to go to one so bad now! I didn't even ever think those kinds of things could exist.

The story was good. An aunt and uncle dies. They're the ones who owned the hotel. So when they died they gave it to Seda and her family to fix up and do what they want with it.

The mom doesn't want to sell it to someone who is just going to turn it around and make it a regular boring hotel. So they decide to stay there for now. Seda is alone with her mom and her siblings. Her dad had left and they don't know where he went.

Well one day before a blizzard a couple teens get stranded there. They invite them in. And they find out it's Halloween, and Seda's birthday is the day after Halloween. Her mom decides to throw her a murder mystery/scavenger hunt birthday party.

That's when **** hits the fan. People start dying. No one knows why or what's happening.

The ending was really good. You have absolutely no idea what's real, what isn't. You're constantly questioning yourself and your thoughts and what's going on. 

This book wasn't really the horror book I thought it would be. More like a thriller. It did have blood and gore and obviously murders in it. But I didn't get scared. I just had to find out what was really happening. 

The characters were written well. None of them were particularly annoying. They didn't make me want to roll my eyes or hit someone. So there's that at least. 

And I love her little siblings. There's a fake intestines that was from the murder hotel and they like to sleep with it. Like a stuffie. It's fantastic. 

What didn't I like: 

It took about 2/3 of the book before something finally started happening. It took a lot of build up a lot of explaining and back story and then it finally started to get good.

I wish that it would have started happening sooner instead of taking over half the book. 

Oh and I figured out kind of what was going on pretty quickly. However, it did have me questioning myself. So that was a plus.

But that's really the only thing I didn't like. And it's not even that it was slow or anything, the pace was good, for the most part. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
Yes! 

This was a really interesting and crazy read, Quick but left a great impression.

“Mother refuses to sell to a buyer who’ll “ruin it,” which also seems to include making it a normal bed-and-breakfast or house. Though it has quaint Gothic architecture and decor, the mannequin body parts in seemingly every closet, brownish fake bloodstains on the wallpaper, and nooses hanging from ceilings aren’t the kind of characteristics anyone wants to preserve.”
― Cyn Balog, Alone

Cyn Balog is a normal, everyday Jersey Girl who always believed magical things can happen to us when we least expect them. She is author of young adult paranormals FAIRY TALE (2009), SLEEPLESS(2010), STARSTRUCK (2011), TOUCHED (2012), and her most recent release: DEAD RIVER (2013).e. She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughters.

She also writes under the pen name Nichola Reilly. Nichola Reilly is Cyn Balog's post-apocalyptic fantasy-writing alter-ego. The first book in her series, DROWNED, will be releasing from Harlequin TEEN sometime in 2014, followed by a sequel, BURIED, in 2015.
Website: http://www.cynbalog.com
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal