I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on 2/28/23
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 510
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…
A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?
As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.
Short and Sweet Review
Daisy is able to see ghost, not really an ability that she wanted, but she manages to deal with it. When her mom inherits a mansion away from Toronto, Daisy sees this as a chance to get away especially since her boyfriend just dumped her. When they reach Ontario where the Mansion is Daisy realizes her mom is hiding a lot of secrets and the Mansion is nothing Daisy has ever dealt with before.
Ten years later, Brittney decides that its time for her to get away from her mother a best selling author whose book about the miracle mansion made her see the error of her ways. Brittney is determined to prove that her mother’s book is full of it and she does that by having the new season of her web series Haunted be focused on the mansion and the strange things that have happened there over the years.
This book was just so interesting, it starts off a little slow but I think that was because of the world building. We meet Daisy first and we learn that she’s able to see ghost and I feel like this is different than most books where characters can see ghost mainly because Daisy has to work really hard to ignore them and try to avoid seeming crazy. Her best efforts do fail because she does seem crazy and its almost like we can’t trust her. She sees maggots coming out of her wounds and her ears and its all pretty insane and it doesn’t help that her mom makes her believe she’s wrong. When Daisy and her mom get to Ontario, Daisy is given strict instructions not to enter the mansion, but its like its calling to her. Daisy also meets some town people who knew her mother from her childhood and they don’t seem to want anything to do with Grace mainly because she was up to some crazy things back in the day. Daisy becomes friends with King who’s family lives nearby. King is a psychic and he decides he’ll help Daisy figure out what’s going on in the mansion and learn a little history about her mom and Peter (the man who gave the mansion to Grace.)
Ten years later we meet Brittney and her partner Jayden who have the web series Haunted. Brittney is a little more brash while Jayden is able to connect more with the people they’re interviewing. The interviews were good we get a new perspective on what was happening ten years ago with Daisy and her mother and that mansion. I thought it was interesting to see that even though Daisy and Brittney don’t know each other they both have mommy issues. Brittney is a strong character and so is Daisy but we both see them bend and break when it comes to their moms.
The mansion is a whole different beast in itself, it reminds me of the movie Monster House. The mansion is basically a living entity. The mansion is able to make people hear it if it wants and its supposed to be feeding off of the dead people inside but it gets stronger and decides it wants to feed off of the living. When Daisy gets there she realizes that the house is way stronger than anyone has anticipated. It was hard to put this book down especially when I got further into it, mainly because we start to learn more about the Mansion and how it’s operating and we see how Daisy’s mom past had a big affect on what’s happening now.
This book was insane, but in the best way. There were a lot of tough subjects that were mentioned in this book so just watch out for that. The ending was pretty great and I love how things were handled, the dual POV worked out really well. If you’re looking for a psychological horror thriller than this book is for you! Its a book I’ll be thinking about for a while.
Speak Your Mind