Review by Kayleigh
Series Name: The Feed Duology #1
Some Kind of Haunted is spooky, intense and filled with yearning.
Favourite Quote:
Lexi Darling, purveyor of doom – not drama.
What this means is that, for the first time in my life, I get to take the things that have haunted me all this time seriously, too.
I get to take me seriously. It’s big. It’s huge. It’s the most wonderful thing I can think of.
Except for the whole demons part.
Book Synopsis:
Lexi Darling has always been a city girl through and through. New York is loud, crowded, and just chaotic enough to keep her mind off everything she’d rather not think about—especially the eerily realistic nightmares that have plagued her all her life. So when she and her twin brother, Logan, are summoned to the postcard-perfect town of Midas, Iowa, one golden October to handle an inheritance from the grandmother they never knew, Lexi figures it’ll be a quick detour: sign a few papers, snap a fall foliage selfie, and catch the next flight home.
But Midas has other plans.
The town has been waiting for the Darling twins, and it’s not about to let them leave. Their arrival stirs up a centuries-old curse, one that promises something dark and hungry will rise again by Halloween night. And the key to stopping it might just lie in their family’s mysterious past. Now, trapped in Midas with the shadows closing in, Lexi has to team up with a group of stubborn locals to save the town…including Jack, the grumpy-but-unfairly attractive diner owner who drives her crazy in all the wrong ways.
As the nights grow longer and an uncanny evil creeps closer, Lexi must uncover the truth behind the curse before Midas—and everyone in it—is consumed. Because in Midas, some secrets refuse to stay buried—and some nightmares never end.
Review:
Give me all of the Darling twins. This book scratched an itch deep in my soul. I’m a big Hazel Beck fan, and their last series got continually darker and I’m thrilled to see them launch a brand new series that keeps up that almost horror/ romance vibe. Some Kind of Haunted deals with demons, magic and grief. Lexi and their brother Logan have never been to their parents hometown, where their mother died. It’s only when her father’s grandma dies and they discover that they’ve inherited a knitting store and a house, does Lexi and her brother go and visit. They are planning to be in and out, but it becomes very clear that Lexi has been called home for a reason.
Lexi has always been…. Troubled. She’s been plagued with intense dreams her whole life and has struggled to live in the real world in New York City. She’s a knitwear designer who struggles to maintain friendships, keeps her romantic relationships surface level, and would probably be in a mental institute if it wasn’t for her solid and steady successful lawyer twin brother who keeps her balanced. So consider Lexi surprised when she gets to Midas and learns about the town, which creeps her out the moment she steps through the city gates and into the picture perfect and yet sinister small town. It turns out, her years of dreams and torment may actually have been omens of what was to come for Lexi in Midas.
Once she realizes she is not having a breakdown, Lexi has to get to know the locals including one grumpy but hunky diner owner named Jack, figure out why her grandmother needed her and Logan to come back to Midas now, and figure out if she’ll ever be able to leave the town again. Easy peasy right? It would be much easier if there weren’t demons after her.
Good lord I loved this book so much. I devoured it. It’s sinister and seductive like those Halloween art prints that shift between delicate and nightmare inducing. I loved every moment I got to spend in Midas. It’s a tormented and twisted town filled with horror and death, but also beauty and love, and that friction is what makes the town and the book so unsettling. Lexi is a tormented and brave main character who you root for from the first page. It’s easy to think at first that she’s just another Alexis Rose, but she had depth and grit and a deep desire to make her life worth something. Her partner in crime is her twin brother Logan, who is unflappable, predictable and steady. Her perfect opposite. Neither Logan nor Lexi can walk away after they begin to learn of the deal made a long time ago by their forefathers to protect the town from demonic spirits. Once a generation the town feeds on its citizens and then the balance is restored. Most people who know about the deal want to find a way to end it for obvious reasons. And the surviving Darlings have a part to play. But someone or something is intent on hiding the truth and stopping them, and Lexi has to learn to trust herself, her brain and her heart to stay alive and keep her new friends alive as well, including the handsome, tortured lone wolf, Jack.
Jack is determined to save his town. He owes his life to this town and his grandpa. And he’ll do whatever he needs to do to break the curse. He wasn’t expecting Lexi Darling as part of the recipe and he struggles to stay away from his very strong attraction to her. Jack and Lexi both yearn and try to ignore their feelings as they focus on staying alive and figuring out how to break the curse/deal before the feeding begins on Halloween night, which is coming up fast. But what if trusting each other is part of breaking the curse? And maybe they need to be together to help save the city? I was kicking my feet and squealing as they increasingly lost their reasons for not staying away from each other.
This is book one in the series, and let me tell you, I am so ready to get back to Midas again soon.
Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
