Starter House by Sonja Condit (thoughts)

In Starter House, Lacey and Eric Miszlak are searching for the perfect house to begin their new lives in.  Almost instantly Lacey finds the house that she believes they are meant to own and love, but it is a house with a dark history.  It doesn't matter to Lacey though as she can already see her future children growing up in there.  And it only begins to play an important role when she starts to realize that they aren't alone in the house.  Dark forces, a mysterious little boy, and a home where numerous people have met their deaths means that Lacey is going to have to do whatever it takes to protect her unborn child.  Because this house doesn't want to let her go...

This was one creepy read!  I'm a sucker for a haunted house story so as soon as I read the summary for this one I knew I wanted to read it.  I'm glad that I had the chance to read this book because it didn't disappoint.  There were some very eerie moments in this book that knocked the suspense level up and kept me on the edge of my seat.  There were also a few moments where I had to go back and reread, because I was reading entirely too fast and didn't understand what was going on.  Everything that was happening was surreal at times and it took me a bit to figure out exactly what was happening.  I thought that the author did a good job of keeping the level of tension high throughout the book.  The atmosphere of the book was both dark and foreboding.  All of this added together in a way that really kept me reading.  I had a hard time putting this book down which surprised me as I didn't always care for the main characters.  Lacey was a bit much for me at times with both the way she acted and her thought processes.  I didn't always understand why she behaved the way she did  but I liked that she did everything she could to protect her family.  She just frustrated me at times!  Eric's character also left me a bit less than impressed but that is because I think that he could have been expanded on more.  I never felt that I really understood him which left me unconnected to both of the main characters.  It didn't affect my level of enjoyment with this book though because the creepiness factor kept me sucked in.

Overall, I think that I will definitely be reading more by this author.  She did a really amazing job in creating a book filled with horrors without being over the top about it.  I appreciated that this book was able to give me chills at times.  Reading it during the dark coldness of winter was perfect because it helped to make my reading experience of this book even better.  I will be recommending this one to fans of horror and thrillers alike.  And I will be waiting to see what this author comes up with next!

Bottom Line:  A suspenseful read that had some moments that sent shivers down my spine.

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book for review thanks to the publisher as part of a TLC Book Tour.  Thoughts are my own!