NZLisaM's Reviews > We Used to Live Here
We Used to Live Here
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by
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NZLisaM's review
bookshelves: 2024, horror, mystery, supernatural, suspense, thriller, gothic-horror
Jun 22, 2024
bookshelves: 2024, horror, mystery, supernatural, suspense, thriller, gothic-horror
The author has a creative imagination, but I wasn’t sold on the way it was written!
Eve Palmer, and her partner Charlie Bastion fix up old houses with the intention of flipping them for a profit, and their current home – 3709 Heritage Lane – in the backcountry of Oregon is their most ambitious project to date. One Friday night, Eve and their dog Shylo (no harm comes to the dog btw) are alone in the house, waiting on Charlie’s return, when the doorbell sounds.
Eve reluctantly opens the door to a family of five – Thomas, his wife Paige, and their children, Kai, Newton, and Jenny. Turns out Thomas grew up in the house, and since they were passing, he was hoping to show his family the interior. They seem harmless, so Eve agrees. But the tour stretches on forever, and finally just when they’re about to leave, Jenny, their youngest, goes missing… And that’s just the start of the bizarreness…
Unhinged and mind-bending! I savoured the idea of this, the concept, the cleverly concealed clues and hints, the insertion of news articles, interviews, relevant articles, etc, the gothic setting, and best of all, the chilled-me-to-my-bone ending, and the place it ended. However, the way it was written just didn’t do it for me – it was all over the show – choppy, hard-to-keep-track of plot, some downright awful dialogue, and inconsistent character behaviour. I appreciate that given the trippy and strange plot, the writing needed to contain a certain amount of surrealism especially the further into the novel things got, but it was this way from the beginning, which made it hard to connect with any characters as they were all odd from the first meeting, therefore tough to care about. For me the most terrifying part of a horror novel is when your characters are living their lives as if everything is normal, only to be confronted with something supernatural or paranormal, and it would’ve worked with this exact plot and not lost anything. I’ve seen a similar plot work in a TV show, and another book, and the characters were 100% more realistic to life – can’t name either obviously due to spoilers.
It will be interesting to see if the Netflix movie will get it right (by me).
P.S. The title is all kinds of awesome.
Eve Palmer, and her partner Charlie Bastion fix up old houses with the intention of flipping them for a profit, and their current home – 3709 Heritage Lane – in the backcountry of Oregon is their most ambitious project to date. One Friday night, Eve and their dog Shylo (no harm comes to the dog btw) are alone in the house, waiting on Charlie’s return, when the doorbell sounds.
Eve reluctantly opens the door to a family of five – Thomas, his wife Paige, and their children, Kai, Newton, and Jenny. Turns out Thomas grew up in the house, and since they were passing, he was hoping to show his family the interior. They seem harmless, so Eve agrees. But the tour stretches on forever, and finally just when they’re about to leave, Jenny, their youngest, goes missing… And that’s just the start of the bizarreness…
Unhinged and mind-bending! I savoured the idea of this, the concept, the cleverly concealed clues and hints, the insertion of news articles, interviews, relevant articles, etc, the gothic setting, and best of all, the chilled-me-to-my-bone ending, and the place it ended. However, the way it was written just didn’t do it for me – it was all over the show – choppy, hard-to-keep-track of plot, some downright awful dialogue, and inconsistent character behaviour. I appreciate that given the trippy and strange plot, the writing needed to contain a certain amount of surrealism especially the further into the novel things got, but it was this way from the beginning, which made it hard to connect with any characters as they were all odd from the first meeting, therefore tough to care about. For me the most terrifying part of a horror novel is when your characters are living their lives as if everything is normal, only to be confronted with something supernatural or paranormal, and it would’ve worked with this exact plot and not lost anything. I’ve seen a similar plot work in a TV show, and another book, and the characters were 100% more realistic to life – can’t name either obviously due to spoilers.
It will be interesting to see if the Netflix movie will get it right (by me).
P.S. The title is all kinds of awesome.
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Reading Progress
June 19, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 19, 2024
– Shelved
June 19, 2024
– Shelved as:
2024
June 21, 2024
–
Started Reading
June 21, 2024
–
10.0%
June 21, 2024
–
40.0%
June 22, 2024
–
71.0%
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
horror
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
mystery
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
supernatural
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
suspense
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
thriller
June 22, 2024
– Shelved as:
gothic-horror
June 22, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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message 1:
by
Jayme
(new)
Jun 22, 2024 08:42PM
![Jayme](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1545654456p1/11345366.jpg)
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![JaymeO](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1389405773p1/16061946.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Jayme. You're welcome. I had a lot of aniexty about the dog so thought I'd spare you, and others, from the same. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Jayme. Not only that it was in the works before the book was even released! Not sure if it will translate as there's a lot of focus on Eve's thoughts, which means the movie will probably consist of Eve roaming the house with ominous music playing. 🤍
![Nikki Lee](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1717245559p1/145104549.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
They sure are. Same here - love an honest review. 🤍
![Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile (recovering from an arm injury; on a short review-writing break)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1724013491p1/28082207.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks so much, Sujoya. About to select my next read. 🤍
![Debra](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1699023849p1/5032725.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Debra, and so true. Still deciding what to read next. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Ceecee. Can’t wait to hear what you think of it when you do read it. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks so much, Peter. I don’t mind a bizarre plot, but when the writing makes no sense that’s where I draw the line. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Debbi. Good call - I’ll be curious to see what changes they make. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
I couldn’t agree more. 🤍
![MarilynW](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1522535580p1/49815208.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Marilyn. you’re very welcome. I know you feel the same way as me re: animals. 🤍
![Rachel Hanes](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1724541430p1/75009563.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Rachel. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Maureen. I know, thank goodness. Cool name for a dog, right? 🤍
![Meredith (Trying to catch up!)](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1423329725p1/30978160.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Meredith. A clever plot, but this is the second horror novel I’ve read recently where the writing, dialogue, and behaviour of the characters has been sub par. 🤍
![Michelle](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1725026193p1/53328737.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Michelle. I’m definitely in the minority. Still intend to watch the movie though as it was the writing I struggled with not the plot. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Angela. Just trying to select something to read. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Darla. It was a real shame. And I agree about the title and cover. 🤍
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Jan. Hope they change a lot of the dialogue. 🤍
![bookswithpaulette](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1537335870p1/82515006.jpg)
![NZLisaM](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1715039892p1/79324789.jpg)
Thanks, Paulette. Yeah, I agree, the unanswered questions didn’t bother me either. The writing, characters, and dialogues were all things I had issues with. 😉