From the Bookshelf of Creatures, Creatures Everywhere!…

How to Sell a Haunted House

Grady Hendrix

Start date: January 17, 2023

Finish date: February 17, 2023

Discussion: Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Feb 04, 2023 Latasha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, favorites, horror, tosh-s-picks-2023

He’s back!!! Everything I love about Grady Hendrix is back in this book. The characters, the storyline, all of it. I was a bit worried to start with cause with Louise and Mark it takes a minute to like either of them. Their constant sibling fighting and bickering gets old fast and just when you’re almost ready to throw this book because you can’t stand anymore of it- !!! It really gets good. From that point on, I hope you don’t have any plans for the next 2 days. It’s hard to put down. No, you d ...more

31 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2023 Ami Morrison rated it did not like it

Shelves: horror, hated-it, audio-book, don-t-own

Originally published on the book blog Creature From the Book Lagoon.

UGGGGH!! >.< Ok. That’s it. I’m done reading Grady’s (fiction) work. I don’t care how cool the covers are. I don’t care how awesome the plot sounds. I don’t even care how we both love crazy horror books from the heyday of the 1970s and 80s!! For real this time. I know I say it after every book I read of his – except for Horrorstor- but I mean it this time. I’m tired of being frustrated by how the books end. I just have to contin Originally published on the book blog Creature From the Book Lagoon.

UGGGGH!! >.< Ok. That’s it. I’m done reading Grady’s (fiction) work. I don’t care how cool the covers are. I don’t care how awesome the plot sounds. I don’t even care how we both love crazy horror books from the heyday of the 1970s and 80s!! For real this time. I know I say it after every book I read of his – except for Horrorstor- but I mean it this time. I’m tired of being frustrated by how the books end. I just have to continuously facepalm myself in the head until I come to terms with this cool author just isn’t for me. >.<

How to Sell a Haunted House is so annoyingly frustrating! I love the premise. Evil puppets? Very nice, very evil. And the book starts off pretty great, too. Dead parents, siblings fighting. Can they co-exist while dealing with the evil that lives in the house and make it out alive??

Then the story starts to lose me when the brother explains what happened in college. :/ A radical protest puppet collective? I’m sorry, what? Is this supposed to be funny…? :/ Because it just felt SUPER over booked and ridiculous, and not even in a good way.

And then things massively go off the rails…..

Why are the main characters so unlikable? Why is there so much straight up absurd shit going on? Why is this story so long? D: Seriously, it just kept going wayyyyyyyyyyyyy past where it felt like the book organically should have ended. 3 hours left and I just felt like ” WHHHHYYYYYY????” It has zilch to do with page count, by the way. It has to do more with feeling like the author was just drawing out the story for too long. Again- WHYYYY??

I seriously HATED the brother and sister. AGH! I just wanted to reach into the book and slap them with those damn puppets. I can’t think of another book off the top of my head where I hated BOTH main characters so much.

Ok, I get it. I do. I see what this book was trying to do. Multi-generational trauma, PTSD, never dealing with trauma and grief, etc. It is about parents who love their kids, but ultimately fail them on an emotional level and family having to deal with all of that. That is great……

BUT. It’s just not that well written. D: I hate saying that, and it’s just my opinion. I know other people love this book and that is awesome. I’m glad you like it! I just had a real hard time wading through parts of this story. Not because of subject matter, but because it just felt tedious. Too much is going on, Too much filler. Too predictable. Too many strikes against the siblings to ever find them redeemable. Too much goofiness that just does not help the story. :/ The “witty” parts just fall flat. I know this author is good, but in this book it just felt like he was trying way too hard. D:

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was a contender for a strong 4 star rating. By the time I was 10 hours in, my rating drastically dropped to a 2. An hour left to go, and it dropped to a 1. The ending. OMG that ending was just the final straw. When the book was finally over, I felt like, ” Well, that’s 13 hours I’ll never get back. ” :/

I think I hate this book….. ...more

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Dec 11, 2023 Becca rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror-recs, 2023-most-anticipated

I’m struggling with how I feel about this one but I did feel emotions at some point & those puppets were actually kinda scary, so I’m gonna go with a 3.5 rounded up.

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Mar 06, 2025 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, horror

When Luise's parents die in a car crash, she goes back home. There, she deals with cleaning things up. The memories that are unearthed, as well as their house. A house filled with dolls and puppets from her mother's Christian puppet ministry.

Odd things are happening in the house. The puppets aren't entirely blameless.

What a great story! As usual, Hendrix weaves horror and humor expertly. Louise and her brother, Mark, are well-rounded, very relatable characters.

What reveals there were in the st ...more

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Mar 01, 2023 Donna TalentedReads rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2023-books

Hahaha classic Grady! Creepy, funny, gory, sarcastic, everything we love!

This is a book about something haunting a house but not a haunted house, make sense? Great!

Side note - someone please make a Pupkin doll so I can buy one.

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