The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall! Today I'll be sharing my review of the book with you - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! Check out the schedule at the end of the post to follow the rest of the tour!

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall

Author: Katie Alender

Genre: YA Paranormal/Horror

Release Date: August 25, 2015

Publisher: Point (Scholastic Press)

Format: Hardcover; ebook

Description:

Asylum meets Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, in this riveting tale of ghosts, secrets, and family, from master of suspense Katie Alender.

Delia's new house isn't just a house. It used to be an insane asylum, a place to lock up "troubled" young women long ago. And a restless, wicked spirit is still at play--and it doesn't want defiant girls like Delia to go anywhere.

So the house kills her.

Now Delia is a ghost, trapped in her creepy home forever. As she meets the other ghost girls who haunt the narrow hallways, as well as the handsome ghost boy on the grounds, she learns shocking truths about the house's history. Delia also realizes that her alive and grieving sister might be the house's next target. Can Delia unlock the mystery of the old asylum, save her sister, and free herself? 

Praise:

Kirkus (starred review): "This superior ghost story keeps the creep factor high… A really scary and original ghost story, well told. Read it with the lights on."

School Library Journal: "Alender has created a chilling tale of forgotten tragedies and family secrets. A great choice for fans of horror or suspense novels."

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall is a thrilling blend of paranormal fiction, mystery, and horror that will have fans of creepy young adult novels devouring each page until the very end. The story focuses on our main character and narrator - Delia Piven. She's a really unique lead character - mainly due to the fact that she dies within the first few chapters of the book and spends the rest of the story as a ghost. Although she's technically dead for the majority of the book, Delia is incredibly realistic and down to earth. She's determined to figure out what exactly is happening at the asylum, how to defeat it for good, and also how to save her little sister from becoming the next victim of the house. Delia also wants to find a way to free herself and the other spirits who are trapped in the asylum. She's smart, brave, a dedicated daughter and loving sister, among several other positive traits. I enjoyed reading the story from Delia's point of view. I'm a huge fan of first person point of view because of the deep connection it allows the reader to form with the narrator. We get to learn things about them that normally wouldn't be accessible - their hopes, fears, emotions, inner thoughts, and so much more. The fact that we get to peek inside Delia's mind when she's alive as well as after she's dead is fantastic. I loved seeing her character change and grow after her death - she really steps up her game and gets down to business. I found it incredibly fascinating to experience the story from a ghost's perspective and I feel that the author really hit a home run with this writing style. The story wouldn't have had as much of an impact if it was written in a different way, so I'm incredibly happy that she chose to go outside the norm with this book.

The plot wasn't incredibly original - there have been plenty of books centered around haunted insane asylums along with the dark entities that live within them. The author put her own spin on the plot by the writing style she chose to use (which I talked about above) along with the detailed characters, vivid imagery, and the mystery behind it all that cranked the suspense level to the highest point possible. I loved every way that the author made this story her own, and the unique qualities that were woven into the book made it all the more original and compelling. I'm a huge fan of horror and thrillers, and I'm always wishing that there were more in the YA genre - and that they were good. There seems to be a wave of new titles releasing over the next few months that have me hopeful and excited to see what they will bring to the genre. This was one of the books I was really looking forward to reading this year - among several of the others coming out soon - but I wasn't sure what to expect and didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was a fail. I'm so happy to report that not only was this anything but a failure - it far surpassed anything I could have hoped or imagined. I sincerely hope that this book will help usher in a wave of new YA horror/thriller novels - as well as a breath of fresh air that I feel is so desperately needed. If this book is any indication on how things will progress - I think fans of the genre, like myself, are in for an awesome time. I highly recommend this book to fans of horror, paranormal fiction, mystery, and those who enjoy hauntings and ghost stories!

Katie Alender is the author of The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall, Famous Last Words, Marie Antoinette: Serial Killer, and the Bad Girls Don’t Die series. She is a graduate of the Florida State University Film School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. When she’s not writing novels, she can usually be found quilting, reading, eating delicious high-calorie foods, and hanging out with her friends (on very special occasions, she manages to do all of those things at once). 

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(3) winners will receive a finished copy of THE DEAD GIRLS OF HYSTERIA HALL (US Only) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One: 
8/17/2015- The Cover Contessa- Interview 
8/18/2015- Twisted Book Junkie- Review 
8/19/2015- Fiktshun- Guest Post 
8/20/2015- BITTERSWEET ENCHANTMENT- Review 
8/21/2015- Mundie Moms- Guest Post


Week Two: 
8/24/2015- The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club- Interview 
8/25/2015- Pandora's Books- Review 
8/26/2015- bookaholics anonymous- Interview 
8/27/2015- A Dream Within A Dream- Review 
8/28/2015- Such a Novel Idea- Guest Post