Review: Gloam by Jack Mackay

Once I saw that beautiful cover I simply knew that I had to have this book. I was so lucky to be able to get an eARC of it to read early. I was so excited for this book. It sounded spooky and oh so lovely at the same time. But oh. I'm sad to say that I did not love this book like I wanted to. It ended up as a two star for me.

I tried my hardest to love this story. But I just could not do it. And I have a whole lot of things to say about. I will try my best not to write too much and not to give too much away. I did not hate this book, not at all, I just did not like it much. Which is disappointing to me, as it could have been an amazing story. It was not for me.

I am going to start with the writing. In a way, it was a well written book. Parts of it was great. But I felt like things got a bit awkward when characters were talking together. The writing did not make me feel anything at all. I sadly did not care for the main girl. And the siblings annoyed me. Yet there were parts of this book that I did like. But then there were more parts that I didn't. Shall do my best to describe it. It's told from the point of view of thirteen year old Gwen. She just moved with her three siblings and their stepdad to their grandma's house. Their family history was a little weird to me. Grandparents were dead. Dad moved to France. Mother just died from a sickness. And the four children are now living with her husband of just two years. It was a little bit weird.

Yet Henry tried his best with the kids. Kind of. Gwen was thirteen. Roger was ten. Hazel and Hester were twins and six. At first I liked all of them. They were trying their hardest to be okay after losing their mom. And I loved this grief and the family coming together. Except they did not come together. They fell more and more apart. The house they moved to is on a very small island. I did like that part, and wanted more details of this island. Sigh. There was a break from school; so this book takes place in less than a week.

Henry is looking for a job, and decides to hire a nanny to look after the children. And in comes Esme. She seems like the perfect woman. Kind and sweet and lovely. But Gwen hates her right away. She sees right through her, that she is evil. I think this part happened a bit too fast and it should have taken a little longer for Gwen to think that Esme was evil. But anyway. All the others love her. She is charming. And they want her to stay. But Gwen does not. Esme hurts her. Henry doesn't believe Gwen at all. And I hated that part.

I do wish the whole family had been a little more believing. None of them listened to Gwen. Okay, I guess she did yell a whole lot and seemed a bit crazy. But still. They were her family. And I was not happy with that. I wish I had loved Gwen more. But, to me, she seemed more to be the age of eight, and not thirteen. That kept taking me out of the story. She should have been a little bit more mature. It bothered me. Still. I did like her sometimes. And she also tried her best, trying to protect her siblings from an unseen monster.

This book takes place over just a few days and it was also a quick and easy read. I do wish it had been longer. And I wish that I had liked it more. But the pages were enough to tell a story. But what did annoy me was how two things were written as The House and then The Well. It was highly annoying. There was also a cat, like in Coraline. Then it was dead. Which was depressing. I suppose that this book was about facing your fears. About coming together with your family. I just did not enjoy the way it was written, sadly.

One thing that annoyed me about this book was how extremely similar it was to other stories. I don't mind reading books that are inspired by others. And have somewhat of a same feel to it. But this had too much just like Coraline. The three pieces of the key hidden inside nightmares. Plus the look of the villain. Then there was the ending of the book, where this monster turned out to be a lot like what Pennywise looked like at the end of IT two, the movie, when he was destroyed. It was a little too much just the same for me.

The biggest thank you to the lovely PRH International people for this free eARC copy of Gloam to read and review via Edelweiss. I'm so thankful to you. I could not resist and had to read this book as soon as I could. It is not officially out until August. And even though I did not love this book, I think I'm still getting a copy for my shelves, just for that gorgeous cover. And I think you should all give this book a try. Although it was not for me, I do think others might love it. I am simply a bit more picky. Wish I had loved it, though.

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