Creepy middle grade books will always be something that I want to read. And so I needed to give this book a try. And the cover is just so beautiful. I had high hopes that I would love this one. But I'm sorry to say that I did not. I'm ending up at two stars, which hurts my heart a little. As I so wish I could have loved this story.
But it was simply not for me. This is also the third spooky middle grade book by this author that I am reading. Also the third one I am not liking much. Oops. I guess her writing style just is not for me. Although the plot of her books all sounds so good. They just end up not being for me, sadly. Have so many thoughts to share.
But I will say that I hope children will love this book. As I can see why others would enjoy it. I have just read better ones. This one fell a little flat for me. I'm going to try keeping my review short, as this was a quick and easy book to read. But I have a little bit too much to share about it. I did not hate this story. Not at all. There was nothing that I disliked, I just simply did not like it either. Ack. It was too boring for me and not creepy enough. First mentioning the writing. I had a few small issues with it. Mostly that the conversations felt wrong, in a way. Too showy, maybe. Not sure how to describe it. Just felt off to me. And that whole mention of turning her blood cold. I can't help it; that line is not for me, haha. The main girl also felt much older than eleven, yet also younger.
My biggest issue was the use of the word Grampa. I have never experienced this before, but it physically hurt me to read the word. I got this weird pain in my mouth when I read the word. Less painful as I read it more later in the book. But in the beginning, it hurt a whole lot. As the word is used often. I cannot explain it. Never had it happen before. But it drove me nuts. Did not have an issue with grandpa. Just the other one. Not blaming the author for this, of course. I just found it very weird that it caused me that much pain.
We get to know Kaye in this book. She is eleven years old. She is spending the whole summer with her mom and her little sister Holly, at their late grandfather's house. He died just a little while ago. The house now belongs to Uncle Stan. Their Guncle, gay uncle. That was just too weird of a word, ha. But it was not the only one. In the beginning of this book, there were so many weird nicknames. I honestly did not like it at all. Nicknames are just not for me, to be honest. Her uncle and his boyfriend were so sweet, but weird.
But I did like getting to know Kaye. I did not love her, but I loved parts of her. She is in so much pain from missing her grandpa. From wanting him to come back. She has this thing where she counts often. And I liked that. I liked the parts where she remembered him. Though she is trying to get past feeling sad, when she needs to learn to live with it. It made me think too much of my own grandpa, who died so sudden less than two years ago. It still hurts me too much to think about. I'm unsure if this was a good reminder or not.
We do learn a whole lot about Kaye. She came out as bi to her uncle a year ago, when she was ten. That seemed a little young to me. Which is why I say she felt older. But I don't know. Maybe it is normal. Kaye was such a sweet girl, and I did adore her. She talks to a therapist. Which is good, I guess, but their two conversations in the book felt a little pushy, in a way. Kaye is also unable to speak. As her words just stop when she stresses. I loved this. But then, she speaks with her sister. Wish she had spoken less, honestly.
As that was one of my favorite parts of her. That she was going through a lot of pain. But she is trying her best. I felt like there was so much we did not get to know about her, though. There were many hints at her past, and her grandpa, that were just not explained. It also took way too long before we learned her little sister, Holly, was six years old. She was cute, but a little pushy. This book is about Kaye and Holly being at a fair, where they meet a magician. Where Holly wins a doll, that looks a little like her. Called Holly-doll.
Okay, that part was just weird to me. Simply because the word Holly-doll is in the book all the time. This grew to bother me a bit too much. Then Holly ends up finding more dolls outside in the garden. Creepy ones. While Kaye is busy making friends with the neighbor girl, Joey. Whom she ends up liking. I did like their small friendship a lot, though. Joey seemed great. And they just had fun together. But Holly needed Kaye. And she was just not there for her. Though, well. This book takes place in about a week. Too short.
I have already written too much about this book. Oops. But anyway. This book is about the creepy dolls. More keeps turning up. And Holly is always talking to them, and making it look like they are talking back to her. It creeps Kaye out. It did not creepy me out. Probably because Kaye keeps thinking the dolls are moving and talking. Then thinking no, they did not. So it goes again and again. It grew tiring. These dolls barely did anything. I was expecting more pain and hurt. I was hoping for scary scenes. There were none.
It may also be that I compared this book to several movies and some books that are like this one. And I thought they did it better. Ack. I just wish this book had been more. It was a bit too little for me. Holly may be turning into a doll. Kaye is too slow in actually figuring it out. Their mom sees nothing. But it is also a book about grief. And I think it did that part well, which is what I liked about this book. Broken Dolls was not all I wanted it to be. But I am glad I gave this a try even so. And I think you should all give it a try too.
