I had a hope that I would love this book, as I adore Hannah and her books, and this looked creepy. But I didn't know that I would love it as much as I did. And I am so very happy about it. I could not stop reading once I started it. It got too exciting and stressful and I just enjoyed it to pieces. Five stars for this incredible book.
I'm not sure where to begin, honestly. It is an adult story, with the main girl being twenty-seven years old. It's told from the point of view of Claire, whom I liked a whole lot. Though I do not usually like books set in our world, and this was set two years ago, I did not mind in this one. As this story takes place on a small island.
Which made it feel more fantasy at times, less real world. Plus the sea monster, of course. Which was honestly very awesome. But first, this book is all about Claire. Her boyfriend of five years just died suddenly. And it is destroying her a little. I did not like all the drinking she did for a few days, but also didn't blame her either. During the first days after his death, we get to know their relationship a bit. And I honestly did not really like Elias much at all. Hmph. And I was kind of happy that he was dead. Oops. Sure, Claire was happy with him. But it was not a great relationship at all. She just wanted to belong, to have a family, after she lost hers at thirteen. Then she gets an invitation from his mother, to come to their private family island, to get to know them.
Elias had no contact with his family. But Claire wants to belong so badly and so she is all kinds of excited to get to know this family she has not yet met. Which is where this book truly begins, once Claire arrives at the island. I'm honestly not sure how to describe this book. I do not want to share too much about it. It is also only three hundred pages long, and I felt like reading it went by so fast. Probably because I was so invested in the story and so very stressed about it all, ha. Which I enjoyed very much. It made me happy.
But it was all kinds of disgusting at times. And scary and creepy and gruesome. Yet I loved every moment of it. It was not completely perfect, but it was just perfect enough. And I truly loved this story. Things start feeling weird the moment Claire arrives at the home of the family of her dead boyfriend. Well, it felt weird to me. Claire was mostly just happy to be there. His mother, Audrey, was so kind and sweet towards her. The others as well. It was such a huge house on the island, going down and down deep under the ocean.
Which was all kinds of creepy. And Claire did not like it very much either, as she had big trauma from her childhood. I very much loved getting to know more about what happened to her when she was thirteen. It took a while before we got to know everything, but it was such a sad yet great story. The family was not very big, they were just six adults, and then the brother of Elias, Ash. And he did not want her to be there at all. They very much seemed to hate each other at first. Yet had some fun angry banter between them.
This book only takes place during four days, somewhat. Which went by so very quickly. There is so much that I want to share. But going to just write a tiny bit about the plot, so this review of mine will not be that long. Spoiler: it got long. It is a story about Claire spending time with the family, getting to know them all. Getting to know this creepy looking house they live in. And slowly realizing that something is very wrong at this place. That there is a reason for why Ash is trying to make her leave, even when she wants to stay.
I just want to share all the spoilers, haha. But not going to. But oh, this book was exciting and scary and I loved it so much. This family is not normal. They are so very rich and it did not come for free. And Claire is not there for a regular visit. I loved getting to know the monster in this story. It was creepy. It was scary. And so very amazing to read about. I felt like this book reminded me a lot about the movie, Ready or Not. It's one of my most favorite ones. And the reminders were all good. This story was honestly just exciting.
I'm not sure what else to share about Reliquary. It was such an incredible story. A story about a monster. A story about a woman learning to care about herself again. I loved how Claire changed, how she started to see herself differently. While also trying her hardest to survive. There were some scenes in this book that were disgusting and awful. And I loved it so, ha. A true horror story. There was no romance, though, which was a bit depressing. Yet I shipped Claire and Ash the most. They would have been perfect. Sigh.
One thing I wish had been different was the ending. Even though it was all kinds of incredible and I loved it so, so very much. It was epic. I just wanted a few more chapters, ha. I wanted to know more. I wanted a little bit more at the end. Felt like it ended a bit too soon. How rude. Yet it was such a great ending. Sigh. This horror story left me feeling happy, even though it was pretty gruesome. I must confess that I peeked a bunch before starting this. But that just made me love it even more. And it still surprised me all the time.
I'm honestly so glad that I read this book. It made me so happy. Even though it made me so very stressed most of the time. I so enjoyed reading about Claire. I loved getting to know her better and to get to know Ash as well. I adored him so. I liked Theo as well, somewhat. The others I didn't like very much at all. The ending was truly amazing and thrilling to read. This book was very much for me. The ocean scenes were scary. I loved it. Do read this book too. And I so wish Hannah will write more like it. Also a sequel, please.
