Abandoned by Booklikes

I selected this book because the synopsis intrigued me and I remember reading "The House Next Door" by Anne Rivers Siddons and "The Shining" by Stephen King as a teenager and being freaked out for days after finishing those books. "Starter House" had a great premise and started off very strong but I ended up not caring at all for the ending or main characters which makes it hard to rate this novel above two stars.

The plot revolves around a married couple, Lacey and Eric who are looking to buy their first home. Lacey and Eric are expecting a baby and she wants to be settled in a house before the baby is born. They come across a home that needs work but promptly buy it since Lacey is so intrigued and feels an instant connection to the house. After moving in the couple start interacting with a little boy who comes out of nowhere who starts causing problems around the house.

I thought the set-up was very good. Ms. Condit has a way with words and I have to say that she managed to grip me almost immediately as I started reading this book. However, I didn't feel scared or uneasy as I did while reading Mr. King's and Ms. Siddon's novels. I think if you are going to write a ghost story it doesn't have to be all bloodshed and mayhem but there at least should be some scary moments included in it or something that makes you afraid for the main protagonists.

Also the way that the characters Eric and Lacey were written did not make me want to root for them to get out of harm's way. As it was Eric was an non-entity throughout the novel and I couldn't warm up to Lacey.

Finally, about halfway through I found myself getting bored with the story. One reason why I liked "The Shining" and "The House Next Door" was because there was a central mystery involved with the house/hotel in those stories that you were given clues to along with the main protagonists. Withthis novel I just found myself not really caring why anything was happening to Lacey or Eric and just wanted to get to the end.

Would only recommend if you like your ghost stories to be non-threatening.

Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program