How well do you really know your neighbors?The house across the street from the Cullens is vacant and soon put up for sale. When a family from out of town moves in, they have no idea that their new life in a new home won’t be anything even remotely close to what they expected. Seventeen-year-old Ashley Morrison is plagued by what she soon perceives as taunts from the unseen realm. Is the house … realm. Is the house really haunted or is there something more sinister at work? The unraveled mystery comes as a total shock to the entire neighborhood and the city at large.
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You move to a new town and new house. All of sudden strange things start happening but no one believes you till it happens to them. Your neighbor across the street has an ability to help. What do you do? At what cost?
I am intrigued and want more. Another just on the edge of your seat book to add to your library. I am always amazed how the story has just a touch of ‘let me look around because of …’ (not sure what word best describes it), but not horror. You know that tingle you get.
You can read this book all by itself. do not let the Book 12 in series fool you. i have read them out of sequence and have yet to get to the first ones. I follow the story just fine but want and need to get to the early one.
It is also a fast and easy to read book. I read it in a couple of hours.
This is my honest and freely given review. I did receive an ARC book.
This relatively short novel will keep you glued to the book–it is definitely a tale that will stick with you for years to come! Tanya R. Taylor certainly knows how to write novels that will make you shiver. This is the second book I have read by this author!
When the new neighbors move in to the house across the street all seems normal–okay maybe the wife isn’t all that friendly–When their 17 year old is visited by an apparition at night no one believes her–then the Mom is being haunted during the day.
The ending is going to shock you and you will never even see it coming!! I can’t say anymore since I do not want to give any of it away!!
A Faint Whisper by Tanya R. Taylor is Book 12 in the Cornelius Saga Series. Why would I ever start a series with Book 12? I usually resist investigating a series this way, but a visit to the author’s Amazon page plus an email from the author about this book’s release proved very effective to draw me in at this late stage in the series. The author should get some points for effective book promotion. Book Two, Cornelius’ Revenge, is available for free if all I wanted was to sample the author’s writing style. Book 12 was released on 22 May 2019; Book Two has a publication date of 2015. I planned to read at least these two books in the series to compare writing styles and identify changes over three and one-half years. After reading this 12th book in the series, I abandoned my plan.
A Faint Whisper is a solid three Amazon star read. The story begins with strange events and a mystery. Long-time neighborhood residents Sara, granddaughter Rosie, daughter Mira, and fiancé Bobby are humming along in the routines of daily life. Occasional significant events are coming up, such as the impending marriage of Mira and Bobby. A disrupting event to their routine is the arrival of new neighbors who moved into a house abandoned after the death of widow Rebecca. Sara wants to introduce Cindy, husband John, and daughter Ashley to the neighborhood but is rebuffed by Cindy, who demands everyone allow her family to live a life of seclusion. Cindy’s family life is one of tension. John is sure he loves Cindy but also realizes his love might be a search for stability for daughter Ashley. Cindy is completely selfish and does nothing that doesn’t reap benefits for herself. Her selfishness extends outside the family in her role as a real estate agent and inside in her role as a homemaker and parent. Ashley is sad to have made the move, feels sorry for her dad’s constantly kowtowing to a dominant wife, and resents her overbearing mother.
Then the ghostly noises appear. First visible only to Ashley, they will, step-by-step, appear to Cindy and John. The recently arrived family doesn’t have the money to move away. Newly acquired jobs trap them. They will have to find ways to deal with the spirit manifestations.
Across the street, Rosie can look out in the evening and see s ghost emerging from the ground. So can Mira. Sara accepts the gift of seeing the dead that is present in her daughter and granddaughter. And this is where the story breaks down. It is at the 70% part of the novel. For some reason, a character (spoiler) decides to present the answer to all the mysteries which have been hinted at. It is as if the character unfurled a map and said, “Here it is.”
Structurally, the novel proceeds at a very even, linear pace. Even when the surprise happens, it occurs unsurprisingly. The atmosphere of the storyline is, “OK, it is time for the surprise now.” And then everything is explained. This novel has less suspense than newspaper reporting of the timelines and elements of a crime. It is a campfire story in which everyone lets the class geek tell a story out of politeness because everyone knows how it will be told.
I would recommend this three-star read for grades seven and eight, junior high school. The novel contains no offensive language, no violence, and only minimal scary scenes (horror). Whisper has 153 pages and took me one hour ten minutes to read in one session. The sale price on Amazon is USD 0.99. I will not read more by this author.