by Katie Alender
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: Point
Pub Date: 2015
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Print
Source: Borrowed
Book Links: Goodreads Amazon
In this asylum, your mind plays tricks on you all the time…
Delia’s new house isn’t just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females—an insane asylum nicknamed “Hysteria Hall.” However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong willed. Kind of like Delia herself.
But the house still wants to keep “troubled” girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia gets trapped.
And that’s when she learns that the house is also haunted.
Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, as well, harbors shocking truths within its walls—truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free.
But she’ll need to act quickly, before the house’s power overtakes everything she loves.
From master of suspense Katie Alender comes a riveting tale of twisted memories and betrayals, and the meaning of madness.
My Review: I am really loving Katies writing. She has a way with horror and its just amazing.
Delia is on her way to see the house she now owns. Left to her by her aunt after she passed. Things would be a bit better if things werent so tense right now. Delia is still in some trouble over a trip gone wrong. And right now she and her family are just going to the house so they can clean it up and sell it. However, Delia didn't get a house. She got a huge mansion looking building. It also happens to be an old mental place....Little did she know, she wouldn't be going home with her family.
They all walk in. While they all settle in, Delia goes exploring. Things seem okay at first, but then odd things start happening. Things are carved in the wood floors. The rooms all covered in dust. Some rooms still set up as if the place were still in business. Then this odd smoke. After a little bit of exploring, Delia decides to not find her aunts office and just leave the house. But her parents wont let her, and then her sister plays a prank and gets Delia into even more trouble.
So Delia goes a little nuts, and it leads to her parents locking her in a room for the night. They expected her to calm down and get some sleep. Hopefully everything is better in the morning. But when her parents go to see her in the morning, they found her body.....outside the window and laying on the ground. The house had killed Delia.
Not only does Delia have to see her family leave without her, but she is now stuck. She is stuck to the house, along with all the other girls who have died there. She is a ghost now, but all she cares about is getting out. But to do that will cost more than she expected. As she digs more into the history of the house, she slowly figures out a way to save everyone and get rid of the haunted place.
The ending was sad and sweet. Her family came back, and well they almost didn't make it back out. But Delia had made the biggest sacrifice.
My Rating:
✪✪✪✪
