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Incidents Around the House was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024, and as it turns out my biggest letdown.

Pros:

The descriptions of Other Mommy’s appearance scared the bejeezus out of me.

It terrified me how the entity wasn’t just bound to the house, but could haunt Bela, anywhere, anytime.

Bela’s innocence, such as mispronouncing the word ‘reincarnation�� as ‘carnation�� unaware of just how much danger she was in freaked me out.

Cons:

All the characters were insufferable, including Bela.

Most of the plot was boring �� endless discussions of sleeping arrangements, eating, drinking, dancing, arguing grew tiresome.

The ending was underwhelming.

I don’t mind a child narrator, nor it being written in a unique way to accommodate this. Room by Emma Donoghue 100% worked for me. The short, unstructured, unformatted sentences utilised here didn’t.

The dialogue was cringy.

What was with the existential rantings adults employed when talking to Bela? I’ve never heard of parents sprouting philosophy like this to an eight-year-old child. It was so weird.

I have Birdbox through audible, but not sure I’ll ever read it now. Someone please tell me it’s better than this?

My opinion is very much in the minority �� most of my ŷ������ friends have highly praised Incidents Around the House, but I’m unable to recommend this title.