Diavola

4 Stars as a book, but would be a million stars as a movie.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I loved it. I really liked our main character, Anna, she was confident, smart, and didnt get along with her family. On Anna's side the whole time, her family seems so annoying and terrible.

I wish we had gotten her nieces perspective in the epilogue.

actual rating: 3/5 stars

i really loved the italian vacation vibes of this and the commentary about not fitting into your family but i feel like the author literally lost the plot in the second half. the horror was lowkey disappointing and i didn't enjoy that the vacation element basically disappeared in the second half of the book.

I was strongly considering giving this a four star rating because of the slow start (and slightly rushed ending) but once it got going I was hooked! There were a couple of things that tipped it to a 5 star rating for me.

Anna is the black sheep of the family and I related to her more than I thought I would. Even when she was being haunted, I felt like she handled the entire situation like I would have, scared but also with the “well, this is my life now” attitude with dark humour and snarkiness sprinkled in.

The family in this novel are horribly toxic. Again, I relate to having an incredibly toxic family so that drew me closer to understanding Anna. I'm not sure if others would like her character if they can't relate to her.

I've read another review that said “families are terrifying” and in my case it's true and added another layer to a typical haunting story. No matter how toxic they can be, there's a certain obligation to keep in touch and make efforts, despite the constant passive aggressive behaviour.

I understand the mixed reviews for this, but it did resonate with me - it kept me hooked and wanting to read more. For me, any book that affects me emotionally and keeps me coming back will always be highly rated.

Quoting this from a review by Paige as I couldn't have said it better myself, “Blame is placed where it does not belong. Secrets are shared that have no business being shared. Some things are resolved, a lot of things are not. But I think family is like this. It's not enjoyable, but it's the way family is, and her avoidant personality is exactly how I'd react too”.

I was sufficiently entertained. I'm flummoxed by Anna's family. They're awful, except for the two little girls. The prose was fine, if nothing special. There were some good moments, but nothing outstandingly scary. One particular disappearance in the middle–the circumstances around it–intrigued me; Anna's discovery of the incident was a positive for the book, honestly. It was certainly one of the better spectral parts of it. Other bits were less interesting and more trite. Nothing particularly inventive with the hauntings. I honestly could have used more folk magic moments to tie things together better.

The family drama–honestly, it was stressful. I'm sure it's over-the-top, but I didn't find it to be completely unrealistic. Anna's family are terrible. They blame her for everything. They almost make her a self-fulfilling prophecy: There are moments later in the book during which she's actually a truly terrible person. Between the ghost haunting and the family haunting, she's between a rock and a hard place.

I also thought there might be some lesbian themes here, but those fizzled out, sadly. Ms. Thorne should have leaned heavier into those. Especially since the only other queer characters are actually unbearable, one of whom being her own brother.

So, a fun way to spend some time. The audio book was decent. There's snark for those who like it. And, in the end, Anna makes the right choice for herself. That was something I did appreciate. If you're entire family except two little girls are awful, screw ‘em.

Fun enough, not amazing, but not horrible. More uncomfortable because of family stuff that might hit close to home for some. But the ghosty bits needed more.