Shiirleyy's Bookshelf has migrated to Dear Shirley ! I will continue to post book reviews but there will also be a lot of personal and travel-related posts :)

Blog Tour: The Weeping by O'Dell Hutchison - Review + Top Ten Favourite Books

5 Mar 2012



Title: The Weeping 
Author:O'Dell Hutchison
Publisher: H, C& B Publishing
Release Date: March 6th, 2012
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher for review/Blog Tour


Twenty years ago, Catherine Whitley was the victim of a horrible crime. Betrayed by her friends, including the boy she loved, she was left to die when the Rock Harbor Opera House caught fire, taking a disturbing secret with her to her grave.

Seventeen-year-old Heath Ingram was driving the night his Jeep careened off the road, killing three of his closest friends. Once a popular, outgoing athlete, Heath now suffers from severe depression and crippling anxiety. His parents decide to send him to stay with his uncle in Rock Harbor, Oregon for the summer, praying that by getting away he will be able to put this awful tragedy behind him.

When Heath starts working at the newly renovated Rock Harbor Opera House, he meets Molly, a young dancer who awakens in him a desire to start over and move on. But, when he begins having visions of a half-burned girl in a white dress, he starts to think he may be slipping even further over the edge.

As the apparent hauntings become more intense, Heath begins to fear for his safety. With the help of his friend Josie, Heath discovers an unsettling secret that ties the mysterious girl to both their families. When two of their friends die unexpectedly, Josie and Heath realize that something, or someone, is after the children of those who wronged Catherine, and they are next.


HOLY CRAP. That was seriously intense! I never expected to like this book so much, but it kept me up till 3 am in the morning because I jut couldn't put it down!


The plot was fantastic and incredibly eerie. Heath moves to live with his uncle for the Summer, and begins helping him at the newly rebuilt Rock Harbour Opera House, which was destroyed by a fire twenty years ago, and claimed the life of a teenager. As soon as Heath begins working there, mysterious things begins happening to him; he starts hearing voices no one else can hear,seeing a certain girl that no one else can see and having strange and unexplainable nightmares. The only plausible explanation is that the ghost of the dead teenager is haunting the theatre. I was really interested in finding out why this particular ghost is haunting the theatre (most ghosts have a reason for not disappearing...right?)Thoughout the book, I started developing my own theories and became increasingly certain of this theory, until..WHAM. THAT TWIST. Basically, I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. I LOVE books with unpredictable twists that manage to surprise me!


Our main character, Heath is the sole survivor of the car crashed that killed his three best friends. We get a glimpse of his past life, and it's obvious the changes he has undergone since the car crash. Heath is so flawed and relatable; he's distraught and broken, and constantly agonises over the deaths of his friends. I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like to live the rest of his life, thinking perhaps, IF he had done something differently, the car crash never would've happened. It seems that it's almost impossible for him to move on and let go of the past;and it's something that will have readers aching for him even more. 

The ending was abrupt, and I guess I would've liked some sort of closure, but overall, The Weeping was a highly enjoyable book! It's frightening,it's exciting, and it's certainly a thriller you do not want to miss!




O'Dell's Top Ten Favourite Books!

This is a tough one! There are so many books that I love. Here are ten, in no particular order:
  1. Never Ket Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  2. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
  4. James & the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
  5. Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess
  6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  7. Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
  8. The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
  9. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
  10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
And so many more...


OMG! THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE WAS AMAZING <3 Haha, I know this is a promotional tour for The Weeping, but IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE YET, GO DO SO NOW!!!
Looks like O'Dell has AWESOME taste in books!<3 

12 comments:

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  2. Great review, Shirley! I think I've only seen one post about this book and I wasn't sold but now I am definitely interested!

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  3. Well your words on this book, have seriously made me want to read it.

    "The plot was fantastic and incredibly eerie "

    "HOLY CRAP. That was seriously intense! "

    Now if those words don't make you waant to read this book......well yeah they do:D

    Michelle

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  4. Brilliant review Shirley! I love the sound of this book and have read some really great reviews for it. It looks promising! :) Books that are full of great plot twists are so exciting to read. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  5. Ohh, I've been hearing great things about this book and seeing it in different places! Your review convinced me that I have to add this to my to-read pile! Awesome review, Shirley! <3

    And I LOVE O'Dell's top ten books! I see Markus Zusak's The Book Thief there! YAY TO AUSSIE AUTHORS! Markus Zusak's The Book Thief was simply awesome! The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe!!! *sigh* Makes me want to re-read the book and watch the movie again!

    Thank you for sharing this awesome post with us, Shirley! <3

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  6. Hi Shirley! Thanks so much for hosting a stop on the tour and for your thoughtful review!

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  7. Hold up. Must. Immediately. Add. To. Wishlist. And that's simply because it kept you awake until 3am and any book that keeps Shirley away until 3am is a MUST READ!!!

    I LOVE unexpected twists in a book! While predicting things makes me feel super smart, I love the mouth-gaping SHOCK I get from a well developed surprise. Heath sounds like an incredibly well developed character, one that really forms an emotional attachment with you. I can't wait to meet him! Brilliant review!!

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  8. Everyone should add this to their TBR list. Love O'Dell's book list.

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  9. I love it when a creepy book has all that eerie-ness going through it:)

    and how cool is it that it's set in a haunted theater!! Love the idea.

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  10. Unpredictable books = MUST READ! I love it when you can't predict what's going to happen next either! Reading a lot gives hard-core readers like us a sort of sixth sense to the endings in a book, and I'm really glad that this one avoids that! I love it when a book can surprise you at the end -- it makes it that much more fun! ;)

    Fantastic review, Shirley! And that list? SO PERFECT. You love a lot of to-be-classic books that I want to read, O'Dell! :D

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  11. I need to read this NOOOOOOWW!!! I guess I'll have to settle for just adding it to my TBR pile for now but wow, it sounds good. And if it kept you up until 3 AM? IT MUST BE PRETTY DAMN GOOD.

    I love the twists that come as a complete surprise -- definitely the best kind. Another thing I love? Characters that have tough pasts and then presents that actually reflect the suffering! I'm glad to see that Heath is distraught over what has happened to him (wow, how awful does that sound? LOL).

    Great review! :D I can't wait to read this one.

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  12. I'm excited to read it; I've had it for a while now. Great review, Shirley.

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