Reviews: My Daylight Monsters and Mary Hades by Sarah Dalton

Summary:

I always thought my demons came out in the day, rather than at night. I’ve never been scared of the dark. I’ve only ever been scared of real things: getting ill, having injections, physical pain… death. Those are my monsters, not ghosts or vampires or whatever else can hide under your bed at night.

I was wrong.

The dark makes everything worse.

When Mary’s psychiatrist advises a short stay at a psychiatric unit, her worst nightmares are confirmed. How can she get better in a place that fills her with dread? When she meets the other patients, she begins to gather some hope, until she realises that the death toll in the hospital is rising without explanation. Something sinister stalks the corridors and maybe she is the only one who can stop it…

Mary has to confront the Things that she sees if they are to stand a chance. But will she survive a confrontation with death itself?

Publication Date: October 2013

This was a good introduction to the Mary Hades series. I really liked the main character and I thought the novella gave just the perfect amount of background info before picking up the first book in the series. Honestly, I think I’d be a little lost if I had started Mary Hades before reading My Daylight Monsters. I also enjoyed that the central mystery of the book was resolved in a satisfying way.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!

Summary:

Not many seventeen year old girls have a best friend who’s a ghost, but then Mary Hades isn’t your average teenager.

Scarred physically and mentally from a fire, her parents decide a holiday to an idyllic village in North Yorkshire will help her recover. Nestled in the middle of five moors, Mary expects to have a boring week stuck in a caravan with her parents. Little does she know, evil lurks in the campsite…

Seth Lockwood—a local fairground worker with a dark secret—might be the key to uncovering the murky history that has blighted Nettleby. But Mary is drawn to him in a way that has her questioning her judgement.

Helped by her dead best friend and a quirky gay Goth couple, Mary must stop the unusual deaths occurring in Nettleby. But can she prevent her heart from being broken?

The first in a series of dark YA novels, Mary Hades follows on from the bestselling Kindle Single 'My Daylight Monsters'. A spine-tingling tale with romance, readers will be shocked and entertained in equal measure.

Publication Date: May 4, 2014

I picked up Mary Hades right after finishing My Daylight Monsters so I was fully immersed in the story. I do recommend reading the novella first in order to get an adequate introduction to Mary’s predicament and how she ended up with a ghost for a best friend.

I liked the camp setting since it was both humorous and spooky. There was a lot of mystery surrounding the locals and I was just as curious as Mary about the cause of the freakish deaths. I got a few scares while reading, but I liked that the story is more spooky than gory.

I liked Mary again in this book and really liked the introduction of Seth. They had a really sweet relationship. Nothing too heavy happens in the book, so this book is definitely appropriate for younger teen readers.

I wasn’t crazy about the ending, but there are sequels so I guess I’m intrigued enough to read more books in the series.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!