Extreme Hauntings: Valentines from Hell

De: Roma Gray

Narrado por: Caitlin McCabe

Duración: 4 h y 10 m

Resumen del Editor

What is an extreme haunting? Cyndi has been pursued since childhood by a ghostly presence known as the Shadow Man and cannot escape his creative cruelties.

Emily has been sadistically tormented for years by her violent ex-husband - even after his death. Both of their persecutors have one thing in common: They send their victims valentines.

Both of these women have one thing in common: They are suffering from an extreme haunting, a rare phenomenon that inflicts terrible suffering upon the victim - and it is completely inescapable. Can noted ghost hunter Professor Douglas Adair and white witch Brenda Wedge help Cyndi and Emily escape this terrible curse?

©2019 Roma Gray (P)2020 Roma Gray

Extreme Hauntings

Wow! This scared the heck out of me! These intertwining stories were entertaining as well as creepy. I listened to the complete book in one sitting it was so interesting. I am so very glad that I chose to listen in the am otherwise I would never have slept. Well written tale of terror! Narration was perfect.

Extremely terrifying!

Roma Gray has done it again...written a tale that will stay with the reader for a long time! Extreme haunting is defined as being haunted by a being with no hope of escape. No matter where the victim goes, the haunting continues.

The story begins with a lecture by Professor Douglas Adair and his guest, Brenda Wedge. The story unfolds in two separate storylines, one involving a young girl named Cyndi, who is being haunted by the Shadow Man. The other story involves Emily, a woman tormented by her ex-husband.

As the story unfolds over the years, the two tales become intertwined in a unique way. How do you escape an extreme haunting? Trust me, it isn't a pretty picture!

Ms. Gray is a great storyteller and if you enjoy horror stories, you will love this one. It isn't for the faint of heart as the tortures that these two women endure are explained in pretty graphic detail. And, just when you think that there is a happy ending, here comes the curve ball! Just what you would expect from a horror tale.

The narrator does a good job, with perfect pacing and voices. Her performance added a lot to my enjoyment of this book. I was given the chance to listen to the audiobook version by the author and chose to review it.

Extreme Hauntings: Valentines from Hell review

Exactly like the title states, this book is various tellings of extreme hauntings. Intense from practically from beginning to end, hope there are more of these types of tales in the future.

It was too unbelievable for my liking.

After lots of thinking when it comes to giving an author a poor rating, I've come to realize that I shouldn't have to contact the author letting them know my opinion on their story, when I wasn't a fan, and ask if they'd rather me not post my review. I've seen many readers ask about this subject and later decide that if they didn't like the story, then why post a review at all? Why would you not post a review if that's something you normally do though? I love reading/listening to stories and reviewing them. I believe if an author is honest and wants opinions, they should take the good as well as the bad. Keeping in mind, not everyone is going to like their story, as is the case with most things in life. Some stories I like, some I love, some I just can't stand and/or have a hard time finishing. I'm a critical thinker and with my reviews, I like to open my mind to the author, or anyone else that reads my reviews, so they can see what aspects of the story stand out to me and why. This review is a perfect example of this.

I’m a fan of Roma Gray, overall, and am always eager to hear her next story, but unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this one. Can a story be over the top but in a bad way? That’s how I felt this one was. I had several issues:

1. Nate had been in the military and “had seen things.” That’s common. Nate went wherever and encountered tribal/cult-type people who told him he could have magical powers if he did a specific ritual. I couldn’t help but wonder how much time had gone by from when he was released from the military to when he actually performed the ritual. The fact his first power enabled him to “speak to the living” right after he was killed… was a little too coincidental for my liking.
2. Where did Nate meet his crazy friends who had no problem beating a pregnant woman until the baby died, then watch as the baby was cut from her stomach?
3. How exactly had Nate been able to exchange all the prison guards, with his men, without any higher-ups noticing? Where was the warden?
4. The idea of Richard’s cousin Brian getting plastic surgery to look like Richard… Crazy, but in a bad way! Then to learn that he and Richard had been in love… that Richard was gay… That made the whole plastic surgery thing very hard to believe. Why would you want to look like the person you were in love with? You wouldn’t!
5. The fact Richard’s father wanted to laugh in Nate’s face by making him believe Richard was still alive while not even going with them to the prison?! What?! There was no point to the plastic surgery or anything then.
6. Or when Emily’s father and sister learn that she doesn’t want to go to Nate’s execution, yet essentially force her to (for some unknown reason on their part), knowing Nate had killed all of her children and her husband, tortured and beat her, yet didn’t even go with as a sign of support… Why weren’t other non-prison employees there, besides Emily, Brian, and Nate? There are always other people there to witness the execution. Don’t tell me Nate had changed the warden with one of his guys?
7. Then the big reveal that Brian wanted Emily dead? That was a joke, right? I mean, how many years had gone by from when Brian and Richard had kissed or whatever it was they’d done? Yet Brian believed Richard was gay, not bisexual, and they were actually in love and Richard was just hiding his true feelings. Um… obviously this was a kissing-cousins scenario but no…
9. Did anyone else feel there was way too much inner dialogue/thoughts? I’m all for knowing what a character is thinking about, but I felt the majority of the story was taking place in Emily and the other girl’s minds. I found it annoying. And for them to speak so proper sounding in their minds? Again, I had a hard time with this story.

The narrator? Honestly, I was so focused on the craziness of the story that I’m not sure how she performed. Given I didn’t have any complaints, I’ll assume she was good.

Questions/Comments:

So after Brian’s big reveal, he realizes that Nate is going to kill him still. He reaches for the dagger on the nearby table. Maybe had the scene been described prior to him reaching for a seemingly random dagger, in a prison, it wouldn’t have come across as sounding strange and would have worked better.

Emily’s on the floor and Nate is doing his ritual. She gets a cord and cuts it and realizes she needs some type of liquid to pour over Nate so she can electrocute him. What is Nate doing? He’s pouring a liquid all over himself. Of course he is! I chuckled at that part.

The Valentine’s part of the title, I didn’t really get. Yes, Nate’s letters before and after his death to Emily contained a red heart at the end, but how does that equate to Valentine’s, besides there is a heart? They weren’t haunting or sending notes to the women only on Valentine’s Day, nor were the cards/paper in heart shapes or saying anything about Valentine’s. Maybe I was just overthinking this part but yeah. This is where my mind went.

The fact Emily would constantly move around from one house to the next after receiving a note/letter from Nate’s spirit was just ridiculous. How had she not realized he could find her anywhere she went; he’s dead!

Lastly, the most minor of the issues I had with this story was when the girl (not Emily, I forgot her name) falls over the banister while looking at the shadow man and there was all this inner thinking going on. It’s not like she was falling several stories, yet she seemed to have a lot of time to think about what was going on before she hit the ground.


I received a free audiobook code in exchange for an honest review.