Resthaven

By: Erik Therme

Narrated by: Randi Larson

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The last thing Kaylee wants to do is participate in a childish scavenger hunt - especially inside the abandoned retirement home on the edge of town. When she finds a bruised, deaf boy hiding inside one of the rooms, she vows to lead him to safety - only to discover the front doors are now padlocked, and her friends are nowhere to be found. Kaylee is about to learn that not everything that goes "bump in the night" is imaginary, and sometimes there are worse things to fear than ghosts.

©2016 Amazon Publishing (P)2017 Erik Therme

Ok story.

Kaylee is new in town and doesn't really know anyone. Her mom wants her to make an effort to meet people so when Anna invites her to a friends house for a party, Kaylee reluctantly accepts. But when they get there, they realise it isn't a party, but actually a scavenger hunt in an old abandoned retirement home! What lurks inside the building??

I was looking forward to this as I enjoyed the authors first book, but was a little let down to be honest. It felt like it was missing something! It started off slow and then when we get to the building, it took a while to take off. There wasn't enough scares, nor enough tenseness to make this thoroughly enjoyable. I know this is aimed at YA, but they can handle a little darkness!!

Character wise, I didn't particularly like any of them. One was extremely bitchy, and extremely nasty, one was extremely whiney and Kaylee herself was a little too.... I don't know. She didn't capture my attention and I honestly couldn't care what happened to them. I think the only one I liked was the little boy.

In all, this was readable. It kept my attention and I finished it, but it was forgettable!

Randi Larson was good. She read the story well, but lacked the cadences necessary to bring the book fully alive. She had a good few tones and voices and I enjoyed her performance.

I was voluntarily provided this audiobook for free from the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

4 people found this helpful

Don't go in the house

I received a free copy of the book and voluntarily provided a review.

The story is a little hard to get into because jamie's such an annoying character. She is the stereotypical spoiled girl who berates and uses everyone. The good news is we don't hear from her for most of the book once it gets going. The thrills are a bit more serious than a typical children's novel. The children go into the house for a scavenger hunt, find themselves locked in, and get attacked by a crazy old man. Once the building catches on fire, their lives are definitely in real danger. There's no supernatural/paranormal element, so I'm not sure why it's in that category on Audible. There are a few scenes where they they mistreat a dog, which I don't like, but it fits into the story line.

The characters are all a little meh, and the protagonist isn't the most likable person either. The narrator did a great job portraying them. She definitely convinced me she was the spoiled Jamie, the quiet Ethan, over-excited Sidney, and the bored Ren.

1 person found this helpful

Checking Out AbandonedBuildings isALWAYS Bad

A group of teenage girls goes to investigate an abandoned seniors home with predictable and scary results in this classic suspense story.
I loved the seat of your pants action and the relentless pace of the horror inspired events.
If you're a suspense/horror fan, this one's well worth a look.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP AT NIGHT

Rest haven. Eric Therme
A mix of girls on a scavenger hunt, toss in a haunted old dilapidated nursing home and you have one scary story. Inhabitant are inside, as well as things worse than ghosts and ones imagination. The story was well done by Randi Larson.

Great YA book!

This is a great book for YA’s. Good plot line, great characters that are well developed. The young people in the story are very true to type. As a former teacher, I can look and see so many of my former students in these characters.

Childs shouldn't play on abandoned retirment homes

This story starts slow, and, to be honest, in the beginning there wasn't even one single character that was a bit likeable. But as the story progress, the mystery makes an appearance and the plot becomes a lot more interesting.

I think my problem here is that I can't empathize with the characters, but that's my problem. The book is well writing, and Randi Larson does a superb job with the narration.

This is a good YA rated book

I enjoyed the well developed story line and characters. I know that some readers felt that the varied personalities were not typically found on friend groups but I come from a small town where the friend groups can be very eclectic! I love that the author chose to give each character very different personalities! As a mom with a daughter I know just how difficult girls can be at this age, and the author catches that well!
The story flowed smooth and kept the reader involved and the narration was excellent! Great easy read!

Teen Thriller

Resthaven by Erik Therme is a great thriller for teens. I thought the author wrote a great story portraying the teens and old man. The characters were well developed. Randi Larson was amazing performing this book. She brought the characters to life with distinguishable voices. I could hear exactly who was speaking. Kudos to the author for the wonderful twists. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. This is a standalone listen.

Resthaven

I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I did expect it to be a scarier read based on the image. I did realize once I got further into it that it was a YA book, and it was the right amount of scary for the intended audience. I had a hard time getting into the story at first, but it kept my interest once the characters got past the initial 'mean girl' dynamics and got into the story itself.

I think the narrator did a good job, but agree with other comments that the 'whiny' was a bit too whiny. I wonder if I would've enjoyed it even more if I had read it rather than listened.

I typically do not rate YA very high, even books that are best sellers (aside from Harry Potter), so admittedly - my ratings run a bit lower for any YA book I read.

For a teen thriller, not too bad

I hadn't previously noticed the genre until I had already started listening to this story. While I don't usually lean towards YA stories, I decided to keep going with this one.

Right off the bat I'm confused by the storyline a bit. It seems odd that Kaylee would venture off to a sleepover at a girl's house she doesn't even know. I get that the mutual friend Anna, invited her to Jamie's house but that's still a weird detail. The mix of girls is so bizarre too. Which I guess is part of the point. No one set of girls seems especially paired well to align together for the duration of the story.

I felt like the Jamie and Anna characters were especially whiney and obnoxious sounding. I tried to think back and recall my own daughter (or myself for that matter) and I never really could relate or find any common ground to this degree of whiney girl. The narrator did well in that regard - being a convincingly whiney sounding young woman.

The story itself was fast paced and had some surprises so that was good. The boy was an interesting element to the story as was the old man. It wasn't hard to imagine the fear being locked in an old folks hospital. I was a little confused as to how much time had elapsed with regard to the man and boy and the girls being in there.

I really had a hard time finding any of the characters relatable and Jamie was especially horrible. I liked the brother detail however. I felt like there were some loose ends with regards to Jamie's family and the whispering that Kaylee overheard. The end kind of lets you draw your own conclusions but the direction it eludes to seems a little improbable.

Good YA story

Storyline was good and well narrated but as I am way beyond YA I prefer something more gripping.

Recommend for the younger listeners.

Really good!

Really enjoyable, my first book by this author, great narration too, Brill storyline, well written and a change to my usual UK books.

enjoyable and well read

I listened to the audible version of this book. It was a good listen and well narrated but I felt it was slow to start and not quite the scary horror read I thought it would be.
This is a YA book and therefore it may be that I am not really the target audience but I found the group of teenagers at the heart of this story irritating and mostly unappealing, although the dialogue and story seemed to fit the teenagers in the tale.
I was intrigued by the story of the little boy and the old man but felt the ending didn't quite live up to the promise with this.
Overall not a bad story at all, quite enjoyable and well read just not as good as the authors first book and less engaging for that.

Enjoyable YA thriller

This is a YA (Young Adult) novel, written by Erik Therme. Let’s start off by saying I’m a fan of the author, and all of his novels I’ve read (or listened to via Audible) always have great characterisation, and Resthaven is no different.

Set within the spooky backdrop of a derelict nursing home, the group of teenage girls find themselves in the middle of a scavenger hunt which goes badly wrong from the start. The characters in the story don’t much like each other, and when they find they can’t all get out of the nursing home, things start to ramp up.

This isn’t a horror, but it’s on the darker side of a YA thriller. It’s well-written, with the tension and the speed of the novel gathering pace as the story unfolds. Great narration by Randi Larson makes this an all round winner for me.

Atmospheric and enjoyable

The excellent narration by Randi Larson really brought the characters to life.
The story itself feels to me more aimed at teenage girls than even young adults, and I’m well and truly beyond both categories, but it was a pleasant, fast-paced, atmospheric listening experience and something completely different for me.
Personally I think it could have been dialled up in the creepiness stakes a little more, the description and the very attractive cover somehow gave me the impression of something a little more scary, but I enjoyed it anyhow and I think young readers will like this a lot.

Great story

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book as I had never heard of the author before, but I am glad I tried it as it is a really good book. The story follows a girl called Kaylee as she moves to a new town and, in order to fit in and make friends, decides to go on a scavenger hunt with some new friends.

The hunt takes place in an abandoned Old People's Home where the ring leader has got a key. The ring leader runs off leaving the other girls alone. What happens next is a slighty scary story where they uncover secrets that wanted to remain hidden.

It is a very good YA story which had me hooked. The pace of the story changed quite nicely from being a bit slower to being full paced whilst the scenes were being set, but when it kicked up a gear it never really stopped until the end .

A fast paced and engaging read

I was intrigued by this book after seeing the cover and reading the bio . I have always been fascinated by urbex / urban exploring so the description of the book really appealed to me . I loved the fact that it is fast paced and has a constant flow to it . The character of Kaylee speaks her mind and Is very straight to the point which is an endearing quality but I found it difficult to relate to her and her peers. I was hoping that the book would be a little more scary but on the whole I enjoyed it . I was given a copy of this book by the author/narrator in return for an unbiased review

Imaginative Story

An imaginative YA story with a range of characters, some obnoxious, some resourceful and some damaged. A group of teens are coerced into taking part in a scavenger hunt which soon turns into a scary situation. The narrator is excellent, she captures the teenage characters perfectly.

Not as scary as I hoped but would be a great film

Here are the reasons that I have given this book 4 stars overall. The girls' characters were well written and realistic and they were all different which was refreshing. The narrator did a good job with the different characters. I liked the setting as it had the potential to be seriously creepy.

The story only got 3 stars because it just didn't live up to the promise that the book's description led me to believe. Just not creepy enough. I know it is a YA title and I'm not a YA so probably not in the target audience for this book but still even YAs need a few scares now and then.

In the hands of a skilful director/producer it would make a good film. Lionsgate films could probably work wonders with it. That said I would read another of his books.

Great YA Thriller

This is a Young Adult book, and I certainly don’t fit into that category, but it is a book that can be enjoyed by other age groups.

Kaylee agrees to go on a scavenger hunt at a boarded up old people’s home with a group of girls she has only just met. They end up getting locked in, and things start to get very creepy as they try to find their way out.

The author manages to portray the personalities of the teenage girls really well, and the dialogue seems authentic and age appropriate. The book wasn’t quite as scary as I thought it might be.

The narrator, Randi Larson, did a fantastic job with the voices. There were several teenage girls in the story and she managed to make them all sound different.