By Eva Pohler
Publisher: Green Press
Published: Dec 13, 2013
ASIN: B00HCH2D86
Amazon Synopsis:
Seventeen
year-old Daphne Janus is floored when her parents agree to let her accompany
her best friend to a getaway resort on an island off the coast of California.
She doesn't know her parents have sent her to the Purgatorium as a last-ditch
effort to save their child.
Her best friend and life-long neighbor takes her to a mostly uninhabited island with a wildlife preserve on one side and Chumash Indian ruins on the “haunted” side. The resort might be beautiful, the beach pristine, and the views from the headland amazing, but
strange things begin to happen that soon have Daphne running for her life. At first she finds the therapeutic games thrilling: the ghosts that visit her room, the dropping elevator, and the kayak incident are actually kind of fun once she recovers from them. But when her horse bucks her off during a trail ride and she becomes lost on the haunted side of the island, it’s not fun anymore, and she wonders if her parents have sent her there to help her or to punish her.
Her best friend and life-long neighbor takes her to a mostly uninhabited island with a wildlife preserve on one side and Chumash Indian ruins on the “haunted” side. The resort might be beautiful, the beach pristine, and the views from the headland amazing, but
strange things begin to happen that soon have Daphne running for her life. At first she finds the therapeutic games thrilling: the ghosts that visit her room, the dropping elevator, and the kayak incident are actually kind of fun once she recovers from them. But when her horse bucks her off during a trail ride and she becomes lost on the haunted side of the island, it’s not fun anymore, and she wonders if her parents have sent her there to help her or to punish her.
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My Thoughts:
Daphne
Janus and her friend Cam arrive at an island resort where she has agreed to
receive therapy via Dr. Hortense Gray's therapeutic games.
Dr.
Gray's games are unconventional and not at all what Daphne expected. At first
we are unaware of what the issue is that Daphne requires the therapy for, just
that she is terribly unhappy. It slowly comes to light that she blames herself
for a family tragedy.
The
therapy that Dr. Gray employed involved included making the patient face their
particular fears by placing them in fearful situations so that they truly
believe they are in danger for their lives. The use of ghosts and the Native
rituals of the Chumash Indians were also employed.
The
Purgatorium was an intriguing look at a strange method of curing someone from
depression and suicidal thoughts. Whether or not it would truly work is unknown
and rather an extreme form of treatment.
The
descriptions of the island are easy to visualize. The resort sounded like a
paradise. The only issue I had with it was that I do not believe that any
horseback riding tour company would use animals that were as ill- disciplined
as the ones that Daphne and her group were using on her ride that morning.
Generally those animals are so docile that you can't get them to do anything
BUT follow the rear of the horse in front of them so it would be unlikely to be
thrown from one.
It
was fun to see how the author was able to take each of the situations that
Daphne was put in and how she was able to make it seem as though to Daphne it
was real, but show later how it could have been faked.
I
liked Daphne's character and felt for her as she trusted her friend Cam at
first and then wasn't sure whether to trust him or not. I was totally surprised
each time (as she was) someone she trusted betrayed her. Each of those people
were believable.
I
have to admit that I truly hope that this book is ONLY fantasy. I would not
ever want to find myself on an island like this for therapy. I think it might
scare me into paranoia. This was a good book for armchair suspense and thrills.
I gave it a healthy 3 stars out of 5.
Thank
you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and
honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.
About the Author:
I
write fiction for teens and adults and teach writing and literature at the
University of Texas at San Antonio, where I live with my husband, three kids,
two dogs, and two rats (Katniss and Prim, of course). I'm also an avid reader
and book reviewer. I've always said I never want to give up reading for writing
or vice versa. I want to do both.
My
favorite authors are Tracy Chevalier, Ann Patchett, Suzanne Collins, Veronica
Roth, Rick Riordan, and Stephanie Meyer. I have too many to name, but those are
a handful of them. When I'm not spending time with the family, working,
reading, or writing, I can be found watching The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family,
The Middle, and NCIS.
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thank you so much! Great review!
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