The Murmurings

by Carly Anne West

Young Adult Paranormal

Book Description

A teen girl starts hearing the same voices that drove her sister to commit suicide in this creepy, suspenseful novel.

Everyone thinks Sophie’s sister, Nell, went crazy. After all, she heard strange voices that drove her to commit suicide. But Sophie doesn’t believe that Nell would take her own life, and she’s convinced that Nell’s doctor knows more than he’s letting on.
As Sophie starts to piece together Nell’s last days, every lead ends in a web of lies. And the deeper Sophie digs, the more danger she’s in—because now she’s hearing the same haunting whispers. Sophie’s starting to think she’s going crazy too. Or worse, that maybe she’s not…

MY THOUGHTS: 2 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

The Murmurings by Carly Anne West

I wanted to like this book, I was even willing to read it and scare myself. I had seen many reviews comparing the creepy creatures to that girl from The Ring. But the scares never really came. The questions did though. I finished the book and am still pretty confused about a ton of things that happened.

Sophie was bland. Evan had nothing interesting to offer at all. The way they came together seemed random and forced, and their relationship awkward. The rest of the characters weren’t interesting at all, either.

So, why didn’t I DNF this book? The concept of the Takers was intriguing, but the execution was horrific. I didn’t really get what they were or why they existed. The middle third of the book is weighed down by lengthy exposition, blog posts written by a supporting character that don’t really tell the reader anything. I wanted to try to get some answers to the many, many questions that I’d formed, but I didn’t get them by the end of the book.

I’m not sure what, if anything, could have improved The Murmurings. To me, it was kind of a half-developed story. I’ll never understand the world of publishing and how books like this get big publishers, while amazing indie stories do not.

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