A quick read that mixes supernatural thrills with a murder mystery
Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours, Victoria Fulton, and Faith McClaren for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary ebook and media kit!
Book Information
Publishing Date: March 19, 2024
From the authors of Horror Hotel , called “fast-paced and freaky” by #1 NYT bestselling author Kendare Blake, comes another addictive YA horror about a group of teen ghost hunters who are invited to travel onboard a haunted historic cruise ship.
All aboard…
After their fateful stay at the Hearst Hotel, the Ghost Gang is back with more spooks and more subscribers. They’ve been invited to record onboard the RMS Queen Anne, a transatlantic luxury ocean liner with a colorful past of violent deaths of hundreds of passengers—souls that bought a one-way ticket to the afterlife (and never disembarked).
When Chrissy, Chase, Kiki, and Emma board the ship, they have a funny feeling they’ve been sucked into a ghostly time warp—a theory that takes a frightening turn when Chrissy goes missing on the first night.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Chrissy has been sucked into another time by a passenger who wants the Ghost Gang to know her untimely death was not an accident and the perpetrator is still alive—and on board this ship.
Book Links
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179546816
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cursed-Cruise-Horror-Hotel-Novel/dp/0593649389/
- Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cursed-cruise-victoria-fulton/1143678770
- IndieBound: https://bookshop.org/p/books/cursed-cruise-a-horror-hotel-novel-victoria-fulton/20263927
About the Author
VICTORIA FULTON and FAITH McCLAREN are besties and co-authors of the international Wattpad phenomenon and Watty award-winning rom-com ELLIE IS COOL NOW, as well as young adult psychological thriller HORROR HOTEL. Originally from Ohio and Texas, Victoria and Faith now live and write in too-sunny Los Angeles, California. Victoria lives with her fiancé and their two cat children. She has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton, so naturally, she co-runs a PR agency with her other bestie when she’s not writing about smooching and serial killers. Faith lives with her guitar-making husband, Pokemon-loving son, and two scruffy dogs. When she isn’t listening to BTS or painting on her deck, Faith writes contemporary romance novels and volunteers with wolves in a sanctuary outside Los Angeles.
Author Links:
- Website: https://www.victoriaxfaith.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/victoriaxfaith
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoriaxfaith/
- Victoria’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21368841
- Faith’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21368842
Review (no spoilers)
If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here.
Before I get started, I just want to let everyone know that this is the second book in a series, but it can be read as a standalone. I read and reviewed the previous book, Horror Hotel, on another book tour. You can read my review for that one here.
Although I felt that this book was not as good as its predecessor, it still was a quick and fun read with a decent amount of atmospheric thrills to appeal to YA horror readers. The plot itself also includes a ghostly whodunnit, bridging the gap between horror and mystery, which I thought was a nice addition.
The story follows the same gang of ghost hunters as they board a cruise ship with the intention of filming a test pilot for a possible television show. Their plans go awry almost immediately once they realize the ship is more deadly than anyone could have predicted. In order to stop themselves from succumbing to untimely fates, they must solve a decades-old mystery about a young woman who committed suicide on the ship many years ago while also figuring out how to end a dark ancient curse.
This book was a very quick read, which I was thankful for because I’ve been experiencing a bit of a reading slump after reading too many books last week. Due to it’s shorter nature, the writing is very fast-paced and lends itself to horror readers who are more about quick thrills than about slow-building anticipation.
Personally, I would have preferred for the authors to explore the ship’s past more, as I felt that things were moving a bit too quickly for my tastes. The introduction to the idea that the ship was cursed felt very contrived as if they knew they wanted a curse to be involved but weren’t quite sure how to make it happen. I actually wasn’t a fan of the curse plotline at all, because I also felt it was both introduced too quickly and solved too quickly.
The decade-old murder mystery though, I absolutely loved that aspect of the book. It was a creative way to give the characters more agency, forcing them to act before it was too late. I honestly think the book would have been more enjoyable for me if the authors had leaned more into the murder mystery aspect, and forgone the curse altogether.
I’m not sure if this series will continue with another installment, but I would definitely be interested in reading it if that happens.
Jenjenreviews 
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