The House by Christina Lauren

by:  Christina Lauren
published by:  Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
publish date:  October 6, 2015

After seven years tucked away at an East coast boarding school, Delilah Blue returns to her small Kansas hometown to find that not much has changed. Her parents are still uptight and disinterested, her bedroom is exactly the way she left it, and the outcast Gavin Timothy still looks like he’s crawled out of one of her dark, twisted drawings.

Gavin has always lived in the strange house: an odd building isolated in a stand of trees where the town gives in to mild wilderness. The house is an irresistible lure for Delilah, but the tall fence surrounding it exists for good reason, and Gavin urges Delilah to be careful. Whatever lives with him there isn’t human, and isn’t afraid of hurting her to keep her away.

Kari and I both started listening to this one.  However, Kari marked it as DNF.  I kept leaning that way too, but ended up finishing it.  Obviously, not our favorite book.

Delilah has been away at boarding school living a dreamy life where she doesn't have to deal with her parents and they don't have to deal with her.  But her father has lost his job and now Delilah has to go to regular public school.  There, she reconnects with her elementary school crush Gavin Timothy.  Gavin is an outcast just like she is and they fall in love quickly.  But, Gavin lives in a house that is not going to let that happen.

Ok, so the house that Gavin lives in is like the house in the movie Monster House.  Or, it's kinda like a mean version of the castle in Beauty and the Beast.  The House itself is alive and it controls everything, but it can go one step further and attach itself to things and control things around it like the sidewalks and trees and bushes or the clothes Gavin wears.  It's ALWAYS watching.

The idea behind this book has great potential, but I didn't really care for it like I said.  I was expecting an adult book and it was YA.  I didn't like Delilah and Gavin.  The ending of the book annoyed me so much.  It really bothered me that I was expected to buy that the public would just believe in supernatural explanations.  If I were grading this book I would probably give it a C-.