Neha's Mother by Isaac Hans

GREETINGS STACK WORMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I'm reviewing: 

Alright, y'all this one is tough. But first I want to thank HellBound Books and Henry Roi for requesting an honest review of this book. Now, they did send me a free ebook but for some reason no matter what I did it wouldn't download so I bought the book. Can't say it was worth the $4.99. Still though, thank you HBB and Henry!! 

*sigh* 

This book...is a mess. Not a terrible mess, but seeing as it put me in the longest reading slump I've ever endured, one that I will hold a grudge against for a while. Also, I will NOT reread this book. At least not for the foreseeable 6,333 years. 

I perused some of the reviews for this book and once again I'm an outlier. I'm giving this book 2 Stars. Let's get into it. 

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Duh...

TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Asshole afterlife shitbags 

-Possession 

-Child rape

-Rape 

-Murder 

-Domestic abuse 

-Toxic relationships

-Death

-Child endangerment 

-2 animal deaths (If you've been here before then you know the rules of animal death. If not that's a star loss.) 

-Sex

-Nakedness

-Substance use 

-blood

-Language 

-Author gives me a supernatural snake and doesn't explain it!!

A single father, Andrei has to go through some rather awful supernatural trials and tribulations when his daughter, Natalia (a.k.a. Neha) gets possessed. However, this isn't a typical possession since it's not a demon that possesses the 3-year-old, it's her mom. And through the book, we learn that Lily (a.k.a. Lakshmy) died in a terrible accident because an incel, racist ran her off the road, killing her and almost her daughter. In her afterlife, she decides Neha is unsafe in 'the living world' and must bring her to the other side. Yes, that means killing her. Andrei, however, has issues with the thought of his daughter being killed, and seeing as Lily needs Andrei's permission he of course doesn't give it. 

Lily does everything in her power to manipulate Andrei into giving her Neha. Including (but not stopping at) GHOST SEX!! Damn it, HBB I thought we talked about this! I don't want the ghost sex kink okay? 

Anyway, in the process of Lily's crusade, she ends up putting Andrei's sister into a coma and biting off his Mother's ring finger. Sometimes while possessing Neha. She is determined to take Neha with her but Andrei finds out that if he is killed then she'll never be able to take her and in the end, his sister breaks his neck. 

During all this, a man in white (who turns out to be Lily's dead brother) tries to warn and guide Andrei to do the right thing. However, his cryptic ass ends up getting an innocent woman murdered. Seriously, if you're from the other side trying to help then actually do or say something HELPFUL!!!! How hard would it have been to be like, dude here are your options; kill yourself, give Neha to her crazy twisted mama ghost, or don't do either and just have your family be haunted by her for the of her respite. Adding an addendum of I can't choose for you but those are the only things that will save your daughter. BAM! Done. Not that fucking hard GHOSTS! This doesn't break the rules, you're not telling them what to do, or giving away things in the afterlife. They have their options and are necessarily informed of what's going on. 

Plus, a Golden Cobra was introduced to be Lily's ally, but nothing is done with them. Da fuq author? 

LIKES:

-The descriptions are good. Isaac gives enough details to get a good image while not going purple prose.

-The unique twist on the possession aspect of the story

-Neha's nicknames for her grandparents are adorable 

-Andrei's sister's name is Elvira 

-A male (I assume this is what they identify as) author takes time to go through women's hardships in today's world and how unfair that can be. At a point, I found it a bit on the preachy side, but it was refreshing. 

-It's a fast-paced book that gets right into the nitty gritty and barely lets up

-There's a cat named HighHeels

-Cop death

DISLIKES:

-Animal death, as mentioned. The man in white makes Andrei shoot HighHeels (by accident) for no discernable reason. 

-Andrei is an asshole. He goes along with his dead wife's plan of her possessing an innocent woman so they can have sex. Which actually gets the poor (previously domestically abused) lady beaten to death. He continuously refers to his wife's death as her walking out on him and Neha (wtf?). He makes the dumbest decisions. 

-Fuck the pacing. I like getting to the point but for fuck sake slow down at some point to explain shit and let your reader absorb the information being given. A lot is thrown at you in the last third of the book. I almost got burn out from it. If I wasn't hyped up on 3 monsters right now I probably wouldn't have finished the book in the last 12 hours. 

-There were jumps in the timeline that were abrupt and felt out of place. Please, if you have flashbacks, plan them out. Add line breaks, or make them new chapters. Don't just drop your readers into them without warning. Readers shouldn't be getting the present and past mixed up in a paragraph's length.

-I know people don't like information dumps but I feel like there was a whole lot of information cut out that was probably essential to the plot, or at least to the understanding of the reader. 

-Also, how FUCKING DARE YOU GIVE ME A SUPERNATURAL GOLDEN COBRA WITH RED EYES AND DO NOTHING WITH THEM?! If you want a reader like me (a snake-obsessed little cabbage) to love your book then don't just introduce an awesome ass snake character without explaining why they're there!!!!! I guess in context they're Lily's ally and guru, but you don't get away with just dropping them in one chapter and then they're not there anymore, not with me anyway. 

-This book will forever go down in my reading history as the Readingslumpageddon of 2023-2024. Seriously, I've been reading this book for SIX MONTHS! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THOUGHTS: 

Really, it's not a bad book. There is enjoyment in it. Obviously, if we go off of other reader's reviews. However, I just couldn't get into it for the longest time. Then while finishing it I was confused, irritated, and let down by the characters. I usually note how short or long the chapters were but in the end, in my notes, I stopped differentiating since it felt all clumped together. No, that's not a good thing. That means there wasn't a good stopping spot for breaks or to catch one's breath. 

Now, this review has nothing against the author. I just didn't get into the story as much as I thought I would. I will always give my honest opinion. But that's what it is, my opinion. If this book sounds interesting please give it a read.

Again I want to thank HellBound Books and Henry Roi for the ebook! Next on the TBR is SATAN RIDES YOUR DAUGHTER (free ebook provided by HellBound Books and Henry Roi) (and yes, I was able to download this one).

Here is the music pick for the book: 

Have you read the book? What did you think? Would you agree or disagree with me? Did you like the review? What can I do to improve the reviews? Is there anything you'd like to see done for a future review? Remember I always encourage constructive criticism. Thank you for reading!! Toodles, luvs! 

-Bug