Reading Under the Willow Tree

Before I started this book I took one look at the cover, shuddered and then got a little excited.  I am a massive horror fan and I thought this was going to scare the pants out of me, but in truth it didn't.

Actually it was not scary at all and there is no way that I would ever label this book as a horror story at all.  Somehow along the way this book has been massively misunderstood.  All over Goodreads people are talking about how scary it looks, how the cover freaks people out.  I am not blaming them, I WAS one of those people but the problem is that this is not what this book is and I am afraid that people will dislike it
because they wanted to be scared.  The Murmurings is not a ghost story (although there are `ghosts' in it) it is a psychological thriller and it is a pretty good one.

I thought the writing was very good this is Carly Anne West's first novel and it is a promising start.  There are a few moments where I thought it could have been richer, or more developed but for a debut novel this is pretty good.  I cannot fault her for her imagination The Murmurings is different from other books of this sort and has a very interesting storyline that manages to draw me in effortlessly.  There was a few times where I felt things maybe went a little too far but it did not happen often and it did not put me off.

The main character Sophie was likeable and she had to be because she was kind off on her own.  There was no real parental input in this novel or her life, she had no real family apart from an aunt that was more concerned with helping her grieving mother.  She had no friends apart from Evan, the love interest, and things could be awkward between them. Sophie carries this and if you don't like her then you won't like this. There were a few times when she did things that I felt were stupid and I wanted to scream at her to make her stop but it was never annoying enough to put me off her.  She was mostly sensible and genuine.

Evan was sweet to and added some much needed lighter moments.  This is a fairly dark book and his input stopped it from being too heavy.  The romance was sweet and awkward like a lot of new teenage romances are.  I liked the way it was played out, it was not a main part of the book and there was no relationship drama that swallowed up everything else.

The Murmurings is a good thriller that does have some spooky aspects but is far from horror.  I really hope that readers will see this for what it is and not be disappointed in the lack of horror.