I finished this book in a week...but not because it was a page-turner that I couldn't put down. It was definitely a quick read, but it had a really slow build and not much of a climax. The "chapters" were journal entries, so sometimes they were a couple of paragraphs and sometimes they were a few pages long. I think that's why it seemed to go fast, because I made it through a lot of entries in one sitting. There wasn't really anything exciting going on until the last 75-100 pages or so. I also needed another 20-30 pages at the end to explain the ending and tie up some other questions and loose ends.

All in all, it was just kind of so-so. Would I read it again? Definitely not. Would I recommend it to others? Sure, I guess so. If you like a little bit of mystery and intrigue, or are interested in supernatural stuff maybe. Please note that the main character is a teenager, so if you aren't into Young Adult books, you probably won't be interested in this book. ( )

Originally, while I liked the book OK, I thought the story behind the "haunted" house and the possession was very standard and a little cliché (though there were some interesting red herrings - I definitely thought Raph was a ghost, with how weird and reticent he was acting).

But once the novel hit the final few pages, once we figured out the tragic backstory behind what was happening and found out it wasn't quite over is when it really impressed me. Paige being the one possessed was, again, hinted at, but I thought it was residual energy from Logan, not an actual full-scale possession. The final "journal" entries were incredibly well-done, depicting someone who has absolutely no idea of what they've done either because of mental illness or something more supernatural. There maybe could have been a little bit more hints towards mental illness, but everyone saying they were worried about Paige and her not understanding why put the reader in her shoes and did work on some level.

Obviously, there were some questions left - why was Paige the one chosen as the conduit? Because she was a girl the same age as Amelia? Then why was Logan the one having seizures and not her? Why didn't it stop once they burned the letters and discovered what happened? Why did the therapist tell Paige to avoid Raph? - but definitely a pretty spooky one. ( )

This was not what I was expecting. It started off great and interesting and I wanted to know more. More about the history of the house, more about the neighbour, more about Verano. The ending happened so quickly and nothing was really explored the way it should have been. Ugh.

I liked it and then didn't. ( )

What's It About?
an American teen recounts the strange events that occur after she moves into a new—and very haunted—home with her family in this chilling diary that features photos and images of what she experienced.

Letters, photographs, and a journal…all left behind in the harrowing aftermath. Following her parents’ high-profile divorce, Paige and her brother are forced to move to Idaho with their mother, and Paige doesn’t have very high hopes for her new life. The small town they’ve moved to is nothing compared to the life she left behind in LA. And the situation is made even worse by the drafty old mansion they’ve rented that’s filled with spiders and plenty of other pests that Paige can’t even bear to imagine. soon, strange things start to happen around the house—one can of ravioli becomes a dozen, unreadable words start appearing on the walls, and Paige’s little brother begins roaming the house late at night. And there’s something not right about the downstairs neighbor who seems to know a lot more than he’s letting on. Things only get creepier when she learns about the cult that conducted experimental rituals in the house almost one hundred years earlier. The more Paige investigates, the clearer it all becomes: there’s something in the house, and whatever it is…and it won’t be backing down without a fight.

What Did I Think?
I was amazed that this was a YA book. I wondered if the author used that genre because he just couldn't bring himself to call it non-fiction.

Mr. Verano, the author, is an associate professor of history and curator of the North Idaho historical text collection. His research includes the occult and supernatural folk histories....so it was a bit of fiction and quiet a lot of truth involved in his writing of [Diary of A Haunting]. The house exists...the characters were actual residents of the house...and the psychologist testified at the trial of Paige Blanton...the main character. This all took some of the "it's just a story" out of the equation and turned it into "what really happened in that house?" Dr. Verano says he leaves it to the reader to form their own conclusions...but there are several events that just have no logical or scientific explanations.

I liked the book for what it was. An easy read with a element of goose-bumps. I would have liked for Dr. Verano to have expanded more on what he really thought had or had not actually happened. ( )

This is a creepy book that definitely lives up to its incredibly creepy cover.

I love books that are the equivalent of "found footage". In this case, it is an online journal, photographs, old pamphlets, and letters.

Our main source of information is Paige, the teenage daughter of the family who has moved into the mysterious home. She begins to keep an online journal of what is occurring in the house, from spider and fly infestations, to disappearing and duplicated food. Her brother Logan isn't sleeping, and her mother dismisses everything offhand as spirits simply expressing themselves.

The downstairs neighbor, Raph, begins to provide Paige and her new friend, Chloe, with more information about who and what lived in the home previously, leading Paige on a desperate hunt to figure out what is going on and stop it before it gets any worse.

This book is really creepy. As someone with a fear of spiders, those sections were especially skin crawling for me. The tension builds and builds, until the terrifying ending, that comes with a shocking scary twist. ( )