Book Review: Alone by Cyn Balog | Can You Ever Be Truly Alone When You Have Cake? Ft. Murder Mysteries

When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they're not going back to the city…or Seda's friends and school.

As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.

Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality…

Discussion: 

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Of course, they don't see the one detail they should be noticing, a hole ripping their perfect little plan so wide apart that their lives will never be the same. 

Because there's something they don't know: they won't hear him. Not until ut's too late. That freezer door is far too thick.

Seda, the main protagonist, is the surviving half of her mother's first pregnancy.

My mother has a womb for twins.

When I was six or seven, I found a baby name book in my mother's dresser with two names circles: Seda and Sawyer...I feel him in my gut, pushing against my stomach as with the head of an ax, testing to find a way out.

The topic in which a baby or fetus becomes absorbed while still in the womb during multifetal gestation is familiar to me through my studies in biology; however, none of my previously read books have ever grasped me this hard with this spooky of an element. Not even learning the chemical properties of radium could have prepped me for this story. While learning of Seda's situation with Sawyer, I was intrigued to imagine Sawyer's direct influence on Seda's mind, body, and maybe soul. However, as a non-licensed nor non-skilled talker of puppies, I am currently not equipped with the correct magical materials to find that sort of material. 

So, while Seda's life seems normal with her lofty gang of friends, a list of college applications, and doting parents, the creepiness begins to set in after she takes a visit to an old cabin in the woods. Now, I'm not saying that a solitary vacation isn't nice. Just the thought of snow-covered trees, a house with the heat on full-blast, and a library stocked with enough books to last me a century sounds relaxing. However, we cannot forget the lovely cup of peanut butter hot chocolate oatmeal, obviously. 

But, in Seda's situation, she's currently surviving the elements alongside her younger brothers and sisters in a creepy cabin with a creepy backstory including a creepy character with a creepy thought pattern. I mean, "Can it get anymore creepy?"

So, with my logic, I would become a scaredy cat and leave the creeping cabin that I am creeping living in...duh; however, when hot guy shows up, all caution goes to the wind. That's when I bring out the popcorn!

In conclusion, this book is amazing and is filled with several plot twists that knock your socks off with such immense and brute force! This book is suspenseful, and Balog cruises through the story with a perfect pace and puzzles along the way. Reading through Seda's perspective was both insightful and confusing, and I am extremely excited to pop back into another story written by Cyn Balog. Otherwise, if she never publishes again, I will never be sane.

Love,

newbookcats

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of Alone in exchange for a honest review.

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Are you a fan of psychological thrillers, or is right now too late for a book intended for spooky season but read during the holiday/Christmas season? What are some of your favorite mystery or paranormal fiction authors? I recently read Claire Legrand's Paranormal Young Adult Fiction Sawkill Girls and had some mixed feelings about it. Do you think a child from a multifetal gestation can be controlled by their twin or a member of their triplet, quadruplet, etc.? If you could only have one thing while stranded in a snow-covered cabin, what would it be? What books will you be reading before 2023 ends? Converse with me in the comments below or via any social media!