The Bargaining Reveiw!(Spoilers)

The fact that neither of her parents wants to deal with her is nothing new to Penny. She’s used to being discussed like a problem, a problem her mother has finally passed on to her father. What she hasn’t gotten used to is her stepmother…especially when she finds out that she’ll have to spend the summer with April in the remote woods of Washington to restore a broken-down old house.

Set deep in a dense forest, the old Carver House is filled with abandoned antique furniture, rich architectural details, and its own chilling past. The only respite Penny can find away from April’s renovations is in Miller, the young guy who runs the local general store. He’s her only chance at a normal, and enjoyable, summer.But Miller has his own connection to the Carver House, and it’s one that goes beyond the mysterious tapping Penny hears at her window, the handprints she finds smudging the glass panes, and the visions of children who beckon Penny to follow them into the dark woods. Miller’s past just might threaten to become the terror of Penny’s future….

 I was lucky enough to get this book as a free review copy from Edelweiss. I decided to read this book even though I'm not a big fan of anything horror related (only because I'm a huge scardey cat lol). I felt really confused about what was going on in the beginning of the book. I had no idea what was going on. I felt just like the kid who was left in the woods. Not understanding why or how it was all happening. I felt as though the only person who made sense was Penny, but she was still seeing her dead friend Rae. So I was a little confused about that as well. How was Penny seeing her? Did she have some supernatural connection with the dead? The first question was never really answered for me and as I kept reading I knew that she didn't have any powers. I let it go and kept reading. Penny did however start to see other things as her and her stepmother moved into the Carver House for the summer. Her waking dreams were filled with nightmarish creatures and a story about the North Woods that no one dared talk about. I couldn't help being as curious as she was to figure out what those woods and the people in town were hiding. Especially when she met Miller. He was obviously connected to those woods and that house. I was a little surprised at the fact that no romance started between these two. Surprised and a little relieved to tell the truth. When you read YA all you usually read is about a romance between two strangers who bond over something that's happened in their past. Plus I think it would have detracted from the over all scariness of this book. Yes it was plenty scary. I'm still a little disappointed about how it all ended. Some things weren't cleared up for me. Like when she saw Miller's brother Danny in front of the general store at the end. Is he like the other kids that came back? Will he at random times have the whited out eyes or jaw that hangs to the ground? Is he actually Danny or just a shell like Jack was when he came back? All in all I really liked the book and definitely recommend it to other readers.