The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne

A Victorian townhouse, a lovely couple with two wonderful children and a young lodger are the ingredients for one of the most unnerving and disturbing novels I have read this year.

Eleanor and Richard are a nice couple who decide to buy a house in one of the most exclusive areas of London; in order to help with the expenses they rent the basement to Zoe, a young and lively girl.

What makes the plot stand out is the combination of modern day life events and the disturbing presence of something or someone in the upstairs room of the house. This townhouse slowly starts to affect the lives of all the characters in different and frightening ways: illness, strange accidents, erratic behaviour...

Kate Murray-Browne has written a psychological terror novel that will appeal to many adult readers and fans of the genre and will certainly make you think twice before buying an old house without checking who (or what) lived there before.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus : review

It wasn't his allergy to peanuts that allegedly killed Simon it was his thirst for gossip and his longing for popularity.

If you think high school is bad , imagine what it would be like with an app that lets everybody know what everybody else is trying to hide. Wouldn't you want to make it disappear? or make the boy who created it go away....forever.

Unfortunately we have all heard of similar gossip apps which encourage anonymous rumour spreading both at school and university, making the lives of students even harder. In her book Karen M. McManus gives the readers food for thought.

This novel is undoubtedly one of the best whodunit YA books of the year. It has everything: likeable suspects, a gripping plot, romance, betrayal and revenge. You just won't be able to put it down .

The story is narrated from four different perspectives and all the chapters are equally appealing, which is not usually the case in novels with so many narrators.
The author created and developed the characters skilfully and it's hard not to feel you have something in common with all of them despite their flaws, which are by the way, what make them regular high school students.

The ending will satisfy most readers. I somehow saw it coming because it made sense in a way. What I really loved though, was that after the truth was revealed, the story kept going a little bit more so that we knew how life had changed for the main characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me this amazing novel in exchange for an honest review.

Pinang Peranakan Mansion: 100 photographs

No matter how many times you visit Penang , there is always something to do there, another temple or in this case one of the most wonderful houses I have ever been into located on 29 Church Street.

This mansion is the typical home of a rich Baba and each room is worth visiting. You can go from Monday to Sunday from 9:30am to 5:00pm for 20RM. It's not expensive taking into account that you may well spend a long time there, it's like travelling back in time .