Audrey's Door by Sarah LanganMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Audrey Lucas is a girl with problems. Growing up she bounced from town to town with her crazy mother, drifting herself for awhile until she manages to pull her life together enough to get a degree in architecture and take back her life; as much as one can with a mentally ill mother and a healthy dose of OCD battle.After breaking up with her boyfriend she needs to find a place to live and like mana from heaven The Breviary lands in her lap. It's cheap, it's big and it's the last of it's kind with a unique architectural history that someone with Audrey's background and passion can appreciate. Of course there's a catch; a recent tragedy has stained the walls within and the whole place seems to hum with the hunger of what happened.It's not long after she moves in that the truth begins to unravel and she begins to learn about the history of the Breviary...something is haunting her. Her dreams are fevered and her life begins to fall apart. Someone is demanding that build a door...
The book, a modern haunted house story is full of charm and character. The story unfolds nicely and the pace keeps up; for the most part. I stumbled over some of the language used as it was far to forced. There were parts were it felt like Langan was trying too hard to get across the message of the horrors of Audrey's childhood and her demented mother which have now made her into the damaged woman she is today. However, you need the background to explain the obsessive nature in which Audrey is trying to take back her; a nature which lands her at the Breviary. The story is not just about a haunted house but about how we are also are own architects. If you were a house, what sort of foundation would you have? What have your walls seen? Who has resided with you? Ultimately, it's up to us to keep standing tall and not let our walls crumble.
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