Mel's Shelves: Blog Tour/Review: The Requiem Red by Brynn Chapman

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Blog Tour/Review: The Requiem Red by Brynn Chapman

The Requiem Red

by Brynn Chapman

YA Historical Urban Fantasy

Hardcover, Paperback & ebook, 300 Pages
April 5th 2016 by Month9Books

Patient Twenty-nine.

A monster roams the halls of Soothing Hills Asylum. Three girls dead. 29 is endowed with the curse…or gift of perception. She hears messages in music, sees lyrics in paintings. And the corn. A lifetime asylum resident, the orchestral corn music is the only constant in her life.

Mason, a new, kind orderly, sees 29 as a woman, not a lunatic. And as his belief in her grows, so does her self- confidence. That perhaps she might escape, might see the outside world.

But the monster has other plans. The missing girl's share one common thread...each was twenty-nine's cell mate.

Will she be next?

This book takes place in an insane asylum and, yes, it's just as creepy as it sounds. The story is told from three points of view--29, Jules and Dr. Grayjoy. Patient 29, whose real name is Jane, has lived in the asylum for as long as she can remember. A new orderly, Mason, takes an interest in her and treats her as if she's normal. Jules is the daughter of Dr. Frost, who works at Soothing Hills Sanatorium. She is engaged to Willis Graceling but feels more like she's being sold to him so she's not too excited about it. Dr. Grayjoy is young and is now Jane's doctor. He has some reservations about Dr. Frost and his practices.

The author does a great job of bringing the asylum to life. There are some sad things that happen but I didn't feel like the book was depressing. There were some parts that weren't too difficult to figure out so I was more curious about the back story and the events that led up to where the characters were today. There is a monster that appears toward the end of the book and there were some suspenseful scenes with him.

This isn't the type of book I normally read, but I've heard great things about this author so I wanted to give it a chance, and am glad that I did! There are lots of secrets to be revealed and we got quite a few of them as the story progressed. It felt authentic to that time period (1894) and the stories that we hear now about insane asylums and how they were run, how the patients were treated and the overall creepiness of them. The story ends abruptly, and there are still questions to be answered, so I'm looking forward to reading more!

My Rating=4 Stars

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Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Brynn Chapman is the daughter of two teachers. Her writing reflects her passions: science, history and love—not necessarily in that order. In real life, the geek gene runs strong in her family, as does the Asperger’s syndrome. Her writing reflects her experience as a pediatric therapist and her interactions with society’s downtrodden. In fiction, she’s a strong believer in underdogs and happily-ever-afters. She also writes non-fiction and lectures on the subjects of autism and sensory integration and is a medical contributor to online journal The Age of Autism.

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