The Bargaining - Carly Anne West - 4 stars

I picked this one up on a whim because I was mostly drawn to the cover and then of course the synopsis. I liked the pacing of the book which kept it moving and I loved the creepiness of the story which kept me engaged. I found that there seemed to be a lot more to the story than the synopsis tells us and I was pleased by that. The ending of the book was not what I expected, but on the other hand it would be expected to happen the way it did, if that makes sense.

In this story we have Penny who has many issues that she needs to deal with. When she finds out that she is going on a realty adventure with her stepmom, she was less than thrilled. Unexplained creepy things begin happening once they arrive at their destination. April her stepmom is drawn to the beauty of the Carver house in which she will be renovating, while Penny feels quite differently about the house and the woods that surround them.

I really enjoyed Penny, I found her to be quite smart and also very headstrong. Even though she is flawed, which I love, she is also very strong, but the one thing that I found to be a little annoying was the fact that she would really trust no one. I do find that she was well developed though, and I am sure the trust issues stem from the flawed life the author created her from. There are several other characters to like and many other to hate and some that I was even on the fence about. I did love how some of them were secretive and had a somewhat dark aura about them. I thought brought a lot to the story.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a good, creepy story. Also those who enjoy paranormal horror will like this one as well.