House Of Shadows and Watcher In The Woods by Robert Liparulo (The Dreamhouse Kings Series)

I loved these books! I read them both, in the same day because they were that good! 

At risk of sounding presumptious, I am going to go ahead and say this was written like I would want it to be written if I wrote it! I can't wait to see the next book in this series!!! I would love to read all of Robert Liparulio's "adult" books. I think a large part of me never grew up because I love "Juvenile Fiction" a great deal! Frankly, I didn't find anything about these two riveting books that made them exclusively "juvenile!" 

The first book drove me nuts being a cliff hanger, but by the time I started to get near the end of the second book, I already knew it would be a "To Be Continued" type ending, so I was braced for it. These books defiantly need to be sold in a set, because I would have been so aggravated to have had the first book end and no second book in sight! I don't like cliff hangers. Books or movies that leave openings for a sequel, yes, but just flat out cliff hangers make me mad!

I came from a smaller family than the one in this series. As far as children, just me and my brother in my family. I am the older sister, by 3 1/2 years, so I often felt close to Xander as he fought to protect his family and his siblings. Yet, I felt close to David because I have lived many of the emotions he has to deal with in these two books. 

The house, well this house is incredible! A wonderful mix of horrific terror, and fascinating possibilities! Portals to places far away, times long past, and each trip into the portal can change the life of the traveler forever. Xander and David will never forget the things they experienced through the portal trips. Could your worse nightmare or your best sweetest dream be behind a portal door? 

But what is the purpose of this house? Who built it and why? What was it made to do, and how oh how can Xander and David get their Mother back so that they and their sister and father can be a family again? Will they find the Mom from so long ago that disappeared in this house? What about the other little boy and girl that vanished? Where did that dad go? The town rumor is that he went mad and killed all of them, but now that they are living in a house that can transport you to the school locker 119, that can't be the case. With their Mother kidnapped and yanked through a portal, their Dad is acting so very strange! Is he about to go insane, or is he about to find a way to get Mom home again?

What would you do if someone was watching your house but you weren't grown enough to make that person go away? What if someone was accusing your parent(s) of crimes concerning you? How do you cope as the oldest child, or the child that feels most responsible for things that go wrong? All my life, all the lives of all the "oldest child" we feel a pull to care for our parents and siblings. It isn't always easy, but if you have a "haunted" house with portals to other worlds in it, it makes things a thousand times more complicated. 

And what is with the field in the woods? You can go flying in it, or get really hurt. It has to be tied to the house, doesn't it?  But when and who will figure out how and why? 

The Watcher In The Woods is a MUST to read after House Of Dark Shadows. 

In my own life, yes...I have been watched. I know first hand what it feels like to be stalked. It isn't any fun at all, but to be even more of a child and know you are being watched, what would you expect God to do about it? It is easy to blame your parent(s), but when it comes down to just you and the one watching you, what happens then? 

If you think you have pressure in your life, then you need to read these two books. You will be captivated, and fascinated, have a wonderful escape from your life for a while, and you might be relived that at least your life doesn't have a house with portals coming and going everywhere at the worst of times. 

I will be awaiting the third book in this series! I found it wonderful that Robert Liparulo asked his readers to write in and tell him some of what they would like to see in the third book in this trilogy. I await with much curiosity to find out what was chosen. I would say you should grab copies of these books before they turn into movies or timeless classics that you didn't get to read first!

Carol :) 

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing a double pair

House of Dark Shadows
and
Watcher In The Woods
(Books 1 and 2 in the Dreamhouse Kings Series)
Thomas Nelson (May 6, 2008)
by
Robert Liparulo


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robert is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories. He is currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine. His work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Travel & Leisure, Modern Bride, Consumers Digest, Chief Executive, and The Arizona Daily Star, among other publications. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others for magazines such as Rocky Road, Preview, and L.A. Weekly.

Robert is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.

Robert's first novel painted a scenario so frighteningly real that six Hollywood producers were bidding on movie rights before the novel was completed. His acclaimed debut novel, Comes A Horseman, is being made into a major motion picture by producer Mace Neufeld and his short story "Kill Zone" was featured in the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson.

Bob has sold the film rights to his second book, GERM. And he is writing the screenplay for a yet-to-be-written political thriller, which sold to Phoenix Pictures, for Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) to direct!

And his third book Deadfall. debuted to rave reviews!

ABOUT THE BOOKS

House of Dark Shadows
(Dreamhouse Kings Book 1)
Dream house...or bad dream?
When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.

But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into--as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house.

They soon discover there's something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong directions. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school.

Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places--in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen's dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

Watcher In The Woods
(Dreamhouse Kings Book 2)
It's not just the house that's keeping secrets.
Pretending everything's all right is harder than it sounds. But the Kings know that even if they told the truth about the bizarre things happening in their house, no one would believe them. They're hyper-focused on rescuing their lost family member before anyone finds out what's going on.

But when a stranger shows up to take their house, their options start dwindling fast. Why would he be so interested in a run-down old place? And what secret is he hiding--just as he hides the scars that crisscross his body?

The mystery gets stranger with each passing day. Will the Kings be able to find a way to harness the house's secrets and discover who is watching their every move before another gets snatched into an unknown world?

The Dreamhouse Kings Series has three contests that you will not want to miss...Dream the Scene, a weekly "Thanks For Reading Trivia contest, and the Dreamhouse Kings Street Team contest. There are also free bookplates that you can request, and a chapter of each book that you can download!

You can get all those goodies HERE.

The book links are: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595544941
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595544968