A review by megsbookishtwins
Dollhouse by Anya Allyn

3.0

I received this free from the publisher via NetGalley

You want to know everything? Look at yourself. You discover a truth and can barely function.”

Aisha Damaj has gone missing, and her boyfriend Ethan is being blamed. Cassie is a close friend of Ethan and she has feelings for him. When he decides to go out to the forest to try and find Aisha, Cassie decides to join him. They search a house in the middle of the forest, little do they know what lurks in the basement.

Just to start this off, I really do love this cover, and I think it goes perfectly with the story. Anyway, I'm not sure what I expected with Dollhouse, but not something this weird. I liked the story, I think it had some great potential, but I felt like something was missing. I didn't really feel any of the creepiness or the suspense, but others might. I wanted to know what was happening, why were they down there? The book felt like it was dragging a lot and nothing was really explained until the very end where it all seemed rushed in. We didn't really get much of an explanation as to why they were down there except to entertain her. We didn't get much of an explanation as to how they were down there, and how all the dolls were connected to Jessamine. The travel between worlds didn't have much explanation either. I do tend to read books, forgetting they are a sequel, so the rest of this would probably be explained in the next books.

I didn't really feel much connection to the characters, they were nice and enjoyable, but I couldn't really relate. They didn't have much character development or growth. I didn't really get much sense of the frienships between Aisha, Ethan, Cassie and Lacey, and I would have liked to have seen more interaction between the four of them. The romance was a little boring for me and I didn't really care if they got together or not. There was also a potential love triangle with Henry and I am very glad it didn't happen, and happy that she seemed rather revolted by him. So, that is a positive.

I did enjoy the mystery of the 'Dollhouse', but I didn't feel much suspense leading up the the reveal and the plot twist didn't really shock me as much as I would have hoped.

Overall, it is still an enjoyable read, and I suggest you at least have a look at Dollhouse, even if you don't decide to read it.