Sheltered by Debra Chapoton

Read a synopsis here!
Number of pages: 236
This was such a creepy book (but in a good way)! Sheltered is not only creepy, but it is a dark and disturbing novel that deals with many issues including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, family/home life issues, and a variety of other topics. 
Basically, five teens are put together in this house organized by the "leader" Ben. Ben is one of the five teens and he makes sure that everything gets paid for and that the other kids do their fair share around the house. The rest of the teens start off by thinking that there is a Mrs. Peterson who is in charge of the house and just stays in her room all the time but in reality, Ben has made her up so the teens will continue living there without the bother of adult figures. The house is mainly a sanctuary for these lost teens.
Each teen is going through something pretty terrible and just needs a safe haven from the homes they come from and somehow, it's never explicitly stated in the novel, Ben finds them and recruits them to live in this house with him. Cori, is a very goth/punk girl who was somehow kicked out of her house and is possibly possessed by demons, Emily cuts herself as punishment for the things she does or does not do, Megan is fighting for custody of her son who is about a year old (Megan is 17), and Chuck/Adam is dealing with schizophrenia. Ben is also living here part-time to escape his abusive father, and alcoholic mother.
Out of all the characters I think I liked Ben and Megan the best because they were the most sane, the others often just plain creeped me out.
The house they are living in causes a lot of issues with the teens and many of them believe there is unfinished business within the house and that their is demons wandering around possessing some of the girls. 
The story continues on with a bunch of different plots and there is a lot of stuff where the reader has to make conclusions on their own which was interesting at first but after awhile things just got to confusing. There was a lot of unanswered questions for me once I got to the very end. I also wished the story could be longer, because I didn't like the way it ended. More loose ends could have been tied up.
It was a good story, it could have been written a little more cohesively towards the end. I liked how the supernatural aspects were able to work so well with the real life issues these teens were having. And the characters were believable. Often I have a hard time identifying with characters who are going through SO much hardship, but this was written eloquently and flowed with the plot.
Also this is a great book to read during October or around the time of Halloween because it deals with the supernatural!
See you soon!
Paige
P.S. Huge thank you to Debra Chapoton for asking me to read and review this and for sending me a digital copy of it!