I’m not sure if I’ve given a full five star review to a horror book before, but you better believe this one gets it. It was a PERFECT 10/10 haunted house novel. I have no notes, it just knocked it out of the park.

I was recently having a discussion with my coworkers regarding my love of horror (it seem incongruous with my sunshine personality, but I adore it), and we pinned down it’s a haunting rooted in history that intrigues me. I salivate for shows and movies like The Haunting of Hill House and The Conjuring, where all the tragedy can be traced back through history and generations. It’s cyclical nature (and occasionally the breaking of it) that gets my buy in. Many of us, myself included, want reasons why things happen and hauntings that harken back to days before fill that need for me.

Of course real life isn’t like that, which is why I abhor true crime, particularly unsolved mysteries. I can read horror all day as long as it’s fiction, ditto for horror movies and haunted houses. It makes me the anomaly, particularly among my female peers who often love true crime and hate horror, but I never claimed to make sense.

Nevertheless, this was fantastic and I’m absolutely obsessed with this. I’m adding a massive spoiler so stop reading here if you’re planning on reading the book!

SPOILERS AHEAD…you’ve been warned

Wow, what a cheeky little nod to psychological horror! My biggest pet peeve with some of the “great” haunted house novels (cough cough The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining), is that you don’t know if it’s all in the characters head. The commentary on mental health is valid and lends a speculation to the narrative, and I was a little leery toward the last couple of chapters if that’s where it was going. And then wham! Overt huntings that everyone sees, it was just *chef’s kiss.* Like way to subvert the genre, I ******* LOVED IT. I was grinning like a loon during those last two chapters, it was amazing. I will probably read this again in the future (every September? jk) and I have no doubt it will hold up!

The September House - Likewise Book Reviews

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