This is a haunted house novel based on true events which happened to the author. Unfortunately for me it wasn’t as spooky as it promised to be and took a long time to develop. I appreciated that it was a little different from the usual haunted house story, including an ex-US Air Force protagonist with PTSD, injuries and weight gain, who invites various paranormal investigation groups into her newly built house to explore the ghostly happenings. I wasn’t interested in the lengthy descriptions of the investigations, which included minor characters not important to the story, and the emails going back and forth. I would have liked more atmosphere. I did like the characters, Mel who narrates the story, her found family (Alexandra and Sarah, and their toddler Olivia), and love interest Ryan, who is sceptical about the paranormal. It’s a good debut novel and well-written, but not scary enough!

Thank you to the author and Zooloos Book Tours for the review copy. The book was published in 2025 by Rowan Prose.