I won’t explain what the book is about, as I did that in my original review. However, there are some things I either missed the first time around, or didn’t put them in the review. For a start, for a short novel it does move slowly. Halfway through and they’ve only just had their first night at the house, and nothing ghostly happened. I found it difficult to understand the dynamics between all the characters. They’ve only just met, but are acting like they’re best friends. I think there is attraction between Eleanor (the protagonist, narrated in the third person) and Theodora, and it almost seems that Theodora’s rejection is a factor in Eleanor’s fate. Eleanor repeats, over and over, ‘journeys end in lovers meeting.’ I don’t know what that’s from, but it’s some kind of personal mantra. Something I did appreciate was the architectural element; the angles of the house all built slightly wrong, how its exterior is evil, the strange tower which Eleanor can’t go in. It still wasn’t too clear to me what happened, but perhaps if the mysteries were neatly wrapped up, the book would be less memorable. I said in my review that it’s almost a parody of the haunted house genre. I’m going further than that now; it’s a comedy. When the doctor’s wife arrives with her blustering companion, ready to comfort the spirits (who of course leave them alone) it becomes very amusing.

The doctor often mentions Borley Rectory, comparing it to Hill House, hoping for a lot of ghostly activity to boost his research. If you read about Borley, the apparent true story is scarier than anything that appears to be happening at Hill House. This may be where the doctor’s wife gets her beliefs about the monks and nuns whose spirits haunt the house, and an influence on her use of the planchette for spirit communication.

I have read another Shirley Jackson book since, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but I had quite mixed feelings about it, so I don’t know if I’ll read any more of her books.

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

These stories are all disturbing in some way and have a vaguely early 20th century setting. I’m not sure they’re brilliant enough to be considered classics, but they were worth a read. All the male characters were annoying in their attitudes towards women, but perhaps this is a commentary on the time from a female author (Dorothy Kathleen Broster, 1877 – 1950). The spookiness of the stories was varied; we have ghosts, obsessions, time-travel and murder. Often they are in European continental settings. I was reminded of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray for the story ‘Couching at the Door’, as it has a corruption theme. An older debauched man haunted by a fur boa attempts to transfer the haunting to a young innocent man, the illustrator for his book. The other stand-out story in the collection is ‘A Taste of Pomegranates’, where two sisters become trapped in a cave while looking for prehistoric paintings. I felt that the stories often ended in a disappointing way and could have made a more frightening impression on the reader.

Published by Wordsworth, 2007.

This is a fun read which gets a little serious at times, not an easy balance. I suspect that it may not have enough heat for habitual romance readers, and not enough spookiness for the ghost fans, but it was definitely a different and memorable read. The writing did seem repetitive at times. For example, people seem to ‘huff’ a lot, with nineteen uses of the word! Melody also mentions her age, twenty-seven, a total of twelve times in the book.

I assumed the book was recently published, but it has a history. Its previous title was The Skeletons of Scarborough House by Kitty French, published by Bookouture in 2016. The Amazon page for that title says that it was previously published as Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency. Its current title, published by Penguin in 2025, is definitely the best of the three and its cover ties into the spooky rom-com trend.

The story is about Tate, an architect who is staying in Cape Cod to design a house for his best friend Oscar. Tate is still grieving for his sister and has spent time in psychiatric care. When he stays in a house which Oscar rented for him, he discovers a young woman there, Wren, who is friendly and inquisitive. They definitely have a spark. The problem is, she is a ghost (this isn’t a spoiler, it’s revealed early on) who has remained at the house for a reason. During the day, she is fun to spend time with, but at night, her death is replayed horribly in a haunted bathroom. It’s up to Tate, with the help of Oscar, to find out what really happened, bring justice for Wren and heal himself in the process.

I thought the book was well-crafted and it met my expectations of what this author collaboration would produce. I didn’t find the main characters interesting or compelling, but they seemed realistic. My favourite character was actually Tate’s cat, Paulie, who helped with his depression and befriends Wren’s ghost.

Thank you to the publisher Little, Brown for the review copy via NetGalley. Publication date: 14th October.

The author, a car salesman, bought the house in 2004 and ever since then, spooky things have happened to him, his friends and family. It became apparent that although the only ghost clearly seen by anyone was the old lady at the bay window (who used to live there), the house actually contained multiple spirits. This was confirmed by a paranormal investigation and a spirit medium (in chapters at the end of the book). The latter said there was a vortex in the room where the lady was seen, which allowed spirits to enter the house.

What makes the book a realistic and compelling read is that the people who experience the spooky events are usually described as tough lads who don’t get scared, the sort of down to earth people who scoff at the idea of a haunted house… until something happens to them while staying there for lads’ nights of poker, TV football and beer.

Although the content of the book was very creepy, it wasn’t anything you wouldn’t find in other haunted house narratives. Two things surprised me: that a 19-year-old bought a three-bedroom house, and that he was happy to continue living there all these years despite poltergeist activity, including doors slammed, knives embedded in the floor and a glass smashed into pieces (and carefully gathered into a pile).

Independently published in 2023.

Related posts: my recommended spooky reads, book reviews of Our Haunted Home in the Country by Dale Scott, Real Ghost Stories by Tina Vantyler.

This book is the first in a series. I know I shouldn’t read the others… but I probably will.

Independently published in 2021.