The House Next Door

That was creepy fun!! ?<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1537404519ra/26327340.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Happy Reading! <br><br>Mel ???

The house next door is haunted. No seriously. The last occupants ran out in the middle of the night with a rifle, jumped in their car and never returned. They left everything. Clothes, furniture, like I said, everything. Just like every occupant before them. The grass never grows. The garden is black. Animals and people give it wide berth. Now the house has a new renter named Anna and I can feel the house coming alive again.<br /><br />Great haunted house read. Just creepy enough to give you chills. Recommend!

Jo lives next to a haunted house. When a new owner moves in, Jo's curiosity blooms, and she carries a basket of muffins over to meet her new neighbour and peek inside the infamous Marwick house. <br /><br />The House Next Door is my second Darcy Coates novel. It is heavy on atmosphere with classic tropes such as a grisly backstory, rattling chains, ghostly baby cries, and the eerie notes of a piano playing on its own. Chills and creeps are in excess with cob-webbed basements, hanging trees, and supernatural lock downs.<br /><br />Good stuff all around!<br /><br />The only issue I have is that I found it too easy to put the book down. The beginning was solid and it finished strong. But the middle dragged with cliché secondary characters and decisions by Jo far outside the realm of logic. <br /><br />Nevertheless, The House Next Door is a fun and creepy tale. I'm eager to try another from this author.

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR: A Ghost Story, by Darcy Coates, was just the kind of ghost story I love to read. Helen Marwick isn't your <i>"romantic-style"</i> ghost here, she's a malevolent entity that causes new homeowners to leave, screaming, in the middle of the night--never to return, even for their belongings.<br /><br />Jo has witnessed several past owners from her own home, next door.<br /><br /><b> <i>". . . A fascination has slowly built over the four years I've lived beside the house."</i> </b><br /><br />Most of the neighbors ignore the Marwick residence, going out of their way to avoid it. Even when tenantless and <i>"dormant"</i> the house oozes a dangerous aura that infiltrates the thoughts of those in close proximity.<br /><br />When a young, desperate looking woman named Anna moves in, something stirs Jo into action. Whether it be curiosity or simply one lost soul needing another, she decides to break down the boundaries and greet her new neighbor.<br /><br /><b> <i>". . . I didn't have much experience welcoming neighbors, but I was pretty sure telling them their house was haunted was the sort of thing people weren't supposed to do."</i> </b><br /><br />Darcy Coates puts a heavy emphasis on the atmosphere in this novel. Everything seems almost "weighted down" by the malice that emanates from the house, reaching out and touching all that it can. Even the weather conditions mimic human emotions as the apprehension and fear continue to increase.<br /><br />Anna, who has left a violent relationship, has no alternative but to stay.<br /><br /><b> <i>". . . Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for good things."</i> </b><br /><br />As the story unfolds, we learn more about Jo's own tragic past, as well as that of Anna, and the horrifying night that Helen Mavwick had died. There were several secrets and "twists" to the story near the end that added an entirely new level to an already gripping tale.<br /><br />This is only the second book I've read by author Darcy Coates, and already I'm looking forward to more.<br /><br />Recommended!

More lame than scary.<br /><br />Who buys a house when they're trying to hide from someone? Public records are a thing. So dumb. <br /><br />Also, no offense to the doll making community, but this is the kind of shit that happens when you befriend them.

4 Stars!! I LOVE this Ghost Story!! So light, cozy and entertaining! Kind of a comfort reading for winter days!

3.5 Stars<br /><br />Jo lives home next to a haunted house. For years she has seen families move in next door and leave in the hurry in the middle of the night shortly after the movie. The entire neighborhood avoids it, including Jo’s own cats. The lights turn on randomly at night, the doors slam on their own, and birds keep flying into it and breaking their neck.<br /><br />Now a desperate young woman moves in and Jo cannot help but feel protective of her. There is something Anna isn’t telling her about her own past, that she wants to avoid, and the house is the only sanctuary she can afford. Anna is sweet, timid and remakes dolls, a perfect soul for the ghost to cling onto.<br /><br />This was an interesting read. It was definitely a creepy ghost story, very chilling, very atmospheric, with a few scenes that made my stomach turn. It does have scenes with animals getting hurt in it, and those animals are usually birds that fly into the house. If that disturbs you, just be aware.<br /><br />I only read this book once in the night and decided not to do that again. It most definitely gave me a nightmare.<br /><br />The writing was good. It was my first Coates reads and it won’t be my last.<br /><br />There were a few things that I had a gripe with and one of that was the fact that when Jo googled the house online, she couldn’t find anything about it. When she spoke to her neighbor, the neighbor told Jo that when the store broke it’s all the news spoke about on the TV, so I would have thought something would have been found online.<br /><br />Second, there was a scene with Anna’s ex, who does not have proof that Anna lives in the house but goes through her trash one night and finds something in it and assumptions fly and the girls end up in danger. The whole thing was just weird for me.<br /><br />Overall though, if you like ghost stories, this was a very creepy but interesting read.

<b>Spooky Haunting!</b><br /><br />This is no cozy ghost story as author Darcy Coates plops the reader into the Marwick House where no one can seem to live in the house for a very long time. There is one powerful ghost that refuses to let anyone share the house with her and she will do anything to kick them out.<br /><br />Until a new neighbor, Anna moves in that is down and out with her life as she wants to try to start over in this house. Her neighbor, Jo, has seen families come and go as long as she has lived next door. She becomes friends with Anna and tries to help Anna with living in the house with the ghost. But the ghost has other plans and no matter what they do, the ghost does not want to leave.<br /><br /><b>Thoughts:</b><br /> <br />Darcy Coates once again weaves the story around the reader to the point that you feel all the emotions the characters feel as they deal with this ghost and all the antics she stirs up to make everyone want to just run out the door. <br /><br />The book slowly builds up the tension and anxiety from the beginning taking you straight into the depths of Marwick House not letting you go till you reach the end and keeping you deep into the haunting of the house! Giving this one five <b>"Chills and Shivers"</b> stars!

3.5<br />This was good, but she has dazzled me much more than this. This was also unique and different which I appreciated. It was a little like a cozy to me with a bit of a scare.

Meh.