Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage.
But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic.
When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become.
With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she’s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder . . . was it all worth it? Or will this house be her final unraveling?
The cover of this book is bright and gorgeous, but don't let that distract you from the fact that this is a dark, twisted horror read.
Sarah is an up and coming social media influencer and therapist. She and her husband have decided to take on a major renovation of an entire house and document the entire process for her followers online. Except this house happens to be cursed by a gruesome murder and is said to be haunted. Black Wood House witnessed a murder-suicide and it's said that screams can still be heard on some nights.
Sarah and her husband also have secrets they are trying to keep. They are running from their past and their marriage is hanging on by a thread. Most nights Sarah is left home alone in this haunted house, with strange sounds coming from the attic and threatening notes appearing everywhere.
This book was a wild read. It started out strong, but I feel like there were too many twists and turns and too many loose ends that I was just left dizzy with information-overload. There were also some really good avenues the author could have taken, character-wise, that I thought were blaring obvious and would have added SO MUCH MORE to the story, but weren't touched on at all.
The further I got into the story, the weirder the plot became and more confused I got. Certain things just didn't make sense and became laughable.
The author's writing style was great and I liked the way the characters were presented and built on. Something was just lacking overall.
Thanks to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, and Penguin Random House, who sent me the email reaching out to me to read this gothic, horror, psychological read. It was a 3 star book for me.
Happy Reading!
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