The September House by Carissa Orlando
Publication Date: September 5th 2023 by Berkley
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher
Rating: ★★★★
Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads
My
Thoughts:
Margaret and Hal found a-steal-of-a-deal home to buy, were
warned of past deaths, but that didn’t discourage them from purchasing their
beautiful dream house. The original hard wood floors, wrap-around porch,
gorgeous fireplaces, made it hard to resist! It’s old so of course there would
be a death or two, right?
Margaret has managed all the disturbing events over the years
and found a way to make staying manageable. She loves the home, so she’s
willing to put up with a few things, but Hal wasn’t so committed to staying. Now
Katherine, their grown daughter, has become insistent on coming to stay and find
Hal. Margaret must deal with Katherine while
trying to get through September, when all the odd occurrences in the house build
into a crescendo of macabre.
The September House was creepy and scary! I thought twice about reading right before
going to bed. Even thinking about it now makes me uneasy, but there was also a
bit of dark humor to it. The way Margaret just tackled all the crazy, scary
stuff so matter of fact. It didn’t phase her much, and handling it was like just
another chore to mark off her list. Well, that’s if whatever she had to deal
with didn’t come from the basement. *shivers*
I kept wondering if I was going to find out this was all in Margaret’s
head. I wondered what happened to Hal. Bits of the past, Hal and Margaret’s
marriage and the relationship with their daughter Katherine are revealed.
I won’t detail anymore, but I will say this is one of the
few books that actually scared me. I liked how it all turned out, which isn’t
something I can often say with horror stories. Definitely a good, scary story! Perfect
for this time of year!
4 Stars
Book Description:
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Photo Credit: Cameron Massey
About the author:
