“What better occupation, really, than to spend the evening at the fireside with a book, with the wind beating on the windows and the lamp burning bright.” – Gustave Flaubert
I finished reading this on my Kindle and wanted to share. It’s kind of a quick read but also a little spooky (perfect for this time of year, if you know what I mean). The book does have some flash backs but it doesn’t make the book hard to follow or keep up with. I had a hard time wanting to put this book down while I was reading it. Just wait till you get to the end. {Note: I do not believe this book would be suitable for children.}
The year is 1843, and Arthur Foreman is on his way to visit his sister and her family for Christmas. Tucked under his arm, he carries the manuscript of a strange ghost story, written by the mysterious Walter Ward of Old Coal House.
Arriving at his sister’s home, Arthur immediately realizes that something is wrong. Elizabeth seems distant and distracted, and she finally erupts in a fit of fury. After being thrown out of the house, Arthur searches through the snowy night for refuge. All the usual boarding houses are closed for the holiday. His only choice is to make his way up the hill and knock on the of Old Coal House, and to ask for a room.
Soon, Arthur discovers that Walter Ward’s tales are not necessarily works of fiction after all. A strange figures stalks the halls and corridors of Old Coal House, tormenting Mr. Ward and driving him to drink. When he sets foot in the house for the first time, Arthur does not believe in ghosts at all. By the time he leaves the following morning, he has discovered the truth not only about Old Coal House itself, but also about a terrible tragedy that once struck his own family.
I’ve recently finished reading another one. Reading the synopsis, this book sounded a little spooky so I dived right in. The main story was pretty suspenseful through out, even from the very beginning, and it kept me turning the pages. This book would be perfect for someone looking for a good read for Halloween.
This novel also include 4 bonus stories (1)Whose woods these are, (2) Mannequin, (3) Hitchhiker and (4) Bellamy. I think “Whose woods these are” was my favorite out of all of them but “Bellamy” was a pretty close second.
Synopsis: A week’s visit to the remote Harob Lake cabin couldn’t have come at a better time for Sam.
She’s battling artist’s block ahead of a major gallery exhibition. Staying at Harob Lake is her final, desperate attempt to paint the collection that could save her floundering career. It seems perfect: no neighbors, no phone, no distractions.
But the dream retreat disintegrates into a nightmare when Sam discovers she’s being stalked.
A tall, strange man stands on the edge of her dock, staring intently into the swirling waters below. He starts to follow her. He disables her car. He destroys her only way to communicate with the outside world.
And Sam is beginning to suspect he’s responsible for the series of disappearances from a nearby hiking trail.
Stranded at Harob Lake, Sam realizes she’s become the prey in the hunter’s deadliest game…
My wonderful hubby let me go to the bookstore today and I got to purchase the following books. You’re probably thinking by now that my living space has got to be filled to the brim with books by now. My hubby even said to me just a few moments ago that he’s surprised I haven’t purchased every book ever made by now because I have so many books.
Synopsis: Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why–or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man’s touch–and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes.
Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he’s determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather’s last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.
Synopsis: A week’s visit to the remote Harob Lake cabin couldn’t have come at a better time for Sam.
She’s battling artist’s block ahead of a major gallery exhibition. Staying at Harob Lake is her final, desperate attempt to paint the collection that could save her floundering career. It seems perfect: no neighbours, no phone, no distractions.
But the dream retreat disintegrates into a nightmare when Sam discovers she’s being stalked.
A tall, strange man stands on the edge of her dock, staring intently into the swirling waters below. He starts to follow her. He disables her car. He destroys her only way to communicate with the outside world.
And Sam is beginning to suspect he’s responsible for the series of disappearances from a nearby hiking trail.
Stranded at Harob Lake, Sam realises she’s become the prey in the hunter’s deadliest game…
Synopsis: In 1959 Florence Green, a kindhearted widow with a small inheritance, risks everything to open a bookshop – the only bookshop – in the seaside town of Hardborough. By making a success of a business so impractical, she invites the hostility of the town’s less prosperous shopkeepers. By daring to enlarge her neighbors’ lives, she crosses Mrs. Gamart, the local arts doyenne. Florence’s warehouse leaks, her cellar seeps, and the shop is apparently haunted. Only too late does she begin to suspect the truth: a town that lacks a bookshop isn’t always a town that wants one.
Synopsis:From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp comes a shocking new thriller about a group of friends tied together by a game and the deadly weekend that tears them apart.
FIVE friends go to a cabin. FOUR of them are hiding secrets. THREE years of history bind them. TWO are doomed from the start. ONE person wants to end this. NO ONE IS SAFE.
Are you ready to play?
Synopsis: Everyone in Evie’s east-coast school is obsessed with Kill Screen, one of the scariest, most intense video games on the market! But no one has ever beat the game and many believe there must be a defect in the last level, making victory impossible to attain.
When Evie finally figures out how to defeat the final ghost, the Wisp, her work is far from over, for as the first person to ever complete Kill Screen, she’s unwittingly unleashed the Wisp into our world.
Synopsis: The new neighbors are not who they seem…Siblings Matt and Sophie aren’t thrilled when their parents move them away from the country to a boring neighborhood in a new development.The only house that stands out is the one next door—an old stone farmhouse whose owners have refused to sell to developers. They even have a horse in the pasture. And Sophie hopes the owners will let her ride it if she helps take care of it.But something is not quite right about their new neighbors, and Matt and Sophie are determined to find out what exactly is wrong with the house next door.
I almost forgot to mention latest and newest e-book that I’ve purchased on my Kindle Fire. I’ve read the Last Apprentice series and the Starblade Chronicles from this author and I enjoyed them both. Now, it looks like I get to read something that about 2 characters from those series while being introduced to a new character when I read this book. I can’t wait to read this.
Synopsis: When young novice monk Brother Beowulf is sent to spy on Spook Johnson, he has no idea of the trouble he’s about to find himself in. Johnson boasts to Wulf of his battles against demonic creatures, and even seems to imprisons local witches, though Wulf is sceptical – not least because the church has taught him that Spooks are a force for evil, and not to be trusted. But then the monsters Johnson claims to fight turn out to be very real indeed, and soon Wulf is forced to seek help from another young Spook, Tom Ward, who terrifies and charms him in equal measure.
But the forces of the dark are many, and it’s not long until Wulf and Tom realise they’ve bitten off far more than they can chew. A horrifying new enemy is rising – and only Wulf can stop it.
I finished reading this last night. This book is actually a collection of short stories that are meant to be on the scary side (you can see a list below of the stories contained in this book along with a synopsis). I thought this was a good book. There were some mixed reviews of this online, some people thought that the stories contained within weren’t all that scary while other people said they enjoyed the book. I think this book is geared towards the young adult crowd so if you are an adult reading this book, you’ll have to take that into consideration when reading this. This would be a good book to get you in the mood for Halloween coming up.
Synopsis:New York Times Bestseller Anthony Horowitz’s horror collections, now in one volume! Welcome to a world where everything seems normal. At least, at first. But the sinister and truly terrifying lurk just beneath the surface. Like a bathtub with a history so haunted, no one dares get in it…or an ordinary-looking camera that does unspeakable things to its subjects…or an elevator filled with cannibals just waiting for their next victim to walk in. This wicked collection of eighteen macabre tales combining both Horowitz Horror and More Horowitz Horror will send shivers up your spine.
This edition includes… 1. Bath Night 2. Killer Camera 3. Light Moves 4. The Night Bus 5. Harriet’s Horrible Dream 6. Scared 7. A Career in Computer Games 8. The Man with the Yellow Face 9. The Monkey’s Ear 10. The Hitchhiker 11. The Sound of Murder 12. Burned 13. Flight 715 14. Howard’s End 15. The Elevator 16. The Phone Goes Dead 17. Twist Cottage 18. The Shortest Horror Story Ever Written
The hardcover edition of this came out today. Well, I purchased the e-book version of this on my Kindle this morning before going off to work. I’ve read the “Locke and Key” series and the “Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland” mini series so I’ve read some comics/graphic novels by Joe Hill before. I didn’t realize Joe Hill did another one until this morning while I browsing the internet. I’ll be interested in reading this when I get done with the book I’m currently on. This seems like something that would be good to read for Halloween.
Synopsis: June Branch visits her boyfriend, Liam, on Brody Island for a relaxing last weekend of summer. After an escaped group of criminals breaks into the house that June and Liam are watching, Liam is taken by them. June grabs a strange Viking axe and flees from the intruders. When one of the attackers finds her, she swings the axe and takes off his head, which rolls away and begins to babble in terror. For June to uncover the truth, she’ll need to hear the facts straight from the mouths of her attackers, with…or without their bodies attached. Collects issues #1-7.
I’ve purchased 2 new e-books today. One is a new book that was just released today known as “One by One” by Ruth Ware. The other book I found by accident while I was looking for the first book and it’s called “The Ghost of Old Coal House” by Amy Cross. Both of them sounded right up my ally so I decided I had to get them. I’ve posted what the book cover looks like and the synopsis for each book so that you can see if you’d be interested in them as well.
Synopsis: Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?
When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?
Synopsis: The year is 1843, and Arthur Foreman is on his way to visit his sister and her family for Christmas. Tucked under his arm, he carries the manuscript of a strange ghost story, written by the mysterious Walter Ward of Old Coal House.
Arriving at his sister’s home, Arthur immediately realizes that something is wrong. Elizabeth seems distant and distracted, and she finally erupts in a fit of fury. After being thrown out of the house, Arthur searches through the snowy night for refuge. All the usual boarding houses are closed for the holiday. His only choice is to make his way up the hill and knock on the of Old Coal House, and to ask for a room.
Soon, Arthur discovers that Walter Ward’s tales are not necessarily works of fiction after all. A strange figures stalks the halls and corridors of Old Coal House, tormenting Mr. Ward and driving him to drink. When he sets foot in the house for the first time, Arthur does not believe in ghosts at all. By the time he leaves the following morning, he has discovered the truth not only about Old Coal House itself, but also about a terrible tragedy that once struck his own family.
I’ve read some books so far this year that would be perfect to read for those of you that love Halloween. Yes, I realize that it’s only the 2nd day of September. I’ve already started on a book myself that I think will help get me into the Halloween spirit. Plus, this gives people enough time to either purchase the books or locate them at their local library before Halloween gets here.
“The Haunted” by Bentley Little = The Perry family’s new house is perfect-except for the weird behavior of the neighbors, and that odd smell coming from a dark corner in the basement. Pity no one warned the family about the house. Now it’s too late. Because the darkness at the bottom of the basement stairs is rising.
“Creep” by Eireann Corrigan = Olivia is curious about the people moving into 16 Olcott Place. The last family there moved out in the dead of night, and the new family, the Donahues, has no idea why. Olivia becomes fast friends with Janie Donahue . . . so she’s there at the house when the first of the letters arrives:
–I am the Sentry of Glennon Heights. Long ago I claimed 16 Olcott Place as levy for my guardianship. The walls will not tolerate your trespass. The ceilings will bleed and the windows will shatter. If you do not cease your intrusion, the rooms will soon smell of corpses.–
Who is the Sentry? And why does the Sentry want the Donahues out of the house badly enough to kill? As Olivia and Janie explore the house, they find a number of sinister secrets . . . and as they explore their town, they find a hidden history that the Sentry wants to remain hidden forever.
“A Head Full of Ghosts” by Paul Tremblay = The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia.
To her parents’ despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie’s bizarre outbursts and subsequent descent into madness. As their home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts’ plight for a reality television show. With John, Marjorie’s father, out of work for more than a year and medical bills looming, the family reluctantly agrees to be filmed—never imagining that The Possession would become an instant hit. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend.
Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie’s younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long-ago events from her childhood—she was just eight years old—painful memories and long-buried secrets that clash with the television broadcast and the Internet blogs begin to surface.
“The House on Foster Hill” by Jamie Jo Wright = Kaine Prescott is no stranger to death. When her husband died two years ago, her pleas for further investigation into his suspicious death fell on deaf ears. In desperate need of a fresh start, Kaine purchases an old house sight unseen in her grandfather’s Wisconsin hometown. But one look at the eerie, abandoned house immediately leaves her questioning her rash decision. And when the house’s dark history comes back with a vengeance, Kaine is forced to face the terrifying realization she has nowhere left to hide.
A century earlier, the house on Foster Hill holds nothing but painful memories for Ivy Thorpe. When an unidentified woman is found dead on the property, Ivy is compelled to discover her identity. Ivy’s search leads her into dangerous waters and, even as she works together with a man from her past, can she unravel the mystery before any other lives—including her own—are lost?
“The Haunting of Gillespie House” by Darcy Coates = Elle can’t believe her luck; she’s spending a month house-sitting the beautiful Gillespie property. Hidden near the edge of the woods and an hour’s drive from the nearest town, its dark rooms and rich furniture entice her to explore its secrets. There’s even a graveyard hidden behind the house, filled with tombstones that bear an identical year of death.
If only the scratching in the walls would be quiet…
The house’s dark and deadly history quickly becomes tangled with Elle’s life. At the center of it is Jonathan Gillespie, the tyrannical cult leader and original owner of the house. As Elle soon learns — just because he’s dead, doesn’t mean he’s gone.
“The Haunted” by Danielle Vega = Clean slate. That’s what Hendricks Becker-O’Malley’s parents said when they moved their family to the tiny town of Drearfield, New York. Hendricks wants to lay low and forget her dark, traumatic past. Forget him. But things don’t go as planned.
Hendricks learns from new friends at school that Steele House–the fixer upper her parents are so excited about–is notorious in town. Local legend says it’s haunted. But Hendricks isn’t sure if it’s the demons of her past haunting her …or of the present. Voices whisper in her ear as she lays in bed. Doors lock on their own. And, then, one night, things take a violent turn.
With help from the mysterious boy next door, Hendricks makes it her mission to take down the ghosts . . . if they don’t take her first.
I finished reading this book this morning. This book didn’t turn out to be what I thought it was, however, it still ended up being a good book. I especially liked the way it ended. It’s hard describing this novel without giving away too much and ruining it for someone else that wants to read it. Basically, you think this is about a haunted house but it ends up having some unusual and surprising guests that you will end up rooting for by the end of the book.
Synopsis: There’s an old stone house near Coal Hill School. Most people hurry past it. They’ve heard the stories. But, if you stop, and look up, you’ll see the face of a girl, pressed up against a window. Screaming.
Tanya finds herself drawn to the stone house. There’s a mystery there, and she’s going to solve it. But the more she investigates, the more she realizes that there’s a presence in the house. One that wants her.
Something is waiting for Tanya in the stone house. Something that has been trapping others in its web over the years. Something that is far worse than any ghost.
I finished reading this today. This was a little different than I thought it was going to be but it was still a good book. It’s perfect for reading when you want a spooky read, especially during a thunderstorm. There were a few times that a thunderstorm came along while I was reading this book and I thought it helped create the perfect atmosphere. I even finished reading this during a thunderstorm today. The book might seem a little slow in the beginning but it gets good once you get past the first few chapters.
Synopsis: While camping in a remote location, Maddie Davenport gathers around the fire with her friends and family to tell scary stories. Caleb, the handsome young guide, shares the local legend of the ferocious Mountain Men who hunt unsuspecting campers and leave their mark by carving grisly antlers into their victims’ foreheads.
The next day, the story comes true. Now Maddie and her family are lost in the deep woods — with no way out — being stalked by their worst nightmares. Because there were other, more horrifying stories told that night — and Maddie’s about to find out just how they end . . .
