The Invited
by Jennifer McMahon
A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter Peoplereturns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house--they build one . . .
In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds special materials to incorporate into the house--a beam from an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a farmhouse--objects that draw her deeper into the story of Hattie and her descendants, three generations of Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the building project progresses, the house will become a place of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted, that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward unimaginable danger.
Momma Says: 3 stars⭐⭐⭐
I went into this one expecting, and hoping, for a scary, send me hiding under the covers story. The beginning had me excited, but as we move to the present, I realized that while The Invited is eerie at times, it is not that scary tale I was looking for. It is well-written, and the author certainly knows how to create atmosphere in a story. The characters are interesting and we get what I would consider mystery light, but the most intriguing part of this one for me was the history of the land and what happened there. In the end, the book did hold my interest, but it lacked that oomph that I was hoping for. I think some will enjoy it more than others, and those looking for a horror story will be disappointed. As for me, the story was worth the read and left me somewhere in the fair to midland range.
I went into this one expecting, and hoping, for a scary, send me hiding under the covers story. The beginning had me excited, but as we move to the present, I realized that while The Invited is eerie at times, it is not that scary tale I was looking for. It is well-written, and the author certainly knows how to create atmosphere in a story. The characters are interesting and we get what I would consider mystery light, but the most intriguing part of this one for me was the history of the land and what happened there. In the end, the book did hold my interest, but it lacked that oomph that I was hoping for. I think some will enjoy it more than others, and those looking for a horror story will be disappointed. As for me, the story was worth the read and left me somewhere in the fair to midland range.
❃❃ARC provided by NetGalley and Doubleday Books
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