It’s difficult to believe that this is a debut novel because, really, it’s too good to be true. This novel was fast paced all the way through with the author giving away enough to keep you guessing – but never more than that.

Packed with horror among other things that will send chills running down your spine, Abigale Hall is everything it should be of its genre, plus a little more. There were times when I was clutching my Kindle close to me, screaming in anticipation, something that no novel has ever made me do before.

There are more mysteries for Eliza to unravel than that of Victoria’s ghost, Mr Brownawell’s wife-to-be before she met her untimely death. Rebecca, Eliza’s sister, is a mystery in herself, as well as the lingering question of what really brought Eliza and Rebecca to the haunted manor in the first place. And will Peter, Eliza’s sweetheart, ever make it to save the two girls?

Everything about Abigale Hall is well thought out, and if this is Forry’s debut novel, I can’t wait to see what else she churns out. Dripping with suspense right the way through, I would definitely recommend this to fans of horror/mystery stories.

Warning: if you’re going to delve into this novel, just remember, fairytale endings don’t exist.

** spoiler alert ** I struggled a little bit with this one, simply because I don't usually read horror and I didn't realize it was horror when I picked it up. However, I was impressed that the story was deliciously creepy and scary without any weird sex or disgustingly slimy and gross creatures climbing down people's throats. Thus I gave 4 instead of 3 stars.

The writing was fast-paced with not too many characters and plenty of scariness, propelling me through to the conclusion. I was never bored and just HAD to know how it ended. My biggest complaint is that it was so very negative the entire way through. I don't think one positive thing happened from beginning to end. I had to take a break halfway through and read something else (and go out into the sunshine and smile and stuff) to cleanse the palette, so to speak. Another book that did this to me was Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. Zero light, zero goodness, just continual negativity, violence, depression, madness, hostility and death, and without an ending that really makes up for all of the hell you went through to get there. It may have been redeemed for me if sweet and innocent Peter hadn't been kicked around so much throughout and then killed so violently by a 12-year-old girl. Just not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not my cup of tea. I found this book deeply disturbing,.

This book made it easy not to want to put down; you keep reading on because you want so badly to figure out what it going on! It provides an eerie and suspenseful setting - which I feel the author did a good job of scene-setting for the reader. Despite the dark set up of the book, it is actually quite tame and I feel like its a good Young Adult book. The story touches on the issues of mental illness, familial responsibilities, trust, remorse, and mental and physical violence. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Abigale Hall, by Lauren A Forry, 2016
A dark gothic mystery perfect for reading on a stormy night when the wild wind howls. Sisters Eliza and Rebecca, orphaned during WWII, find themselves farmed out to a huge crumbling estate owned by an elderly recluse and staffed with freakishly scary servants. The novel is told in the alternating voices of the elder sister Eliza and her boyfriend Peter, who is puzzled by their sudden disappearance.
Forry captures both the gothic setting and historical essence of post-war London. This is sure to appeal to fans who like their mysteries both chilling and gruesome.

3 stars to Lauren A. Forry's Abigale Hall, a mystery and suspense novel I received via NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you to both for this opportunity, as I enjoyed the book and have posted a review below.



Story
Rebecca, 12, and Eliza, 17, are orphaned sisters in 1940's London shortly after the end of WWII, their mother dying from the German Blitz and their father committing suicide after several issues post-war. The girls were awarded to their Aunt Bess, who could barely afford to keep herself above water due to a gambling problem. When she can't take it anymore, Bess sells them to an elderly man in Wales who needs help around his estate. Rebecca seems to suffer from some emotional problems and needs constant supervision, while Eliza was hoping for a proposal from Peter.
Eliza could live on her own, but won't let her sister be alone; and then they are both forced to leave without any notification to any friends.

When the sisters arrive, they are taken to Mrs. Pollard who runs the estate; however, both girls quickly learn they will be mistreated far worse than they had been by their Aunt Bess. Eliza begins to hear stories about several missing girls over the last 30 years -- who once worked at the estate -- but vanished under mysterious circumstances. As Eliza looks out for Rebecca, Rebecca begins to grow more sick and is eventually taken away by Mrs. Pollard to the hospital to get better. Eliza finally meets the master, Mr. Brownewell, who comes from a long line of very peculiar men; however, he seems to carry his own tarnish, as the townspeople suspect he killed his fiancee nearly 30 years ago when he thought she was looking at another man in the wrong way.

Eliza tries to keep things status quo as she searches for the answers, but soon discovers she cannot trust anyone. Eliza also begins to hear and see the ghost of Victoria, Mr. Brownewell's late fiancee, roaming the halls, claiming to have stolen all the missing girls. Meanwhile, Peter realizes that Eliza has been kidnapped and tries to find her, but many people -- all caught up in the macabre game being played -- stand in his way, nearly killing him a few times. When he finally finds Eliza, he steps right into a trap set by the villain behind the entire Gothic horror. But who is it? And who will survive...

Strengths
The characters are vivid and intense. And there aren't a tremendous amount of them, which certainly helps make it a good story. You've got Eliza and Rebecca who are the sisters dealing with the situation. Their Aunt Bess plays a role in the send off to Wales. Peter is chasing after Eliza. Peter's got 3 or 4 people he interacts with on his search. And in Abigale Hall, there are 3 or 4 characters who help run the estate. Plus the ghost or not-so-dead Victoria (you will have to read to find out)!



The estate, Thornecroft, is a beautiful setting but has a ruthless charm about it. Abigale Hall is one of the main rooms / areas, well described, but keeps you guessing whether it's a good or a bad place to be. The concept of ghosts is used intricately and constantly keeps readers wondering whether or not the characters are loopy or really seeing what they think they are seeing. It helps you stay focused and want to keep reading each chapter to figure it out.

Suggestions
I thought the book was a little longer than it needed to be. It wasn't repetitive, but at times it felt a little too drawn out. I assume it's to build the fear factor and the thrill of the chase; however, at times, you want to skim a few sections just to see how far the author was going to take each of the scenes. With a little more editing and focus on key word replacements, I think it could have really put the fear in a few more readers.

All of the characters were just mean. Maybe that's how it was in the 1940s after the war and in England, but I felt like I just wanted to smack several of them for the way they treated each other; and I'm not even counting the villains in the book. Even the ones who were friends or even just acquaintances felt like they had a bit of a nasty tone about them. It could be totally realistic, but it was a bit of a turn off for me.



Comparisons
At many points in the novel, I kept thinking about the direct comparison to Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca, and that's not considering both books have a main character named Rebecca. Both books have sprawling estates with a Gothic haunting ghost; Rebecca has Manderley and Abigale Hall has Plentynunig's Thornecroft. Both have a very menacing but possibly innocent caretaker. Let's see a rumble between Mrs. Pollard and Mrs. Danvers!



There are some interesting themes about shoes in this book that made me think of the Wizard of Oz witches... between Dorothy's shoes and the legs of the witch underneath the home that crashed into Oz, you can't help but see the comparison when one of the characters in Abigale Hall ends up with a head in the oven and nothing hanging out but a pair of legs.



Plus, both the sisters have trouble with their shoes the entire book. Was a little odd!



Not to mention Hansel and Gretel pushing the witch in the oven. So many re-appropriations of fairy tales could be seen.



Final Thoughts
I'm glad I read the book, and there were definitely parts full of horror the creepy factor. I was hoping for a bit more macabre, and the end certainly brings some intensity and major crazy... but it should have pushed the envelope a bit more to truly be a horror book. It's a good read, but I didn't think "wow, this is an awesome and scary book." I'd read another one by this author as the writing flowed well and created memorable characters. But give me something even more gruesome next time!

I really wanted to like Abigale Hall. It's not a genre I usually read and I'm always eager to try new things but this book really wasn't for me.

I found the first quarter of the book quite slow to progress. Clearly Rebecca has some form of learning disability though this is assumed and not confirmed. Eliza however was a character I just couldn't warm to and found the way she called Rebecca 'dearie' throughout the novel quite condescending.

As the story progresses, Eliza attempts to uncover Abigale Hall's secrets and to stop Rebecca descending into madness but I just found the whole story descending into a far fetched plot line which became a struggle to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse publishing for the chance to review.

I work in a middle school media center and trying to get kids to read for pleasure is our number one goal. Kids reach for fantasy followed closely by humor and scary. They are too quick to judge a book by its' cover or title and only expand their horizons if prompted by another kid. Fortunately, my 13 year old daughter read this after me and she was quick to tell me that it almost became her second favorite book (The Outsiders is number one followed closely by Animal Farm).

This will be added to our list of to buy books for next year when our budget drops. My daughter will be spreading the word. Although I won't recommend it for a class set, it could certainly hold up for a book assignment for a reading class. It has elements of a Edgar Allen Poe type Gothic atmosphere/setting and a bit of modern history thrown in. One of the characters, Mrs. Pollard, is quite the snot and reminds me of a female Scrooge (just terribly ugly and rude). But even as I hated her, I could not put the book down. The ending is very surprising and not at all what I expected.

I think that really there are three big problems I had with this book:

1. It drags on and on
2. It can't really decide what kind of book it wants to be
3. I don't like or care about literally any of the characters

This book could easily have cut out about a hundred pages, it definitely would have been much more compelling as a novella rather than a full length novel. I felt like nothing really happened except in the very beginning and then the last 60 or so pages when all the 'whys' were finally revealed. the middle of the book just seemed like Eliza wandering around the house and Peter wandering around in London and nothing actually important happening. I don't think we actually needed the chapters from Peter's POV at all, or at least not quite so many of them. I guess it's good to know that he is coming for her, but I felt like all the extra conspiracy and random London characters really took away from what was supposed to be the spooky mood at the house in Wales. Also I suppose it makes his death at the end have more impact, but I feel like basically the same thing could have been achieved with 3ish chapters spaced throughout the book.

Overall I just felt like the skipping back and forth made the book feel disjointed because Eliza's story at the house is very much a creepy house / ghost story kind of feel whereas Peter's story in London is more of a mystery / crime kind of thing. I would have preferred to have just picked a style / genre and stuck with it. And then towards the middle/end I was like 'ok maybe it is going to focus more heavily on the mental illness aspect of the book that could be interesting' but of course it never does. I mean Eliza and Rebecca both clearly have forms of OCD. And Rebecca and Mrs. Pollard also clearly have other mental instabilities and it would have been great if the book actually delt with that somehow rather than like 'crazy people are murderers and now we're going to lobotomize one of them'. Although I guess that attitude / outcome was authentic to the time period.

Overall I just found it very bland and the big reveal at the end did nothing to change that. Also I'm all for nuanced / not typically likable characters but you have to give me something to work with because if I hate or am ambivalent towards literally every person in your story I'm not really inclined to keep reading it.

The story is told during the World War II.We get to see the “old” London and the world during a quiet dark time. The existence of a scary haunted house in the middle of nowhere definitely spiced things up. Described in a beautiful way, you don’t just read the book - you live within it as long as your eyes remain on the pages.

Eliza was a great protagonist. Usually these types of books are more plot oriented and we go through the whole book without actually noticing what our character is made of, but not this one. There were moments when my only thought was: “DO I ACTUALLY LIKE ELIZA?? WHAT DARK SECRETS IS SHE HIDING??” And that is great! I honestly hate books that don’t make me feel anything towards the characters, unless they really have a strong plot to balance it out.

This tale was an interesting and scary one. I kept reading because of my morbid curiosity and I am a sucker for a romantic ending. I was curios about what was happening inside Abigail Hall. This book ended nothing like I expected; Lauren Forry caught me off guard with the ending. A truly well orchestrated tale, the twists are endless but they lend character to the book, nicely done.

With the horrors of the war behind them, Eliza is doing her best to protect her sister Rebecca. It’s not enough for Aunt Bess since she has decided that Eliza and Rebecca are to go to Thornecroft, somewhere in the Welsh countryside, to work as housemaids. No one knew what horrors awaited them within the halls of the long-haunted house and those who walk through its doors.

Within the pages of Abigail Hall, Forry weaves a story of people trying to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of World War II. Their struggles and the lengths some will go to survive are real. Around these struggles, she weaves a tale filled with ghosts of lost loves and madness. The gothic feel of this novel is eerie but the day to day struggles are gritty and realistic. The characters are fully defined and historical details well researched. Teens and adults alike who like their ghost stories filled with historical detail will enjoy this novel.

Once I got into this book I found it very hard to put down. It's an excellent quality read.

I received a free pre-publication copy of this book from NetGalley. Abigale Hall is an engaging page-turner. While ostensibly a Gothic romantic thriller, it manages to also be a commentary on the horrors of war. And while it starts out as a typical Gothic romance, towards the end...WHAM! POW! Nightmares for a week.

I didn't really care enough for the main characters to read this book thoroughly to the end, just skimmed and skipped to the end. Lots of strange things happening and couldn't really understand it.

Your book was spot on fantastic and standing ovation to you!!!! Wonderful and the ending was perfect!!!!

Did not finish. I found the little I read to be repetitive and lackluster.

Horror novel good for all ages without all the gore. I love books like this that have mystery