Great book!! It kept me entertained the whole time! Great mix of suspense and creepy!!

Corinne and her boyfriend have been trying to have a baby for some time, to live up to the gorgeous family her sister Ashley has. After the death of their father, Corinne is surprised when pieces of a doll house he made for them start appearing. As more pieces start to arrive and as Ashley starts to have her own doubts about family life, suspicions are building about who can be trusted.

The Doll House is one of those books that tries to make everybody untrustworthy, and for me personally, it didn't work. There were too many pieces laid out that seemed weird or suspicious or just off, and the reveal ended up being what I'd predicted all along. I liked the characters, I thought they were fleshed out well enough for me to care what was happening to them, and I liked the way the writing style made me keep reading, even if it was just to see if I was right.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book by any means, but it just wasn't my cup of tea as I felt it was too predictable for my tastes. If you like mystery thrillers, I wouldn't advise you against reading this, as I've read plenty of reviews where people did really enjoy every aspect of this book, it just wasn't for me.

"The house surrounds us. I feel like it’s watching me."
This book isn’t really about a dollhouse. Nor is it about creepy dolls. It’s about family secrets and I love those almost as much as creepy dolls so I was good with that. Unfortunately, I guessed the biggest secret way too early and you probably will too.

Sisters Corrine and Ashley are being watched/stalked/terrorized by a third person without their knowledge. Corrine starts to catch on when someone begins leaving pieces of her old childhood dollhouse where she can find them. Everyone else thinks she’s starting to go a little mad. She’s always been a little jumpy, anxiety ridden and seen faces in windows that have spooked her. Recently, she’s been desperately trying to have a child through IVF and this is the conclusion her friends and family jump to – bunch of jerks. Ashley, the sister, has her hands full with a secretive husband who is spending far too much time at work, a baby who won’t stop screaming and who won’t sleep, a teen headed for trouble and mouth-breather phone calls. I felt for poor Ashley. Had I been in her position I might’ve got behind the wheel and just kept on driving . . .

The heart of this story rests on its day to day family dramas so if you’re not into all of that you may find things a little slow going. I have to admit that I found it a struggle at times and too slow moving and I typically love this sort of thing. This is not a fast paced thriller, by any means. The stressful atmosphere is almost claustrophobic and there’s an underlying sense of dread but discovering that I was right about the “why” behind the big secret with still many pages left, took a lot of the thrill away for me. I was oh-so-wrong about the who though and I enjoyed that tasty little surprise.

This is a nice debut but it wasn’t quite compelling enough to grab and hold my attention, nor did I ever get fully emotionally invested in the characters. I’m giving it a three for those reasons.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early read of his book in exchange for an honest review....... Even though this book was rather slow at first, I really enjoyed it. It was very chilling and creepy in places and was definitely a page-turner. Even though the circumstances were pretty predictable straight away, the person behind it all was a surprise. And that ending?!? Very unsettling but soo good!! A must read!

Absolutely loved this book, the writing, storyline, everything basically results in this cracking read. Definitely recommend *****

I tried picking this book up a few times, but wow - boring. I was bored until about 25% at which point I was disgusted. I don't enjoy reading about dead animals, real or fictional. And the author mentioned this same animal over and over and over. I get the connection, but there was no need for it to be in the book. It didn't add anything. Neither did the dead pigeon. I hate that and I was so close to dnfing because of this. But anyway, the story eventually picked up. It was suspenseful. I had to find out who was stalking Corinne and her sister, Ashley. And then it kind of fell apart for me at the end. So the middle part was fun but overall it's not going to be a memorable book for me.

oh my goodness... this book! so good!! great characters with an ending you won't see coming. i love the way it was written and got so caught up in this story, not knowing what was going to happen next. i will be looking out for more by this author

The story is told from three perspectives - Corinne, Ashley and a third unknown person. You see Corinne and Ashley go about their daily lives with both characters struggling at the moment just in different ways. The sections that are told from the third perspective are brilliantly creepy and help to set up this undercurrent of tension that runs throughout the book. The transition from one character to another was pretty smooth and worked really well. You get a real sense of what each character is experiencing and feeling.

As a little girl I used to play with dolls however there was always a certain aspect to them that as I got older I found a little freaky. Especially the realistic life like dolls that appeared to follow you around the room with their eyes. Okay please tell me I'm not the only one to think that? Anyway bearing that in mind I instantly found the whole doll house part of the plot pretty creepy. What is great about this story is that the characters are flawed and actually have a realistic edge to them. Now The Doll House isn't necessarily a fast paced story but I found the slow build up helped to create a tension filled atmosphere.

The Doll House really has a wonderfully creepy vibe that had me on edge more than once. It all combined to make a intriguing, tension filled story.

Four stars from me.

With thanks to HQ Digital & Netgalley for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Corinne is desperate to have a baby with her journalist husband Domenic undergoing several rounds of IVF. Items from her childhood make random appearances in mysterious ways. She is unsure whether someone is deliberately targeting her, it is hormonal due to the IVF treatment or she is having some sort of breakdown.
Ashley is her sister with three children – an infant, a moody teenager and a husband who may be having an affair. She gives Corinne money to fund more fertility treatment unaware her husband is having cash flow problems at work. Ashley feels her life cant get much worse after their teenage daughter is found lying in the street and brought home by the police and she finds out why her husband is not his usual self.
Both sisters seem to have issues tying back to their childhood. On the surface, they appear to have had a happy childhood but something doesn’t seem right about them. I found it a bit odd she gave her sister all that cash without discussing it with her husband then gets upset when he tells her they have money troubles.
Each chapter rotates between Corinne, Ashley and a small child giving you an idea of each characters personality and history. If you are clever, you will work out which adult the young child has grown up to be! I felt almost gleeful when my strongest suspicions turned out to be correct. I also loved how the doll house was an important part of the story.
A book with so many people full of guilt manages to be stunning, creepy, amazing, breathtaking and an absolute star of a read. My advice is read the book and don’t worry about reading my review of this great debut psychological thriller with a twist novel.
It was a pleasure to provide a review and thanks to the publisher for a digital copy of the book via Netgalley.

According to NetGalley, I downloaded the eARC of this book at the end of August. A lot of stuff was happening in my real life and I ended forgetting about it. I was in between library trips and needed a book for this week's review so I finally gave this a read.

I did not like Corinne. She was way too much. Too dramatic, neurotic, and, weepy. Most of all, too useless. She was not a provocative character. She got freaked out a lot and cried and then called her boyfriend. Even before the weird creepy shit started to happen, she was quick to fly off her rocker with no provocation. I much preferred to read about Ashley's life. It was far more layered, complex and, frankly, realistic. The trouble with her kids, her husband, her money, along with the weird creepy shit? Nice. I got really annoyed reading through Corinne's POV after a while.

I couldn't believe Erin, the person behind all the creepy stuff, had an evil villain monologue. You know in kid's cartoons where the bad guy almost has the hero but spends, like, 10 minutes giving away his plan? She did that and it was a little cliche for me. Her motivation was logical in a kind of a completely psychotic way. But how did Corinne and Dominic not notice Erin moving into the same building as them?

The ending was so underwhelming. It was more of Corinne being useless. I would have loved an ending where she jumped over the desk and beat June to death, pregnant belly and all. She had the balls to push Erin in front of a train, why not this? It would've been totally in character too! Corinne's so neurotic that that fear could have easily turned into homicidal rage. But whatever, that's how the book ended.

I wouldn't recommend this book. A bulk of it was too annoying to read and the ending was boring and unfulfilling.

Creepy and delicious and kept me guessing until the very end. A terrific debut from this author and I can't wait for the next one.

The Doll House is a nice, slow psychological thriller. The main characters are two sisters, Corinne and Ashley.

Corinne is a mess, she is undergoing IVF treatments and the hormones are really taking a toll on her. So much so, that at first when she finds a piece of an old doll house in her home, she takes it as a sign that she is going to have a baby.

Ashley is the opposite of Corinne. A mother of three, with a seemingly perfect life. However, her husband is always working and she is having issues with her children.

As more pieces of the doll house show up and strange things begin happening both Corinne and Ashley are starting to worry about what is going on. The story is told through both Corinne and Ashley and another unknown character who is behind some the strange happenings.

I enjoyed this one, and stayed up late reading. Not super suspenseful, but a nice slow build.

I received an ARC of this book.

I remember reading a book about a creepy doll’s house as a child, and instantly becoming uneasy of the huge Sindy house looming in the corner of my bedroom. That memory has lasted. and to this day, the idea of Doll Houses make me shudder a little. So, i really loved the idea behind Phoebe Morgan’s chilling debut. Yes, this was full of twists and turns and impending unease, but what I really liked was how well drawn the character’s were, with complexities, hopes and flaws that made them and their actions completely believable. And the ending was jawdroppingly good

Looking for a suspenseful thriller to keep you on your toes? This one was about a doll house that the main characters father made them when they were little. Corinne's mom doesn't know what happened to it and everywhere Corinne turns a piece from the house keeps turning up out of no where. Corinne is stressed with trying to become pregnant and when she finds these miniature doll house toys she thinks someone is in the apartment. Her boyfriend seems to think it is just the stress of trying to get pregnant until stuff really starts to get strange. I found the story was a little slow moving until we get to the end and it really picks up. The author breaks the story up by changing characters each chapter. Also throughout the story we read about a character and her mother back then. We don't know who they are or why they are even in the book until everything comes together at the end. The story unfolds quickly and then everything makes sense.

I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed it but I don't think I would read it again.

I enjoyed this well written psychological thriller. It has a tense plot with lots of intrigue. Excellent character development. There was a sense of menace throughout the book which made the story compelling but chilling and very creepy.

So many twists and turns, just when you think you have worked out the ending, there is another twist. I didn't guess who was the culprit!

Great plot with a totally unexpected ending. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

As far as thrillers go, The Doll House was just okay. Unfortunately for me, the description was better than the actual story. The book starts off strong. Corinne and her boyfriend Dom, a journalist, are visiting an old house that Dom's been asked to write a feature about for his paper. Corinne has an eerie feeling about this place....and did she just see something in the window??? Honestly, I was hooked! I was expecting chilling, haunting maybe even some paranormal thrown in for good measure....but nope, the house was barely part of the plot. I think that was unfortunate because a lot could've been done with that house to make the story scarier or more suspenseful.

Instead we learn about two siblings who have recently lost their father, a famous architect, to Cancer. Through the midst of grief, one sibling is facing the emotional challenges of trying to get pregnant while the other is suspicious of her husband's increased absence from home of late while she struggles to parent her 3 children.. Strange things start to happen to each of the sisters - pieces of their childhood dollhouse mysteriously show up, silent phone calls and more.

The story is told from the alternating POV of the two sisters with some chapters seen through the eyes of Dom. There are also bits told by an unknown character - the reader is intentionally kept in the dark about this person and their role in the plot. The writing was good and made for easy reading BUT it lacked depth and suspense. I'm all for a great slow burn but there still has to be some bombs dropped along the way....moments when the reader is shocked and says "wow didn't see that coming!" The Doll House lacked those moments. I guessed the ending about half way through when I figured out (quite easily) who the mysterious character was. Even the very ending was a letdown. The plot itself was quite slow with not much happening along the way. It was hard to maintain full interest as the story progressed although I did finish the book without trouble. I can recommend this book only as a quick and easy read - not bad but not great.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and publisher for an honest review.

Received this book as an ARC from Netgalley

Debut book from Phoebe Morgan - enjoyed her style of writing and would read more from this author

Good Psychological thriller with a reasonably tense ending

Characters were ok - Corinne was a little frustrating as she was unwilling to burden those close to her with the strange things happening around her

I would recommend as a nice easy enjoyable read if these type of books float your boat

Enjoy

Enjoyed this book, and very gripping. It took me a while to get into this book but I couldn't put it down once it got going
Lots of things I liked, a few I didn't, but the story is strong. Just when I started to have doubts, it delivered one of the strongest endings of anything I've read lately!

Delightfully creepy, but ultimately predictable and lacking that thrill factor.

This book is a real page turner. Such a great debut for Phoebe Morgan! I am looking forward to reading more of her work in the future for sure.

This book is one of those when you enjoy ‘the process’ more than ‘the result’. Suspense is really there and keeps you hooked until the end. The ending has been a bit disappointing for me. But I won’t say why not to spoil it for you.

‘The Doll House’ shows perfectly an emotional rollercoaster Corinne is in, because of her personal loss and grieving for her father, but also due to failed attempts to have a baby. She is so edgy and realistically sensitive but by the end it gets a bit tiring.

It is quite a sad story, to be honest. It’s about grief and loss, about difficulties of life and family support, about children and parents. It’s about reality as sometimes it isn’t as it seems and people are not always who we think they are.