The House in the Hills did not quite grab me although I gave it multiple chances. I felt it a little slow for my taste. I really dug the setting of the book and the mansion, etc. But I really just could not connect with the characters or the plot too much.

The whole thing needs a drastic edit. It feels like the author is trying to write in a style that they think will appeal to teenagers and misses the mark. The characters themselves are just as immature as the writing style. The plot itself is an incredibly slow burn, with all the usual tropes of a haunted house story but with no conclusion. The House in the Hills definitely did not deliver for me.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I love haunted house books and movies, and the premise of this book definitely sounded like something I would watch if it was a movie. Bright young couple Marc and Harmony moving into their first house – a gorgeous house in the Hollywood Hills, a prime piece of real estate…for an astoundingly cheap price.

However, this book sat on my Kindle for months on end until one Saturday morning at the hairdressers when I selected it at random.

Given the premise – anyone with half a brain would (or should) be saying what’s the catch? To be fair at first the wife, Harmony at least ponders that very question – why is it so cheap? However, her husband persuades her this is her dream house and a great opportunity for them. At first I quite liked Harmony as a character.

I can’t remember what the husband did for a living - she ran a popular food blog and was passionate about it. She seemed rather sensible and together. If a bit high strung and quick to judge. One of the first things we learn is there’s a guest house on the property. And comes with a tenant – a bubbly bright hot young actress. Who immediately rubs Harmony the wrong way by making a joke about promising not to sleep with her husband.

As the couple settle into the house and new routines before long Harmony is experiencing creepy feelings and strange things happening, all of which Marc tells her is her imagination. Arguments become more frequent. And Harmony finally learns the truth about what really happened in the house and why the price was so cheap. By this point my liking of the characters had dwindled to wanting to smack them. Harmony was bossy, snobby and wooden. The arguments were repetitive and the “spooky experiences” were just stupid.

The book was poorly written, and the characters became increasingly annoying. There were some parts that were just jaw droppingly ridiculous. The idea had potential, but the execution was just bad. Unimpressed with this one. Just didn’t like it at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and Reverberator Books/Weapenry Co-Op for approving my request to the view the title.

After reading the synopsis of this book, I really felt like it had a ton of potential. Then I started reading it, and it’s like it went on forever. There was a spot probably about ten pages just describing one room of this house. That went on for pretty much every room and I found myself wanting to skim through all of the rest of the rooms.

The story itself was pretty interesting. I liked that we didn’t know much about the house until couple moved in. And the backstory of the house was phenomenal, there was really so much potential to make this book one of my absolute favorites. I really enjoy horror stories, But this one just wasn’t cutting it for me. I never really found myself scared while reading it but I was creeped out quite a few times.

The characters were pretty good, I really enjoyed the couple that moved into this house and also the tenant that lived in the little side house. I like seeing the characters interactions, I thought they were really spelled out for you. I actually wish there was a bit more of backstory on the couple and the tenant.

Overall I would say this book wasn’t my cup of tea, but I would absolutely recommend it if you are into architecture. There were so many times where I could visualize this gorgeous house in the hills and felt like if I knew more about architecture I would appreciate the details more. I would also recommend this if you are just starting out with horror it seems like a good start to reading the genre.

If something is too good to be true, then it generally is - something Marc and Harmony should’ve thought about a bit more carefully. They move into a stunning house in the Hollywood Hills and find more than they bargained for! I loved the idea and the cover was enticing but couldn’t get past the repetitiveness, same phrases, statements which are pretty much said two or three times and the endless details and descriptions of things that don’t really matter, but I did like the final chapter.

The book cover looks promising, the synopsis looks promising but when you start to dive in, everything looks wrong....

"Good read for those who loves horror"
Because I can sense the "horror- Ness" at the beginning and when you go for more, you can see the ugliness...

the "plot twist" is so "mindblown" that you wanna put down the book already. the ghost part? let's just say you won't find this kind at any other books.

I just hope that this author will never ever repeated the same mistakes again. I feel like I'm reading an essay not a novel.

When harmony and Marc believe they found their dream home for such a great price they immediately buy it. You as a reader start asking why was it so cheap and what secrets is it hiding. This book was not for me where to begin ... spelling errors wrong words like due and do. The writing style was just awful and some of the way the characters talk is horrible. Harmony is a very unlikeable character controlling her husband. The plot just dragged and I was frustrated. Still trying to find a decent horror book yet!

The House in the Hills suffers from the same affliction as many other books in its genre - bad writing. I honestly do not know why so many mystery/thrillers seem to have been written by people who have little to no understanding about sentence formation, and maybe my standards are too high or something, but time and time again I keep find myself in the position of not even being able to get through even a page before my eyes begin to bleed. And this? This one is one of the worst I have ever attempted to read. No wonder it's got one of the lowest ratings of all the books on my to-be read shelf. Jesus Christ.

Not the usually book I read but made a nice change. Horror and set in haunted house. Lots of views of stories in the book made it hard to follow at timea. Good read but nor My usually genre

Harmony and Marc are the *it* couple, both attractive and successful, now all they need to do is buy the house to match. When Marc finds a beautiful mid-century house in Hollywood hills, going for far less than the market price – he just has to have it!

It’s the *it* couple status of Harmony and Marc that makes them both so unbearable. I’m not sure that’s what the author intended as they made a point of saying how nice the characters were, but their actions said something very different – they’re both awful to each other and obsessed with appearances and possessions. The writing itself goes off on a tangent sometimes (when describing the architecture of the house in particular) and could do with being a bit tighter.

The haunted house element of this house is predictable and relies heavily on traditional tropes, it’s light on the gore so I would recommend it for readers looking for softer horror or those dipping their toe into the genre.

This is an fairly entertaining haunted house story set in the Hollywood hills. It is a quick read but, unfortunately, not very original and it is rather predictable. Not a bad book but not very memorable either. Sorry.

The house stood out but it didn’t brag. It stood back from the street and wowed passersby with its unintentional difference but didn’t necessarily invite them in. While not standoffish it didn’t really care one way or another if you liked it or not.

This novel wasn’t what I expected. The house of Marc and Harmony’s dream is more nightmare than fairytale. From the beginning it doesn’t bode well, it’s cheap for a reason but once Harmony is cajoled by Marc to give the home a chance, she is wooed by the beauty within, such as the perfect kitchen that fits the needs of her life as a food blogger. Like most folks, if an ‘amazing’ house is super cheap you know there is a catch, either an infestation of rodents, insects or ghosts! All joking aside, this house has inhabitants of the paranormal sort. Marc admits, maybe just maybe it’s cheap because… someone died. But hey, people truly do die every day and we have to die somewhere right? But what if the ‘death’ wasn’t some natural passing from old age or illness in bed but possibly domestic in nature?

Oh and did he mention, the guest house on the property comes with a tenant? Just what a young couple needs! A pretty young actress, Darcy Flynn. Upon meeting them, she eyes Marc and asks “Who’s this tall drink of water?” But don’t worry, she promises Harmony she won’t sleep with him. Really, very big of her!

Don’t feel too bad, our Harmony has her shameful guilty secrets too. Things begin to happen, Harmony starts hearing and then seeing apparitions, and questions her sanity? Marc thinks it’s just her nerves, in that patronizing way of his, shrugs her off. Of course, maybe there is even more to the ‘domestic’ story than he lets on. Strange in this day and age Harmony didn’t look into the house from the start. But she starts to piece things together and Marc just has that ‘hey ok, maybe I didn’t tell you everything’ attitude.

The character who gives the novel some life is her elderly neighbor Josephine, another southerner like Harmony (who hails from Tennessee). Two peas in a pod! Josephine is a self-described big mouth and far more interesting than the young and beautiful characters that should be center of the novel. She is more interesting than the ghosts too, in fact I wish the story was all Josephine. Why are people always trying to shut little old folks up when they are trying to give us all the dirt on our evil homes? Seriously, let them talk- you might just learn something!

Marc, half the time you just want to throttle him. Everything is a secret with him, no harm done right? Guilt by omission doesn’t count, right? Lawdy lawdy! What if it could cost you your life?

I think for me I have read really horrifying stories that are hard to compare to. I got to the point where I didn’t care if they were in danger or not. Marc and Harmony were equally screwed up and self-centered, their marriage was more terrifying a prospect than any earthbound souls tormenting them. It’s a fast read, again Josephine is salvation for a story that would have otherwise remained flat. It was okay but not as haunting as I wanted.

Available now

Reverberator Books

This one got an okay from me.

At heart, it's a basic haunted house story with shades (very light shades) of The Shining.

I liked the female half of our couple and hated the male half. (Could he be anymore manipulative?) I also loved an older neighbor - she was a kick! Salty as all get out.

The house is ultra cool - I could see why our couple wanted to live there. The only issue was that I was left, in the end, both unsurprised and a little confused. I felt like there were some unanswered questions. I also felt like the end came way too quickly.

All in all, though, it's a decent story and I'm definitely interested in what else the author may bring us in the future.

I hate being negative about a book I've been given the privilege to read but sometimes it can't be helped, At the beginning The house in the hills started off quite promising, a young married couple Marc and Harmony find their dream house at a bargain price and move in and then find out the house has been the back drop for tragedy and murder. Sounds okay so far but the writing is clunky, the characters aren't that likable and it all seemed rushed, The writing didn't flow and the ending was awful, so much so that I thought some of it was missing as it ended so quickly. Sorry but this one really missed the mark.

I read a lot of horror novels and The House in the Hills had the potential to be great. Harmony and Marc find their dream home in the hills of LA. Mid-century furniture, a beautiful kitchen and a pool area to die for. ...

Now...here's the thing. Harmony and Marc are a relatively young couple. Harmony doesn't seem to leave her house much, focusing on her blogging career and enjoying the house. Harmony has a bad dream that leads to her FINALLY Googling her the house - and finding out all the secrets. Murder, suicide, MASS MURDER, SATAN! SO GOOD - so much potential but...pffffffftttttt. The story kind of putters out.

The writing felt...young. There were weird language issues. The most annoying was "hey girl." "girl." etc. I understand trying to show hidden tensions and pain points between a couple, but SEVERAL PAGES about the same argument are too much. In the end, too much Harmony and Marc fighting, not enough Josephine, Edith and Darcy. :)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this boo

Another book that will keep me up tonight! The House in the Hills by Rowan Hanlon. I am devouring thrillers this year. I read a list of scary books recently and I think I have read them all over this past year or so. I’m sorely missing Ann Rule’s true crime books, if you haven’t read her stuff, go and get your hands on them NOW. The quote that truth is stranger than fiction is certainly true.

Let’s look at this scary book! Here’s what you need to know before starting:



A young couple is surprised to find out their ultra cool mid-century modern Hollywood Hills dream house has a past steeped in blood and debauchery. But when the house starts exhibiting paranormal activity, they realize they’ve truly gotten more than they bargained for.

The House in the Hills is a novel about how the house of your dreams can sometimes turn into a nightmare.

The House Always Wins…

I love mid-century modern, I’ve been to the Hollywood Hills, I enjoy looking at homes and paranormal activity scares me. This is basically a recipe for a thrilling story!

Overall I liked this book. I wish it would've had more to it in a way. It seemed like it got me hooked with its basic storyline, then it ends. This is definitely an author I'd like to read more of though.

Review: THE HOUSE IN THE HILLS by Rowan Hanlon

I think almost every reader can relate to the joy and terror of finding one's dream home: joy when first seeing the house with which you fall in love; terror that it's not available, or you can't afford it, or any number of other reasons preventing you from living in your Dream. Harmony and Marc experience this joy and terror extensively in this novel, Harmony more so than Marc. This young couple from Tennessee moved to L.A. so Marc could practice his ambition in real estate and Harmony could attend culinary school and become a chef, hopefully eventually opening her own restaurant.

Synchronistically, Marc learns of a beautiful, "perfect," residence in the Hollywood Hills, and persuades Harmony it's affordable. So they buy it and move in. Unfortunately, there's information about the property Marc hasn't shared with Harmony (just as Harmony keeps her secrets close), and these unexposed secrets are tragic.

Plenty of paranormal events and good characterization keep the novel's pace hopping. It was a one-sitting read for me.

Oof. This was rough. The premise was really intriguing: a couple buys a charming home that they get for an amazing price due to a past domestic dispute that resulted in the previous homeowners dying. Harmony, being the more superstitious half of the couple, is a bit wary of the prospect, but her handsome, successful realtor husband Marc wears her down and they buy the home. Ghosty shenanigans ensue.

Unfortunately, the author doesn't deliver on the promise of the haunted house thriller. Most of the novel reads like a bad episode of House Hunters; there's more detail about the home itself than about its history or even the horror. Then there's the fact that Harmony and Marc are a horrible, horrible couple. They're mismatched, they lie to each other, they fight constantly then immediately make up (usually with Harmony mooning over what a lucky woman she is to have a handsome husband)...It's just bad. The writing itself is also very, very rough around the edges. The timelines don't match up from one paragraph to the next, there are lots of typos and misused expressions, and I think just cutting down on Harmony's repetitive narrative could have shortened the book by a third, it was that prevalent.

All in all, I didn't hate this book. The pace was quick and it was an easy read with enough suspense to keep me mostly interested, but the immature, unfocused writing style and the incredibly rushed ending kept this from being anything more than a quick, completely forgettable popcorn read.

I have zero experience with horror in books. I've read some good ones (labeled horror) that I found just like thrillers without the happy ending. I've never felt any real horror reading...not like watching horror movies.

This book doesn't even really feel like a thriller, it's very slow and the pace is what usually makes a story "thrilling."

I would've loved to watch the two of them plot a murder plot against each other - their marriage was simply toxic.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.