This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

A book about witches, spooky stories, and a house in the woods. Perfect premise for any story at Halloween... right? Artemis was a kind witch.. well until one day she was with her friend Aris out in the woods and there they found a very spooky old house. What could go wrong with going inside.....everything. There was lots of crumbling and creaking noises throughout but they had to see it. While in there Aris became trapped and Artemis ran away while the house crumbled. As years past and time went on Artemis thought about that day a lot. One day as her luck would have it Artemis was back in her hometown and back in front of the house that she thought was gone for good. I was enthralled in this book and since I love stories with a slash of different elements in it this was perfect. This author was able to keep my attention Throughout as this is an amazing story.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

To those who loves a retelling, specially a Hansel and Gretel's one, this is a masterpiece.

“Once upon a time there was a witch. A kind witch."

When Artemis was younger, she and her friend, Aris, used to love spooking stories. The ones that would linger in your mind even after it's finished. The ones you'd keep the words to pass on a couple of times. But back then, Aris was always who would tell and Artemis listen, then she went to her grandpa so she could learn one to surprise her friend for a change.

That's when she found out about the witch that lived in a crumbling house in the woods, a story she promised never tell anyone (but she ended up doing anyway). And that's also when everything started going wrong.

"Once upon a time there was a witch. A kind witch. But that didn't matter."

Nine years have passed since the incident in the woods and Artemis is forced back in town with her boyfriend, Link, to move to the same house Aris used to live. She's not totally okay with that, but she sees it as a way to confront the past and finally leave it behind. Though what happens is quite the contrary.

Artemis, who refuses to search for professional help again, starts seeing things, something like half-asleep, half-awake hallucinations of scorched skeletons and burnt tree/human hybrid bodies coming after her. Calling her to go back to the woods. A thing she hasn't done since Aris disappeared.

In addition to all that, a handsome Greek boss is quite interested in the incident of nine years ago and isn't quite subtle about that. Shockingly, he's the only one who achieves talking Artemis into going to therapy.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Artemis and Link is going from bad to worse and none of them seems willing to do something about it. Even with her sometimes recalling the times they were perfectly fine, it's hard to buy it since the communication between them is kinda of non-existent and annoying. Artemis is clearly still traumatized and haunted by the past that circles around the house and Link gives her so much space that seems like he doesn't really acknowledge that the place is a nightmare for her.

"Once upon a time there was a witch. A kind witch. But that didn't matter. The people were afraid. And fear often turns to hatred."

At the same time this book is mysterious and a definitely page-turner, it is also sensitive and touching. We can observe Artemis struggling everyday against the fear and the trauma she was exposed to when younger. She wants to come back being "normal" but don't know how to accept someone's help since almost everyone who heard the real version of the incident thinks she's crazy. Artemis tries to be resigned with her mediocre comfort zone with her boyfriend but deep down she knows that is not what she really wants for her life. She blames herself for what happened to Aris and that keeps her in a "don't let it go" cycle which is painful to read and made me feel some strong empathy for her.

And though her new psychologist, Torrence, was kinda crazy with her advise, to face the fears and go after a closure were the two things Artemis really needed to start living again.

About the thrilling and exciting part of the book, I'm honestly glad to have pick it up. Ruin's writing is so incredible, catchy and amazing that even though I couldn't put the book down I caught myself holding on to the sentences so it wouldn't end too soon. It makes your heart race and hurt at the same time. 100% recommended!!

I would like to thank the Netgalley website and The Narcissistic Rose Publishing for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted by the cover of this book, you see it as an abandoned house in the middle of a forest.

We find there Artemis, a nice witch but people are still afraid of her or even hate her. When she was thirteen years old her best friend Aris was swallowed up by a ruined house. She left him there without doing anything. Since then she has moved to forget everything except that when she returns to her old neighbourhood she is haunted by guilt, ghosts and dreams of a charred figure. To save her life, she was sent back to the woods where her best friend's disappearance took place. Nine years later the house is still intact.

I loved this book with such a captivating, moving story filled with suspense and twists and turns with engaging characters.

I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. This was a spooky atmospheric read and I fully enjoyed it. We have a scary house with a witch and a love lost. Artemis moves back into her old home and it is bringing up both good and bad memories. Her love was lost in the woods in an old house and no one could find it. She starts seeing him show back up in the woods so she has to go back and save him and confront her fears. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was surprised at how good it was. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. This was a bit disappointing.

I was initially quite excited to read this one. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me overall. I didn't get into it as much as I wanted to.

House of Falling Embers was exactly what I needed to get out of my book rut. It was such a great, fast paced read and I was at the edge of my seat needing more and more.

It is enjoyable and the build up to the ultimate mystery reveal is slow, intense and intriguing enough to make you keep reading ahead. I loved the twists and the characters are well written. The final chapter is a bit rushed but it didn't spoil my enjoyment at all.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book for free in return for a review based on my honest opinion.

This was the first book I have read by this author and it will surely not be my last. This was a good old fashioned ghost story, a witch, a mysterious house, everlasting love, what more could I have asked for, I loved it! I was immediately hooked and then I was worried that it would be more horror than ghost story, but it was perfect. I devoured this book over two days, if I didn’t have to go to work, it would have been faster, As I read, I was narrating the story to my hubby; by the time I got to reading the last few chapters, he was sitting in front of me waiting for me to finish them so I could tell him what happened. Cannot wait to read more by this author.

I so wanted to love this one but it just simply fell flat for me. I wanted a cool witch story and the witch wasn't even that big a part of the story. It was mainly about Artemis who lost her best friend/boyfriend when the house swallowed itself and nobody believed her. Now she has moved back with her boyfriend Liam who has them moving into his parents old home which actually use to belong to Aris and his family, so lots of long buried memories surface and she starts seeing strange things.

I think this might be New Adult as I believe the MC is like 22 but it felt like more a YA with all her ansty relationship problems with Liam which is what most of the story was about, that and her staring at the woods in the back where Aris disappeared. 

It just bored me and then when the ending happened it felt a little rushed and unbelievable so I just really didn't like it much.

Witches and curses, mysterious beings and a long lost love...a perfect read for this time of year. The supernatural quirky twists are creepily written with enough scares to make me want to keep reading. I loved this story!

I find this novel interesting and I must admit I wasn’t expecting a lot from the story when I started reading. I was even surprised by how much I like it. It turned out to be pretty impressive. A perfect spooky read for Halloween. Not that scary but there’s a lingering eeriness that’s palpable all throughout. The tension buildup was done nicely and we immediately wonder what really happened with Aris and what Artemis got to do with it.

Told in Artemis’ perspective, she is okay as the main character, but I feel like she’s lacking. I get that she’s been in a trauma and it’s a lot to deal with, but I was also hoping that she’ll step up and be the strong lead she’s meant to be. Instead, for the most part, she’s tiring. I actually find the side characters more interesting. Like Fenton, Artemis’ boss and who shows a lot of interest on what really happened to her and Aris nine years ago. What’s more curious is how he easily believes about the house in the woods. Then, there’s Aris. His fascination with the witch’s house led to his disappearance. His body wasn’t found which gives hope to Artemis especially after seeing him on her dreams.

I like the idea of what could be a myth about a witch’s house in the middle of the forest turned out to be real. The aspect of which it only appears at certain times is quite fascinating. It’s just a bit disappointing that the witch story wasn’t explored as much as I like to. That would be a great addition, for sure. There’s also some twist that’s bound to surprise the readers and some that are predictable. The ending was not what I expected, but I was actually looking forward to a sinister ending. Nevertheless, it is a good one. Overall, it was an enjoyable read which I think younger readers will enjoy since it reads like a YA fiction. There are enough mystery and tension to keep you intrigued until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review, "House of Falling Embers" by Krystal Jane Ruin. Honestly, I loved the whole idea for this book but the execution of it felt like it just fell short of expectations.

"House of Falling Embers" is a book that really stood out to me, not only because of the beautiful cover, but also because of the description. It just sounded so different and interesting, that I couldn't pass up reading it next. At just over 350 pages, this book is a smooth and easy read, and I loved every single page. 

When Artemis was a young girl, she had a boyfriend named Aris. She was really into scary stories, especially one that her grandfather told her. It was about a witch who was just trying to keep people out of her house. Instead, however, she ended up locking herself in, along with anyone who happened to come inside. As children, they thought nothing of the story, until they stumbled upon the house one day in the woods. And that's the day everything changed.

Artemis, devastated after Aris goes missing, tries very hard to move on after the incident. She moves away from the town, she gets a new job, a new boyfriend, and a new house. But she's forever haunted by what actually happened that night, even as an adult. But she knows in her heart that he still has to be out there somewhere.

This book is amazing, and I really think it's one of my new favourites, and I want to read more by the author in the future. I didn't expect to love it this much, but the characters are just so real, battling all kinds of demons and handling everything really well. The world they live in is pretty much exactly like our own, only with better opportunities. Artemis is plagued by something she tries hard not to remember, but it begins to tear apart her day to day life. After her new boyfriend Link, moves them back into Aris's old house, it becomes something she can't ignore.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

-- I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this opportunity! --

For the longest time, I could not find my way into this story. The characters are quite shallow and the story takes a long time to get going and make sense. I was very frustrated by the way the main character, Artemis, and her boyfriend interacted and did not, and clearly had not, ever, really talked to each other. It has turned out to be a bit of a pet peeve of mine when it comes to relationships in novels, so I might be overly critical of that aspect.

Once the story actually did make sense, I loved the concept of the witches house in the middle of the forest, only showing up under certain circumstances. I feel like the concept had a lot of potential, but that the execution was still lacking. I wish the author the best of luck with her future career, and hope she grows as a storyteller!

This is the kind of story that's perfect for the Halloween season. It has this eeriness that makes you want to keep reading this book.
Once you start you can't stop and when you finish it you keep remembering this story !

I was expecting more out of this book - the description sounded promising making it seem like this was going to be a really good witch/ghost tale.  I just wouldn't describe it as such.

House of Falling Embers is about a girl named Artemis, who lost her boyfriend, Aris, when she was 13.  This happens whole searching for the witch’s house from a story Artemis' grandpa told her.  On this one day Artemis and Aris come across a house that matches the description in the story and Aris gets trapped inside.  Artemis moves away in an attempt to "move on" but ends up moving back to the town nine years later when her boyfriend want’s to move back into his old house which used to be Aris' old house.  From here Artemis starts being "baited" to return to the woods and find the house again.

In my opinion, the book lagged a bit; I felt it took Artemis far too long to go into the woods, let alone search for the house.  For me, Artemis was also a bit annoying at times.  In general, the idea behind this book was great, it just fell a bit flat to me.

I absolutely could not put this book down. A word of warning, don't read this book at night while sitting next to a window where all sorts of creepy sounds can send you shooting upright because you're so immersed in the book. Actually, do read it that way. It makes it so much better when your heart is pounding in actual fear because you feel like you've been dumped right into the middle of the woods with Artemis and Aris.

House of Falling Embers sucked me in from page 1. It's like Monster House and Bridge to Terabithia got married and had a book of their own. It was creepy, nostalgic, and romantic all rolled into one fantastic bundle. Since I live in Tennessee, it was extra fun to read a book based on a landscape that I know so well. The descriptions were accurately outlined, all the way down to the types of animals you might hear in the woods just outside my door.

Artemis's character was the only one we truly get perspective of, but that worked out to the betterment of the book. While reading, I found myself constantly in a toss-up of debating whether Artemis had already gone crazy or if magic was real. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out the ending well before I'm halfway through a book, but House of Falling Embers kept me wondering all the way up to the very end. I had my suspicions, but there was still some doubt. The remaining characters played their roles well, each one having a specific purpose within the pages, and we learn just enough about them to care about their well being. But Artemis remains the primary focus as she searches for some resolution about Aris.

House of Falling Embers uses memories to give you a lot of the backstory, and you'll spend some time going between past and present before everything finally lines up and anchors itself in the present. This is also something that I did not mind since each change brought out more of Aris's story. Since the conflict revolves around Aris, any memory that gave information on where we might go next was gobbled up with excitement.

The plot moved rapidly. Sometimes it was faster than I liked, skipping over sections and sometimes an entire day which almost made me feel that I was missing something. But the action that soon followed easily made me forget about the missing moments. There was probably nothing happening during those times anyway. It would have been mentioned if it was important, I just occasionally enjoy minute, droll details.

All in all, this was a great book, and I would happily recommend it for anyone who enjoys mystery, magic, romance...or any combination thereof. While there is what I would consider mild profanity - maybe a dozen or so words throughout the book - it was not enough to take away from the storyline. The romance is downplayed to the point of barely being evident, which is appropriate considering the emotional toil Artemis was under. House of Falling Embers was more about finding a lost love than it was a big display of romanticism.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, however, I was not required to write a review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.