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.

http://www.jennsbookshelves.com/2019/05/15/review-the-invited-by-jennifer-mcmahon/

Jennifer McMahon is one of my “insta-buy” authors. The moment I hear of a new book, I add it to my must-read list. This may be one of my very favorites, for I do love a nice ghost story. This book is filled to the brim with all the things I love about a spooky read: isolated location, mysterious path, twisted family histories, haunted objects. You really can’t go wrong. With it, McMahon adds her trademark ability to spin a excellently crafted story. She excels at creating young female characters, particularly young girls, and that is once again proven with this most recent title.

This is the perfect book to curl up and read on a dark and rainy Spring afternoon. You’ll want to read it in one sitting, I guarantee it.

If you haven’t read McMahon’s books yet, what are you waiting for!? This is an excellent start, but definitely go back and catch up on her back-list.. Highly, highly recommended!

This author delivers a chilling story. Set among the forests of Vermont, what begins as new dream for the main couple in the story doesn’t exactly deliver in the way they expected. In fact, the story opens with a witch hanging and that sets the tone for creepy story. Helen and Nate needed a fresh start, Helen’s dad’s passing left them with extra money and they decided to leave their possessions behind and start a new life. They gave up their cushiony jobs to build their dream home on a piece of land that immediately drew Helen. What she didn’t realize is that the land was more than just speaking to her, it was coming for her.

Kindle: https://amzn.to/30cwPxY

McMahon sets up two stories, the backstories and the present story. Helen meets many interesting new people in her little town. My favorite is Olive, the rambunctious girl that will do anything to protect the ones she loves. She starts off very headstrong but as her story is revealed you realize she is desperately looking for answers to her mother’s disappearance.

This is more than just a ghost story. The Invited is a spellbinding mystery. There’s so much backstory and I don’t want to reveal too much but there is a rich history that is explored. The land that Helen is building on comes with a very interesting story that is put together so intricately. It’s tied to elements of Helen and Noah’s house building that keeps the story moving. I was enthralled with the layers that were being unwrapped and I could.not.stop.reading!

I have read and for the most part really enjoyed all of McMahon's books for adults. Any time that I hear of a new one hitting the shelves, I am always eager to get my hands on a copy! And I did like this one, though I don't think that I would count this as amongst my very favorites of hers to date. Told from multiple perspectives, this novel mainly alternates between Helen, a history teacher who along with her teacher husband, are taking a break to spend Helen's inheritance on building their dream home, and Olive, a fourteen year old girl who is their nearest neighbor and is still devastated by her mother's disappearance the year before.

Helen begins to be obsessed with the local legend of the witch who was hanged on their new property. Hattie is their town's scapegoat for all ills and Helen's dream house begins to turn more into what others would call a nightmare house as Helen tracks down more about Hattie herself and the local history. It's an interesting and rather unique concept for a novel. Though the events taking place in 1924 may give some readers pause at this large date. Plus, it seems like some of the research would have been even easier considering a starting point at less than 100 years old. Olive's storyline was a bit predictable, with some parts that really didn't have the full motivation that you would expect. But, I still enjoyed this and am, as always, looking forward to seeing what McMahon will follow this one up with!

Whilst it may look scary, this haunting novel was definitely on the tamer side of thrillers and simply more of an eerie read. I would definitely recommend it to any one craving a good ghost story mixed with witchy folklore & mystery set in the countryside.
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A couple in Vermont decide to buy a piece of property and little do they know that the land has a chilling and haunting past that the whole town knows about but them. I really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints of wife Helen and a young teenager named Olive that spies on their renovation progress. My favorite developments of the story contained the most atmospheric writing I had read in awhile. I could truly imagine the country and the gothic feel of the haunted bog.
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The Invited is my first read by the author and I’m very intrigued to read her much acclaimed novel The Winter People the next time I desire another spooky tale.

I'm a huge fan of a good ghost story, but man, this didn't work for me at all.

The best way I can describe this book is an easy read with a light mystery to it. That's it.
I see that some have categorized this as a horror book, even a thriller, and I can assure you- it is neither of those two.

I think that lack of intensity is what made this read flat line for me. The characters are portrayed as not the sharpest tools in the shed (at least that's my read) and as much as I tried, I just couldn't find anything to hang on to to make me care about how this all ends.

I applaud McMahon for writing outside her norm, but I hope her next book bounces back with some of that great suspense and intrigue that I've come to love.

ARC provided by NetGalley

The cover and the premise are both intriguing. Catching my attebtion immediately.

Not to mention the opening scene. I immediately wanted to know what happened to Hattie's daughter after she was hung.

Sadly, I've not made it past the first 10% of the book. Things slowed down considerably and haven't picked back up for me. I've read 4 other books in the span it has taken me to get to the 10% mark. Not a good sign.

If I can continuously put a book down, walk away, and read other books-completing them, then I know it's time to walk away.

Thank you for the opportunity to read but I'm calling this a DNF.

I thought this was a really solid ghost story! I don’t read these kind of books often, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one for sure. The plot was intriguing and I really enjoyed the ending. Not much else to say, but I do recommend this one!

The Queen of Creep does it again!!! Nobody does ghost stories better than Jennifer McMahon- nobody! The only reason I gave this one 4 stars instead of 5 is because I did feel some of it was a little bit drawn out through the middle. Having said that, I still loved it and will continue to devour everything she writes!

You know I love me a good ghost story! This one drew my attention via Net Galley and I read it a while ago. I couldn’t put it down and read it straight through to the end. I really liked the ending!

Thank you, Doubleday Books, for my e-copy via Net Galley!

The Invited doesn't break any new ground plot-wise, but it's so rich in atmosphere and character that it is absolutely worth checking out. I loved how layered even minor characters were--I never felt like they were placeholders or signposts. I loved how genuinely creepy this book gets, and I really loved the ending! I wish the cover wasn't so blah but otherwise it's a fantastic read.

A very atmospheric mystery, The Invited kept me turning pages from beginning to end. McMahon's characters are realistic and relatable and her descriptively haunting setting made it easy to understand her characters' startling descent into obsession. I wasn't quite sure where this story was leading at any point until the end. Recommended for lovers of the paranormal and mystery!

I had to suspend my disbelieve way too much with this one. Two school teachers just deciding to build a house with absolutely no help what-so-ever? That's just not doing it for me. Also the fact that this is labeled as horror is not correct. It brings to mind houses like Amityville and Kill Creek but it's nowhere near as sinister or terrifying.

Let’s start off by addressing the giant pink elephant which will make this book be a failure for many. As the blurb says, the story here is about a young couple who “abandon the comforts of suburbia and their teaching jobs 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.” What it doesn’t tell you is these two are literally building the house. Alone. Just the two of them. From watching You Tube videos . . . . . .

Seriously, this may be the most I ever had to suspend disbelief in my entire reading life. Not only is it completely unrealistic that a couple of schoolteachers (neither of whom taught some sort of VoTech subject) would be able to build a house – oh and dare I forget, not just a little shanty either, but a SALTBOX because that's the easiest design plan in the books! /sarcasm.

But I digress. The thing that really irked me was that part of the story wasn’t even necessary. The rest of the plot is about digging into the creepy history surrounding the family tree that sprouted from this plot of land a long, long time ago. However, all of the hinkyness of the past? It came in the form of either the goings on at the property itself or via discovered artifacts. Why couldn’t they just have remodeled an existing structure or had enough money to hire builders so I didn’t get my resting bitch face on every time they talked about framing and roofing and other completely unbelievable things that made me feel like stabbing someone??????

The second thing you need to know if you have this on your TBR is that despite this being marketed/shelved as horror this is NOT a horror. Sure, the premise automatically calls to mind other houses with dark pasts *cough Amity cough* from the recesses of one’s mind and there most definitely is a little bit of is everyone going crazy????? If so, how far will it go? But at the end of it all . . . . .

“First, we’ve got a witch ghost, now there’s a buried treasure? Is this Scooby fucking Doo?”

I assume this will be a mixed mag of reactions. I know I have one friend who was reading it at the same time I was and had to abandon ship because the house building was so absurd. I have no clue how I was able to ignore it, but somehow I did. I also knew right away this would end up being more of a paranormal mystery rather than a horror (which is my personal preference). It probably also helped that it rained for 172 days straight where I live either and I read this curled up basking in the gloom of both the weather and the story.

1 Star for the idiocy of the house building, 4 Stars for the page turnability = 3.5 Stars.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, NetGalley!

I love a good ghost story and I love a good witch story, so this seemed like it was right up my alley. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. It was a little too long and it just didn't wow me.

I enjoyed this atmospheric ghost/mystery story. It was my first read by McMahon and now I want to go back and read The Winter People. The twist didn’t surprise me too much, and that was okay. I was more invested in the characters and the outcome of the book. I’ve gone back and forth between 3 and 4 stars for this read, but ultimately it won me over with the different time/storylines and the excellent writing!
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
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A woman and her husband decide to build their dream home in the woods. The land they buy for it, however, comes with a tragic history, and they begin to wonder whether the ghosts of the past are happy to stay back there. Author Jennifer McMahon leads her readers on a meandering but ultimately satisfying journey in her latest novel The Invited.

Helen Wetherell loves history. She specializes in early American time periods and shares her passion with her students at an exclusive private school in Connecticut. It’s where she met her husband, Nate, in fact. Nate teaches science, and the two feel like they’re living their dream life together.

At least, that’s how Helen used to feel. After her father died, however, an unexplainable restlessness has settled inside her. The lesson plans she used to build no longer hold the same excitement, and life just doesn’t make sense anymore.

She discusses her feelings with Nate, and their conversation leads to a crazy thought: what if they leave their condo behind and go build their dream home? Actually build it, with their own hands? Although it seems far-fetched at first, the idea begins to take shape and feel more attainable the longer they research it and suitable plots. Helen thinks they’ve struck gold when they find a piece of land in Vermont; the small town of Hartsboro contains enough history to satisfy anyone attached to happenings in the past.

In Hartsboro, Olive Kissner wants nothing more than for her mom to come home. Even though gossip in town is rife that Lori Kissner ran off with another man, Olive still believes she’ll come back. She even has the perfect plan to convince her: Olive is going to find the treasure of the legendary Hattie Breckenridge, the woman rumored to be a witch at the turn of the century. People still speak about Hattie in hateful whispers, but Olive doesn’t believe any of the rumors and neither does her Aunt Riley. Of course, Aunt Riley doesn’t exactly believe in buried treasure either, but at least she thinks it’s okay for Olive to look for it.

Except now Helen and Nate have bought the land where Hattie’s home used to sit, and Olive doesn’t feel free to keep searching it anymore. What makes matters worse is that something—a sort of sixth sense—has begun pressuring Olive to step up the search for the famous treasure. When Olive, Helen, and Nate finally meet, Olive has to decide whether to tell the truth about why she’s poking around their land. If Hattie was real and the treasure was too, then it’s the only shot Olive has at bringing her mother home.

Author Jennifer McMahon takes her time to build the ghost story around Hattie and her connection to the modern-day residents of a small Vermont town. Readers may find it challenging to buy into the premise of Helen and Nate quitting their jobs and deciding to build an entire house with almost no outside help and no means of financial support beyond the first year after they’ve completed the home. The explanation that Helen grew up doing some construction work with her late father does provide credibility, but Nate comes off as overly optimistic and naïve about the entire venture.

While Helen, Nate, and Olive’s paths cross at a fair point in the story, readers may feel like they’re encountering two different versions of the same tale: one is about Helen and Olive’s discoveries about Hattie, and the other is about the home building process that Nate and Helen undertake. At some points these two sections of the book run parallel; they almost have nothing to do with one another for several pages. Helen and Nate’s bickering may annoy some readers and cause them to skim those pages, and some of the dialogue between Helen and Riley comes off as unrealistic.

When the main portion of the ghost story gains some steam, however, McMahon keeps the train moving along at a steady pace. Twists and turns will make readers nod with satisfaction, and a few red herrings provide a great deal of satisfaction. It just takes patience to get there, and some readers may choose to leave the book behind before they make it to the final stop. I recommend readers Borrow The Invited from the library.

The protagonist "invited" the ghosts - title was perfect. Lots of history here with the the main character wanting the ghost to save her descendants. Interesting.
Pretty descriptive setting in rural Vermont, isolated, and good characters. I loved Olive - the teen who is lost and wandering and very likable.
There is nothing scary here, just ghosts hanging around but nothing horror like. I liked that. The premise of the book is good - ghosts move into new buidling and the chaos that ensues while working on a mission - I didn't finish it fast, it held me, but I was never on the edge of my seat or needing to stay up late to what was next.

I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.

As a lover of spooky stories, even really scary stories, I would balk at building a scary house. But the builders of a house in the woods of Vermont were not afraid of that. Upon starting construction on their dream home strange things started happening. Nothing frightening, just strange. But that changes as the home continues to grow. Helen works very hard to make her home a perfect match to the images and her whims as she shops for all the right pieces to place in her house. Her husband, Nate, has different ideas, but allows his wife to make decisions until he starts to experience strange happenings.

The setting, the characters, and the mystery are well-defined, fit in perfectly with this tale. Ms. McMahon does a masterful job invoking chilling, supernatural events with down to earth mysterious happenings. Come see if you can solve the mystery and bring the supernatural events to an end. You will enjoy it.

To start, this was exceptionally well written. The characters are well developed and the scenes are vividly descriptive. I appreciated the alternating POVs and the truly creepy, suspenseful story line. The Invited is an enjoyable, addictive read - well done.