Great story of a family dealing with a haunting through the generations.

I'll be honest, this was a slow-burn start for me. At first, I had a tough time getting into the story and was a bit concerned about reviewing it. But when the story kicks in, it hooks you, and you are eager to take the journey along with the characters.

The story focuses on a mother and her two adult daughters living in the ancestral home, which is disturbingly haunted. The apparitions are almost stuck in a time loop and the family has to endure them repeating behaviors and going through motions over and over in every room of the house. Things get tricky as the pregnancy of one of the daughters is endangered and further complicated by adding in an abusive husband.

The book not only follows this family, but also goes back to a generation of slaves who also lived on the property, and we follow the fates of all as we see they are intertwined from beginning to end.

Wonderful sense of creepy dread throughout and it keeps you hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

I won't reveal any secrets, so you will have to read for yourself.

Interesting premise and I didn't mind Kaplan's writing style; I found that I couldn't get plugged into this story, though. Found my mind wandering quite a bit while reading this one.

Creepy and a bit weird but also engrossing. The author does a fine job of building suspense and having you afraid to look around each corner with the turn of a page. Horror fans will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan, and thanks to Crooked Lane Books also.
I really enjoyed this book, it was very different from the novels I normally read with the other world component of ghosts
Once I got into the book, it took me a few chapters only because it's not what i''m used to reading, and the story line I enjoyed this book, much different from books I usually read but that's why I love NetGalley so much variety and new books to try
This book is about two sisters, their mom and the haunted house they live in. Don't believe in ghosts? Let go of reality and read this...
The house is built right beside a swamp, and the house holds onto all memories that whoever lives or steps into this house can see. Samantha and Elizabeth are sisters, Elizabeth is married to Don and live in their own home, Samantha is a teacher and lives with her mother in a three story old run down home built in the 1800's. Elizabeth becomes pregnant and shows up one day no longer wanting to be with her husband, she moves back home with the intent of giving birth and raising her child in her family home.
Samantha narrates us through the novel and explains events that happen during her childhood interwoven with present day life.
Really a very good read. Allows you to think outside the box. Would love to read more by this author

Samantha and her mother live in a house that plays echoes of the past, more like memories than ghosts. When her pregnant sister comes to live with them, Sam starts seeing her future nephew as a child and young man, torturing animals and other children from past echoes, and terrorizing Sam herself. She realizes it is somehow tied to the locked room in the house that no one ever enters. This is really outside what I would normally read, but it was good for a horror story. It took some time to get into it, but the ending was a bit of a punch in the gut. 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this classic Gothic horror story about a haunted house passed down by generations to the Wakefield family. It reminded me a lot of the Netflix series Haunting of Hill House. It was creepy and perfect reading for a rainy afternoon. The writing was a little much for me at first - it was so flowery and old-fashioned that I thought when I started reading it was set in a different time period - but I got used to it quickly. Don’t read this if you’re looking for a happy or uplifting ending!

It Will Just Be Us By Jo Kaplan was an enjoyable read with plenty of twists and turns i wasn't expecting. When I first read the synopsis i had no idea what mysteries were to come. All of which were tied up in a lovely neat bow.

It was a strong 4 star read.

This has a great mix of creepy atmosphere, ghost stories, and the impending doom of motherhood. I especially enjoyed the relationship between the sisters. I would suggest this book to my students who enjoy ghost stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan. I love Gothic novels and this is one of the best!

Sam moves back home to live with her mother, Agnes, after being mugged at gunpoint. Home is a creepy mansion, full of ghosts, spirits and memories. She begins seeing a mysterious faceless boy, who is full of disturbing mischief when her pregnant sister, Elizabeth, returns home as well. Her husband, Donovan, has been violent with her and she must leave to protect her unborn child. Who is this boy and why is he so violent? How is he connected to the one locked room in the mansion? Sam must unravel the mystery before it is too late.

Wow. This book blew me away! I am a huge fan of Gothic literature and It Will Just Be Us should be considered among the classics. It was that good! It reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The biggest character in this story is the house, as typical in great gothic horror. It has a hold on the characters, preventing them from leaving by physically making them ill. The setting is creepy and unsettling and haunts this story in all of its swampy imagery. Kaplan expertly weaves between the present story and the tale of the past. And that ending! I cannot recommend this book more to fans of the Gothic genre.

5/5 stars

I'm a sucker for a ghost story, and sometimes they're good, while other times, not as much. I thoroughly enjoyed this. The "creep factor" was strong (loved the atmospheric tension), I remained interested, and it was just genuinely spooky.

I felt at times that it was a bit drawn out, but the positives outweighed the negatives here and it was great entertainment while stuck in the house!

It Will Be Just Us is the story of Samantha Wakefield, a young woman who returns to her childhood home after being violently mugged. The house is a crumbling mansion on the edge of a Virginia swamp currently occupied by her constantly imbibing mother who shares the space with the ghosts of generations of Wakefields. Sam has always had the gift to see the ghosts who haunt the house and surrounding swampland playing out memories of the past as if no time has elapsed.

When Sam’s sister Elizabeth returns home very pregnant seeking solace after having left her husband, the energy of the house begins to shift, and Sam is haunted by a new figure wandering the halls- one that she believes is a malevolent manifestation of the future and not from the past.

Locked doors, impossible spaces, and a swamp witch all contribute to the dizzying fever pitch of this well written novel. Kaplan elevates the haunted house genre and gives readers a perfectly creepy family drama that had me hooked from the opening pages and that horror fans will really enjoy. This is a book that needs to be read with the lights on!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review - thank you NetGalley.

I enjoyed this book a lot.
It did have a very unique take on a classic ''haunted house'' story, and it was intriguing and interesting pretty much from the beginning. I do wish the book had been scarier and I must admit that it was a bit predictable.
But in the end, the book was a good read, and especially the ending was hard to put down.
It is recommendable for anyone looking for a original horror book.
I would give the book a big 3½ star, but since it isn't possible, I will go with 4.

You've got your shape-shifting house, crazy dead relatives, dead ghosts, live ghosts, future ghosts, ex-slave ghosts and a swamp witch — you get a ghost and you get a ghost and, well, it’s tiresome. Silly, confusing layers of interacting time periods, an unreliable narrator, a distracting backstory — disappointing.

Solid four star read. Great atmospheric ghost story with a slow and building sense of dread.

When I started the book I felt the narrator was a little too formal, and the story a bit too gothic for my tastes. I love Shirley Jackson and Richard Matheson, but usually when contemporary authors try to match their tone it falls flat for me (with a few exceptions, like John Saul). I am also not much into historical or period piece ghost stories.

This book, though, has its own authentic voice and a great premise: a faceless “ghost” of a child who has not yet been born. Though it started somewhat slow and formal, I came to really like the narrator and could really visualize the house. Stick with it until part three, when things really get cracking. Though well written and very scary, it got a little busy with ghosts and history and ancestral drama for me, but if that’s your thing, this author writes it really well.

I could not figure out how this novel could possibly end - if you know for certain an evil child is about to come into the world, what would you do? The ending is not something you will predict, but it is great.

Thanks to NetGalley, Jo Kaplan and Crooked Lane Books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Completely out of my realm by reading a horror story, this novel captivated me and had me sh*ting my pants as I continued to read! If you like the series on Netflix "the Haunting of Hill House" this is definitely the book for you. Creatively written, keeping you guessing and terrified, all the while the writing style was magnificent in describing each scene, event and disturbing detail. Well done and thank you for never letting me close the lights at night anymore! haha

Thanks NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a pretty good read, focused on Sam(antha), who has moved back to her childhood home, a crumbling mansion in rural Virginia. Her pregnant sister, Elizabeth, shows up after a fight with her husband, drawing even more ghosts into Sam's world than she already knew. This is a true ghost story where you do have to suspend your disbelief, but it is very well done.

On the good side, I liked the premise and the setting, and felt there was an overall creepiness throughout the story. The end was super dark, which I always appreciate. I liked the descriptions of the rooms in the mansion though I would have been happy for even more descriptive passages about what it looked like there.

On the less good side, I felt like I didn't really understand what went so bad in Elizabeth's marriage that sent her rushing back home, and it was never really described until the book made it clear that Don was a bad guy. Secondly, the prose was beautiful but sometimes didn't sound like the way people would really talk, which threw me off a bit and made it a slow read, particularly in the first third of the book.

Overall, this was a fun ghost story and I think it's worth a read for those who like this genre. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for this arc.


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Two sisters and their mom living in their very old ancestral mansion by the edge of a swamp and get this, there’s ghosts but unlike your typical ghost who shows up to kill you and makes your life a living hell, the ghost in this house plays memories of the past. This book is hair-raising, spine-chilling, and unpredictable. It is not your typical ghost story, the first part may be a little slow but it kept me curious and scared.

Kaplan’s new novel is a well written work of art that captures American gothic to a tee whilst she gives a nod to Shirley Jackson’s work, most notably The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived In A Castle with a bit of the Remington House thrown in for good measure.

The plot is a riveting bit of fiction that captures the mood and setting. Kaplan masterfully puts together a tale that you are not quite sure what is real and what part of the narrator’s imagination is. At times, the mystery involved sometimes starts to take over but Kaplan knows exactly when to pull back and juggle her many plots into a cohesive history lesson without taking her fingers off the pulse. This is an incredibly hard task to pull off and Kaplan does this winningly.

The characters are all very well drawn and even though this is told in the first person. Due to the fact that the main character is very insightful, the other characters Agnes, Elizabeth and Donovan are still fully realised. This is a great deal of thought brought into each of the characters and the way that they are drawn out is very masterfully done. This is a real work of art.

Overall, this is magnificence piece of literature that by passes most horror novels out there currently. The book is excellently written and is a credit to the genre for which it belongs. Exceptional prose, fantastic character development with an ending that has a profound approach on the reader which they will be entranced until the very last word. This is a must read for people who like their gothic horror intelligent, thought provoking and haunting. This is a sure fire winner.

Spooky and nail biting. This story stayed with me long after I finished reading it.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

So....I really ended up liking this book, but it was one that REALLY ebbed and flowed... It would pick up and be very suspenseful and exciting, and then just as quickly peter out and kind of drag along. It was not so severe, however, that it ever put me off from continuing to read. One of my favorite things about this book is that the author has such a beautiful way with words. The word that popped into my mind often was "prose", which just somehow sounds more eloquent than "writing" or "style", in this sense. I don't usually read stories about ghosts, witches, haunted houses, domestic violence, or any of those sort of things, but I was glad I requested this book. (And even happier that I truly enjoyed it!!) The whole Winchester-type house on the edge of a swamp setting was intriguing from the beginning, and I liked that the main characters were all AWARE that the house was haunted, instead of having them spend half the book wondering if their eyes and mind were betraying them. It's just a very DIFFERENT story, but one that I enjoyed immensely. I will look for future titles by Jo Kaplan. 10/10 would recommend.