“Beatrix straightened and, to his astonishment, laughed. ‘Oh my. You don’t like it when a woman dares defy you, do you?’”

A fake medium who... might not be a fraud after all? Beatrix Greene is just trying to make ends meet as an independent young woman in Victorian England.

James busts fake mediums, and has been trying to get an audience with Beatrix. When he finally meets her, he offers her 200 pounds to spend a night at Ashbury Manor, famous site of gruesome murders, and tell him if it’s haunted or not.

An odd crew goes to spend the night in the manor determined to find out what actually happened that night 20 years ago...

A quick read, this paranormal gothic horror is relatively simple but intriguing! I flew through it and overall enjoyed it.

I really liked this book! I love Rachel Hawkins and was so excited to read another one of hers. This is haunted house, meets badass heroine, with elements of magic thrown in. What is not to like?

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of The Haunting of Beatrix Greene by Rachel Hawkins, Ash Parsons, and Vicky Alvear Shecter from Serial Box via NetGalley.

Don't let the picture fool you, I got the full story not just Episode 1. Each "episode" is written by one of the three authors. It is always impressive when you have multiple authors and yet they manage to write a really cohesive piece. I can't imagine how much work goes into that. But that's not the real reason you are reading this. Let's get to the good stuff.

I love a haunted house book. Always have. Throw in a medium, a skeptic, and a seance...I'm in spooky reading heaven. But wait, there's more! Literal manifestations of toxic masculinity! Bad ass women to the rescue. The moral of the story: if a ghost tells you not to go somewhere, you should listen.

Bonus points for cameos by Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. Sure, you never mention Houdini, but I saw what you did there.

The Haunting of Beatrix Greene is a story about spiritualism, power, and family legacy. Beatrix Greene is a renowned spiritualist, James Walker, a scientist determined to disprove the supernatural. Both of them carry secrets: Beatrix is actually a fraud, and James's childhood home is haunted. When Beatrix agrees to come and perform a seance at Ashbury Manor, both Beatrix and James find their secrets exposed and get a lot more than what they bargained for. A malevolent force stalks the halls of Ashbury Manor, and it is determined to claim James at any cost. Beatrix and James must come together in order to survive and escape this house of horrors before they become a part of its bloody legacy.
The Haunting of Beatrix Greene took me by surprise with how very good it was. Written in episodes, each chapter builds upon the next with spookiness and excitement, and is written in a compulsively readable way that will make you want to binge read this book like you do with your favorite shows. I really liked Beatrix and James and their enemies to lovers dynamic. I was fascinated by how the authors bring the spiritualist movement of the nineteenth century to life and learning more about the lore that haunts Ashbury Manor. The Haunting of Beatrix Greene is a story about the ghosts that haunt us from our past, and the power that comes in letting them go.

Haunted house horror? Sign me up! Add a dash of gothic romance, loving friendship, dark history and I'm happy. I really enjoyed this book in that it doesn't try to be too clever. It's an old-fashioned ghost story featuring a fraudulent medium and a man searching for spirits in an old manor. Beatrix is a great character. I liked that she is independent but not too prideful to ask for help. There's no miscommunications that is usually evident in these kind of stories - everyone basically comes clean when it matters. I was surprised by how gory the book gets at times but it adds to the suspense.

I'm not usually a fan of romance in my horror and here it moves pretty fast between Beatrix and James. But I thought the book makes it clear that it's mostly a physical relationship so I found it believable. Even if there might be something more later. I really liked Beatrix's friendship with Harry too. I did find the storyline predictable and the solution too neat. The spiritual aspect about energy and power also could have been explored further. But it didn't bother me too much. This book is written by three authors and yet it feels seamless. Give this a try if you love ghost stories!

I know a lot of people really loved this book, and they should’ve have. It’s written well and the plot itself is great. Personally I didn’t get a ton of enjoyment out of it, but I think that’s more on me than the author.


Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

A fun little gothic surprise! Spooky Victorian haunted houses and dubiously fraudulent spiritualists do tickle my fancy and I had a good time with both here. It's a nice quick read - I finished it in one sitting - and neatly self-contained, with the majority of the story taking place in one location over the course of a single night. The plot moved along at a good clip and I enjoyed the build of tension and horror, I thought it was well done (bear in mind I am a big sook who scares terribly easily). Where it fell a little flat for me was in the themes and intersecting character arcs - for Beatrix the night is about learning to stop hiding and embrace herself, while for James it is about confronting the (in this case literal) evil manifestations of inherited / inherent power. I never felt as though these two arcs intersected in a particularly meaningful or complementary way past the surface interaction as described in the summary of "she's helping him out with this" and the fact that they had a romantic subplot. It also felt somewhat odd in the second half of the book when the narrative was focused on James' arc, the horror was sourced from James' childhood, and Beatrix wound up feeling like a secondary character in her own narrative. Still, I don't want to knock this too hard: two main characters with established journeys is a good accomplishment in itself, and I'm a big sucker for romance so I enjoyed that aspect of it freely. This was a fun, quick read and I had a good time with it, thank you to Serial Box and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars. This had lots of elements going for it: the Victorian setting, the main character supporting herself fraudulently as a medium, conning grieving people into thinking she could commune with their dead loved ones, a gentleman with lurid family secrets and a super creepy manor house, seances, ghosts, terrible things happening in the dark past…and lots of that great gothic atmosphere I love!
I did see the influences of other narratives quite clearly at different points in this story, and wished they’d been just a wee bit more subtly used, and wished also that the biracial Harry had been put to better use within this story, instead of being absent for much of the action. Though, with the way the story ended, I hold out hope that I may see him again, and for the possibility of more adventures for Beatrix.

Thank you to Netgalley and Serialbox for this ARC.

This book kept me enthralled. The suspense was perfect for reading late into the night.
Many thanks to Serial Box and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Very enjoyable story, kept me completely entertained throughout. Looking forward to the next episodes.

I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was just ok for me. I really tried to get into it. Something just didn’t click for me. I’ll try and read it again at a later date.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I love paranormal books and this one is one of my favorites. I loved how Beatrix started off the book as a fraud. Definitely a different approach to start a paranormal book. The author does a great job describing the instant attraction of James and Beatrix from the get go. It was entertaining to see how their relationship and feelings grew for each other as the book progressed. I loved the mystery and was constantly training to guess what would happen next! This is a perfect read for a cold night in front of the fireplace!

My Six Things Review
The Haunting of Beatrix Greene
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Quick summary: read this one! It’s an engaging, quick read that’s spooky and fun!
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Three Things I Liked
- loved the spooky atmosphere, majority of the book takes place in a haunted house
- LOVE that this was a collab between three authors, they switch chapters which is so fun and you really can’t even tell
- it looks like this is Episode 1 which means there might be more coming?! I’d love it!
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Three Other Things..
- I wanted to know more about the other characters! I felt this was very centered around two of them and there were four others I wanted to know more
- the romance in the book was eh, I get why it’s in there but it was not my thing (personal opinion!!))
- to go along with my point above, I think it could have been a lot longer! BUT, it does Ep 1 in the title so many be more is to come?

This book was a fun, quick, and spooky read. It's perfect for Halloween, and I'm so happy I read it around that time. Beatrix, a fake medium who, unbeknownst to her, can actually communicate with the dead, was a great main character. She is fiercely independent even in a time where women didn't have many freedoms. The love interest, James, is also a really great character with a sad and intricate background. The atmosphere in general was wonderfully spooky, and just as I would expect from these authors, the writing was beautiful. 3.5/5 stars.

A good but not great read. This story was pleasantly spooky with a solid air of mystery and paranormal to it. Some weird moments between the characters really prevented this from being better though. I was on board for a paranormal mystery but there ended up being too much emphasis on romance at odd times for me. The story is building up a suspenseful moment and then suddenly James and Beatrix are lost in each others eyes. The romance wasn't doing much for me, the story feels a little too rushed for my taste, and there are plot devices that are just never explained, like how James can identify who has real powers and who doesn't.
Not a bad read overall, but could've been better if it had focused a little better and slowed down in terms of pacing.
Thanks to netgalley for a chance to read and review this book!

Beatrix Greene is a medium who is much in demand due to her being able to read the bereaved customers who seek her out looking for solace and comfort. When James Walker offers her a lucrative job if she will spend one night in Ashbury Manor, she accepts against her better judgement. Along with her friend Harry, an actor and ne’er do well who often assists her in seances, an American photographer, one of Walkers’ childhood friends and James himself, they gather at the infamous home. Beatrix finds that her abilities are not as fake as she believed and something in the house is awakened and not all of the group will make it out alive.
I have seen this book heavily advertised and there are rave reviews but it missed the mark for me. I felt the haunting was glossed over and there was no chemistry between Beatrix and James so the “ romance” was awkward and did not add to the story. Also two people so drawn to each other just said ok see ya! after their ordeal?
It is written by three authors and some versions say Episode One which may account for the short length.
If you like gothic settings, ghost stories, haunting or possession you may enjoy this. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the free ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really really really wanted to love this. I was looking for a good ghost story to curl up with.

It was too short and too fast.

Everything moved at lightning pace that gave me whiplash during each sentence.

I think I would prefer the podcast version and I am excited to see what the authors do next but this wasn’t for me

Overall this was a good book. Mediums and haunted houses in Victorian London? Sign me up! If you liked Simone St James’s The Other Side of Midnight, some of this book will sound familiar. Beatrix works as a medium in Victorian London but she’s a fake. She can’t speak to ghosts and tells herself the comfort she brings their aching relatives is worth her deceit. The first part of the book depicts Beatrix’s life as a medium and a night out listening to a talk by James Walker, a scientist notorious for discrediting fake mediums. James offers her a high-paying job to prove whether Ashbury Manor is haunted, and Beatrix jumps at the chance for financial solvency even though it’s a huge risk (you know since she’s a fraud).

Beatrix travels to Ashbury Manor and in the process of helping James heal old wounds, awakens her true spiritual gifts. It’s at this point the story began to fall apart for me: Beatrix unleashes her romantic feelings for James as well as ghostly horrors no one would ever expect. The love affair aspects from this point on felt extraneous and like filler. The horrific bits felt more and more fantastical as James and Beatrix raced against the house’s unrest to make it out alive. Clearly, there’s going to be a sequel and the ending set it up well, so the book redeemed itself (no spoilers!). I liked how Beatrix stayed true to herself; she was truly a strong woman!

There were a few inconsistencies I hope get resolved in final editing (e.g., pocket watch chimes midnight, then a chapter or so later Beatrix exclaims, “It must be past midnight!”), and I’m not quite sure what the “Season 1, Episode x” titles of every chapter were about.

If you enjoyed Mexican Gothic, this is a book for you. If you like a bit of romance in your horror, you may like this one also!

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley to review. It releases on January 7, 2021.

I did enough this, though I was hoping for more. I felt like it could have dove deeper in some scenes

I can not get enough ghost stories, add a haunted house? I’m sold! I was so excited to read this one. But.. it fell short for me. The romance was a great addition to the story, but I feel like it was written in later as an after thought. There were moments where it was describing the house, or something spooky, then it was suddenly talking about how James couldn’t take his eyes off of Bea and vice versa. The haunting itself was a little confusing. It started off great! I was hooked on page one, but about halfway through it got sketchy. This story has a lot of potential, and I’ll definitely look for more horror books by this author to see if the next one has improvements.