Wow! I could not put this book down! The book went back and forth between the present and the past. This was a good way to write this book since it kept you guessing about what you thought would happen in the present part. There were a lot of twists and turns in this book keeping me interested until the very end.

Night for the easily scared! This is a fantastic read and probably my favorite one by this author (I’ve read all her previous books) but boy did this scare me. I kept my dogs close, doors looked and lights on at all times for several days after finishing this one. So good! Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This is my first book by this author and let me say it won’t be my last. I loved how you got the past and the present perspective and kept my attention from beginning to the very end. Such a good book and highly recommended.

Monsters are real, they live among us, but what happens when we discover there’s a monster inside each of us? Do we really ever know anyone, do we really know ourselves? I really enjoyed this deep look inside of oneself, of the monster and the secrets we all hide. A great nod to Mary Shelley.

Book: The Children On The Hill
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pub Date: April 26, 2022

Let me start this review by saying I love Jennifer McMahon. Winter People will always be one of my absolute favorite books. This book is told from two time periods - what happened in 1978 and what is happening now. I loved the plot and thought the storyline was very unique. It has a jaw dropping twist that you won’t expect that makes reading the book worth it. That said….ahhh the ending fell flat to me. I was so disappointed with the ending. I expected so much more than what I got. This book is suspenseful, twisty, and has a horror like feel and then you get to the end and your left wanting something else. The book is still definitely worth reading I just wanted more at the end.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for allowing me this sneak peek! Publication date is April 26, 2022.

Be prepared to be scared out of your mind! I slept with my lights on for a week after reading this book! Completely terrifying!

I made the mistake of reading it into the night and could not get to sleep. I suffered insomnia for several nights and found myself checking my doors and windows were locked several times each night

When I took the dog out in the evening I would stay underneath the outside light and run to lock the door when I went back inside.

If you enjoy being scared and seek a thriller this is your book. Enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for granting me a copy of this book in exchange my honest review.

Would make for an excellent movie!

Highly recomend.

I really enjoyed this book and liked the twist towards the end that I did not see coming. I did feel the ending was a bit weak and after the building up of the rest of the novel, it did feel like the story was resolved too quickly. Overall, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading other works by Jennifer McMahon.

Wow this was sooo gooooood!! A great thriller with so many twists it had me at the first page!! I'm still processing that ending.... wow just wow! The characters are great, the story line is fascinating, the twists so explosive, you'll get whiplash! =)
Highly recommend!

This is absurdly creepy and twisted and I LOVED it. I’ve read so many thrillers lately that actually read more like drama/suspense but not this one. It has all the chilling thriller vibes a girl could want. Cozy up with this in bed (after checking your doors are locked) because you won’t be able to put it down once you start.

A haunting, suspenseful, creepy page turner. This book discusses Violet with two alternating story lines from 1978 to 2019. In 1978, as a tween, she talks about her brother, Eric, he is obsessed with monsters. Also her grandmother, owns a Inn, in Vermont, who is a psychiatrist. One summer, the grandmother brings home a girl, to be a sister to Violet. Violet enjoys having a sister and teachers Iris all about monsters. She and Eric invite Iris to join their monster club. Then in 2019, Lizzy, host a podcast, monsters among us, travel to Vermont, discovers a young girl in Vermont was abducted. Lizzy believes monsters are real, it is her sister Iris.

📖: The Children on the Hill
✍🏼: Jennifer McMahon
💁🏻‍♀️: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️// 5
🗓: April 26, 2022

🤔💭: First off, thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press Books for my eARC of this book and I am voluntarily leaving my review! This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I really enjoyed this one so much. This one kept me very intrigued and I like the suspenseful elements with a little bit of horror thrown into the mix. In this book, we alternate between the time periods of 1978 and 2019 and really see how these storylines interconnect. In the 70s storyline, we learn of Dr. Helen Hildreth who is acclaimed for her work with the mentally ill. At her renowned treatment center in Vermont, Helen’s grandchildren Vi and Eric live there, and one day she brings another child, Iris, home to stay with the family. Iris doesn’t behave like a normal girl and it takes quite a while to get acclimated. In our 2019 timeframe, we meet Liz Shelley, who is the host of a popular podcast, Monsters Among Us. A young girl has been abducted, so Liz travels to Vermont to try and uncover what has happened and in the process stumbles upon some very interesting things that link this incident to her past. I really enjoyed how these storylines intertwined and what the author did with this book; there were definitely some dark and twisted elements to this plot but it really kept my interest from beginning to end.

☑️: I would definitely recommend checking this book out when it’s released later this month! 👍🏼

Huge big whoa wow amazing!!
Page turning thriller that BEYOND blew my mind…more than once!!! Fantastic read, great plot twists and checks all my gives me goosebump boxes!

For starters, WOW!! What an incredible book! I was hooked from the very beginning and quickly finished within a couple days. This book is filled with twists and turns, monsters, psychological thrills, and so much more. Told from two timelines that tied together so seamlessly.
I love a good thriller but often struggle cause they can become predictable. This was not one of those books. Could I guess some of the twists, sure, but not anything that spoiled the ending! This is 100% a bingeable page turner!
I have never read her books before but you can bet I'm going to get my hands on anything she has previously written.

Thank you Netgalley, Gallery/Scout press for the advanced copy! Pub date is April 26th

"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men?"

(1978)
When Violet (Vi) was just thirteen years old and her brother Eric was a few years younger who,were raised by their loving grandmother a world famous psychiatrist, who one day brought home a strange and tormented girl around Vi's age and was told she would be their new adopted sister named Iris. Poor Iris had bruises and scars all over her body and didn't speak for a long time so Vi was gentle and kind to her loving the idea of having a sister and playmate. Vi and Eric had their own special monster's club and accepted Iris in their group that they took very seriously while believing in every type of monster they could dream up and they were even were keeping an illustrated diary of all their adventures until the day when the trio found out monsters were very real and their life as they knew it was no more.

(2019)
Lizzy Shelley, a podcast star on cryptid and monster-hunting broadcast has finally come back to Vermont where she grew up seeking some proof about the local legend of "Rattling Jane" where a young teenage girl has gone missing after she told her friends that she saw "Rattling Jane" days before she disappeared plus many years ago a similar story was told about another teenage girl who went missing and she was never seen again. Lizzy has been a monster-hunter her entire life seeking proof that monsters are real because Lizzy knows they exist.. Lizzy's sister was a real life monster.

WoW! What a story. This was a captivating story from page one until the very last page where the writer brought in one final unbelievably, exciting and unexpected twist that had me speechless for several minutes! There are many good books out there that are enjoyable and interesting but it's rare and special to find an author who can lure the reader in with compelling thoughts and stories being transferred from their head to being printed on the pages of a book. Fortunately this is what Jennifer McMahon has done with this book and others that she has written. I am a fan of this author for life! This book had it all especially excellent storytelling and the heartfelt characters which made the novel come to life in the best of ways. I experienced so many different emotions throughout the book as in feeling love, tension, sadness, fear, horror and absolute terror that I couldn't wait to finish the book yet I still didn't want it to come to an end. I highly recommend this novel to all horror lovers knowing they will be in for a true horror experience!

I want to thank the author "Jennifer McMahon", the publisher "Gallery Books" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this fantastic book a rating of 5 DELICIOUSLY CREEPY AND DISTURBING 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!


Title: The Children On The Hill
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Publisher: Gallery Books/Gallery Scout Press
Publication Date: April 26, 2022

Fantastic horror. Vi and Eric get a new sister and she's not what she seems. I saw one of the twists coming but not the other one and I REALLY enjoyed this book.

There are monsters all around us! We learn this in the latest book, The Children on the Hill, by Jennifer McMahon. Told from past and present timelines, this mystery introduces us to three children of a renown psychiatrist who love to search for monsters. Little do they realize, they are about to encounter a real-life monster of their own and their pasts may not be exactly as they seem.

The unique storyline peeked my interest from the start. I could not stop reading until the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I loved the psychiatric hospital setting and the bonds that developed between the sisters throughout the book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Gallery Books, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

Jennifer McMahon has quickly become a "MUST READ" type of writer for me. As soon as I see a new title, it's immediately put on the top of my list.

The Children on the Hill is a story like no other. Vi and Eric live with their Gran on the grounds of the Hillside Inn, a hospital on a hill. Their parents died in a terrible car accident, that neither of them remember. They are homeschooled and live a wonderful life, exploring the woods and looking for monsters.

One day, Gran brings home a new girl, a sister, Iris. At first, Iris doesn't speak and has no memory of how to be, so Vi enjoys showing her how to live. She reports back to Gran. But Vi is curious on Iris's history so she starts to explore the hospital a bit more...and what she finds changes everything....

In the present timeline, Lizzy Shelley is a monster hunter, on the hunt for another missing girl. Another missing girl who vanished after she saw a legendary local 'monster'. Lizzy knows something is strange about this missing girl....just like the others. She knows that it's all familiar and leads to her history....

Jennifer McMahon write thrillers about women and families and always manages to write fully developed characters. There are men in the stories but romance isn't a B or even a C plot. I love this. I love that the storylines are the central mystery and then the relationships between women in the two timelines.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance of its release.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review! I love a good ghost story! This was a good slow burn mystery and has some great surprising twists! I liked the alternating timelines as it added to the suspense!

✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
Jennifer Mcmahon is one of those authors I recently discovered and had to read more of.

💜 What I liked:
This book was a beautiful homage to Frankenstein. It is told between the past and present. In the past, 2 children are living with their grandmother near a psych hospital where she works. In the present, a monster hunter podcaster is looking for a solution to some missing girls. It is so creepy and mysterious.

😱 What I didn’t like:
There was the ending that seemed out of place, but also not (difficult to explain). But there is a major twist I should have seen coming but didn’t. It’s a good read nonetheless.

🚦 My face at the end: 🤓

💭 Reasons to Read:
1. Psychiatric patients
2. Past connections
3. Disappearing girls
4. Monster hunter



🕧 Mini-Summary:
Lizzie Shelley is on the hunter to find monster sightings and the location of missing children. Is it a real monster or her sister?

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

💯 For more details on the books we read, be sure to follow me on TikTok (@zaineylaney) or check out our Podcast - Elated Geek!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this one and didn’t know if I would like it, but the story and characters really drew me in. I really liked the back and forth timeline when usually that annoys or confuses me. But it worked here, and the twists were unexpected and gratifying. Will read this author again. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.