*Thank you to Random House Children's, Victoria Fulton, Faith McClaren, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/horror-hotel/

“Hey, you guys, look, I know I’m just the dude that carries the bags. But it seems to me we all play an important part in this group. I mean, we’re just like a big, delicious banana split. Fred, you’re the big banana. Daphne, you’re the pastrami and bubble gum flavored ice cream, and Velma, you’re the sweet and sour mustard sauce that goes on top.”

-Shaggy Rogers, Scooby-Doo: The Movie.

Horror Hotel, Victoria Fulton’s debut novel, is suspenseful, creative, a little scary, and a joy to read. If you have followed the Elisa Lam disappearance from the Cecil hotel, “THe Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel”, this is a re-telling with many twists and turns by a “Scooby-Doo” like gang, who is both hilarious and really smart. It is the Scooby-Doo we all know and love from childhood with Ghost Hunter similarities and an updated social media take.

Fulton and McClaren’s debut novel centers on “The Ghost Gang”, a group of high schoolers who ghost hunt and put their experiences on YouTube. There is Chrissy, who sees and hears ghosts. Chase, the only male, eager to get 1 million subscribers and that gold button from YouTube, Kiki, an influencer who helps to bring their followers and finally Emma, the skeptic behind the camera. When they decide to visit a hotel based in Los Angeles, and home of the mysterious disappearance of “Eileen Wright”, they get much more than they bargained for.

This is a fantastic Young Adult Horror novel and hard to believe it is their first novel. It is so creative, and I loved it as a group of teens running the show. I suspected who the culprit was but was still surprised at the big reveal. Horror Hotel is fast-paced and even a little scary, as they spend their night running from a serial killer. It touches on some dark themes but is really tame at the same time. The book is told from each of their points of view and will appeal to a younger audience. I especially enjoyed Chrissy’s perspective as the only one who can see and hear ghosts, but also Chase’s perspective as we learn his feelings for Chrissy run deep. The pacing of the book is quick, and it was just so much fun to read. It hooked me from the beginning. It is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are some scenes that may feel juvenile to the older reader, but if I were reading from a high school perspective, it would be a very scary book.

We follow a group of 4 young people who film paranormal huntings. They call themselves the Ghost Gang and they are quite famous on Youtube. For a special shot in LA they stayed for a night at a famous hotel known for its hauntings and they stumble upon quite some scary things.

For those of you that follow me on Goodreads you’ll probably know already that I loved (LOVED in capital letters) this book so much. It had everything I wanted and I’m so glad that I got the chance to read ”Horror Hotel” and that I was able to discover new authors thanks to the book.

The writing style was on point, I loved the scariness, the characters, well everything. Chrissy and Emma were my favorites even though I identified myself mostly with Kiki.

If you love short chapters and quick pacing then this is definitely the perfect read for you. However and that might be a “no” for some of you, the ending is quite predictable. It surprisingly didn’t annoy me that much because it did not change anything concerning the spooky factor and it definitely did not steal the enjoyment I felt towards ”Horror Hotel.”

Overall, if you love a good spooky and mystery book and you enjoy Horror Books, this is the perfect read for you.

Horror Hotel (as you might imagine from the name) is definitely for older teens and adults. There are definitely some themes that parents will want to be aware of but that do not necessarily mean it makes the story inappropriate reading for teens.

That aside, the story is great and well-paced. It has a very Ghost Hunters meets Buffy-vibe. Overall, it is a quick read that keeps your attention and has a nice resolution. The YouTube generation will enjoy it!

Notes for Parent's: Language, bullying, same sex relationship, flirtation, one kiss, drug use (in passing), underage drinking

You had me at ghost hunters and haunted hotel! My family loves all things super natural and this book was right up our alley. It was the perfect mix of friendship, relationships, paranormal, and ghost hunting. Throw in a little murder and we have a winner. This was a super easy fun read, and although it is considered YA, is great for all ages.

I really loved this young adult horror story!! I definitely wasn’t fully expecting the ending! I loved all the characters and the descriptions were very vivid!

What can I start off with other than shit I loved this!!

I was a little worried about the main characters all being high school seniors since
I left high school 11 years ago and a struggle a lot with younger YA but DAMN that did not matter with this book.

I did roll my eyes because of trivial things like complaining about views or crushes but the spooky factor in this is definitely for younger and older audiences alike.

Check TW though cause there is definitely gore, violence, and drugs

I'm so happy to have read something that actually had me looking over my shoulder a few times!

Disclaimer: I received this e-book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Horror Hotel

Author: Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Sapphic Aro MC, Half Filipino MC, F/F Romance

Recommended For...: young adult readers, paranormal, ghosts, ghost hunting, thriller, mystery

Publication Date: February 1, 2022

Genre: YA Paranormal

Recommended Age: 15+ (Death, Language, Harassment, Stalking, Parental death, Murder, Animal gore, Animal death, Gore, Violence)

Explanation of CWs: This is a YA paranormal book involving ghosts, so there is a lot of death, violence, and gore and there is murder in the book actively committed. There is some slight cursing and parental death mentioned a couple of times. There is animal gore and animal death mentioned once each in the book and the animals were goats. There is also harassment and stalking in the book.

Publisher: Underlined

Pages: 224

Synopsis: When the YouTube-famous Ghost Gang—Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki—visit a haunted LA hotel notorious for tragedy to secretly film after dark, they expect it to be just like their previous paranormal huntings. Spooky enough to attract subscribers—and ultimately harmless.

But when they stumble upon something unexpected in the former room of a gruesome serial killer, they quickly realize that they’re in over their heads.

Sometimes, it’s the dead who need our help—and the living we should fear.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

Review: This book was so amazing! I absolutely loved the book and all of the Cecil Hotel vibes in it. I really like books like these where people go to investigate hauntings because it’s something I’m interested in doing one day. The book had a well done story and characters. The world building and atmosphere was top-tier. The book gave me the sense of someone watching me constantly and I was incredibly creeped out at one particular point in the book. This book has quickly become one of my favorites.

The only issue I really had was that the multiple POVs were a bit confusing because some of the characters didn’t really have a distinct voice, but it was still a well done book.

Verdict: I absolutely love this book! Highly recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion. My opinions are not representative of any groups I am affiliated with.

Horror Hotel is an acceptable genre story for fans of supernatural thrillers. It doesn't by any means feel exceptional, but the later half of the story is worth getting to.

When I started reading Horror Hotel, I was largely consumed by how much it seemed like "Scooby Doo meets Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel." In the beginning it seemed that each character fell neatly into a trope and stuck to it, often to a fault. While some of these characters seemed to grow out of their paint-by-numbers archetypes (namely Kiki and Emmaline), this was largely a static feature of the story.

Just before the halfway mark, all characters and settings are established, and the murder-mystery plot really starts to accelerate. The decision to separate the characters and give them different goals not only paints the fictional Hearst Hotel more vividly but also lets each character's strengths and shortcomings start to drive the narrative. To this point, they're a group of characters that are simply present.

The climax of the story is well executed, if unexplained. It's potent and definitely nails the supernatural bend that is implicitly promised through the story. I really appreciated it.

I'll definitely recommend this to teen patrons looking for a quick ghost story, especially if they're into YouTube. I don't believe that this appeals outside of the genre, nor would it change any minds about supernatural thrillers, but I can absolutely see teens picking this up.

I was absolutely obsessed with this cover when I first saw it, and loved the idea of essentially a Scooby Doo team making their version of Buzzfeed Unsolved. However, I really didn’t expect a highly fictionalized story of a very real case.

In 2013, Canadian student Elisa Lam was found in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel. Lam’s case has become one of the most popular unsolved cases, spawning a slew of conspiracy theories, documentaries, and movies.

I don’t see anything wrong, necessarily, by investing cold cases. Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej were the hosts of Buzzfeed Unsolved, which delves into supernatural and true crime cases. While the guys have some top notch banter, you can tell they still respect the victims and really just want to spread the word in an interesting and appealing way. My main issue with Horror Hotel is that it seems to take the opposite approach.

As part of their goal to reach one million subscribers on their YouTube channel, The Ghost Gang: Chase, Emma, Kiki, and Chrissy, plan a Halloween special, investigating the Hearst Hotel, hoke of numerous crimes, but most notably that if Eileen Warren, a young women who was dismembered and left in the hotel elevator. But once they get to the hotel, strange things seem to be going on, and the Ghost Gang becomes the center of their own crime.

It’s obvious to anyone who follows crime the Fulton & McClaren are taking directly from Lam’s death. While Lam was found in a water tank, Eileen Warren was dismembered and put in an elevator. Both women still suffer from mental illness; and the Hearst Hotel is very obviously the Cecil Hotel; they didn’t even bother to change the location, and everything takes place in LA’s Skid Row.

What really put me off the most was the shift from “mental illness” to “psychic.” Now, I’m not one to try and dissuade people from their beliefs, but severe mental illness is still so stigmatized I don’t like the implication that people who are mentally ill have some ability that makes them “abnormal.” Are psychics out there? Sure, it’s a possibility. But Elisa Lam was just a woman with a mental illness who weaned off her meds. The fact that Warren is supposedly also psychic just didn’t vibe well with me. I was also a little irritated with how much detail and clarity Chrissy had from her psychic visions. It felt too convenient, that she could clearly see people, pick up on nuanced details, and even kind of talk to the spirits.

If this story was simply “kids investigate haunted hotel” I could probably let some of this go, however the fact that they’re pulling from a real case and treating it like some kind of gimmick really put me off.

There also aren’t a lot of characters so the twist at the end was kind of lazy. I saw it coming, and that just made it boring. I also would’ve liked to have seen more exploration of the ghosts and the goings on in the hotel. It all felt really surface with no deeper substance. The book is short, but even so I didn’t really care for the characters and the plot felt like it was barely there; there was plenty of time to explore more in depth, but it felt like Fulton & McClaren were trying to tell two different stories- one about Eileen and another about the hotel- but they couldn’t get the two to mesh well.

While I loved the idea of YA Ghost Hunters, the writing is really immature, the characters are mediocre at best, and the reduction of a truly sad and devastating crime to something gimmicky just made me disappointed. I expected a lot more substance, but this just left a bitter taste in my mouth. If it was 100% original, I think it could’ve been so much better.

This Young Adult horror mixed with thriller was a break from my usual reads and a good one.

"it’s heavy out there. Like the weight of the sky falling."

The four teen characters Chase, Emma, Chrissy and Kiki are friends and amateur ghost hunters. Chrissy is my favourite. This had LGBTQ representation as well which was nice.

Ghost hunters, psychic, paranormal activity, chilling setting this story was fast paced, thrilling, enjoyable and a quick read. At times this was eerie and the graphic given was a bit terrifying.

“The dead aren’t the only problem around here.”

This had multiple POVs which gave better insights. It was predictable but the revealing done was shocking for me and I liked the way this story was brought to an end.

Overall this was book was a good read which I recommend.

Thank you to Underlined for providing me with an e-ARC of Horror Hotel in exchange for an honest review!

Can we get some commotion for that cover?! Holy gorgeous.

As the synopsis mentions, Horror Hotel is The Blair Witch Project for the TikTok generation. This YA Horror is fairly fast-paced, filled with more blood than I originally imagined (that ice machine scene?! If you know, you know.) & has some Queer rep. In all honestly, it's hashtag winning.

Some of the characters annoyed me -- looking at you Chase -- but in the end, these are YA characters & I, at one point, probably behaved the same way. Nobody's perfect, you live & you learn it.

One thing that irked my nerves is the ever-so-obvious twist. But the characters who come in for the resolution were solid & in a strange way, heart-warming?

Anyway. It was a fairly enjoyable read & it was so easy to keep flipping those pages until the end!

4.5 stars! Honestly I had a blast reading this book! It was creepy and fast-paced. I think so many teens will have a lot of fun reading this! Highly recommend!

I was part of the TBR and Beyond Tours blog tour for Horror Hotel! My post 15 reactions I had while reading Horror Hotel is up on my blog!

Where to begin with this book? I think, first off, if you’re looking for a YA Horror story that has the power to actually make your skin crawl then Horror Hotel is just your ticket. I made the mistake of reading this before bed and, well, let’s just say that my dreams weren’t all that pleasant. This story manages to walk that line between the terror of the paranormal, and the terror of actual people. It will constantly leave you wondering which of the two is worse. So yes, do yourself a favor and don’t start it before bed.

Moving onto the characters, my favorite part I’m sure you know by now! I loved that Fulton and McClaren wrote the ghost squad the same way my childhood remembers stories like this. Each character brings their own personality, their own strengths, and of course their own weaknesses to the table. Where one fails, another fills in that space. It was nice cohesion that made it a lot easier to follow along with team. After all, we love to see support in a friendship group! My only gripe here was, because this did follow the “squad” formula there wasn’t much depth to these characters. They were well done for how quickly this book reads, but I would have loved to see some more of their inner workings. This is a multiple POV story, and the characters were just similar enough in their thought processes that I had to keep checking to see who was speaking at the moment.

In terms of plot, this is the part of this book that I had a bit of a rough time with. Horror Hotel reads very heavily like a shot for shot remake of the documentary featuring Hotel Cecil, except that it has a more paranormal flair to it. Now, for what it’s worth, I did enjoy that paranormal twist. The idea of a young group of ghost hunters being brave enough to tackle one of the most haunted places in LA? Sold. As I mentioned when I started this review, the paranormal scenes are done so well that at times you will need to take a breath, and remind yourself that you’re still at home and not in a terrifying hallway with a ghost.

However, the meshing of these two plot points does make it so that sometimes the book feels a little disjointed. There were portions where everything felt really beautifully strung together, and then something wild would happen and I’d be confused for a few pages, then right back to how it was before. I think this kind of thing would work excellently on the screen. It’s difficult to picture a character having a complete mental breakdown in a hallway one second, and being able to climb out a window safely the next, but with a bit of imagination and an understanding of how Chrissy’s brain works it is possible to get there. I just really wish some of those scenes had been a little more fleshed out and, more than anything, that some of the paranormal aspects of the book had more backstory. A tiny spoiler, but there’s mention in this book of an elevator game that connects you to the “other side”. Do tell, author friends. I wanted to know more! Instead we get a quick glimpse, and it’s off on another chase and side story.

Points go to this story for being absolutely, compulsively readable. It’s nearly impossible to set this down once you start reading it. I picked up Horror Hotel in the morning one day, and finished it at 11pm that evening. That’s the benefit of how quickly this book moves, even if it does leave me wanting a bit more. So I’m happy to give this a glowing three star rating! If you’re looking for a story that is fast, intriguing, and the right amount of terrifying? This is it.

First, the cover is gorgeous. Major applause for whoever designed it!

I thought that Horror Hotel was an entertaining read. The pace was quick and there was plenty of horror and gore, but the story line was predictable, so it wasn't too scary. On Halloween, a group of four teens chasing social media fame decide to stay in a hotel in downtown Los Angeles known for it's plethora of murders and paranormal events.

Chrissy is the "Ghost Girl", she can see dead people and read alive people's minds. Chase is the brains behind the whole operation; the one who started this whole project. Kiki is the brave scaredy-cat who is great with social media. And Emmaline is the snack-eating skeptic. Together, they create videos of amateur paranormal investigation for their almost 100,000 followers as the Ghost Gang.

During their stay in the hotel, they are specifically looking to make contact with the ghost of Eileen Warren, a blogger who was probably psychic that died of mysterious circumstances in the hotel elevator (the fictional version of real life Elisa Lam). But, the gang begins to realize that there is more than just ghosts here, there is an active serial killer on the loose.

This book does switch perspectives between the four members of the gang, which I normally love. It was a good plot tool in the end when the gang split up, but during the beginning I found myself wishing that there was more of Chrissy's perspective.

I was also dissatisfied with how the story of Eileen Warren ended. I wanted a bit more. <spoiler> I wish that we found out what really happened to her. I know that we may never find out what happened to Elisa Lam, but I would have liked the author's interpretation on the fate of this fictional version of her. But, I do understand why they didn't. It was just somewhat of a let down since so much of the plot was focused around her. </spoiler>

Overall, this was a fast, exciting story that read like a modern-day horror movie with a dose of romance (and LGBT representation!).

The plot of this book is centered around a group of social media influencers who end up visiting a haunted hotel. I thought the premise sounded interesting, and as readers may expect, the hotel in question is indeed frightening. The story had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen to the characters while they were in the hotel, and overall, I thought it was a really enjoyable read.

There are some really fun elements to this story but overall it is pretty firmly creepy horror. I thought the more fun moments and humor were blended into the book very well without taking away from the horror. The characters are well written and I loved the setting. The mix of the fantastic elements with the real life inspirations was also well done. All around this is a cool book for horror fans.

Top 5 Reasons to Read Horror Hotel

1. A haunted hotel: In my opinion the best setting for a haunted. So many rooms, guests/ghosts and places to run and hide.
2. Two psychics: because two heads are clearly better than one (especially when those heads can see the dead or read auras)
3. Ghosts EVERYWHERE: the best ingredient of a good haunting story
4. Ghost hunting YouTubers: this story combines true crime, social media, and ghost hunting shows in a cool way that gives genuine scares and a spooky atmosphere
5. That COVER 😍: I enjoyed this ebook but I already know I need a physical copy of this on my shelf

My only drawback was too many POVs and it was a tiny bit predictable at certain pointe

This book started out so well. I grabbed it because of the cover because ya I am that kind of reader. However, sadly the story was full of POVs from all the cast that just kind of overpowered the story at large. I wished that the book would have been in just a single POV. I do think that if this would have been a movie the multi POV thing would have been perfect. Overall, it was a pretty good story but the writing style just didn't work as a whole.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chrissy can see ghosts. It's an unusual talent, and nobody usually believes her, except for a handful of classmates who quickly become her best friends. They band together to create the Ghost Gang, in which the four of them hunt ghosts and post videos on the internet. And they're walking into their biggest hunt yet: the Hearst Hotel, site of any number of ghastly deaths and mysteries. But when they stumble on an all-too-real tragedy in one of the rooms they're investigating, the ghost hunt becomes a fight for their lives.

There was a lot to like about this book, especially if you're the kind of person who likes ghosts. Ghosts abound, creeping, stalking, haunting, reenacting their deaths, you name it. Often unsettling, occasionally a bit terrifying, the horror-ghost element was solidly there.

Ultimately, though, this is a YA read, and unfortunately YA horror and thrillers all too often set the plot up a little predictably. It's not difficult at all to figure out who the bad guy is here, so if mystery is what you're going for, you'll likely be disappointed.

Even so, our teen heroes, Chrissy, Emma, Kiki, and Chase, make for an intriguing set of narrators. Equal parts in touch with the quirks of the modern teen, albeit in occasionally cringey ways -- such as using "Kobe" as a verb -- and clever and insightful beyond their years, this is a cast that's easy to fall in love with and difficult to forget.

This quick, ghost-filled YA horror read was an all-around fun time, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in an easy read chock full of creeps and haunts.

Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren is a young adult horror read. The story in this one is told by changing the point of view between the group of four teenage characters.

Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki weren’t always YouTube famous but once they formed their group the channel took off. Chrissy was dealing with seeing spirits and no one believing her when she met Chase with him being the first to actually believe. Along the way they formed the Ghost Gang with Emma and Kiki.

Now on the verge of one million subscribers Chase has planned a trip to the horror hotel, a rundown establishment known for a series of murders. After arriving Chrissy can’t unsee the ghostly gore and before they know it the gang finds themselves being stalked by yet another murderer in the hotel.

Being way beyond the actual age this book is meant for wasn’t going to stop me from picking up Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren also being a long time fan of all things horror, I mean that cover!! Thankfully I did enjoy this one with the group of teenage ghost hunters. The murderer wasn’t hard to see coming but considering the age range I didn’t expect to be too surprised and just enjoyed the journey.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.