This was the most terrified I’ve ever been while reading a book! There were so many parts where I was on the edge of my seat, trying to read as fast as I can to find out what was gonna happen. Darcy Coates is definitely my favorite author! Every book I read of hers just keeps getting better and better. Never a review less than 5 stars.

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.*

I love Darcy Coates' other work and was so excited to be granted an ARC! I fell in love after reading The Haunting of Ashburn House and have been working my way through her other novels. Gallows Hill, the latest gothic novel from Darcy Coates does it once again: creepy, smart, unputdownable, and such beautiful storytelling

Margot hasn't seen nor heard from her parents since she was 8. Decades later, she is brought back to her family home on Gallows Hill after both of her parents passed of apparent simultaneous heart attacks. Margot must immediately help with the funeral arrangements, move into the house, and oversee the small but profitable winery that runs on the grounds. As the name suggests, Gallows Hill was the site of hundreds of public hangings in the 1700s, as well as the brutal murder of the Hulls, the first family to live on the Hill. Things get very scary (and very dangerous) for Margot very quickly, leading to the on-site winery staff divulging a curse on the land. Now that the curse seems to be ramping up, they all just want to survive the night.

As always, our main character is such a smart, caring, well flushed out character. The early planting of certain unexplainable phobias and mysterious scars works so well and comes back around to add more depth to the hauntings and the curse itself. I thought the pacing was good, if a little slow in the first 30ish%, but the exposition and character building was mostly needed for later revelations, so I can't complain too much.

I absolutely love how Coates adds just a little bit of heart and light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel (no pun intended?) moments that make the horror seem not only like all the long nights and absolute terror are worth it, but that something better is coming out of horrible tragedy. Margot struggles with the sins of her ancestors, finding a way to make Gallows Hill a monument of remembrance rather than a tourist site.

Honoring the land we live on and those who came before us is probably a value we could all embrace more often and more fervently. 4.5 stars, I thoroughly enjoyed Gallows Hill and will absolutely be preordering a physical copy.

Gallows Hill by Darcey Coates is a story about Margot, who comes back to her family home when her parents pass away. We soon learn that she doesn't know them, and our first mystery is presented. As she stays on and figures out what she is going to do next, keep the family business or sell it, it soon becomes apparent that there a rules about this house and more going on.

Darcey Coates manages to accurately represent being terrified in a house, from how she writes her characters thoughts, intense dread and the stress of having to make a decision about using light. In these moments, I couldn't stop reading. These moments get creepier and creepier.

I really enjoyed the reason why Margot couldn't leave the Hill. It was unique in a ghost story. It really makes you think about what the land has seen before you step on it, the hidden history. I liked Margot, she seemed down to earth. I enjoyed the other characters too, they're so nice. I love how the characters are written in every book of hers.

The background of the winery was very interesting and I loved the setting. The underground tunnels were creepy as!

Thank you to the publisher poision pen press and Darcey Coates for a free ebook in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thankyou NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the author, Darcy Coates, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Gallows Hill in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
Such a good, creepy read.
The storyline sucks you in and leaves you with chills up and down your spine.
Well worth a read.

Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates is a haunting story of a woman, Margot, returning home after both of her parent’s deaths on the same night & discovering a house that might not want her there full of secrets from her past, including why she hasn’t seen her parents since her childhood. This is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. Darcy Coates writing is brilliant & full of vivid imagery that creates a truly spooky tale. It’s a stomach turning & wickedly disturbing story that I consumed in two days.
This is a horror novel that’s so perfectly scary you can practically hear the background horror music play throughout the scenes as you read it. It’s a perfect unraveling of a slowburn horror novel that intertwines a horrid history with a prettifying present.
There were a few moments that I wanted to fast forward a bit, but I do have ADHD so that’s not uncommon. Overall, I am a big fan of Darcy Coates & loved this book!
Gallows Hill is going to be the perfect book to curl up with during the fall.
Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates comes out September 6, 2022!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this in exchange for an honest review!

Trigger warnings: This book mentions &/or contains murder, gore, violence & drowning.

I will post this to my social media as it gets closer tk release date & add links once I do.

For a truly uneasy experience, read this one at night. Bonus points if you have an ereader and can turn off all the lights.

A slow burn horror with a foreboding and tense atmosphere. I felt very unsettled while reading this. Especially the scenes after dark. The characters are fantastic and the storyline had my immediate attention. My only wish was that it had an epilogue.

And that reveal!!! My mind was absolutely blown. So Well Done!

I'm a huge Darcy Coates fan and couldn't resist hitting that request button on Netgalley as soon as I saw this! This is the fourth book I've read of hers. I need to get my hands on her backlist!! It's a big one!

Highly recommend!

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for my gifted copy!

Horrifically excellent writing that makes you feels like you're a character of the book! I could not believe how tense I become while reading this truly suspenseful and thrilling book.

This book was good, I’m glad I got to read it early and can’t wait to tell others about it .
I think they are gonna enjoy it just as much
Thank you

Review to come August (end of) on blog/goodreads/etc.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was so so HYPED when I saw that Darcy Coates' newest books were on Netgalley. I just adore her work and so I had had to request it! I am thankful that the publisher allowed me to early read both books! First up was Gallows Hill because I was in for something haunted house/spooky!

In this superscary book we meet Margot! A girl whose parents died and now she has inherited the house and the winery... but the problem is? She hasn't seen her parents since she was a kid. You can imagine her feelings towards her parents. She is both curious and angry. But she is willing to give it all a shot. She doesn't have much left in the city she came from. But right from the first day.. she sees things. Hears things. There is a scary statue downstairs (of which I never could grasp how big or small it was, for me it was a tall tall statue). There are eyes shining in the dark. You can imagine she isn't too excited about the house and it is just the beginning! Margot was a really great character, though, haha, also a bit too much like your standard protagonist in a horror. Ohhh, I shouldn't go to the scary thing, let me go to the scary thing. Oh the attic. Yes, let's go! But I was proud of her because she tried to do things, she tried to learn more about the curse, about her family. 

The curse? Especially when it started really kicking in? Welp, the book went from scary bells to seeing things to OH HEY look the dead are rising! Fun! NOPE. We learn a lot more about Gallows Hill, about the Hull family (and the two brothers), about why Margot spend her childhood at her grandma, about the house and a lot more. I was invested. And I was wondering why people who just stay! But as we find out... leaving isn't so easy. Especially not if you are the owner/family. It definitely made things even more spooky and scary and at points maybe also a bit hopeless. Because you cannot run. You cannot hide. You just got to play tag with evil (though you shouldn't be tagged, but you get it XD). I was definitely terrified while reading it. Haha, I thought I could read this at night, but I definitely wouldn't recommend that. XD There also some gore parts that had me feeling queasy. 

We also have other characters, Kant, Nora and Ray, Witchety, Marsh (succcchhhh a good boy). I really liked the side characters cast! They each were special and I really liked learning more about them. And boy, I would love a novella just all about Witchety! She was such an interesting and sweet character!

At around 80%-85% I was a tad worried. Because it didn't seem like an ending was coming. Would we be getting a second book? But I couldn't find something about that! So I kept going and as we neared closer and closer to the end I finally saw something that promised a real ending to come. While I was in the end quite happy with the ending (it was quite scary and shocking), it also felt a bit abrupt. Sudden. I think it would have been better if the book was either a tad longer (yes, really) or if things were just better done time-wise. 

As I said the ending made me happy, well it shocked me as well. That this is the truth about the curse. WTF is wrong with these 10-11 generations to choose that? WTF! I was feeling slightly sorry throughout the book for the families.. but after that revelation? No. OK, maybe for the kids unknowingly dragged into it. But the parents. Heck. They deserve things. 

I would have loved to see an epilogue. Maybe something taking place a year from the ending? I would have loved to see more of Margot and see if she achieved what she was planning on doing! 

All in all though, this was once again a very epic and scary Darcy Coates, she did it again!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Margot Hull inherits Gallows Hill Winery after her parents die unexpected.ly. she's been estranged from them since she was sent to live with her grandmother as a child. As she returns to her former home and the business, she discovers that nothing is what it seems and her own life may be in danger.

This book was paced awfully. It was so slow. I had a hard time even getting into the creepiness of it because it felt like it dragged on and on and on. The ending felt a little contrived as well and unrealistic. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense to me. Yes, there were creepy moments but overall, it was just too slow and too out of left field for me to suspend belief that much.

I am a huge fan of Coates. I recently read From Below by them and it was great. I started out reading their haunted house/spooky ghost stories, and while this one was good and on brand for them, it felt like it was missing a bit of the creep factor? I think it definitely had it's moments/was creepy sometimes but it just didn't feel like their was enough to really label this as anything more than a mildly unsettling work of fiction. I'll still always give anything Coates writes a go, but this one just wasn't my favorite. If you're just getting into Coates I wouldn't recommend starting with this one, as I don't think this would be the best introduction, but if you're just missing Coates' writing/want more from them after you've read everything then I think this would be a good piece to give a shot. Not bad, but ultimately not great.

super creepy haunted house book.. i wish there were a few more characters to follow , since it tended to be a lot of the same inner thoughts for such a large book. I will be interested to see more of Coates books in the future.
5 stars for creepy, 4 stars for length.

This is my first read from Darcy Coates, my partner kept telling me to give them a go, so when I actually got this I was surprised and happy to try their book out! Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me. I felt bored reading it, like there was something missing to make it a better experience for me. Yes, there was "creepiness" to it, but not enough to identify/class it as a horror novel.

Rating 2.5 rounded to 3

Family secrets - shrouded mystery - an ages old curse! To be trapped in a curse that you can't escape from, and now you know all the secrets - maybe you were better off not knowing ... Another great mystery from Coates!

An atmospheric slow burn that gave me chills. Coates has written yet another winner. A creepy old house on a lonesome hill. A daughter given up by her parents as a young child now returns upon their death. They left behind secrets, wine, and ghosts. Fantastic, engulfing read.

4⭐
This was another winner from Darcy Coates. This woman writes atmosphere, uneasiness, and that real sense of dread like no other.
We follow Margot as she goes back to her childhood home after her parents death. There she inherited a winery along with some extra house guests. This was such a great atmosphere, slow burn goodness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have always heard that Darcy Coates is the Queen in her field of horror. Gallows Hill is my first venture into Coates territory and it sure does not disappoint. Gallows Hill starts off strong, hits you in the throat, and never lets go. We meet Margot Hull on her way to a funeral--for her parents, both of them. Margot has inherited her parents' winery after their sudden, mysterious death. The reader is left in the dark about a lot of information--why has Margot not seen her parents since she was a small child, why was she so shocked by her parents" faces in their caskets?
Coates has the gift to write scenes that would normally be considered odd and turn them into such skin-crawling creepiness. I honestly had trouble reading this book at night (on my Kindle in the dark). This will appeal to fans of Coates and readers that enjoy slow-burn horror.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of Gallows Hill.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC of Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates.

Another beautifully, terrifying book by this author. Her books never fail to keep me up at night and be scared to sleep in the dark. I loved everything about this one aside from the ending. It was still good, don't get me wrong, but I just felt it was a little bit corny at one point. Overall it was an excellent read and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Margot was sent away from Gallows Hill, the family winery, at the age of 8. She has no idea why she was sent to live with her Nana, has no memories of her childhood before she left, and had no contact with her parents, even when Margot grew up. The novel opens with Margot, now an adult, attending her parents funeral. The caskets are closed, and the cause of death for her parents is unclear. She inherits the winery, felt to be haunted and cursed by the locals, as criminals were hung and buried on the site back in the early 1700s.

The book is one slow burn of a horror novel, and maintains a increasing sense of dread through the whole novel. I had a really hard time putting it down. Superbly plotted and written, and all the characters are well developed. Very enjoyable read.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of Gallows Hill.

I’ve recently discovered this author and I am so very glad I did. I have loved every book I have gotten my hands on to read. This book was fantastic and I look forward to reading many more of her books!