"Malice House" is written by author Megan Shepherd who has written several young adult and children's books. This is her first adult book which is always exciting and this is my first book by her.

Official synopsis: Haven Marbury is just getting out of a failed marriage and moves into her late fathers seaside house. Her father was a famous writer and while moving into his old house she stumbles upon a unwritten manuscript that is nothing like he has written before. Its horrific and scary and she instantly decides to publish it and do the illustrations herself in attempt to jumpstart her career. Of course there are people who want their hands on the manuscript and why is there monsters under her bed and people dying in the wood?

Ok, one thing I love is stuff totally creative and different and this book is it. Its beautifully written and has no clear genre. It's a mystery, thriller, and horror mashed into one. I was told to go into this one blind and that is the best advice. Just read it.

Pros: Another thing I love is batshit crazy characters and Haven definitely may be one of them. I think it's totally awesome that she just haphazardly breaks into people houses to find clues or just simply breaks into some one's truck and steals their shotgun even though she has never fired a gun in her life. The ending was also nails. Without spoiling anything it's basically a 40 page, fiery, bone crushing, violent, horrific, train wreck of a ending.

The book also has one of the most terrifying characters I think I have ever read. Again I can't give anything away but imagine someone who can force anyone to do anything he wanted just by asking. "Go and shoot that person and then kill yourself with the same gun" And then you can't help but do it......

I can't think of anything I didn't like the book. Maybe too long? But I like my books around 300 pages and I can't think of anything to take points from. One of my favorite books of the year so far.

Advance Reader Copy given free for honest review.

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book—a struggling illustrator inherits the creepy mansion of her late father, a famed novelist, and finds a disturbing manuscript filled with murder and monsters—but the execution wasn’t for me.

I always find that horrors—both supernatural and everyday—are most terrifying when the world and people around them feel grounded and real. Nothing about this world felt realistic to me. The dialogue didn’t ring true. The personal drama felt forced. The descriptions lacked sufficient detail and originality to bring them alive. Even down to the protagonist’s name—Haven Marbury—it felt like I was watching a shlocky TV show rather than reading a novel for adults. Imagine the boatload of paperwork and legal upheaval and financial stress a person would take on by inheriting a dilapidated mansion, especially when they’re already broke. There was almost none of that, which made the whole situation hard to buy. And I was confused about the father. I thought he was a famous horror writer, but he also had a Pulitzer Prize and wrote literary fiction? That felt like a stretch.

I also struggled with the pacing of the opening and how much backstory was spoon-fed to us between slices of dialogue. Finding the manuscript should have been the inciting incident of the story, but it was slipped casually into the first chapter like an afterthought. No buildup. No creepy excerpts. (Those came later, and underwhelmed.) It all felt very rushed and lacked tension. Overall, the writing was neither as elevated nor as creepy as I had hoped.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This one was a miss for me. I DNFd this one pretty early on. And not because the book or writing was bad, but because I just don’t think I’m the right audience for it. Maybe more fantasy than horror? I’m just not a fantasy person. Hopefully the reader will love it!

Malice House was a quick and enjoyable read. There was enough suspense and plot twists to keep me interested, but I'd classify this more as fantasy than horror. There were a few too many "monsters", some of which were a bit too farfetched to be scary. But I am an older reader, and have read a lot of horror novels....so I don't find many books that really scare me anymore.

Thanks to net galley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, if we completely ignore the glaring similarities to an RL Stine book we all read as children, there are some fun ideas here. The execution, however, is...kind of all over the place and makes me wonder if the author set this manuscript aside a time or two only to come back to it in a completely different headspace.

I enjoyed the stories within the story but felt it was a bit slow. The second half of the book took off and offered a more paranormal feel which seemed to quicken the pace. Overall a good, quick read.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

Malice House by Megan Shepherd was not quite what I thought it would be. I couldn't get into this book. Had to stop reading about one quarter of the way through.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy to read. I reply enjoyed this book and felt it was a quick and enjoyable read.

This was my first Megan Shepherd book, and I don't know how I feel about it.

The paranormal elements, although included throughout the novel in the snippets of the Bedtime stories for monsters, were not really included in the narrative until much later on - this gave me the impression that this may actually be a thriller, and then suddenly there was paranormal and it felt off, timing wise.

I liked the characters of Haven and Kyle, and I think the author did a good job at making the other characters seem unlikeable.

There were a lot of twists in the last 30% of the novel, but by then I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of new information and new things going on.

I also found the sub-plot of what happened with Haven and Baker to not fully make sense with the rest of the novel, and it seemed thrown in at the end.

Thank you so much for granting my wish. I did not expect it at all. I loved this book so much and I read it all in a night. Have a wonderful day.

I've been a fan of Megan Shepherd since reading her Madman's Daughter series almost 10 years ago, and I was so excited to see that she was writing adult horror, one of my favorite genres. This book uses the story-within-a-story method, and I thought that it worked really well. A lot of the time when I read horror, the characters take a backseat to focus on the scares, and I often don't get very attached to characters in horror novels. But I really liked Haven and Kylie. I'm really excited to see if Shepherd continues writing horror!

Struggling illustrator Haven Marbury inherits her father’s estate, the aptly named Malice House. She and her father, a famous author, had a rocky relationship and Haven is hoping to exorcise the past and make a little cash while she’s at it. While combing through the mess her father left behind, she discovers a creepy book of short stories about monsters, quite different from her father’s typical literary fiction. The discovery of this manuscript sets in motion a series of shocking and even bloody events…it seems like Malice House may be living up to its name.

I found this book to be a fast, enjoyable read. It’s less of a horror novel than a dark fantasy, in my opinion. There are some obvious twists, but I also was surprised by several turns of the plot. Those turns I didn’t foresee kept me guessing and turning the pages to see if Haven would make it out of Malice House alive and with her sanity intact. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys their fantasy on the darker side, or who likes lighter, more fantastical horror. There was at least one plot point at the end that wasn’t totally resolved, and I hope that there’s a sequel in the works because I’d love to see how that plays out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

When Haven Marburg inherits an old and possibly haunted house from her famous author father, she discovers an unpublished manuscript in the attic. The manuscript titled, Bedtime Stories for Monsters, is unlike her fathers previous works and when Haven starts to illustrate the tales, spooky things begin to happen.
This was a well written and complex story. It is very dark with aspects of horror mixed with fantasy and a strong love of literature and books. I liked the mixture but it was a little confusing at first to pinpoint what exactly is happening. I would recommend this friends and it will make a great fall read. This book will be released on October 4,2022.
I received this early copy for review from NetGalley and the publishers. I’m so glad for the opportunity to have read and reviewed it. Thank you!

I was not expecting to like this book so much but I did! It checked off so many boxes for me in what I need a thriller to be, even leaving me a little spooked.


Thank you #Netgalley for an early read of #MaliceHouse

Who could resist a book about an author, an illustrator, and a reading group called the Ink Drinkers?! All wrapped up in mystery, horror, unexpected relationships, moments of giddy laughter and an on-the-edge of your seat ending! I was drawn into Haven’s life at Malice House—so much so that I looked up the meaning of Malice—the desire to do harm. So this house which is her inheritance is intent upon doing harm. House or Haven? Evil or Good? As a psychologist I was intrigued about Haven’s relationship with her father, her ex, and even the man who hires her to review horror films. The chilling tale unfolds at a rapid pace. Be prepared to stay up late because you will want to know what comes next and because you may worry that your dreams may continue the haunting. A truly suspenseful and psychologically insightful novel.

Thanks to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

I really struggled to get onto the writing and therefore into the story. All in all, it was spooky and pretty interesting, but it was slow, very slow.

A creepy and clever read. Haven Marbury inherits her novelist fathers house. There she discovers an unpublished manuscript of his. It a mesh of horror and dark fairytales. As she reads along and starts to draw the characters from her imagination they start appearing into her life in the flesh, and are intent on hunting her down. As people start dying around her Haven has to solve the mystery of why her drawings are materializing into reality. I loved how snippets of Haven's fathers novel is interspersed throughout Malice house. It's darkly creepy which makes me happy. It's like you get to read two different novels at the same time. I will be reading more from Megan Shepard. Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this novel.

Freaky. Spooky, King like book..Fans gone amok. And noises under the bed.whats nor to like? While it will never actually BE a Stephen King novel, she is well on her way.

I was really hoping that this book was going to be amazing and eerie and spooky. The summary really hooked me in. Even the beginning of the story had my attention but then is just sort of drug on and on. The ending was really interesting and I am honestly curious what may be next but I also did end up skimming the middle section of the book because it felt like a lot of the same thing. There were a lot of parts that seemed like they were the climax of the book but I was barely halfway through. I think this book could have been edited down by a third and it would have been better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ebook in we exchange for a honest review.

Overall this was okay but I didn’t gel with the narrative. Was her Dad based on Stephen King, a legendary horror writer with crazed fans? This didn’t fully capture my imagination and felt similar to other haunted house stories.