Holy cannoli!! When I wished for this book, all I knew was that the blurb sounded incredibly interesting. And boy, howdy was it. Part mystery, part horror, all around intriguing. Megan Shepherd gave Stephen King a run for his money with this one. I wouldn't be sad at all to see a sequel in the future.

I was sold at the MC being an artist and then bonus points for the inheritance of a haunted house! I mean you truly can’t go wrong with a haunted house. A hidden manuscript as the subject of the MC’s new illustrations…and then spookiness follows! I loved this book and it’s unique way of combining some of my favorite genres :). I can’t wait to add this to my shelf and have a Halloween read on my shelf!!

What an intruiging synopsis. I'll admit, the first 20~% had me and left me wanting more, but I found myself having to drudge through the rest. I definitely think this will be a home run for some, but the characters just didn't feel genuine and I didn't have any stake in their development or desire to see them escape danger. I probably would have enjoyed reading Bed Time Stories for Monsters based off of the blurbs that started each chapter more than Malice House itself.

4 stars
This book was an absolute whirlwind from start to finish. An incredible blend of both horror and fantasy, Megan Shepherd creates an artful and haunting world. The art of creation is a huge theme of this book and it is an art Shepherd has a true talent for. I am so excited to get my hands on a physical copy of this book once it comes out, and can’t wait for others to read it as well!

I found this to be fast-paced and really enjoyed the dark fairytale elements of this book. I struggled to find the main character's decisions to be plausible (would a woman from New York really give her house key to a random man she just met?), and that she seemed to not notice obvious things when it served the plot (like not noticing that a house she's in has every window and door nailed over).

Thanks to this gothic, horrific, spin tingling, nightmarish book inside another book, I’ll suffer from night terrors and sleep with lights on at least for weeks!

Wow! What a tremendously bleak and absolutely scary wild ride!

The plot line is so intriguing: an aspiring artist Haven Marbury inherits her Pulitzer winner dad’s house which may be haunted ( that’s what his father thought and warned her) She’s financially struggling, barely making ends meet by writing movie critics and the house only thing she has after paying off other debts of her father.

But when she goes to clean up her father’s belongings from Malice House ( it couldn’t be named better), she finds a secret manuscript including scary stories written by her father. This might be gold mine because she hasn’t heard about this special book before and the monsters described in the book inspire her to create her own illustrations. This will give her chance to team up the creative powers with her father to tribute to his memory!

But there are people outside want piece of this secret manuscript and the house she’s living might be truly haunted because there are unexplainable scratching voices coming inside of the walls. And the whispers she hears are not the illusions her sleep deprived brain created. There must a real monster hidden under her bed and giant creature to taste her ankle!

What if the illustrations she’s created become alive and start chasing her!

Did I take your attention? This is your decision point to say yes or no to this heart throbbing journey! If you’re not ready to wear your big girl pants and hate scary stories, you may skip this book! But If you’re a devoted fan of supernatural, gothic, horror, mystery genres and have an unusual interest in monsters, this book is match made in heaven for your quirky mind!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I really enjoyed this book, I was so caught up in the story that I didn’t want to put it down. I rate it 4.5 stars.

Really really enjoyed this story! My first from this author and it was super creepy and kept me guessing all the way through. Highly recommend. Thank you so much to NetGalley and publishers for allowing me to read this early, I absolutely LOVED it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free ARC!

This book was intriguing right from the very beginning. Haven goes to her late fathers house in Washington trying to recover from a nasty divorce. What she doesn't know is that some of her fathers thoughts had come to life in the form of monsters. While she's trying to find herself in her art and within her fathers writing, people around her are showing up dead in gruesome ways. Haven is becoming a prime suspect of these gruesome murders however she has no idea who is committing them and is finding similarities in these deaths that mimic her fathers stories.
I thought the characters in this book were fitting for a horror novel. You have a mysterious handsome neighbor, a divorced couple who are after Haven's late fathers work, a detective who is shady, a librarian who is hiding the truth, and a young bookstore worker who is looking for answers alongside Haven. All of these characters kept me on my toes! In this book there are many secrets, which leads to a ton of suspense. That being said all of the secrets do come to light which was very satisfying to read! The scare factor in this book was there as well partly due to suspense and also partly due to the demons and characters that came to life via occult magic. I truly was not expecting this story to be as good as it was. It far exceeded my expectations and left me wanting to read more!

This book was interesting and unique, a mash up of horror, gothic, and psychological suspense. I was filled with dread while reading it, it definitely sets a creepy mood.

I do believe this is her first horror/thriller novel!
If so she needs to write more of them!

Malice House by Megan Shepherd is a brilliant, engaging gothic thriller story.
I was intrigued and hooked from the start.
This book had so many elements that I love! Dark atmosphere. Thick palpable tension and suspense. Unique and mysterious characters that I felt invested in from page one.
A creepy, spine tingling read, complete with characters that will have you flipping the pages so quickly. You will always suspect something isn't exactly right and still be shocked by some of the twists the story presents.
Shepherd started revving up the unsettling feelings of dread and then churning out plot twist after plot twist! Pure Perfection

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

Hyperion Avenue,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Beyond phenomenal! This book scratched an itch I’ve had since reading NIGHT FILM years ago. I adored every second! Malice, and all its denizens, are going to linger with me for a very, very long time to come!

Monsters at the door………yes they are and Haven Marbury made it all happen.
   Haven is a struggling illustrator, recently separated from her husband, who returns to her father’s home after he passes away.   He was a famous writer, plagued with dementia, with a long list of awards who never had a close relationship with her. While there, she discovers a previously unknown manuscript of short stories and decides to illustrate them in hopes of selling the project and earning much needed money.
   While most authors hope their stories will come alive to a reader, having them appear under the bed or in the back yard was more than Haven expected.  Haven soon realizes that her illustrating skills have opened a pandora’s Box to another world that causes havoc in her life and the death of members of this small community. A long undisclosed curse may be the cause of her “skills” that bring the written words alive with her drawings. Revelations relating to her childhood and subsequent relationship with her father result in Haven loosing the resentment she bore for many years.
   The author’s detailed descriptions of this cast of characters makes Malice House a psychological spooker that will have you looking under your bed.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Hyperion Avenue and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Family secrets, a darkness she never knew until her father’s death. Things best left undiscovered.

The Malice House
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fiction / Horror
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 10/4/22
Author: Megan Shepherd
Publisher: Hyperion Avenue
Pages: 384
Goodreads Rating: 4.12

TW ⚠️: Suicide, Aninmal Death, Child Abuse, Body Mutilation, Domestic Abuse, and Neglectful Parents, plus others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Haven Marbury found, Bedtime Stories for Monsters while clearing out her father’s place. Reeling from a failed marriage, Haven hopes an illustrated Bedtime Stories can be the lucrative posthumous father-daughter collaboration she desperately needs to jump-start her art career. However, everyone in the nearby vacation town wants a piece of the manuscript: her father’s obsessive literary salon members, the Ink Drinkers; her mysterious yet charming neighbor, a young barista with a literary forgery business; and of course, whoever keeps trying to break into her house. But when a monstrous creature appears under Haven’s bed right as grisly deaths are reported in the nearby woods, it’s clear she is about to uncover dark, otherworldly family secrets―and completely rewrite everything she ever knew about herself.

My Thoughts: I believe this book would have been better marketed as a Fantasy Horror book. I do not want to give too much away so that you are able to read and decide for yourself. This was a book in a book. The characters, especially Haven, were developed very well and had depth, mystery, and were dark. Haven comes to find she could not trust anybody, even the people she is supposedly able to to trust. The plot was well written and this book has the perfect niche. It was not my cup of tea but I know that other people will love this book. I am grateful for having the opportunity to read this book.

4 stars--I really liked it.

When an artist inherits a (haunted?) old house from her father, a famous writer, she discovers an unpublished manuscript in the attic. But the manuscript of short stories is unlike her father's previous works, and when she starts to illustrate the stories, spooky things start happening.

This book defies genre, containing elements of dark fantasy, horror, and gothic. I really enjoyed this mix, and especially enjoyed the themes of family and horror that weave their way through the pages. This will be a great Halloween read--recommended to those who like scary adventure stories.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

If you think you know what Malice House is about, no you don’t. But trust me, you’re going to want to read it to find out.

A beautiful and sometimes heart wrenching story of family secrets and burdens, told as a deeply spine-chilling gothic haunted house tale, fused with dark fairytale fantasy.

Gorgeously written and impossible to put down, it will force you to think about the stories we read and create, and how they can alter us every bit as much as we alter them.

And just as a small aside @meganshepherdauthor, I would sell my soul for a full length (illustrated?) version of “Bedtime Stories for Monsters”.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

"𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫."

Artist Haven Marbury is cleaning out her father's seaside house after his death when she stumbles across the unthinkable, a secret manuscript left behind by the Pulitzer Prize winning author. When Haven settles in to read the manuscript, titled 𝘉𝘦𝘥𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 she feels oddly compelled to illustrate the bizarre, interwoven short stories. She stays in the house that her father insisted was haunted, but his ramblings were chalked up to dementia; after all, there couldn't be anything scratching inside the walls and whispering in the house. Haven desperately hopes that a posthumous release of her father's writings coupled with her drawings will propel her career, but she isn't prepared by how many people in the town want to ride the coattails of her father's fame.

Then the unthinkable happens...when she hears scuttling under her bed one night and is bitten on the ankle by a monstrous creature, she realizes with growing certainty that her illustrations are coming to life in the most horrific way possible.

This story should have been too over the top to work, but not only did it work, it blew the whole "book within a book" trope wide open. There is a pervasive sense of dread almost from the very beginning, and I refused to read this book at night. If you were the kid who feared what was under your bed, checked behind the shower curtain, kept your feet covered with blankets, and was sure there were monsters in the woods, this book will bring all of those long-forgotten fears surging back to life. A compelling reminder of the power of words and stories. Thank you so much to the publisher for granting my wish on NetGalley! MALICE HOUSE releases October 4, 2022.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭.

Haven Marbury escapes her failed marriage and returns home to Lundie Bay in the Pacific Northwest. She settles into the home of her father, a famous author recently deceased. She’s in desperate need of money. While exploring the house, she ventures up to the attic where she finds an old handwritten manuscript by her father, very much unlike what he’d published in life. An artist, she decides to publish the book, Bedtime Stories For Monsters, with her illustrations. But soon, strange things begin to happen. Her father’s friends, part of a literary society, take an abnormal interest in the book. Her father’s housekeeper dies mysteriously. The house seems haunted. And that’s only the beginning.

Malice House is full of twists and turns and unexpected surprises. I was mostly glued to the book (some sections did drag a bit), but literally couldn’t stop reading the last third of the book. Haven was a very well written main protagonist, as were the other main characters. I very much enjoyed reading the book.

My thanks to Hyperion Avenue, and to Netgalley, for providing an ARC of Malice House.

Malice House

This book is not my usual genre. In fact, it’s probably the first fantasy book I have ever finished.

Haven Marbury is the daughter of the famous author, Amory Marbury. Haven has always had aspirations of being a famous illustrator, however, her father always tried to dissuade her from that vocation. He never praised her work nor gave her any positive feedback whatsoever. She would soon realize that he only wanted to protect her. After he died, she found one of his unpublished manuscripts and decided to try and have it published as a father/daughter collaboration with her as the illustrator.

She spent endless hours drawing realistic versions of her father’s characters and when she finally felt ready to present them, she took them to “The Ink Drinkers”, the local book club. Much to her chagrin, they downplayed her drawings and told her they were too juvenile to be printed in her famous father’s new book. After all of her hard work, that was unacceptable to Haven. She stormed out of there, ended up burning the manuscript and tried to move on.

Moving on was going to be the toughest battle of her life. It’s difficult to say much else without spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.

I gave this book 3.5 stars as I found it too slow. It’s a good premise and a great story, it just moved far too slowly for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. Thus is my honest review.