Natasha Preston's books are always short and bloody. I eat them up every time. The Haunting truly dove into the cup that is small town struck by tragedy and pulled out a tense and at times very scary slasher story.

These books are really short, but the character development is always so good. I immediately felt for Penny and the guilt she felt about her complicated situation. I loved how she handled Nash's anger and distrust of her like an emotionally intelligent person rather than just demanding her welcome her back with open arms. I felt like it was a realistic depiction of the dynamics that would happen in this situation.

I've read multiple of Natasha Preston's books and I've never successfully guessed who the killer was. I was really close with this one, but I talked myself out of it. The mystery is so masterful and the story makes it fun to guess and theorize. I love these books. The Haunting really gave classic teen slasher vibes and it was so nostalgic.

I don't know if it's me and my tiny, easily entertained brain, but I'm always shocked at the end of Preston's books. They never end the way I expect them to and The Haunting was no exception. I actually yelled out "NO WAY!" and then had to explain to my very confused husband my frustration. I love it. It keeps me coming back for more.

The Haunting was a short, bloody slasher perfect for the Halloween season. I can't wait to work my way through the rest of Natasha Preston's work.

If you’re looking for a Halloween themed YA horror novel, you won’t go wrong with The Haunting. But be warned, the title has nothing to do with ghosts.

Characters
We have a group of friends, one of them being ostracized by the town and the rest of the friend group – except for one person. They’re great characters, although you really only deal with two or three of them for most of the book. You’ll see Penny, Nash, and Zayn more than you’ll see any of the others, but they’re all mentioned several times as well. We don’t have a whole lot of background on any of them, but we don’t really need it and they’re written well enough that it doesn’t matter.

Atmosphere
It’s a serial killer at Halloween – what more could you ask for in an atmosphere? It isn’t Michael Myers (and we can all be thankful for that) but it doesn’t need to be. That being said, the atmosphere was fraught with tension because of the killings and it was pretty great.

Writing
Natasha Preston’s writing style is easy to read and makes it hard to put a book down. Honestly, it wasn’t the story or the writing that had me putting the book down, it was my iPad getting too heavy to hold up anymore. LOL I have another book of hers in my NetGalley queue and I’m really wanting to get to it now because she has a captivating writing style.

Plot
I really liked the plot to this book. A small town one year after a serial killer took the lives of five students. The killer, locked in a federal prison in another state. But now the killings have started up again. Is it a copycat or was the wrong person locked up for the first murders? And why is this killer focused so much on one of the friend group? It’s a great plot and very well executed.

Intrigue
I kept needing to know what was going to happen next. Would they find another body? If so, who would it be? Would it be someone we’d met in the story already or someone completely new? And who the heck was behind all this? I had my guesses on that one, but it took me a couple tries to get it right and there was a twist I never saw coming. So yeah, this book has intrigue.

Romance
You have to love the fact that neither Penny or Nash are really over each other – or out of love. No matter how cold Nash acts towards Penny, she still cares and Nash cares for her. It’s cute, it’s sweet, and it’s totally inappropriate with a serial killer on the loose… but that’s OK because they aren’t actually a couple at this point.

Ending
The ending is why this book got 4 stars instead of 5. I’m so angry about the ending… I can’t say much more because I’d spoil it but oh I was so mad I almost threw my iPad.

Conclusion
This book is a great read for the spooky season or any other time you like to read horror novels. There’s plenty of suspense and horror to go around with this one. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars and I do recommend it to anyone who likes horror novels during spooky season (or any other time).

I loved this! Just like all Natasha's book it was 5 star for me! The very first page gets you hooked & before you know you're about done & don't want it to end. I love her character building, the way she puts you in the story like you're seeing it happen in real life. Definitely won't be my last nastasha preston book! Thank you

The Haunting is a great YA thriller about a girl whose ex-boyfriend's father was arrested for the brutal murder of four teenagers a year ago. It looks like they have a copycat on their hands when a dead body shows up. I really enjoyed the plot and flew through this book. The atmosphere is super tense which really keeps you turning the pages. I think it is the perfect Halloween read, it really captures the feeling of the holiday and adds some mystery and murder. Yes, as many have stated the ending is a massive cliffhanger which is a bummer, but other than that I thought it was solid with plenty of red herrings to keep me guessing. I will have to check out this author's other books.

If you're a fan of the Scream movie franchise, this book is likely to be right up your alley. Personally, I don't have a taste for Scream, any of its sequels, or slasher movies. Therefore, "The Haunting" didn't resonate with me.

I found it challenging to form a vivid mental image of the characters or to develop any genuine emotional connection with them. The narrative appeared to lack substantial tension, relying primarily on the formula of "another dead body" for excitement. While I understand the author's penchant for cliffhanger endings, this particular one left me with a lingering sense of incompleteness.


2 stars

This felt like reading Scream and I can't tell if I like that or not. 🤔 For starters I really enjoyed the small town setting. It helped add to the eerie atmosphere and made you suspect everyone! I definitely could see the direction this was going very early on though and that made it easier to know who was to blame for the murders and what twists were coming.
👻
The characters were pretty well fleshed out, with distinct personalities but I didn't really hate or love any of them. Some of their actions seemed a bit childish but I do have to remember they are meant to be teenagers so that would make sense.
👻
The ending was not for me AT ALL and I feel like that's a running theme for Natasha Preston's books and me. If you are not a fan of an open ending then maybe don't read her books 😆 Me personally, I would've loved an epilogue to see how everything wrapped up. Is it necessary for the story? Not really. I just generally like to have loose ends tied up. I know a lot of people enjoy her endings though so you be the judge of whether you like that kind of thing or not.
👻
As a whole this was a quick and easy read and I enjoyed my time with this book. A nice horror/mystery for fall to give you creepy vibes and get you into the spooky time spirit.

What I liked:
🩸Halloween Vibe: PERFECT for this time of year! Halloween festivities, references to slasher films, a killer with a creepy mask whom Penny (our MC) sees lurking everywhere, and final girl vibes - such a fun book for an October book!
🩸Fast-Paced Plot: I read this over two days - short chapters, twisty plots, and tons of red herrings! I did need to suspend belief, but the tension-filled slasher-movie vibe kept me turning the pages.
🩸Ending: If you have read a Natasha Preston book, you know what I’m talking about. The Haunting is my first Preston story, so when I read the last word, I actually flipped the page to read the next chapter or epilogue. Nope. The end. And then nodded my head approvingly….I liked it.

I paired the book with the audiobook. Bailey Carr perfectly performs this Halloween thriller. You can’t go wrong with either format.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for providing this ebook in exchange for an honest review!

This was a bit to reminiscent of the Scream Movie Franchise... and predictable ( 2 things I'm not a huge fan of).

I enjoyed the story unfolding, HOWEVER the ending fell totally flat for me.
Didn't enjoy the ending at all. (deducted 2 stars for ending).

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this ARC. This Halloween thriller is full of suspense, surprises and dead bodies! A fast paced mystery with a surprising ending!

I had great hopes for this novel, given the title and the author (and its release just prior to Spooky Season). Those hopes did not completely manifest, as almost all the book focuses on 1st person narrative of an unreliable Narrator who is ruled by her heart, not her head, and pays only surface respect to authority. Also, if this were a Horror or Suspense film (and certainly it very well could be!) knowledgeable audiences would be constantly groaning because young Penny (okay, she's seventeen but hardly acts it) flies headlong into trouble over and over, more than lemmings diving from a cliff.

All that aside, the plot premise is good, the reprise a year later of earlier events is engrossing, but kudos go to the Denouement, which in its entirety is super far out! So 4 stars to the novel, 12 stars to the Denouement and conclusion!😊

This was my favorite by her so far. Perfect for October and the queen of twists does it again. She blows me away every single time

Murder in a small town, by someone no one saw coming. That's a good plotline. Add that on the anniversary, more murders start happening. Another good plotline. It was overall pretty entertaining, but I wanted a bigger twist or to not have so much emphasis on it being a certain character in the story because then you know it won't be them that is the bad guy. I really wanted to love this, but I found myself a little disappointed at the end. I love a cliffhanger, but it felt too steep.

Ughh THAT ENDING WTF!!!! But I still loved the book. Plus the fall/Halloween vibes were everythingggg. I'm officially a Natasha Preston fan.

ALL THE FALL FEELS.

Pumpkins. Costumes. And masked killers, oh my.

This book is perfect for spooky season. I may even reread it next year. However, I struggled to feel satisfied with the ending.

Maybe I missed something (or a lot of somethings...), but the unmasking of the killer felt quick and random, and not satisfactory in the sense of "I knew it!" or "I had no idea, but all the clues WERE THERE. How did I miss it?!"

The ending left me feeling unsure--as if the book had a running and exciting start, then simply coasted to a lame stop until the curtain fell.

I'm curious to read other's reviews to see if they felt the same way.

I would recommend this book--to hear what others think of the ending, and also because the fall nostalgia is definitely present and accounted for.

Looking forward to reading something else from this author!!

Suspenseful, mysterious, creepy, engaging, thrilling. Natasha Preston has done it again. I absolutely loved her characters. They were so well written and they were very relatable and realistic (which adds a lot to the story.

The plot was fast paced, thrilling engaging, kept you guessing throughout the whole thing. I honestly read this book whenever I had a moment, my lunch break, while cooking (it’s harder than it sounds), even while waiting for an event to start. I could not put it down. It’s a quicker read but it’s so well written and the plot developed so well within those pages.

I have a love/hate relationship with Natasha and her endings. That’s all I have to say because you need to read the book (well any of her thriller books) and you’ll understand.

10/10 would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review

I am generally not a fan of Young Adult novels, but I love Natasha Preston’s books! The Haunting kept me on the edge of my seat and had lots of twists! I especially enjoyed reading this novel during spooky season, it gave me all the Halloween vibes. Five stars for me!

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I’ve been loving Natasha Preston’s books and been catching up on the ones I haven’t yet read. When I got an ARC of this, I thought September/October was the perfect time to read to celebrate spooky season. Overall, I liked this book. Like Preston’s other books, I was absolutely sucked in and on the edge of my seat. The thrills were leaving me on edge when I went to bed for the night. Despite the thrill, I thought the book was a bit graphic and the ending was very abrupt.

Publication Date: September 26, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing !!! I loved the plot twist and never saw it coming but OMG the cliffhanger *shocked face* !
Perfect for spooky season !! You’ll love every second of this book !

This was an interesting book. It was very similar to a Scream type movie, so if you enjoy those movies, you will probably enjoy this! It had me guessing who the killer was through the whole book, and had a great reveal. The ending was left very open, making me believe that a sequel could be coming.

This is the first horror book I have read this year that I was absolutely hooked! The suspense, the twist!

I was invested in this book from the start. I love how the author kept me captivated enough to keep reading and wanting to know who the killer was! I has a list of people I “thought” was the killer, but man was I wrong.

Penny was the girlfriend to Nash whose father, Jackson, ended killing 5 kids around Halloween and ended up being caught by the FBI after 2 of them being in town. But a YEAR later the murders have started again and have everyone questioning if this is a copy cat killer.

Penny broke up with Nash, ignored and shunned him and his sister Grace. Now that the killings have started again the town is questioning if Jackson’s kids have followed in his footsteps.

I had my doubts about multiple people in this book, but my mind was blown towards the end. And that ending! I don’t know if this book will get a sequel but it was definitely worth the read!