I love a good haunted house and ghost story. Even better if it’s true. I call myself a skeptically believer. I believe in ghosts and hauntings but I’m skeptical of people.
This was an intriguing read

3.75 ⭐

((Major problems with missing words, sentence structure, punctuation, tense and overall writing cohesiveness. I hope this was tidied up before publication.))

I'm a believer, but I am a skeptive of this book, in part.

Full disclosure, I am an OG GA fan, never GH, though I don't believe that affects my views of this book.. apart from Bagans' natural ability to be an epic storyteller making him a hard act to follow, but I digress.

Do I believe the House of Wills haunted? Yes.
Do I believe this group had one or more encounters that night? Yes.
Do I believe the activity captured was of such a grand amount? Ehh, probably not.

It's hard to believe this much activity was encountered, with this many intelligent responses in real time. But at the same time, the author freely admits to this being the most activity he'd ever experienced, so..

This story has a bit of everything
- shadow figures
- loud, coherent disembodied voices IRL
- footsteps and other noises
- hallucinations
- satanic activity
- possession
- intelligent verbal responses to questions in real time via spirit box, an entire conversation, really
- demonic attachment and piggybacking
- apocalypse-esque claims

Do I think this story was exaggerated? Yes.
Was it still entertaining? Yes.

More, please!

👻 😈

I love ghost hunter stories!!!! An amazing story of a ghost hunter with a house that doesn’t sit with him well and continues to haunt him through time.

I'm always a bit skeptic even if I'm a fan of ghost hunter shows and love ghost stories. This book kept me reading and I found it creepy and gripping.
It could be the plot of an excellent horror novel as the author is a good storyteller
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved this book. as a huge fan of ghost hunting shows and books, I was immediately interested. I loved hearing about the authors past and present. I found it so interesting that he told us he was (and still possibly is) a skeptic. I have had many experiences myself, and I love learning about the paranormal. I had never heard of House of Wills before, but i would def add it to the list of places i would never want to visit. I also liked how the author made sure to not shame the current owner despite their difference in religion.

This was a really interesting book! I love ghost stories (in all forms of media) so this is right up my alley. I enjoyed it! It has plenty of eerie moments and is written in a way that brought me right into the story within the first few pages. The story moves at a quick pace and I enjoyed it. I would recommend this to those who are looking for a fast paced book with eerie moments or a nice ghost story. Special Thank You to Daryl Marston, Llewellyn Worldwide, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Well since Halloween is right around the corner I have been getting out spooky novels to read.
This novel is a short read, just took me a few hours to read. I have never heard of the author before (I do not have cable tv etc) apparently he has been on ghost shows etc.
I did find the story interesting and it is creepy in parts (so you might not want to read it before you go to bed like I did ha). I personally have had so many experiences with the paranormal. I am a born again Christian so a lot of the things he mentioned in the book I found myself rolling my eyes like using sage to cleanse the house and oneself. Yeah that does not work. The thing with me is that I do not go out to find and talk to spirits they would always just show themselves to me and I have never ever tried to communicate with them. I go accordingly to what the Bible says. Demons can disguise themselves as whatever they wont. I will say that the main reason that place is haunted like it is it because of the satanic stuff and rituals they have been doing and are still doing. I think that when you dabble in the supernatural you have to be so careful and even more so when you are not a saved Christian. The Bible talks all about demons and being possessed by them for those who are not saved. All demons in the name of Jesus have to flea that is the only thing that will work...not sage.
With that being said I enjoyed the story and it is perfect for Halloween month which is right around the corner. I think the most disturbing part of the story to me was when the author and his friends were possessed by demons. Because I mean come on you just don't black out for hours and loose hours of your time. Just let everyone out there to know to be very very careful with what you dabble in. It opens doors to you and your family and only calling on Jesus can help you.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

From what I gather, this was the author's first book. Most of the book was just fine....but not great. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style to be honest. I felt like his thoughts were a little disorganized at time.

If you believe in the paranormal, you will likely enjoy reading about the author's first hand experience at this house.

The book was short, so easy enough to force myself to get through.... but it just didn't wow me.

First I have never heard of the House of Wills, so I was interested to know what was so scary about it. Mr. Marston being a first time writer told his firsthand account of what happened to him after his visit but the book kept bouncing back and forth as to whether he would ever go back again or not. I am not sure that I believe in "spirits" or locations being "haunted" but I am not going to say for sure they don't exist.

It takes a lot for a book to scare me or keep me up at night and this one just didn't do it. It needed better editing in my opinion to make a more continuous flow of the story.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Somehow this book feels like watching ghost hunter type TV show. I found it to be too slow with too many details for my liking. It just wasn't for me.

In this book, Daryl Marston, a cast member from the show "Ghost Hunters", details the most terrifying paranormal investigation he has ever experienced at what is known as "The House of Wills". Right away, this book drew me in and kept my attention, so much so, that I read it within the span of a couple of hours. He begins by explaining who he is, how he came to be at The House of Wills, and then the story unfolds from there.

The author was very detailed in describing the setting and the things he was experiencing, as well as how it was making him feel along the way. He also included photos of the various rooms to back up his descriptions of just how creepy it actually is inside. His humor and sarcastic tone at various points within the story gave it a laid-back and relatable feel. I enjoyed this aspect.

After detailing his experience with The House of Wills, he goes into talking about the paranormal community, talking about his time writing this book, as well as recounting the day he learned of the death of his son, which inevitably changed his life forever. I enjoyed getting to learn a little more about the author, though it felt a little haphazard being at the end of the book and slightly repetitive at times.

This book would appeal to those who enjoy non-fiction accounts of the paranormal and haunted houses from a professional's standpoint. I am rating this book with 4 stars because for those who enjoy books of this genre, it is one that keeps you on your toes wondering what happens next! I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about an in-depth paranormal experience in the first-person point of view, and look forward to hearing more from this author, whether it be in writing or on TV.

I want to thank Netgalley, Llewellyn publishing, and the author Daryl Marston for giving me the opportunity to read this e-book prior to release.

As a paranormal enthusiast, I enjoy "true" ghost TV shows, books, etc. I say true in quotes because while I am a believer in ghosts, hauntings, and the afterlife, I know that not everything you see or read is real, and there is a lot of faked footage out there.

I have found that Ghost Hunters (TV show) has been more reliable and always sought to debunk hauntings rather than hype up and exaggerate everything. I knew that this author was a part of that show, although I am much more familiar with the OG cast. So, with that in mind and after reading the book blurb on Netgalley, I knew I really wanted to read this one.

I was not familiar with the location where most of this book takes place. But honestly, after reading about this place from the author's experiences, I do not want to ever visit the House of Wills!

It takes a lot for a book to scare me. In all of my reading, there have maybe been 2 or 3 books that have scared me (made me actually lose sleep, be afraid of things in the dark and/or have nightmares). This is now one of those books.

I am confident that knowing this is a true story made this much more scary for me. And, the author's writing really drew me into that building. His descriptions and emotions made me feel like I was there, experiencing terrifying footsteps, bodiless conversations, dark moving masses, and even possible possessions. Not to mention the things that happened after he left that location!

The last 25%, which was about long after the paranormal investigation, did get a little muddled for me. He did briefly write about a heart-wrenching, devastating personal loss that was very brave to share. But outside of that,he kept switching from inspirational words for fellow ghost hunters to present day life to whether or not he would return to the House of Wills and back again. That all got a bit repetitive and wasn't as clearly defined as the rest of the story. More like random thoughts or journal entries. I think if that was edited a little better, this would easily be a 5 star read. I gave this book 4⭐️.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Llewellyn publishing and the author, Daryl Marston, for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced ebook copy of this book.

This book takes us through Daryl Marstons first hand experience with his scariest location of paranormal activity, The House of Wills. We learn how he got there, what happened and what the consequences of his paranormal investigation were.

I really loved the premise of this book, and truly wanted it to convince me that The House of Wills was truly evil. I’m still on the fence about that, but really enjoyed hearing about his experience as a paranormal investigator. The story was told very thoroughly, from how he discovered this location and all the way through how he was affected after the investigation.

The writing felt very amateur, leaning towards telling us what happens rather than showing. This is to be expected in a debut novel, as writers typically spend some time finding their voice in the writing. Obviously, it is important to note that this is supposedly a true story, so that does have some say in the writing style being what it is.

If you’re curious about how paranormal investigations work, or just love reading about people being terrified of paranormal entities, this book would definitely be a good fit for you.

Big thanks to Netgalley, Llewellyn Publications, and the author Daryl Marston for allowing me to read an E-Arc of this book.

Marston, a paranormal investigator and co-host of the TV show Ghost Hunters tells the story of the House of Wills, a former funeral home, that according to Marston is infested with an evil presence. Marston’s story of his time investigating the house and the rumors about its grim past is fraught with stories of a man who claims to have laid his very soul and sanity on the line. Whether you are a believer in the paranormal and the concept of evil or not, this is a fascinating look inside the heart and soul of a house and a man