Thank you SagaPress for the book to read & review! So i requested this book thinking it would be a perfect read for spooky season. This ending up being so much more than that! This starts out with a "haunted neighborhood" and some researchers/"ghost hunters" convincing Talitha to go back to her neighborhood/house. Needless to say, she goes back! Upon meeting old childhood classmate Enid who states, "perhaps we're all ghosts" really made Talitha ponder everything.
Fast forward a few chapters and Talitha's best friend, Brett, has come to join her in exploring the neighborhood which is slowly expanding. Talitha says to Brett, "That's why this place is changing, because we're too exhausted to keep our own secrets anymore." What does this mean? What are the secrets? I'll let you read and find out!
This story sucked me in from page 1 and I couldn't put it down! I'll definitely be reading more from this author!

3.75

The Haunting of Velkwood features a suburban neighborhood turned into a ghost story and middle aged main characters who have to confront the abuses and trauma of their childhoods in order to move forward.

I found this to be an easy and engaging read and loved the way Kiste built up the tension throughout the story and had the reader question what actually happened in Velkwood all those years ago. I do think the ending fell apart a bit for my tastes, but I still enjoyed the journey.

After enjoying both this and Reluctant Immortals, I think Gwendolyn Kiste has become an auto-read author for me.

Took a couple of tries but I enjoyed this book. It didn’t suck me in but didn’t put me into a rut. I would likely give this author another try and see if my thoughts are changed about how engaged I was with the style.

This was not my taste but I will absolutely recommend this title. Beautifully written. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy.

3.75
I liked the The Haunting Of Velkwood very much. The story was an unique take on trauma and abuse and how much they impact our lives. A very thought provoking, emotional story.

Kiste has such a distinct writing style to me and I have loved everything I have read of hers, this was no exception. She has a way to pull you into the settings she writes, so that you can see everything so vividly. But while you can see everything, you are also supremely unsettled. I loved the pieces of the story that take place inside the neighborhood. As you try and piece it all togehter, you can feel time running out and it kept the pages turning. She is also able to make you feel like you know her characters, so I was very invested in the characters. I will read anything else that Kiste puts out and I can't recommend this one enough.

The very best horror reveals deep truths about the world in a way that allows us to confront our own beliefs, histories, and actions. THIS is the very best horror.

Gwendolyn gives us a story that shows the control that the past exerts in our lives. And how each of us has the power to confront the past and grow beyond it. If we are willing to.

She has created three dimensional characters that we empathize with and placed them in a situation that is totally fantastic, yet entirely believable because the real story isn’t overwhelmed by the supernatural aspects. This is a story about life long relationships and how they guide us, even in their absence.

I absolutely loved this book and plan on reading her other books soon.

This one was bizarre and heartbreaking. Velkwood is a neighborhood with a tragic past. It really shouldn't exist, and yet it still does. The Haunting of Velkwood is a unique take on the haunted house trope.

Talitha has been running from the ghosts of her past for twenty years. She was one of only 3 survivors to escape from Velkwood, the neighborhood that claimed the lives of both her mother and young sister.

An entire subdivision is gone but somehow still remains. The homes still inhabited, existing day to day as if nothing ever happened. But no one leaves, and no one goes in until now. It's time for Talitha Velkwood to go home.


On its surface, this is a ghost story, but it's also a story about accepting and facing our pasts. Whether we like it or not, our pasts shape us. Without a past, there is no future.

I loved this story and appreciated how unique it was, I personally haven't read any other stories like this!

A neighborhood with a tragic, horrific past, it shouldn't exist, yet it does. It exists but on the peripheral, while everyone wants to study the how and why, 3 young women just want the nightmare to end. Their past is quite literally haunting them, everything there has stayed exactly the same and when two of the 3 travel back to set things right they begin to realize that this neighborhood is a force unlike any other, it wants to have them home and it will consume until it has them too.

An absolute mind-blowing, hauntingly moving experience. A grief fueled, creepy as hell, heartfelt gut punch. Kiste brings readers into a horrific masterpiece of a read that you won't be able to forget.

Talitha, Brett & Grace were college age when they escaped Velkwood before it slipped beyond the veil.

For 20 years everyone from serious researchers to ghost hunters and conspiracy theorists have investigated the phenomenon and hounded the three girls for interviews.

Talitha left behind her mom & 8 year old sister. She’s spent 20 years bouncing from job to job, meaningless relationships, avoiding life & love … all while that Velkwood vicinity is stuck in time.

One day a cute researcher convinces a hesitant Talitha to cross the veil and find out once & for all what happened as only the three girls who escaped can pierce the veil.

Will the girls be able to put an end to the haunting or will they want to stay with their loved ones? This story is a Victorian creep fest and very thought provoking.

Choices need to be made by these three women. Their past secrets unwind as the story progresses.

There are secrets, a significant haunting, creepiness & a forbidden sapphic romance that’s a significant subplot which leads to a satisfying ending.

I apologize for the delay in reviewing this story, getting me to read vs listen has been a challenge as 2024 has been so so busy.

Thank you NetGalley & Saga Press, this is a good book to add to an October TBR! 4.5 stars.

This was really interesting. I don't think that I've read anything quite like this. I found the characters to be relatable and felt invested in their progression through the book.

I’ve been a devoted fan of Gwendolyn Kiste’s since I first cracked open AND HER SMILE WILL UNTETHER THE UNIVERSE a couple years ago. That collection broke me open, stirred up my insides, and remade me into a brand new story-witness. While THE HAUNTING OF VELKWOOD marches to a wholly different beat than that collection, it has the same soul-thumping percussive result. What a wondrous, dark, strange, lovely and lovING story of horror and heart. Kiste never disappoints; I don’t think she could if she tried. Highly recommended!

Have y’all seen the movie Annihilation with Natalie Portman? She’s a scientist exploring a quarantine zone where things don’t work the same as outside the bubble. This book is that, but with ghosts and secrets! I really enjoyed this twist to a traditional haunted house. I also appreciated the metaphors for a closed off community protecting the wrong members. The girls who survive are all compelling in their own ways, and the reveals pull you along in a way that will have you finishing this book before you know it.

The Haunting of Velkwood is an eerie take on dealing with childhood trauma. Enjoyed the writing, but the characters seemed immature (perhaps by design).

What a fabulous read!

This was so sad and so eerie.

Definitely a unique haunting story and one what will bring tears to your eyes more than once.

I loved our characters and wanted them happy - even when I knew there was only sadness in store for some.

Surprisingly fast paced and I simply didn't want to put it down!

I loved the character of Velkwood Street and what its creeping presence added to the atmosphere of this novel. Definitely has the eerie, "something's not right here" vibe that I like in a spooky story. 3.8 for me

A haunting literary horror about a group of girls who try to return to their neighborhood that turned into a ghost town seemingly overnight 20 years ago. This book was well written, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. The overall tone actually made me a bit queasy which some horror lovers may enjoy. I didn’t like the reveal of what happened to the town and wish it had been something a bit more exciting. We do get to know the characters throughout flashbacks and internal thoughts of the main character, but I didn’t feel connected to any of them in the way I like to in books. I do think many horror lovers would enjoy this book, it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

“You’ll be my ghost now.”

Talitha and her best friends always dreamed of escaping Velkwood, the street they all grew up on. Overnight their street becomes an actual ghost town and nobody else makes it out alive. 20 years later, researchers still don’t know what happened and nobody can enter the street. Except Talitha, Brett and Grace.

The Haunting of Velkwood is a ghost story and a unique take on haunted houses, but so much more than that. It’s a story about grief and how despite how much you may want to, you can’t change the past. This book is atmospheric and beautifully written. While it’s not your traditionally scary story, there is plenty of mystery and spooky bits. This is a book I’d definitely recommend reading this fall.

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for a review copy.

Thanks to Saga Press and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for my review.

All of us have experienced some type of grief in our lives, but what if there was an actual physical manifestation of the darkest parts of our childhood that never disappears. This is what Talitha Velkwood experiences after her neighborhood becomes a ghost town. Literally.

The Haunting of Velkwood is an eerie tale of grief, shame, regret, and how they can haunt you no matter how long it's been or how far you go.

This book was a little bit of a slow read at first, but before I knew it, I was slamming through this, trying to figure out what was going to happen. Seeing the secrets of this 'idyllic' neighborhood unfold was horrifying and entrancing in equal measure, almost like a car wreck you know is coming, but can't stop. There is talk of childhood SA, but nothing graphic. This made it hard to read at times, but even more so how it was a poorly hidden secret of the neighborhood that everyone turned a blind eye to, even Brett's mother.

I enjoyed how Kiste portrayed Grace, Talitha, and Brett as how many people deal with grief in their lives; either they never leave it behind (Grace), they never look back (Brett), or they're stuck between wanting to go back and wanting to move forward (Talitha).

This is a really great read that when I was done I had to sit back and sit on it for a day or two to let everything sink in. This was one of the most unique ghost stories that I've read in a very long time and love it.

THE HAUNTING OF VELKWOOD – by Gwendolyn Kiste

‘“Thank you for meeting with me,” he says at last, and flashes me that crooked smile again. . . . He tells me his name is Jack, and on reflex, I introduce myself, even though we’ve already been over this. He knows my name, knows everything about me. The whole world does. When you survive a tragedy like mine, privacy is suddenly a luxury you can’t afford.’

LOVE the supernatural element in the book and the mystery surrounding Velkwood, though a bit of a slow burn, overall I enjoyed the story and that ending—My Heart!

Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Saga Press (Simon & Schuster), for providing me with an eBook of THE HAUNTING OF VELKWOOD at the request of an honest review.