This book was equal parts horrific at times and life lesson-y if that makes sense. It was creative and actually creeped me out to read at night (lol). It was written from a child’s POV but would skip around and formatted like a poem almost. It went on a hair too long because it seemed like regardless there would just never be a solution. I had a hunch about the “Other Mommy” name early on.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Del Ray for my DRC in exchange for my honest review.

This is possibly the scariest book I've ever read. I don't normally pick up horror or anything close. Bela has an imaginary friend named "Other Mommy", except she might not be imaginary and she might not be a friend.

The audiobook is fantastically done. The book is entirely from Bela's point of view and @delanienicolegill does an amazing child's voice.

I'll be recommending this this fall to people who like:
- paranormal horror
- single pov
- scary audiobooks

Excited to read this thriller but then after, I must say it was quite quirky and bizarre. Told from the perspective of a young child, the prose is dialog and thoughts within her head. Bella sees someone else in the house where she lives with Mommy and Daddo. It's "Other Mommy" who lives in her closet. At first you think of stories of children who have nightmares of the boogieman or monster who live in their closet, but this becomes so much more. Other Mommy eventually sits on her bed, is in her bathroom, comes downstairs, and then is at the park where she plays. Other Mommy continues to talk to Bella about "carnation" (reincarnation) and asks Bella if she can come inside her heart. Bella tries to make sense, but wants to protect her parents. They don't understand and their marriage is fragile as well. Is Bella safe in her own bed? It's a very strange premise, especially after strange things begin to happen and other people catch glimpses of Other Mommy as she grows stronger. Truth be told, I'm not sure that I liked it. While the tension builds towards the end, the storyline din't keep my interest with the choppy dialog and the repetitious events. It was just okay. Many thanks to #netgalley #incidents aroundthehouse #joshmalerman #randomhouseballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My experiences with Malerman's books vary so widely and unfortunately Incidents Around the House was a miss. To start with the positives: I thought the premise was unique. We follow eight-year-old Bela, whose parents have a slightly tumultuous marriage. Bela has been seeing an entity in her room, who she calls Other Mommy. The descriptions -- and lack thereof -- of Other Mommy make her truly creepy. There are some genuinely terrifying moments in this, and Malerman is great at keeping the tension up.

Unfortunately, I also felt like a lot of this dragged for me. Between the eerie moments, there were a lot of monologues. My issue was primarily that I didn't understand what he was trying to convey here. I also struggled a bit with the writing style and would often have to reread passages to fully understand what was going on and who was speaking. My caveat being that I'm not sure how much of this was due to the writing or due to it being an advanced copy. Either way, I do seem to be in the minority as this has a pretty high average rating. So if it seems up your alley, it's probably worth checking out.

OMG, WTF did I just read? I don’t think a book has ever made me scared to go to sleep, until now! Maybe it’s because my side of the bed is next to the closet door? Seriously, I don’t get scared by books or movies that often … this has me freaked out. Let me say, I didn’t realize this was a paranormal horror book when I started reading, I wasn’t prepared! Lu Lily the author was gracious enough to throw in some humor, I caught myself laughing out loud a few times (felt good to break the tension). A little hard to read at first, had to gain my footing because of the POV. It’s written from the POV of 8 year old Bela (although it reads a little younger, I could see maybe a 6 year old). She lives with mom and dad, who are having some marital issues (that they don’t think Bela picks up on, but she does). She has one close friend, and a nice babysitter, but that’s about it. Enter “Other Mommy”, the scariest thing to invade my brain in awhile. She hides in the closet, at first, then starts to creep out into Belas room … she wants to know if she a can “Enter her heart” and reincarnate. Bela says NO, but throughout the book you see Bela fight with whether she should say yes, just to make everything stop. The entity grows stronger, becomes more bold … things happen, I can’t say what, but let’s just say there seems like no escape. I couldn’t read fast enough, I couldn’t breathe, I don’t think I’ll forget this book for awhile.

I did not enjoy this book. The parents names: Daddo and Ursula were not appealing. I was expecting to be scared out of my mine based on ratings and comments BUT I found this book to be endless rambling and extremely anti-climatic. Very disappointed!

If I never have to read or hear the word “Daddo” for the rest of my life, I would be truly grateful! This is being sold as “horror,” but honestly there wasn’t anything remotely scary about this entire story. This is more about a story about an eight year old named Bela, and it’s written from her pov, about her and her parent’s lives with a “creepy monster” lurking in her closet…

The way this book was written took a bit to get used to because the dialogue isn’t written like regular dialogue. Also, the conversations with Bela from adults/her family were not what normal convos would be like with a child, let alone an eight year old. This story was wayyyyyyy too long and the story kept going around and around in circles for a ridiculous amount of time!

Don’t even get me started with the ending?! I wasted 300+ pages of this annoying story to find out literally nothing. What an awful ending and nothing felt resolved or buttoned up in any way.

I do not understand how this has such high ratings, are we all reading the exact same book?! There was nothing remotely scary about this book at all!

If you’re looking for a true horror book, you want something spooky, creepy and to be scared?! This IS NOT IT! I would not recommend this unless you want annoying dialogue, a creature of some sort, family drama and an awful ending.

This author is so hit or miss for me. I've loved some of his works. I found some OK. This one.....I get it. I get that this is told from the point of view of the young girl at the center of the "incidents." The story telling is so stilted and hard to read that the tension and terror are completely lost. This should have been truly creep and terrifying. But the style took me out of the narrative again and again. When I think of the story now I see how truly scary this could be. Instead I cringed at every "Daddo". I hated not knowing if the main characters was thinking or speaking until halfway through a sentence because the author refused to use quotation marks. I know what he was trying to do. It didn't work for me.

Rating: 5 million stars!

Wow. Easily the best horror book I have ever read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a skin crawling angsty read. I navigated between my kindle and audio. Wow, both formats were 🤌🏽. I used both formats as this book was unputdownable.

This tells the story of 8-year old Bela and what she has been experiencing. It opens right into Bela and her interactions with her Daddy (Daddo), Mommy, and… Other Mommy. Other Mommy is an entity that is relentless in her pursuit of asking Bela the reoccurring question of, “Can I go inside your heart?” At first, only Bela had interactions with Other Mommy, but eventually Other Mommy makes herself known to others. Thinga progress quickly in this story and this nail-bitter will make you crazy in seeing what happens next.

🎧 Narrated by 17 year old Delanie Nicole Gill she captures the childlike essence of young Bela. I felt that much of the story truly felt as though it was coming from that of a little girl.

Thank you #NetGalley and #DelReyBooks for an arc of #IncidentsAroundtheHouse in exchange for an honest review.

Incidents Around the House is an eerie and atmospheric read. The viewpoint of the child made it extremely creepy. It manages to instill fear without oversharing, thereby making it more scary than any gore filled story. The ending was inevitable but still managed to leave me in a state of shock.

I have loved every book of Josh Malerman’s that I have read (including Pearl - you must look this one up immediately!) but I think Incidents Around The House may have nudged Bird Box from it’s top spot as my fave Josh Malerman book.

I have posted this review on Amazon, Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6604507540

And Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8u9U9PPYqG/?igsh=MWFhcDVubmw4OHh1Yg==

Here’s the thing. When I started this book I was so excited about it, and for the first half I was really loving it. It’s creepy, and the writing is different and interesting. But when I was about 50% through, real life hit me and my family very hard. I decided to continue on reading, but the second half was just not as good as the first for me, which was to be expected given my circumstances. I was just struggling to feel anything at all while reading it. I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t excited, the ending didn’t land right, and I was only invested enough to keep reading. But I didn’t dislike it either.

This is 100% not the book’s fault. Even with my circumstances I still liked the book, and can tell that if things were normal I would have really enjoyed it. So even though my experience with it was maybe three stars, I’m going to rate it four stars, as I’m pretty sure that what I would have given it normally.

So I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something creepy and unique. This is my second Malerman novel (and I’ve also read one of his novellas), and this one has convinced me to go back (at some point) and read his backlist books that I haven’t yet read.

Meh. I loved Bird Box and Malorie but this book wasn't for me. I kind of liked the perspective from a child, but it is felt slow and repetitive. And the ending completely ruined it for me.

(3.4)

This is a book I was really looking forward to reading. The premise sounded really interesting and I'd heard that some people actually got scared.

While this wasn't a complete let down, I was a bit disappointed. I read this by myself at night and didn't get scared. I really wanted this to get under my skin. That's not to say that there weren't some creepy parts in the book, though.

I found it was hard to get scared with the descriptions given by the main character, who is an 8 year old child. I was also taken out of the story a bit when the parents would go into long monologs.

That said, I couldn't put this book down. Something about it just makes you want to keep reading. I still had a good time.

I do wish the ending had been different, though.

I'd still recommend this to those who love stories about haunted houses, family dramas, or beginners when it comes to reading horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, Del Rey, and the author for providing me with an ARC for review.

My enjoyment of Josh Malerman’s novels has varied, but one thing that’s wonderfully consistent about his work is that he always manages to write something truly creepy and unsettling without resorting to the grotesque and gruesome.

This is the kind of horror I like, the type that’s more show that tell and that is predicated on a sense of menace and creeping dread rather than shocking violence.

This one isn’t quite as scary or brilliantly rendered as Bird Box, but it’s clever and eerily intense, and telling the story exclusively from a child’s perspective is both unusual and effective in making the story even creepier.

The way Malerman can maintain dramatic tension for so, so much of a story without the effect lessening is truly impressive, and I loved how this one ended.

This book helped me get out of my reading slump because I needed to know what would happen next. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a quick, spooky read with real life issues intermingled.

This is the first book to give me goosebumps in a long time. I was on the edge of my seat during some of the more intense scenes. I loved the writing style of this. It was very unique- especially being told from the perspective of Bela.

A satisfyingly scary story that’s a bit predictable and unique enough to keep my attention. Definitely recommend for horror fans of all kinds.

Kudos to Josh Malerman for executing the spine-tingling haunting of our little Bela with such delicious imagery! Wowza! This one will stop you mid read to mentally comment on the eerie scenes crawling through the pages.

Incidents Around The House is shown through the eyes of Bela, a young girl experiencing escalating interactions with an entity she refers to as "Other Mommy." To be perfectly honest, this did take me a bit to warm up to. The writing felt quite simplistic and choppy. As I made my way, however, I came to find that that simplicity was stylistic genius at its finest. The innocence of a child's viewpoint was the perfect juxtaposition to the evil that lurks in the narrative. Less was certainly more in this case, and Malerman pulls it off like a master.

This is one of those books that will pull you in and keep you turning pages until the big finale. Captivating and paced to move, I didn't want to put it down.

The only real disconnect for me was the awful persona of Ursula and the overly obnoxiousness of Daddo. I was not a fan of either of these characters. Flawed, yes, but unfortunately, in the worst of ways. Ursula was a nightmare. I certainly did not love to hate her. I simply disenjoyed each and every moment of her horridness. And please, don't even get me started on Daddo. His oblivious, wishy-washy, beaten puppy syndrome was hard to stomach at the best of times. These two, simply put, were just plain unpalatable. However...once again...this somehow works with the innocence of the narrative. This little girl may not realize the awfulness in which she is surrounded, but we sure do.

Final thoughts? This is the creepy hand that grabs your ankle from under your bed. The mirror you avoid in a dark room. The shower curtain you're terrified to open. Hands down, one-hundred percent...eerie, vivid fun.

Thank you to the author and Random House Publishing-Ballantine/Del Ray for the opportunity to read a digital advanced readers copy via Net Galley. I am willingly leaving my thoughts.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine for the book #IncidentsAroundTheHouse by #JoshMalerman. Bella’s an 8 year old girl who is being haunted by an entity, Other Mother. This entity wants to enter her heart and be reincarnated. When Bela’s mommy and daddo find out about this, they try and get rid of it. But can they? Is this Other Mommy dangerous?