5 stars for this supernatural thriller about a woman who never expected to survive past her childhood due to her cystic fibrosis diagnosis. Given a second chance at life, she falls in love and gets married. Tragically, her spouse dies in a car accident, but his final words to her, "I'll be waiting for you," lead to a series of eerie events.

Desperate for answers, Nicola agrees to a séance. Strange phenomena begin immediately: doors unlock themselves, swarms of insects appear, and mysterious noises fill the house. Nicola is haunted by her own dark secrets.

Perfect read for this time of year!

The publication date is set for October 1, 2024. This book is a perfect read for fans of the horror genre, featuring all the deliciously wicked elements: a haunted old beach house that’s used to be in her husband’s family for generations (currently a vacation rental), a séance, and a chilling tale about a boy who went into the woods and ended up killing his girlfriend.

The story begins with Nicola Laughton, who has cystic fibrosis, enjoying a happy moment with her husband, Anton. However, tragedy strikes, and instead of Nicola succumbing to her illness as they had both expected, Anton dies. His last words to her were, “I’ll be waiting…” In her grief, Nicola’s private moment is thrust into the spotlight., Desperate to find out what her husband meant and finding answers, Nicola embarks on a desperate quest, consulting medium after medium, to contact her departed husband.

After encountering many charlatans, her brother’s husband, Jin finally finds a professor of parapsychology who might hold the key to help Nicoloa to find her answers and hopefully, move on. She invites her friend Shania, Jin, the professor, Devon Cirillo, and herself to her husband’s family beach house to hold a séance.

The story draws you in slowly, building up to a whirlwind climax where everything culminates, and Nicola gets more answers than she bargained for. The story includes unexpected, shocking elements. Despite some slow parts in the middle and a rushed ending, it’s a good spine tingling, paranormal read that will keep you engaged.

I loved this book this is perfect for a spooky season read! I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did!

I'll Be Waiting
By: Kelley Armstrong

5 Stars

This story was fast-paced paced and genuinely spooky. It has been a while since a book spooked me to the point I get chills, but this one succeeded. Nicola is a woman with CF and while battling that she is battling with the grief of losing her husband. During a week of seances to reach her dead husband, her life changes again as her past comes back to haunt her.

This book sheds some light on a very bad health diagnosis while providing a scary and malevelont story filled with murder and secrets long gone. It was captivating and enticing. It was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat while providing education on a horrible disease. I was captivated by the depth of fantasy and reality that were in this book. It was thrilling, and it was done masterfully.

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

First of all, I love Kelley Armstrong. I have enjoyed every book of hers so far.
This book was really good. I love the thriller aspect, and the ghosty vibes.
I'm giving it a 4 star overall, because I figured out most of the twist beforehand. Beyond that the book was amazing!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

I'm a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong's Rip Through Time series (seriously, it's can't miss), so I was excited to receive an ARC of her upcoming release I'll Be Waiting.

I really enjoyed the main character, Nicola, especially because of the representation for people suffering from cystic fibrosis. I was a teenager when I was introduced to CF via an acquaintance's daughter. I remember hearing of many hospital visits, on top of medications, and seeing the array of enjoying her parents felt watching her suffer. Thanks to medical advances she is exceeding the life expectancy assigned at birth and still has a future.

Nicola is no different. She grew up feeling the restrictions of a short life, until advances in medicine gave her a future she didn't expect to have. She met someone, married and they traveled and made more plans see the world. They were happy. But the universe throws in a plot twist, in the way it tends to do, when he passes away first.

Nicola is grieving for her husband. She is willing to try anything to see him again, even if it is (yet another) seance that she knows won't work but can't help trying.

She brings a woman from her grief group, her brother's husband and a man that specialized in debunking paranormal, until he found cases that could not be explained by any other reason, to conduct a seance in a place special to her and her husband. Things start happening that are indicative of either a presence or someone making it seem that way. But why would someone want to scare her? No one knows about her past, right?

I enjoyed the flashbacks into Nicola's past as we learn about the skeletons in her closet. I also liked her as a person. Kelley definitely writes relatable characters.

The book picked up the pace and action towards the end. I did think one twist was predictable as I saw it coming from very early on.

I think this is book is perfect for spooky season.

Thank you for the ARC. Review will be shared to Amazon, Goodreads, Bookstagram and Barnes and Noble.

I love Kelley Armstrong and have read most of her books. When I saw this on NetGalley, I was excited to get it early!
I enjoyed this book. The characters were good, especially Nicola. A few parts seemed repetitive, and the possessions were a bit much but overall, it was a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

The start of fall is the perfect time to read a really spooky book and this one falls right into the category. Nicola is a young woman who has CF and who never thought she would live long enough to get married, have a career, or see adulthood. With new medications her CF is under control and she finds the man of her dreams and is married for 3 years when a tragic accident takes his life. Nic is unable to move on and goes to different mediums to try to reach Anton in the afterlife but without success. When her best friends suggest one last shot they hire a scientist that believes he can reach the departed and they go to the house that meant something to her and Anton. What happens next really kept me on the edge of my seat and was glad I read it mostly in the daytime.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

This book started out slow, but around the halfway point the pace picked up. It ended up being really fast paced, and exciting. I did not see the end coming.

3-3.5 stars
Woman's husband dies, she tries to connect with him through seances. She knows most mediums are clearly charlatans but finally finds one that might be the real deal. Can she connect with her husband?

If the book had stayed focused on that aspect, I think I would have enjoyed it more. But there were just too many things going on, all unpleasant.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Nic is a woman grieving the death of her husband, Anton, in a car accident and she keeps hearing his last words to her; "I'll be waiting". After going to several supposed mediums seances without results her brother's husband Jin finds a professor who is doing a study on contacting the afterlife thru a series of seances documented thru his equipment for further studies. This professor agrees to meet Nic, Jin and a friend at the vacation rental that Anton's family used to own and where he and Nic spent wonderful times together hoping this will help them connect with him. After a few days Nic realizes something is not right at their gathering and that it seems to her her life is in danger. While investigating these events Nic realizes that somehow they are connected to a murder from her past more than twenty years ago where a friend was murdered by another friend while they were all in the woods performing their own séance. Can Nice save herself and the others before what ever it seems they have connected with kills her...

Yet another reason why I love Kelley Armstrong! When the story opens, Nicola Laughton appears to have it all. She owns her own high tech company, she has an adoring husband, and Anton is making plans for a wonderful trip for them. What Nicola doesn't know is that her world is about to be ripped apart. After a horrific crash, her husband dies while waiting for help to arrive leaving her with the words, "I'll be waiting for you." Since this is heard by a slew of bystanders, Nicola is thrust back into the limelight of the media with many speculating if she is dying from her Cystic Fibrosis or if she is likely to commit suicide.

Nicola has reason to believe that Anton is still close by and could be reached if she could find a medium that was not a charlatan. Just before his parting words he had said he had something important to tell her. Can she finally move on if she finds out what it was? After visiting numerous mediums, she agrees to one last try. It will involve a trip with her brother-in-law, Jin, the girl from the grief group that she is mentoring, Shania, and a professor chosen specifically for his work in the afterlife. Can she return to Anton's grandparents' house where he spent so much time growing up and finally close this devastating chapter in her life?

Strange things start happening almost from the moment they arrive. The professor thinks he may be sensing two separate entities, and one just may be malevolent. Add in the locked doors with strange noises coming from behind them, the caretaker searching for her son who she thinks might be in the locked basement, and a swarm of bugs the likes of which Nicola has never seen there, and you have the setting for the perfect horror story. If that is not enough, Nicola has failed to mention that there is an incidence in her past that involves a séance, dead bodies, and Nicola is not even her original name.

This book is a wild ride that is unequaled. Make plenty of time before you pick it up, because you will not want to put it down! I gave it 5 stars because there were no more available. Absolutely amazing!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc! This was my first Kelley Armstrong book and I throughly enjoyed it! It definitely had me a little scared a few times but the twists were fun and engaging!

I'm a Kelley Armstrong fan. As far as I'm concerned, she cannot write a bad book. Her stories span many genre where her writing skills are always 5 star. She has many series that have earned her many dedicated fans and her stand alones keep us happy between series volumes. I am sometimes surprised at how consistent her writing even when writing short stories, novellas and full length novels. I'LL BE WAITING is a stand alone that mixes the paranormal thriller with a liberal touch of horror.

Nic is a widow. She was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at a young age and given a life expectancy that she keeps managing to leave behind her. She never expected to marry and when she did, she never expected to outlive her very healthy husband. A car accident with a faulty air bag leaves her stricken with grief and disbelief. Social media from the scene of the crash leave her with many questions on "life after death" and her husband's last words.....I'll be waiting. Nic has been trying to contact him ever since his death. After too many fake seances leave her desperate, her family agrees to one last genuine attempt to reach him. With a location and people sure to reach out to Anton, Nic will find herself in peril from evil at almost every step. The story reaches that point where are are ready to jump at the next loud noise as Nic must battle to save herself and stop the evil from living on.

4.5/5 stars

I'll Be Waiting is a standalone horror novel with some paranormal elements.

Kelley Armstrong is my favorite author. So even though horror is not my usual genre there is absolutely no way that I could not read this book. And I was not disappointed.

This book is riveting and I was completely mesmerized right from the start. The house and setting are super eerie.

The heroine is Nicola/Nic. She is 38 year old and has cystic fibrosis. The disability rep is incredible. I really liked seeing this disease highlighted. Nic is such an amazing woman. This added so much to the story.

The book is so creepy. As mentioned horror is not a genre that I read often, but this is such a perfect Fall read. There are mediums and séances and attempts to contact the dead. Nic is haunted by her past. And in the present she is grieving over a lost loved one. Are there ghosts or sinister spirits? Or is there a rational explanation for the scary things happening at the rented house? I was so interested in finding out how all of the terrifying things would be explained.

There is so much going on in Nic's life. She wants to contact her loved one. But it's hard to know what is real or who she can trust. I really enjoyed seeing how the past was revealed. And I enjoyed the mystery and the tragic love story. There was one part towards the end that was maybe a bit too much. However this book is definitely much more than just a horror story. Overall it's a wonderful suspenseful read.

This book was fairly good for the first half, but then it just got too outlandish for me. I didn't enjoy reading it anymore and ended up skimming most of it.

I really enjoyed the book and the characters it wasn’t extremely predictable which i appreciated. The back story and journey of the main character was good and well thought out but at times I did feel that she was almost a Mary-sue type in that she could always catch a fake and knew exactly where to look at all times. Overall it was a quick easy mystery read with a little horror thrown in and I enjoyed it.

This was a ghost story that moved like a slow starting roller coaster. Once it hit the top of the hill it was quite a ride. The lake house events were repetitive and things were gorier than I usually like, but the author pulled it all together at the end.

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

This starts off as a book on loss and grieving. This poor woman almost dies in a car accident and she also has CF. Her husband does die in the accident. At the scene an onlooker says they saw his ghost tell our protagonist that he will be waiting for her.
Anyway, moving forward she is seeking proof that there is life after death. She is hiring people to so seances and they rent an old house that used to belong to her husband's family.
It gets really dark as the story goes on and it is so good. That ending! OMG!
Definitely read this one.

I liked the concept of this one but oof did it just fall flat. The protagonist was interesting and her story was compelling but that is about where my interest in this book stopped. I felt like it was a bit cheesy throughout and the plot really meandered in my opinion. The atmosphere throughout the story did shine despite the flaws I found in the rest of the book. I think this is a good book for October and going into the colder months but there's really not much else there.