I was so excited for this book, but it really fell dull and flat for me. It was so slow and just very confusing, a little all over the place. I could not continue as I just did not find myself interested or invested at all.

This was a fun mash up of urban legends and a group of teens who test them out one by one. Unfortunately, new comer Nate is dealing with some supernatural forces that give the legends force when he's around.
This one kept me reading and guessing up to the end.
A great summer read! Thanks for my review copy!

DNF. I just couldn’t get into this book. I’ve read one by this author before that I enjoyed. This one fell short and just couldn’t hold my attention. I didn’t care of the outcome of any characters

Part psychological thriller and part YA horror, this had plot vibes of urban legends mixed with ghost hunters. A family haunted by the curse of a “the hiding boy” and their own dark past. This writing was solid and the story interesting, but I’ll say the pacing was a tad on the slow side. It did pick up toward the last quarter however. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy.

Vincent Ralph is a thriller writer that is a one-click author for me. I absolutely love his spine-chilling and gripping stories adn "One House Left" has proved to be no exception.There were many suprises from start to finish and it was the atmosphere as well as the plot that kept me from putting the book down. The book was incredibly suspenseful and I would expect nothing less from Vincent Ralph.

One House Left is Vincent Ralph’s fourth dark thriller and probably his closest to a straight horror novel. I previously enjoyed both Are You Watching? (2019) and Lock the Doors (2021) but this is the first time I have reviewed him on Ginger Nuts of Horror. For teens you get a kick out of urban legends then One House Left is totally unmissable as the key story thread is cleverly built upon an urban legend which is so notorious even the police believe it to real and main character Nate (with his family) are the only survivors, frequently moving houses to stay ahead of the ‘curse’ which has repeatedly led to deaths in a street in a small town, bleeding out into the houses very close to the street. When the novel opens Nate, his troubled big brother and grieving sister are making yet another new start in a fresh non-descript town. Nate swears to not make friends in his new school and keep himself to himself. This does not happen and this is where the problems start.

Almost against his will, Nate is sucked into the friendship group of horror loving Max (a girl), Tyler and Seb who see a kindred spirit when they clock his Scream t-shirt. The trio don’t just love horror films, they are obsessed with urban myths (but don’t know about Nate’s dark history) and fool around with Candyman style myths to see if they can get some supernatural action. Considering Nate’s history I initially thought it was the height of stupidity getting involved in something like this, but there is good reason with a big reveal later in the story. Nate also has a thing for Max and the friendship group bounce along nicely until it seems a couple of the urban myths they were messing around with are coming to life, with Nate being the catalyst. There were some seriously big plot twists and some hair raising moments in the final third where the reader finds out how real the myth of the Hiding Boy is as the group of friends head back to Murder Row. DO NOT GO! This was a very smart blend of horror, superstition, pop culture and ultra dark thriller. AGE RANGE 13/14+

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the copy of One House Left by Vincent Ralph. I had high hopes for this book because Secrets Never Die was one of my favorite books last year, so maybe my expectations were too high. I loved the urban legends and how Nate and his new friends were investigating them. Was Nate the catalyst for the events that occurred? I never connected to any of his friends because they weren’t well-developed. This book had real promise, but the pacing was off and some secrets could have been revealed earlier so the reveals didn’t come out of nowhere. I enjoyed enough of it to keep it readable, but not enough to love it. I can see where it would appeal to teens who might relate to the teens’ lives and experiences.

So corny. I know I’m not the target audience for this book but I do enjoy YA. We’re following a misfit teen who’s the new kid at school. He gets caught us in this paranormal friend group. At no point was I invested.

I received a free copy of, One House Left, by Vincent Ralph, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Nate Campbell has heard about urban legends before, he thought moving would help, but he learned there was more then one, urban legend. This was a different kind of story, but was a little confusing at times, but all in all a nice story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book and think you will to.

One House Left is an incredible, unputdownable, gut punch of a novel! Any fans of Urban Legends should pick this up as soon as its published!

One House Left follows Nate and his family as they move to a new town, again, in attempts to escape the nightmares and legends that follow them from Murder Road. Nate is attempting to blend into the background and keep his head down, which should be easy in his new high school.

Max and her friends are a part of a secret club that go out looking for urban legends and local lore, but when they befriend the new kid, Nate, they may stumble upon a legend that's best left untested.

One House Left is a story about family ties, friendships, and ghosts from the past. Ralph brought together some of my favorite aspects of the horror genre into one truly amazing novel.

What. A. Rollercoaster.

The beginning of this book- a philosophical, dark piece of artistic excellence.
The middle of the book- the twist we never saw coming
The end of the book- everyone gets what they deserve and they live happily or unhappily ever after

The depths the author went to make this book a unique experience is unmatched- reminded me a lot of the writing in youthjuice. Dark and twisty, yet poetic. The family we stay with throughout is mysterious and we know just enough about them to have the story lead us to the climactic middle. The questions I have were answered until the cliffhanger.

Overall a very interesting and impactful horror/thriller novel!

I wanted to like this a lot. But to med the first part, where we learn about Nate’s family and their constant moves and isolation felt flat — like too much work was being put into Secrecy with a capital S, and so I didn’t care about them because clearly something sketchy was up. The second part was too chaotic to be creepy, and the end felt unfulfilling. Obviously, horror books don’t need happy endings but, like, everyone’s miserable. Maybe the message is that the real horror is the unending trudgery of real life we met along the way?

Anyway, lots of promise here, some nice moments between Max and Nate and with Bella and also some lovely atmospherics with Nate on his walks but this just didn’t do it for me.

Thank you to Vincent Ralph, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

"R.L. Stine meets Urban Legend in the next twisty horror novel by New York Times bestselling author Vincent Ralph".
“Ready or not. Whatever you do. The Hiding Boy is coming for you.”
Sixteen-year-old Nate Campbell grew up in the shadow of Murder Road – a street cursed by the vengeful spirit of the Hiding Boy.
Every few years, for nearly six decades, a different house on that street has been the scene of a tragedy.
Nate and his family move to a new town as they try to outrun the curse once and for all. But, when he is pulled into his new friends’ urban legend club, new ghost stories merge with old until there is nowhere left to run.

First let me say that as a child I was a big fan of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps. This was nothing comparable to the work of R.L. Stine. I think they missed the mark with this comparison and in turn, it was a bit of a letdown because my expectations were high. The premise of "The Hiding Boy" was spooky and intriguing, but the first 3/4 of the book was so slow and boring. We get to learn bits and pieces about Nate and his family and their history with Murder Road, but it wasn't very exciting or enough to hold my attention for very long periods of time and it was hard to figure out it all connected to Nate's current relationship dynamics. Despite not enjoying the majority of the book, the plot twist was really good and made me much more interested in the story and think about all the little details I missed along the way. The twist alone is why I gave this book 4 stars.

It was so hard for me to get into, and that's say a lot because I really enjoyed this author's other works. Something about this book was really hard for me to grasp. It was slow---not the fasted-paced horror novel I was expecting. It took me much longer to get into this than I would have liked, and I had to break a few times so I didn't grow too bored.
This book feel flat. I think the execution wasn't all that great, and the pacing sucked. I debated DNF this, but I ultimately decided to power through and read to the end. I spent so much time with this book, which I never do. However, this book did end up picking up halfway through, which I appreciated, but I would have loved to see earlier in the book since the second half---more like last third---made up for the beginning. Also, never would have suspected that ending.

This book is scary good. Listed as young adult, but I think all age groups would enjoy it. How do you run away from a nightmare, especially when the entire family has the same one? High schoolers looking to prove/disprove local legends get way more than they bargained for. I received this from Net Galley.

I grew up reading Goosebumps and Fear Street; this author's writing style while uniquely his gives that same nostalgic spooky vibe. This was definitely an unputdownable read for me, I binged "One House Left" in a few hours.

I found the premise of this book intriguing, I really enjoy reading horror novels that are centered around Urban Legends. There were portions of this story that's took me by surprise which I really appreciated, especially towards the end.

This is the type of book you pick up with you want a bingeable YA Horror story that's going to keep you guessing until the end. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Thank you Vincent Ralph, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press- Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC of this book!

One House Left is about an urban legend come to life.
Nate's family moves a lot trying to stay ahead of this urban. The family has just showed up in town and Nate is determined not to make friends at his new school. That is until Max. He can't stop looking for her. But Max and her friends like to try urban legends and Nate knows what kind of dangers can lurk behind them.

I didn't love this story. I thought there was going to be more to it but the first part was so slow moving. They only part that saved this was the little twist towards the end..

Thank you to Vincent Ralph, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Of course, since I am being honest, it did take me a while to get into this book. I would say the first 75% of the book was easy to follow with the story of Nate and his friends, but also difficult to understand what was going on when it came to the story about the hiding boy and how everything tied together. Nate's story (and his family's) was definitely hard to understand at first, but after reading more of the book, I see that it was better off that way. I did not understand why his entire family had to keep moving around so much, and why his parents seemed to be perfectly fine with it. I did enjoy the plot twist VERY MUCH and it was completely unexpected, which is rare. I feel like in any type of book with a plot twist, I at least have a small idea of what it could be, but this was a fantastic change in pace and story and saved the entire book for me.

After the twist, thinking back on the book and what had happened so far, it all made so much more sense about what was written and what had not yet been revealed. Of course due to this, the entire first 70% or so of the book was very confusing and at times, boring, but once that plot twist hit, it was an entirely different story. And for that, I commend Vincent Ralph for coming up with a twist so genuinely great that it made me question everything.

I absolutely adore diving into a thrilling young adult novel! The story grabs you with teenager Nate and his family's efforts to escape their chilling past.

Joining an urban legend club in his new town seemed like the fresh start Nate yearned for, but surprises were just around the corner, flipping my initial theories upside down. The narrative is awash with spooky spirits and eerie haunted houses that really make you rethink the characters. While the storyline caught my attention, I have to admit, I didn't find myself deeply connecting with the characters. They came across as a bit on the surface level, not quite letting me feel like I truly knew them.

Nonetheless, they played their parts well enough to keep the story moving along.