If you’re looking for strange and frightful this spooky season with ghosts both metaphorical and realistic – look no further. The “monsters” in the book were an eclectic mix – sometimes those that we create or invite in ourselves and other times existing ones that seek out specific traits. Each story was perfectly catered to the main character and none of them felt incomplete at the close. The stories taking place throughout one house that doesn’t follow the constraints of time and in specific rooms were incredibly fun. I loved when aspects from a previous story were interwoven with the current one, objects or names to make you stop and think. It would have been cool to have a story about the house – how it contains it all across whatever dimension(s) it inhabits.

"She tastes like the first day of fall, when the blistering heat mellows into fresh corn and pumpkin and cucumber. She smells like petrichor and honey and budding dreams and potential."

There was so much diverse rep in this book and all of it was so well done – many of these stories will resonate across the board for readers. Some of the stories packed a bigger punch for me than others but I truly enjoyed my time reading all of them. My favorites were: Good Morning, Georgia – Cradle and All – Mirror, Mirror- and In Deep. Good Morning, Georgia was incredibly sad and went in an unexpected direction. Cradle and All hit hard as someone who has experienced a loss in the same way and how devastating it can be, even when there was nothing that you could have done. Mirror, Mirror hits home with my younger self and the pressures many adolescents feel. As someone who is plus-size, In Deep had several passages that felt like they came from the depths of my mind.

"Mirrors do not show you important things, like hearts or feelings or souls. The more you look, the more flaws you find."

Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours and Page Street YA for the opportunity to be on the tour & read this dream of a spooky anthology – don’t sleep on this one, especially for the spooky season! I highly recommend checking out this one if you enjoy monsters, haunted houses (that don’t abide by the rules of time), and stories where each main character has their own fears and flaws on display. Rounded from 4.5 stars.

The House Where Death Lives is a great collection of 16 short stories. Each story focuses on a different part of the house. This is something I found very unique and enjoyable, and I feel it adds to the building tension and creates a curiosity of what comes next. It's like watching a creepy movie and feeling your heart beat in anticipation when the main character walks up the stairs to investigate a weird sound.

This YA horror is the perfect read to add to your spooky season TBR. It has monsters, ghosts, and an eerie atmosphere, and the interior design adds to the spookiness.

I love anthologies, and while it's difficult to rate them, I usually give an overall rating instead of a rating per story. For me all the stories added to the ultimate enjoyment of the book and Ioved it. I definitely recommend this book!

Favourites: Like Mother – Gina Chen; Bloom – Tori Bovalino; A Helping Hand – Linsey Miller

It’s always a bit difficult to rate a short story anthology as they’re different stories with different characters (usually) written by different authors. But essentially, yes, I’ll give the anthology an overall 4 stars – because I did like most of the stories a lot. I’ve only read from two authors here – Tori Bovalino (loved her other book) and Rosiee Thor (dnfed that book so not actually read?). I like anthologies because they introduce you to new authors, which I always like.

I was confused as I thought it would be connected stories. It’s said to be in the same house so I guess I thought that meant they’d all be in the same – as in physically – house. That wasn’t the case as they were all vastly different – so different that it did feel like 16 different houses instead of supposedly the same house. Apparently there were some links between the stories – like let’s say the same mirror from the 2nd story was in the 3rd story? I did not pick up on that at all. I think if it had all been in the actual same house – but just different years, families, alternative universes – I would’ve really enjoyed this.

As you’ll see when reading my separate thoughts – I just wanted more. I know they’re short stories, but I would’ve liked most of the stories to have gone on for longer. I found most of the endings to be abrupt so I would’ve liked the authors to be able to wrap everything up easily.

°book review°

The House Where Death Lives, by Alex Brown, is a captivating YA horror anthology that takes readers on a chilling journey through a haunted house. The book is structured uniquely, with each story set in different parts of the house, from the attic to the grounds, creating a cohesive yet diverse collection of tales.

Let's start with the cover, it is creepily gorgeous. I like it.

Each story delves into various folklore and mythological traditions, introducing readers to various supernatural entities, from the Filipino Tiyanak to a djinn. This diversity in storytelling and cultural representation adds depth and richness to the anthology.

My favorite story is “Good Morning, Georgia,” which explores the eerie communication between two teenage girls through a vanity mirror.

The anthology's strength lies in its ability to blend horror with themes of loss, grief, and identity, making it more than just a collection of scary stories with great representation. The writing is engaging and atmospheric, ensuring you will be terrified and moved by the end of each tale. I actually avoided reading this at night, it was terrifying and chilling. It just needed to be a bit more polished.

Overall, The House Where Death Lives is a great read for fans of horror and speculative fiction, particularly those who appreciate stories that reflect a wide array of cultural backgrounds and experiences. It’s a book that will make you want to lock your doors and keep the lights on long after you’ve finished reading. So go ahead and add it for the Halloween season.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I’ve become a big fan of YA horror and honestly anthologies are a good way to do a deep dive into new names of horror. All in all this was a solid short story collection that I enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This is out now!

Unfortunately while I myself did have to DNF it (themes of stories about parental death were hitting too close to hom), I know that many of my students would appreciate the light horror!

Creepy house?? YES!
Creepy cover?? YES!
The Table of Contents definitely set the mood - creepy and intense.
The first story features two young women, an attic room and communicating writing on a mirror. Though my favorite was the hungry hallway. The utter confusion as Viv struggles to cope with her mother's death. I struggled to make sense through the confusion - utterly terrifying.
Loved these unique and horrifying stories! I would love to visit this house!

I love a good horror anthology, and this one had several authors that I’ve loved in previous horror anthologies, so I was really interested in this. As a whole, I think it was pretty solid, even if there weren’t a lot of standout stories for me, I appreciated the ways in which the common theme of a house came together and how there weren’t any stories that stood out as bad. I definitely enjoyed some more than others, but I think that was more personal preference than anything. There are some solidly scary moments, but honestly nothing too terrifying, probably more akin to a creeping dread. I loved the ways in which authors incorporated cultural traditions and folklore into the stories, somehow making them feel even more connected despite differing lore behind them. Overall, I’d say that my favourites were the stories that felt like they took place in the same house, even if the authors weren’t actually writing about the same house.

Overall, I think this was a really solid anthology, and while I think it would have been even better with some really breakout stories, I enjoyed reading it and I think that it’s worth picking up for horror fans!

This is an amazing anthology. I decided to go blind into it so I could be giddy and excited every time I realized one of my favorite authors was in this book with a short tale. But I also discovered other authors I haven't read and now I want to check out their novels. It's hard to pick my favorite. They are all very creepy, some are emotional and sad, talking about grief, loss, and lost opportunities. They are also positive and have great plot twists when the people who see these ghosts try to help them or communicate with them. There's also always a pertinent and relatable theme explored in each. Relatable to YA ages and older readers. it's not just horror without a message, they go deeper and make us think. Makes a perfect rec for this Spooky season.

Thank you publisher for the copy

The House Where Death Lives is an anthology of short stories from different authors starting from the attic and working down to the grounds of the house. These short stories touches on different themes like grief, acceptance, death and more with horror elements that adds to the theme. Each author brought their own uniqueness to this book with different cultures and folklore integrated into each of the stories. There is also lots of queer representation in this book. I love how the authors took a piece from the previous authors story to give that remembrance and show that it is still the same place of the house though each author gave the house a different feel to it.

Thank you to tbrbeyondtours, netgalley, the author, and publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Overall I LOVED this collection. There is such a wide variety of types of horror and topics that are addressed. Such unique concepts and honestly, I would have loved to read quiet a few of these as full-length horror novels. Some of them are eerie or morbid without specifically being scary, but still have strong horror elements. I would definitely pick this up if you enjoy horror anthologies!


My only complaint about it is that the book is organized by an area of the home, but it didn't feel like those stories were all connected well to those areas. I think the book would have been fine with a traditional table of contents or other "home-themed" organization but I feel like they should have stuck with the theme if that's the organization they chose.

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 A few years ago our seventh family member, a grandmotherly friend, moved in with us and joined into our routines. I don’t know how long she was living with us when she finally turned to me and asked, “Don’t you ever get tired of watching these horror movies?!? This has been a marathon!” The answer is that I never tire of scary content and that is the reason that The House Where Death Lives is THE perfect book for a horror fanatic like myself! A collection of short stories, drawing from the depths humanity and our vulnerabilities to create some of the most terrifying and spine-tingling tales that may just leave you sleeping with a light on at night…
Tour Schedule:
https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2024/07/06/tour-schedule-the-house-where-death-lives-by-alex-brown/

This is an amazing collection of short stories within the horror-genre. Many (possibly all?) of the stories featured queer characters. I can see myself going back to some of these stories again and again.
I read this as part of a book tour and as such I was responsible for creating a playlist for the collection. Thinking about these stories remind me of certain songs made my reading experience even better.

While I liked the entire collection, a few stand outs for me are Good Morning Georgia, Mirror Mirror and Smartmonster.


If anyone is interested in the playlist, you can find it on my bookstagram at @noelles.magical.library on 8/7/24

This is a really interesting format for an anthology and I really appreciate the uniqueness of it.

I enjoyed how the stories were grouped but I found some of the stories lacking in connection to their designated section of the house. The organization of the stories also didn't help. I found a few instances where stories that were too alike were placed next to each other. Giving a sense of deja vu. This was especially noticable in the first floor section.

I also would've liked to see some more complexity in the writings of the stories. I feel like there were a lot of sections that felt oversimplified even for a YA book.

This is a solid YA horror anthology. As it often happens with short stories collections, some stories are better or more to my taste than others. Each story is about a different character or characters and there's a different theme and monster/paranormal element in it. Overall, this is a 3.5-star read, but here are the stories that stood out to me and why I absolutely think this anthology is worth your time if you like YA horror stories:

Good Morning, Georgia - 4 stars. Beautiful, sad, moving. Very well done.
After Midnight - 4 stars. Simple yet effective. Creepy and with a focus on grief and the idea of doing something awful to keep even the illusion of the person you loved and lost.
The Phantom's Walts - 4 stars. Romantic, tragic ghost story. My favorite kind.
Bloom - 5 stars. Beautifully written, very impactful to me in such a short span.
The Shoe - 4 stars. Good concept and execution. Love a happy ending.

To give more info on this book, here are the stories that had a good concept but the execution was a let-down or didn't work for me, so they're all 3 stars:

Cradle and All
The Grey Library
Mirror, Mirror
What Lies in Silence
Like Mother
A Helping Hand

Weakest stories IMO:

Vanishing Point
Smartmonster
Let's Play a Game - I actually liked the concept of this one, but it was just meh.
me I'm not - also liked the concept, the imagery was creepy, but I didn't get it.
In Deep

A fantastic anthology of spooky stories perfect for spooky season. This anthology features horror, hauntings, creatures, and more! It's a fun read and definitely has a variety of stories that give off great campfire spooky story vibes. Quick and easy reads, this was a really fun book.

Release Date: August 6,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Page Street Publishing | Page Street YA for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of The House Where Death Lives!

Five Reasons to Read The House Where Death Lives

1. If you love short and spooky stories, pick this up immediately!
2. Would you do anything for your dead sister? Then you can relate to one person’s sad tale.
3. Ever wonder why you should read with the lights on late at night? Now you will.
4. What would you do if you could communicate with a ghost via a magic mirror? Read to find out!
5. Each story takes place in a different part of the house. Which will you start with?

A really solid YA horror anthology that had some great stories and some okay stories (as is typical with anthologies/collections). I really enjoyed this though, especially the structure of the House and the various themes explored and representations included.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow. This is what I call a fun, well done anthology for YA readers. The premise is each author is given a room in a haunted old house and then they tell a story. Sixteen spooky, detailed, addictive little stories that are just long enough to grasp your attention but not too long to bore you.

I can just imagine telling these stories around a campfire during October. It gave off vibes similar to Are You Afraid of the Dark? which I was obsessed with growing up. Nostalgic horror is what I got from it.

I loved the different representations and themes. These authors really pulled from everywhere and I really enjoyed that. Overall a perfect fall anthology!

𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: AVAILABLE NOW
𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣.

Starting in the attic, we enter a house filled with ghosts and memories. Some are good and some aren't so good, but as each story unfolds, we learn more about each inhabitant. The girl in the attic is sad, and doesn't remember what happened or why she's still there. The hallway on the second floor will change and will trap you if you are foolish enough to get caught.

I enjoyed reading the different stories from different authors about the various parts of the house. The varying voices give the house personality though some of the writers seem a bit more skilled than others, I don't think there was a "bad" story just less polished. The overall atmosphere was one similar to that of "scary stories to tell in the dark" one of my favorite YA horror anthologies from when I was younger.

Since none of the stories are truly connected to each other except for being in the same anthology and possibly depicting different parts of the same haunted house, it is hard to critique this type of book as a whole. I do thank Netgalley for the opportunity to dive into the gothic and horror filled world within the walls of this house and love a spooky read. I think the best time of year for this book would be around the Halloween season and would love to see what a collection of narrators may do with this book to give it an eerie vibe.