I really had to sit with this book for awhile after I finished reading. A bleak story of a family and their descent into madness (reminiscent of Stephen King's Rose Red), this is a true Southern Gothic tale with a darkness and heaviness surrounding the narrative from the beginning.

Miles and Emily are deeply flawed main characters and their dialogue is a bit too unrealistic at times. They lack proper communication with each other and I found myself wanting to scream at them, to tell them how obvious the solution to their problem was. They live in an obviously haunted house, Emily is suffering from severe PPD and has zero support, their infant son is failing to thrive and being whispered to by an unseen voice. It seems so simple- get out of the house! But the beauty of the story is in their refusal to open their eyes and leave- the house has taken over and their fate is no longer up to them. They are cursed from the moment they move into the home, and we can only watch and wait.

If you enjoy King and the way he writes the crumbling of families, The Haunting of Hill House and its beautiful, imminent tragedies, and a troubling allegory of the way mothers are treated by society - I absolutely recommend this book. The slow start and at times awkward conversations are worth the steady climb to a terrifying end. I also enjoy the idea that the story itself could be a metaphor for PPD and how inescapable it feels. There are some triggers as a mother, but overall I recommend this with the suggestion of letting it truly sink in for awhile after reading.

I very much enjoyed reading this book! It felt like I was living this story. I was able to visualize and feel like I was a character. Such a very well written thriller!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. Although it wasn’t an absolute favorite of mine I did enjoy the story and the premise.

Haunted houses are my jam, and this book delivered on the eerie vibes and spooky atmosphere. While Emily and Miles were a bit more unlikeable than I’d hoped, it was still a fantastic haunted house read!

I want to first start by saying I am a sucker for Haunted Houses…. Immediately count me in.

This books follows Emily who is an artist and is on a mission to find the perfect southern gothic style home for one of her favorite horror authors upcoming novels.

When she finds the perfect home her husband Miles finds her paintings of the house and thinks this is her dream.
Since they are now expecting and needing a bigger house for their growing family he purchases it without Emily knowing to surprise her.. not knowing the tragic history held within the walls of this home.

I don’t think I have ever disliked a character as much as I did Miles… I wanted to reach through this book and slap him a few times.
He drove me absolutely insane.. 🙄

This book definitely captures the eerie feeling of a haunted home, and I low-key wish I paired this with the audio because I feel that would’ve made the vibes even more creepy.

If you like the movie Mama, I highly recommend this book

I was so intrigued by the premise here, and I absolutely devoured the first few chapters. But the whole story changed once Emily found out she was pregnant. Suddenly I was reading a very different story that I really didn't like as much as the story I thought I'd be reading. It became a predictable and cliche story. I didn't necessarily love or even like Emily, but at least I didn't loathe her as I did Miles. Ick, what an awful person. And having two scrappy main characters made it harder to continue this story.

It's a Southern Gothic tale about Emily and Miles Lawrence, who move into an old Victorian house hoping for a fresh start. Emily gets a great job, and then she finds out she's pregnant. But things quickly go south with a rough pregnancy and a heartbreaking tragedy involving their son, Rhett. The house, gorgeous but eerie, seems to play a sinister role in their lives.

Knight really nails the creepy, atmospheric feel of these old homes, mixing beauty with a haunting vibe. The book delves into serious themes like postpartum psychosis and the strain it puts on relationships. However, I struggled to connect with Emily and Miles. Emily, though sympathetic, was hard to fully root for, and Miles was downright unlikable—narcissistic and dismissive of Emily’s struggles.

I was ready to give two star due to its predictability and the difficult characters, but the ending was such a wild twist that it bumped my rating up to three stars. It turned a typical haunted house story into something unique. So, if you love creepy house tales and can handle some flawed characters, you might enjoy this one.

What I liked - the premise of an artist looking for and painting inspiration for a famous horror writing. However, I believe more time could have been taken to develop the characters more and make the overall story more unique.

When Emily found this perfectly creepy old dilapidated house next to a swamp it was too good to be true. When her husband Miles bought what he thought was her dream home the nightmares began! This book was chilling to the very end.. one I never saw coming!

I think this book is great for people that loved the movie Mama or The Woman in Black. It really didn’t hold any punches! At just 210 pages, this is a real rollercoaster of a book and it just careens towards that ending without holding anything back. I loved the pace, and I thought the ending was BRUTAL in the best way.

I will say that Miles is the worst (he’s meant to be) and I think I would have believed it more if the characters were younger? Their secrecy, lack of communication etc just felt quite immature and hard to link to their late 30s/early 40s state. Otherwise, LOVED

The House on the Cover of a Horror Novel is a Southern Gothic novel that follows Emily and Miles Lawrence through a terrible tragedy that beholds them from the house they purchased. With an amazing job offer for Emily, an unexpected and rough pregnancy and eventually, a terrible tragedy involving their young son, Emily and Miles go through trials and tribulations that no couple should ever have to go through.
EV Knight is able to encompass the horror that many find themselves envisioning when they look at old, Victorian homes. Yes, they’re beautiful but they are also incredibly haunting with their own histories that can be both beautiful and haunting. However, I feel like EV Knight created two main characters that you couldn’t root for. The only time I found myself cheering for both Emily and Miles was through the tragedy involving their young son, Rhett. While I can sympathize with Emily and her potential postpartum psychosis, it was still hard to root for her. Miles, on the other hand, was a dislikable character from the very beginning. Narcissistic, cared for himself more than anyone else, including his wife and son, and was patronizing to what Emily was going through.
Initially, I was prepared to give the story only 1 star. However, the ending of the novel redeemed itself enough for me to give 3 stars. While the story itself was a typical haunted house story that you can read in many other novels, the ending was a bit out there that allowed it to have it’s own genre almost.
Thank you to RDS Publishing, author EV Knight and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. The opinions aforementioned are my own.

I’ve really just started dabbling in the horror/spooky genre but this one is by far my number one. This book legit made me scared at night. I don’t want to give too much away but some of the scenes are written so well they depict some of my worst fears. It gave me that “turn off the light and run to the bed” feeling. Loved.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book infuriated me. I don’t know if Miles was meant to be the most unlikeable character I’ve ever had the misfortune of putting my eyeballs on, but if so, mission accomplished. He was an aggressive caricature of a shitty gaslighting husband. I genuinely would have rather taken a shot of extra strength bleach than read his POV.

On top of Miles being a soul drain, the writing itself felt stilted and weak. Overall, it felt like an AI bot was tasked with writing a haunted house novel. Which, honestly, was a shame! Cause the haunted house story itself was sort of cool. But it was completely overshadowed by the nonsensical and misogynistic POV of Miles.

Thank you, Netgalley, and RDS Press for the arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This little novel packed a punch. While seemingly a classic haunted house novel, I couldn't believe how incredible the look at motherhood, specifically, depression during and post pregnancy was. The contrast between our two leads was unfortunately easily to believe and made the story so rich. I loved the quirk of the horror author and thought it was a good nod to those who feed off of tragedy. This is a very interesting topic to explore with other book friends. When is it OK to use others' pain to create a story?

The setup and detail of the house/surrounding area were excellent. We lost a bit of that as the last third of the novel ramped up and concluded a bit too quickly. Gone were the beautiful details that kept me engaged in the story, and here to stay was Miles' twin with WAY too many awkward dialogue moments where she constantly said, "bro." Like another reviewer said, Miles' calling his wife sleeping beauty and acting so casual after their child goes missing made me dislodge from the story. There were a few other spots like this where the dialogue just felt not in line with the rest of the book nearing the end. Especially in regards to the age of the characters.

I loved the ending. It was risky, clever, and encompassed the outlandish (bordering on silly) lengths a mother would go to for their child. I loved the foreshadowing of the different lullaby verses in regard to both the past family and Emily's. My only complaint is that we get teased with what really happened to the past family, and then it is easily written out in the doctors journal. It was nothing, nothing, everything, and felt too easy. How did the author even get the documents?

Overall, I had a lovely time. A great twist on an old idea. The first 70% was a five star from me and even though I liked the ending the last 30% was only a 3 star as it felt like the writing quality was telling, not showing and the first more than half the book did the opposite and with some absolutely beautiful writing. The last bit sounded more juvenile.

The House on the Cover of a Horror Novel by Ev Knight has everything I love in a horror novel ! Creepy haunted house, a mum convinced she’s hearing voices and a clueless husband who will do just about anything except believe his own wife.

Emily and Miles have been told they’ll never have a baby, and have finally started to accept their childless marriage. Emily is an artist - a painter, and Miles owns a tech company. One day Emily gets a call from none other than best selling author Cooper Yancy who wants HER help to inspire his latest book. Before she can really dive into the opportunity, Emily finds out she’s pregnant and she’s high risk. Thinking he’s making the best decision ever, Miles buys the house Emily has been painting, wanting more room for their family…without asking her. The myriad of strange occurrences begin when they move in and Emily becomes convinced the house is actually haunted.

I really loved this, the premise was an original twist on an idea that's been overdone, I was captivated early on and eager to turn the pages. It was easy to love our protagonist Emily, and to sympathise with her. The opposite was true for Miles, he was just insufferable! I believe this was done on purpose so props to Knight for making me hate this man so much. I was shocked at how little he knew about the functions of woman’s bodies and the toll pregnancy takes! His ignorance continued to astound and annoy me throughout the book. Especially the name drama!
I enjoyed how we didn’t get many scenes from outside the house, and that most were only alluded to, this really helped convey how the house was consuming them; their world revolved round this house and you really get a feel for that as a reader. Brilliantly atmospheric and unsettling.

I only had a few grievances with the book - Miles said ‘idk’ on a phone call…and it was written like that, fine for a text but for a phone call the three words should be typed out, it took me out of the story. Also when Miles said ‘Good morning, Sleeping Beauty’ when the pair were going through something horrible, just felt out of place, but perhaps this was meant to show how strange the character of Miles was. I also feel like the book lost some momentum around the last third and felt as though the plot was going in circles for a bit, but it did pick back up towards the end. The ending was totally unexpected and something I haven’t seen done a lot, I was thoroughly impressed.

All in all, an incredible novel, thank you NetGalley and Raw Dog Screaming Press for my ARC.

Overall Rating: 3.75/5
Genres/Tags: Gothic Horror, Hauntings and Paranormal, Psychological Horror

This book follows Emily, who is on a quest to find the perfect muse for a painting commissioned by one of her favorite horror authors. She finds her ideal inspiration in an old Victorian home currently for sale. However, Emily soon faces a medical scare, which turns out to be an unexpected high-risk pregnancy. Misinterpreting her visits to the property and her paintings of the home as more than just artistic inspiration, her husband, Miles, buys the house without her knowledge. As Emily navigates her high-risk pregnancy, she begins to uncover the dark history of the home and observes unsettling changes in her husband's personality.

While the plot may seem somewhat predictable at times, it remains thoroughly enjoyable. Books with multiple points of view can be challenging, but this one handles it well by clearly labeling each chapter with the character's perspective. The writing's pace and tone are easy to follow, allowing me to finish the book in one evening. Occasionally, the writing style felt a bit unedited, but I appreciated the atmospheric descriptions of the house and the eerie details, like the creepy wallpaper and toys left behind.

The characters are engaging and EV Knight, the author, writes from the POV of Emily particularly well. Miles' controlling personality and subtle misogyny stood in sharp contrast to Emily's struggle with pregnancy, postpartum depression and paranoia. The extravagant character of Cooper Yancy offers comic relief, as does Monica, Emily’s sister-in-law and best friend. I enjoyed the backstory of the house and the way the book concluded, although I wished the final chapters were more drawn out to better maintain the story's momentum.

Overall, the plot and characters make for an enjoyable read. However, the last quarter of the book feels a bit rushed, despite an interesting climax and resolution. The author excels at building anxiety and resentment in the main character, but the actual paranormal aspect left me wishing for a tiny bit more "overt" horror. Nonetheless, it is a solid read that I found to be a lot of fun, and I am certain any fan of haunted houses will enjoy this book too!

Note: I would like to extend my gratitude to NetGalley and RDS Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book. This does not have any impact on my review or rating of the book.

This book was truly creepy, atmospheric, and downright terrifying at times. It was the perfect 'haunted house' psychological thriller with a lot of suspense and mystery.

“The House on the Cover of a Horror Novel” gave me the creeps in every good way possible. From start to finish you will be engrossed. Everything in this book is what I look for in the horror genre; horror with heart. We grow attached to our small cast of characters and want to see them come out of this unscathed.
The Victorian house in Savannah embodies every creepy house you have ever ran by without looking complete with a graveyard and a swamp. Emily has been hired to design a cover for a famous author ready to write a sweeping Southern Gothic. She finds that in the Leed’s House. Her husband Miles finds the images and decides that this will be the home he surprises her with after seeing her paintings of the house. The couple will soon discover that there is more than “good bones” in the house.

The House on the Cover of a Horror Novel follows Emily, an artist who is commissioned to find a suitable cover image that will inspire a horror novel. But when her husband mistakes her obsession with one house as a love for it, Emily finds herself living in the very house that terrifies her.

An interesting concept, the novel does fall into a very similar rhythm to other haunted house novels with very similar plot points: toys moving on their own, is it a haunting or mental illness etc. However, the story is haunting in a very compelling way, beautifully written from different perspectives and the characters are well fleshed out. This is a solid read and I think is overall worth picking up.

his novel is a gripping blend of psychological suspense and supernatural mystery. Emily Lawrence, an artist, is drawn to a mysterious house she believes hides a dark secret, perfect for a horror novel cover. When her husband Miles unexpectedly buys it, Emily's eerie experiences intensify, leading to a chilling exploration of fear and the unknown.

Knight skillfully blurs the lines between reality and paranoia as Emily battles with her sanity amidst haunting occurrences. Miles' struggle to support his wife adds a poignant layer to the narrative. The story's tension escalates dramatically culminating in a thrilling, unforgettable read.

For fans of atmospheric horror and psychological thrillers, 'The House on the Cover' is a must-read, showcasing Knight's talent for crafting deeply unsettling tales that linger in the mind long after the final page