So at first I thought I would hate this book b/c the mom and boyfriend totally brought out the angry teen in me. They were so obnoxious in how they didn’t seem to listen to how Rachel felt and were more concerned with their own happiness and creating a life together. I would get so frustrated on her behalf b/c no one cared about how she felt about all the changes that were happening and whether or not she was happy.

As the story progressed, it got more interesting. Grandma was definitely cool and the new boyfriend seemed okay, but I wasn’t 100% sure about him. And mom seemed to be making more of an effort to listen to Rachel, which I appreciated. The story didn’t evolve the way I expected and I liked that. I was surprised by what was really down in the basement and why she seemed to be haunted by something dark and sinister. Overall, a solid paranormal Ya book that I think a lot of teens will enjoy.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This would make a fun spooky movie.

A fast paced YA haunted house story, The Keeper of the Key sits at a very balanced spot between classic and subversive, not really bringing in ideas out of the ordinary but developing them in an original, satisfying way.

A very subjective issue I had with a part of the plot:
Throughout the novel, we’re in a bad situation and want to get out of there. The issue is that, instead of a real thing stopping the characters from leaving, we have them just decided to keep going. Are the decisions understandable? Maybe. But in this very specific plot, there were multiple moments where we were give out and no one took them (MC’s mother tells her that if she doesn’t want to, they don’t have to move; tells her she will call off the engagement if MC wants her to, etc.).‘’I’ll do this to keep my mom happy’’ is not enough when we’re dealing with a shady guy and very obviously shit house. It stressed me out in a non-thrilling, but annoying way. I would have much rather have external circumstances that prevented the characters from leaving, be them supernatural or not, instead of reading the ‘’oh well, guess I’ll have to pretend I’m okay with this’’ monologue time and time again.

However, it ''redeems'' itself as the events of the 70% go on.

The characters are not the most developed but I don't expect them to be in a less-than-300 page book; they're good enough, and the teenager we follow is both a... well, dumb teen, and the ill-mannered voice of reason I like to have as a main character.

I honestly didn't really enjoy this book. It was mediocre at best. Willson needs to develop their writing skills before trying to crank out another novel. I did enjoy the world-building that this book had, but I wouldn't read it again. I would recommend this book to someone I didn't like, just so I could cause them the same frustration, that i felt when reading this.

The Keeper of the Key is such a good story. I rated this story 4 stars because I couldn't put it down for a second the whole time. I truly recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can.

Unfortunately, this book didn't really do it for me.
I was hooked in the first 50% but then I started to get bored, the plot felt dragged out and the horror scenes (the part I was most interested in) felt repetitive and predictable. I saw the twist and the ending come since the very beginning so that took out the scary and mystery part. I tried to excuse the protagonist because she is young but after a while she was simply too naive and dumb and completely ignoring what was obvious. I really liked the premise but the execution wasn't it in my opinion.

You may enjoy this if you’re into gothic horrors with a young adult feel.

Rachel never wanted to move to St. Mary, Virginia, let alone into a run down house with her mom’s odd boyfriend who seems to this the house needs rules more than she does. Strange visions, dark shadows and violent warnings are in store, will she listen to the forces urging her in the night or will she be lost.

The book had a good eerie and gothic feel to it, and was easy to follow, and fit well with the young adult genre. While the story itself is interesting, I found Rachel to be too juvenile for my taste but that younger readers may relate more with her choices and way of thinking.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Nicole Wilson and BooksGoSocial for allowing me to have an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Really, really enjoyed this one. The setting was great - sad small town with secrets, secluded, old and creepy house. I also liked our main character, 16-year old Rachel. Sure, her relationship with Nick is super superficial and insta-love. But I didn't mind this at all, when normally I hate romances like this. In this case it seems very believable, since Rachel is only 16 years old, sad and angry, moving to a new town where she knows no one.
Now the horror...haunted house, gothic vibes, unexplainable nightmares and sleepwalking, her mom's creepy new boyfriend and a basement with a dark secret. It really creeped me out but I also could not stop reading, this was a one sitting book for me and I had a lot of fun. Definitely recommend!

This book was a great time if I'm honest. I love a good haunted house story and this delivered on every aspect of the horror genre I love. The twists and turns caught me off guard and kept me on my toes and even though I guessed a few plot points the ending took me by surprise. I think any person who has a parent getting into a new relationship will see themselves in Rachel and I just had a great time overall with her character.

The Keeper of the Key is a YA Horror novel with a haunted house. And lots of secrets. Rachel is uprooted when her mother and mom's boyfriend, Geoff, decide they need to move into together. Problem is, that means moving an hour away to Geoff's huge, old mansion that is anything but homey. Morgan House is a creepy house on it own, but Geoff also has a lot of rules, and keeps the basement locked.

As soon as they move in, weird things start happening.

The book was really pretty good, and I thought at first it was a younger YA novel, as Rachel sometimes comes off as younger than she was perhaps intended. When mentions of sex come up (nothing terrible, but there is some on page stuff), it doesn't quite fit her character. Her relationship with Nick is the one thing I had some issue believing, especially considering her opinions and attitudes about what's going on with other relationships around her. Honestly, I think it might have made the whole story even stronger somehow if Rachel hadn't reciprocated Nick's feelings.

I don't want to give away the ending, because I must admit that I thought I had the villain figured out from the beginning. Once the first guess was wrong, my second was right. Just not in the way I thought.

There were a few things I wish had been explained better, but overall it was a fun read and I enjoyed it. If you are a YA horror fan, give it a try!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for allowing me to read the book.

Nicole Willson's The Keeper of the Key is a decent choice for young readers looking for a spooky story. The book follows Rachel, a teen who moves into a creepy old house and starts seeing strange things. The beginning is really scary and makes you want to keep reading. The house is described so well you can almost feel the creepiness.

However, the middle part of the book gets a little boring. Some parts feel like they go on and on. Also, there's a love story between Rachel and a boy named Nick, but it's not very interesting and takes away from the scary stuff. It would have been better if the book focused more on the ghosts and scary things.

The ending is better than the middle part. It's exciting and has some surprises. Even though the book has some problems, it's still okay to read. It's not the scariest book ever, but it's good for people who are just starting to like scary stories.

Overall, The Keeper of the Key is a quick and easy read. It's fun to read, but it could have been better if it was scarier and had a stronger story.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC!
2 star
DNF @ 25%

I'll start out by saying I haven't read many gothic/gothic horror books, so I could be wrong in my assessment of things, but this book just didn't work for me. I never got a sense of atmosphere, and part of me feels like that has to do with the writing. It was more surface level and telly than I think worked to create a creepy atmosphere despite creepy things happening. I also wasn't a huge fan of how over the top the boyfriend had to be to make Rachel justified in her hatred. Also, she's mad that her mom is moving too fast by moving in, but apparently they've been together for a year? And after complaining about this instantly falls into intense like for a dude she's just met? I dunno. The dynamic just didn't work well for me, and it made the characters feel less real (even if teenagers definitely have double standards, but it was combined with the bounce off between her and the mom's bf).

There were some interesting threads set up. The Morgan House definitely has history around it, and there's some suspicious vibes coming from the mom's gf. I think if the writing was just a bit more atmospheric and showy, I'd have enjoyed finishing this book and discovering all the secrets.

Loved this book. I usually do not read horror book but this book had me wanting to continuing to read .For me, I live in Maryland so enjoyed seeing towns/cities I recognized. Morgan House, it not a house I would want to stay by myself. The twists and events in the book had me captured and I just wanted to know what goes going on.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Parlament House Press for providing me with an ARC copy of The Keeper of the Key.

I loved the cover art of this book which is what drew my attention to the book.

This book is in my opinion targeted to the younger side of YA.

I felt that the book was a bit predictable for me. I enjoyed reading the book and it was a quick read for me, but I doubt it is something I would re-read.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

WOW! What a great book! This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Great writing style! My first by this author but will not be my last!

This book was not for me in a way that is clearly not the books fault: I'm not the target audience for this. It reads like the younger end of the YA age bracket and felt quite juvenile to me as a 3o year old woman. However, it is a good and quick read for any teen interested in darker themes in their reading. Will stock in our bookshop.

⋆₊ ⊹✉️ Thank you to Parlament House Press and Netgalley for the arc!

2 ☆ | infrequent language, violence, blood, gore | ♥︎♡♡♡♡
↳ 16 +

By the wonderful premise of this book, I thought I'd enjoy it. But unfortunately, that was not the case. The characters were honestly meh and I got annoyed with them very easily. I'm glad this book was relatively short otherwise I think I may have been tempted to dnf it. The beginning was really good, it immediately hooked me from the first line. My issues with this began at around 30%. Now I am not a big fan of the insta-love I saw coming from the first time Rachel met Nick.

That leads to my biggest gripe, the romance. I despised it so much, Nick was so toxic and Rachel was so naive to see that. That bothered me a lot. I feel like this could've been fine without the romance, the ending still would've been possible without it in my opinion.

I gave it 2 stars because it did not fail to creep me out which previous books like this I've read didn't. The writing was a bit lacking in description, I couldn't imagine the setting much at all. Overall this isn't a bad book, just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, Parliament House Press for my arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I don't think I'm the right audience for this one. It is definitely a YA book but seems to be targeted towards the younger end of the genre, occasionally flip-flopping towards older with the sex scenes. That said, I think if you've never read any Gothic stories, this may be a fine entry into the genre.

This book definitely reads as a very young YA - which is totally okay! There’s a little spice but it wasn’t too much to handle. This was a quick read for me. The book falls predictable I wish the author would have written more thrill throughout instead of leaving it for the ending. I would definitely recommend this if you want to get into reading horror but you’re not ready to full send. It’s a great little spooky book and would make the perfect halloween read!

3.5⭐️
I am thankful to have gotten the eARC for free from Netgalley and the author so I can leave my voluntary review.

I’m having a hard time with what rating to give this. I don’t usually round up but I may sit on this and adjust later but for now, it fits with my “it was an ok read” for 3 stars.

I’m trying to wrap my head around this book I think the issue is that it reads like an older end of the middle grade genre. An introduction to horror if you will, except the content goes into the YA category due to the sexual activity that most wouldn’t want their middle graders reading!

The description of the book is captivating for sure! And I did read this very quickly as ai wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately it was really predictable throughout. The other issue is while the FMC Rachel is going through what she does, the reaction that she and the adults in her life have just aren’t realistic at all. I don’t want to give spoilers out but I’ll say a basic “if you see and interact with a ghost of any sort, you don’t just carry on with your business.”

The ending has the thriller type excitement but that level could have come way earlier as she worked through the challenges of the house she lived in. But it didn’t. The story sort of meandered along where 3/4 of the book could have been condensed into the first several chapters and then delved into the meat of the situation or had better responses to the light interactions she had at times.

All that being said, teenagers around 14-15 years old who want an entry into horror may really jive with this story and enjoy it as it was well written for the most part.

As I said it’s a bizarre reaction I’ve had to it as I wanted to keep turning the page even with the head scratching! So maybe I’ll change my mind as I sit on it!

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

-spoilers contained in this review- This was a great book that really surprised me! In the first half I felt like there was more telling than showing in the way it was written. It improved as the book progressed. I wish that the FMC’s first kiss was more believable. I automatically knew something was up with Nick just with how awkward it was. I also already knew the house would get burnt down when she took a mental note of the gas and matches randomly in the basement, so I would omit that. Otherwise a fantastic read. I love how real all the characters are. Their flaws are top notch. The parent teenage struggle is relatable and this book made me feel like I was a teenager again. Props to the author for making a wonderful book that I could not put down until I finished it! That says a lot and it doesn’t happen very often.