Gothictown by Emily Carpenter, when the book starts it’s in Juliana Georgia 1864 and the founders are worried about General Sherman, plundering their beautiful southern town and so come up with a plan to hide their biggest asset but unfortunately it goes horribly wrong. Fast-forward to 2023 New Yorker and ex restaurant owner Billy Hope checks her email and finds one from the mayor’s assistant in Juliana Georgia. it explains how families and singles who are upwardly Moble can move to their fine city and buy a home for just $100 and those wanting to start a brick and mortar business in their dying community, will even get a $30,000 business grant to help start it.) after doing a little research and even visiting the town they believe it’s real and move there and couldn’t be happier. on the first night Billy and her six-year-old Meredith had the same nightmare but husband Peter isn’t sleeping well at all. As time goes on Billy finds the town folk will bend over backwards to help you out and is really fitting into the community her husband Peter however not so much. from their prayer to Juliana that they say before each meal, to their cat Ramsay‘s personality becoming unrecognizable to many other things found by her daughter and overheard by her in town is all making Billy Leary but it isn’t until husband Peter packs up and leaves that she really starts to think something isn’t right with Juliana Georgia. let me just say this Gothic story is nothing like any Gothic story I have ever read and I am saying that and an absolutely positive way. victorian home check, southern fried secret check, ghost… Kind of check, a horrific origin story absolutely check but it’s the rest of the story that is so original. there’s even attempts at arrange couples but not in the way you’re used to this book was so good so original I really love that anyone who wants to read a great haunted house story this isn’t that book wanna read a great haunted town story Gothic town is the book.#NetGalley, #KensingtonBooks, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #EmilyCarpenter, #GothicTown,

Billie and her family are offered the opportunity to live in small-town Georgia at nearly no cost. Although it seems quaint, the town of Juliana has a dark history.

I loved the themes in this--they tied in nicely with the post(?)-pandemic setting. In addition, Carpenter creates a great, creepy atmosphere. However, the rest of the story isn't as strong. Some plot elements seem to be abandoned, and some aren't resolved in a satisfying manner. Still, it's an engaging book and I will definitely read more by Carpenter.

Carpenter does a fantastic job of paining a very tense picture of what the town is like and the main characters are going through. The horror is situational and the reader can feel the tension. There were parts that were hard to get into mixed with some moments I couldn't put down. The first 20% is the hardest to push through- the prologue is good but gets boring for a bit after. The last 10% felt too predictable and convenient.

Thank you to the author and Kensinger Publishing via NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

7/10

While i see a lot of potential in Emily Carpenter as an author, and will keep an eye on her in future, I largely found this miscategorised in the horror section, and I don't think this will land with a horror-focused audience, especially with 'Gothic' being in the title, there is no Gothic in the style.

There was a significant tonal shift halfway through this book, the first half was written like a romance, there is nothing wrong with that, and then at 50% it immediately shifts to a mystery, also nothing wrong with this.

My biggest issue is this was entirely predictable if you've read Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic the ending will be obvious, and the trope of 'if it's too good to be true it probably is' didn't help that it was obvious where ti was going.

Also the story with the mother gets repeated twice, once told to the audience early on, then a second time repeated in a conversation, this was repetitive.

A little of an edit and tonal consistency would improve this a lot.

But I did enjoy Emily's Prose, she has talent, it just needs to be refined.

Great retelling- reimagining of The Lottery. It’s a short story we all wish was a full length novel and Gothictown delivers. I felt so creeped out while reading this. The horrific beginning just stays with you. Who can be trusted? What is causing these haunting dreams and maladies? Billie is incredibly flawed and I just didn’t like her. I was in a constant state of worry about her daughter! This is a must read for horror fans. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

In Gothictown by Emily Carpenter, a young family: Peter, Billie and Mere leave New York City after a floundering Billie searches for a new direction. Feeling lost after the pandemic closes the door on her restaurateur dream and losing contact with her mother, she is offered an opportunity for a new start: a house in the quaint Georgian town of Juliana for only $100 and an opportunity to open her restaurant again. But is the grass greener in Juliana or soaked with something sinister?

A recommended read for fans of Shirley Jackson and Get Out. The story of the quest for the American dream will have readers hooked, yet the characters could be more developed and some (Billie) more likable. In a town with such colorful character names, I was missing some of that personality in their dialogue and interactions. I did find the ending satisfying, but wanted more explanation regarding the paranormal events. I enjoyed the book and recommend for readers who enjoy mysterious paranormal novels.

Thanks to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this ebook.

Billie Hope moves her family to Juliana, Georgia eager to leave the pandemic economy in New York City. Juliana is incentivizing business owners to move there by offered $100 homes. They soon begin to think there’s something menacing about the town under the southern hospitality.

Not only is this a creepy house story, but a creepy town story. We find out the backstory right in the beginning but the main character is not in the know. It’s an unusual perspective for the reader but I loved it. There was a lot of town history that was revealed in small chapters which added a richness to the story. It gets very exciting with lots of action and is extremely satisfying at the end.

“.. whatever is getting to me, whatever is tearing at my insides, it’s something here, in this place.”

Gothictown comes out 3/25.

Creepy, atmospheric, gothic, and compelling. Gothictown is not where I would want to live but Billie Hope is given an offer she can't refuse. She can be the owner of a Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia for the low cost of $100.00. Apparently, no one ever told her if it seems too good to be true it probably is. But it is just after the pandemic and life in NYC is cramped. What a great opportunity to have a big home and land for her daughter to enjoy. Plus, there is always a plus, there is a business grant!!!! She can open a new restaurant!!! Billie, her husband and daughter off and soon find themselves living in Georgia and being welcomed into the community.

What a community it is! Let's just say that this is not Mr. Roger's neighborhood! They begin to feel unsettled, uneasy, and well, who can sleep at night with talk of old wells and secretive townspeople. I enjoyed the something-isn't-quite-right feel of this book. This did read like a horror film, with the old southern town with deep secrets, creepy townspeople, and bless their hearts, controlling old men.


I enjoyed the tension, the dread, the atmosphere, and the creepy vibe in this book. I found myself wanting to tell Billie to beat it and get the heck out of dodge from the very beginning of the book. The unease in this book was off the charts and created a great vibe.

This was a 4-star read for me until the ending where I thought, "Seriously?" and "What the heck?". Let's just say I saw many ways for this book ending and the actual way it did end came out of left field and shocked me but thinking back perhaps the writing was on the wall with some dialogue sprinkled in here and there about certain things. Now that I have confused you by what didn't work for me with the ending, I will say that for the most part I enjoyed this book.

Gothic, creepy, and atmospheric!

Emily Carpenter’s got a raging talent for spinning Southern Gothic yarns, that sweaty, fucked-up genre where small towns feel like pressure cookers of weird, family secrets rot in the attic, and the humidity’s so thick you’d swear the ghosts are sticking to your damn skin. Her past hits, Every Single Secret and The Weight of Lies, screwed around with these vibes in ways that left you itchy and unsettled—good shit. So when I saw Gothictown, I was cackling like some mustache-twirling asshole about to evict orphans in a Dickens novel. This was gonna slap, right?

Well, sorta. It’s more of a playful smack than a full-on wallop.

Meet Billie Hope, a former NYC foodie queen whose career got bitch-slapped by the pandemic. She’s broke, bummed, and basically drifting when—bam—an email drops a Victorian dream house in Juliana, Georgia, in her lap for a hundred bucks, plus a juicy business grant to sweeten the pot. So, like a total moron, she packs up her husband, Peter, and their kid, Meredith, and bolts for Creepsville, USA.

If you’ve ever cracked a horror book—or even seen a shitty B-movie—you know a deal this good comes with a catch: (A) a hell portal in the cellar, (B) a cult with a body count fetish, or (C) ghosts hissing creepy-ass nonsense while you’re trying to catch some Zs. Gothictown grabs B, then sprinkles in some haunted house sprinkles for kicks.

Carpenter digs into sacrifice and privilege, throwing Billie into the ring with Juliana’s founding families—a bunch of old-money pricks who run the town like a Southern-fried mob with better manners. They’ve got spooky chants, cryptic bullshit rituals, and the occasional “oops, we killed someone” to keep the loyalty flowing. It’s like the HOA turned into a murder club, and the fees are paid in blood.

The neat trick here? Carpenter fucks with community and belonging. Billie’s mom ditched her for a cult way back, so she’s starving for a do-over. Juliana’s love-bombing hospitality—think Stepford Wives with sweet tea—makes her pause just long enough before she’s like, “Wait, why do you fuckers keep implying I’m stuck here?” Here’s the rub—Gothictown wants to be a horror badass, but it’s got the heart of a cozy mystery wearing a haunted house’s hand-me-downs. The vibe’s eerie, the tension simmers, but the scare-o-meter barely twitches. Carpenter’s prose is tight as hell, and she’s still got that slow-burn psych game on lock, but this thing leans more suspense than “oh shit, lock the doors” horror. Expecting The Lottery meets Mexican Gothic? Nah, you’re getting a mild case of the heebie-jeebies at best.

Let’s not bullshit—Gothictown is still a good time. The pacing clips along, the twists hit like a satisfying gut punch, and Juliana’s “everyone’s way too nice” schtick makes your skin crawl just right. Billie’s a hot mess of bad choices, but she’s complex enough to root for—kinda like that friend who keeps dating losers but you love ‘em anyway. Then there’s Peter, the poor bastard husband. He starts fraying like a dollar-store sweater the second they roll into town, and it’s a highlight. His spiral into paranoia and “what the fuck is happening” mania is legit unnerving—though sometimes it feels like he stumbled out of Hereditary while the rest of the cast is playing Southern Gothic Clue.

Biggest fuck-up? The ending. After all that buildup, it swerves into a “yay, we won!” finale that feels like it wandered in from a Lifetime movie. Imagine Midsommar wrapping up with Dani slapping a lawsuit on the Harga and cashing a fat check—lame, right? The bad guys get theirs, but it’s so clean you’d think they used bleach. A little grit, a little “what the hell just happened,” would’ve saved it.

So, read Gothictown? Sure, if you’re craving a horror-thriller lite that’s more creepy vibes than pants-shitting terror. Carpenter’s writing keeps you hooked, and there’s enough mystery and suspense to make it worth the ride. But if you’re jonesing for Southern Gothic gut-punches like Harvest Home or The Invited, you’ll be left shrugging. It’s like hitting a tricked-out haunted house at Six Flags—spooky enough to kill an afternoon, but you’re not sleeping with the lights on. Final word: solid, not spectacular. Dig it for the weird-ass small-town feels, but don’t expect it to carve up your soul.

The deal sounds almost too good to be true: move down to Juliana, get a house for $100, and help resurrect a small dying town.

Billie Hope moves her family from New York to Juliana, Georgia, in the hopes of a safe, quiet life for her daughter. Opening a restaurant, fitting in to the old southern society, and maintaining her marriage is a lot for any person, but there's something not quite right about Juliana and her residents.

A gripping and tense ride, Gothictown lives up to its name!

Juliana was meant to solve all of her problems but it turns to be a nightmare for Billie. She moved herself, her husband Peter and their daughter Meredith there to open a restaurant -thanks to incentives- after her NYC one failed. Peter reopens his psychology practice and Meredith starts school. And then the bad things start to happen. This is nicely creepy even before it goes off the rails a bit. I could feel the vibes that would make this a good movie. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers.

"In an immersive Southern Gothic with echoes of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets...

Welcome to gentle Juliana, where you can have it all...if you pay the price.

The email that lands in Billie Hope’s inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she'll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true…or a devil's bargain.

A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything promised - two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a "gentle jewel" with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss any troubling signs...

But Billie's sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana's founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.

There's something about "Gentle Juliana" - something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she's starting to wonder how, and if, they'll ever leave.

For readers of Stacy Willingham, Sarah Langan, Ashley Winstead, and Jess Lourey, a bewitchingly foreboding story about sacrifice, privilege, family, guilt, and the vengeful ghosts of a haunted past - from the bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls."

I really like this new and interesting take on what has become pandemic literature.

Editor’s note: This review and roundup appears in several Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia newspapers and magazines, including at https://cullmantimes.com/2025/03/11/review-a-sip-of-spring-fiction-with-a-bit-of-history-for-flavor/

A sip of spring fiction, with a bit of history for flavor

By Tom Mayer

On the cusp of the 80th anniversary of the atrocities ending with World War II’s VJ Day, comes an important reminder in the form of cinematic storytelling from the pen of best-selling author Robert Dugoni, assisted by fellow academic researchers Chris Crabtree and Jeff Langholz.

Five hundred-page novels that contain more than a hundred pages of afterword and notes aren’t typical fare for the type of thrillers Dugoni writes; and if cinema is used as an adjective for such tomes it generally implies “best documentary” rather than “best picture.” But this fictionalized re-telling of the end of the war is anything but documental, especially with its final 150 pages moving full steam ahead, filled with submarines, warships and Clancyesque code breaking.

“Hold Strong” (Lake Union) tells the story of Sam Carlson and Sarah Haber, young sweethearts from Eagle Grove, Minnesota. It’s the end of the Great Depression and looking for a way out of his and his parents’ misfortunes — the family farm has been repossessed — Sam joins the war effort. Finding that the Army life suits him, he rises through the ranks. In 1942, he’s taken prisoner by the Japanese and survives the worst that that experience can offer, including the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and captivity in the hold of a Japanese “hell ship,” the Arisan Maru.

Through this, Sarah, and Sam’s family, receive no word about him, and the Army records him as missing in action. Though the couple made a promise to each other but never cemented an engagement before he left, Sarah especially is left in limbo, loving a man who she knows could be dead.

But Sarah’s strong, independent character is coupled with a brilliant mathematical mind, and she’s recruited out of college by the Navy to become a code breaker in the service of the WAVES — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — helping to turn the tide of the war, and possibly even unknowingly, Sam’s fate. The upshot is that no one, not even their families, can know what the women are doing, even to the point of telling others if asked that they are nothing more than secretaries in the service of Uncle Sam.

The story of Sam and Sarah is just that, a story, but Dugoni and company get it right, opening new and little-known chapters on the hells of that war — and the critical roles of female recruits — with startling and stark reality.

“Hold Strong” works well as a novel, and its secondary characters, such as Father Tom with his unflappable faith and Grace Moretti with her unbounded optimism, are extraordinarily well-developed. But this is one book bound for the big screen, and with its historic foundation underpinning a captivating wartime love story, one that is sure to become the sleeper read of the year.

Another novel of potential sleeper status comes to us as a dream in the charming coming-of-age “The Rainfall Market” (Ace). Written by a young South Korean novelist, You Yeong-Gwang (whose own dream as a young author is this story), and translated by Slin Jung, this magical novel tells the story of the impoverished teenager Serin and an abandoned house on the outskirts of Rainbow Town.

The legend says that if you send an essay explaining your misfortunes to that address, you could receive a ticket in return, and one that not only allows entrance to the Market beyond the house’s front door, but the offer to swap your life for another.

The odds are long but Serin sends off her letter and gets in return a ticket and an invitation to visit the Market for the duration of the rainy season — those who overstay the welcome are destined to never leave — with the total of its enchantments, including a magical cat companion named Issha.

Travels and travails follow Serin and Issha as they are plagued by Dokkaebi — goblin-like creatures taken from the pages of Korean folklore — who run the individual shops in the market, each offering a “happier story in our stock.”

With help from Issha and others that she befriends, Serin traverses the market’s allegorical landmines, comparing one life’s outcome with another until she comes to the end of her visit in this predictable but rewarding fairytale.

Other notable titles out this spring and worth the price of admission — no essay required — range from the fantastical to the feral with a number of big-hitting authors submitting some of their best work, including sequels:

“Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” (Berkley) by Grady Hendrix: 15-year-old Fern arrives alone and scared and pregnant at the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida — as are all the young woman and girls living at the home. Life is strictly regulated under the tyrannical control of the adults until Fern is gifted a book about witchcraft — and the power it contains to both create and destroy.

“The Ends of Things” (Blackstone) by Sandra Chwialkowska: A romantic lovers’ paradise is anything but idyllic for Laura Phillips and her boyfriend as shea becomes involved in the disappearance of the lone traveler befriended on the beach. An exotic getaway soon itself gets away from Laura as garnished cocktails and sumptuous suites turn into a murder investigation — and a fight for her innocence.

“Somewhere Toward Freedom” (Simon & Schuster) by Bennett Parten: Parten, a Georgia-native university professor with an expertise in the Civil War period, shines with storytelling as his reporting illuminates new, and unconventional, light on one of the most well-documented and well-known war episodes in our nation’s history — Sherman’s march to the sea. Subtitled “Sherman’s March and Story of America’s Largest Emancipation,” Parten re-tills well-trodden ground, telling the story of the thousands of enslaved people who followed Sherman and his army, turning a march of destruction into the launch of liberation in this meticulously researched book.

“Cupid on the Loose” (Blackstone) by John J. Jacobson: This timely novel that slipped into best-selling list early in February is nonetheless a timely tale for the ages, and especially for those who love a love story in the vein of Nicholas Sparks, and the romantic mayhem of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — an author who incidentally plays a prominent role of his own in this fun read. Centered on a “kindred kind of romance” that needs a bit of tender to set it ablaze, enter a meddling grandmother whose intentions are as well-conceived as they are misguided.

“Destiny’s Way” (Berkley) by Jack Campbell: In this sequel to Campbell’s “In Our Stars,” the time traveling part-human, part-alien-DNA Selene Genji is thrust 30 years into the past, before the Universal Way destroyed the world, in an attempt to save Earth — excedpt those alive who want her dead after being declared a traitor by the Earth Guard. Assisted by at least one friend from the first part of the “Doomed Earth Duology,” Selene must find a way to save a prejudicial mankind that wants this independent and strong woman dead.

“The Secrets of Flowers” (Blackstone) by Sally Page: A story floating from the depths of the Titanic — and we never get tired of those — Page crafts a unique, heart-healing tale of Emma, who is bereft following her husband’s death. Told through the language of flowers, Emma discovers the lost story of a girl from the ship, one told in the arrangements of the flowers on board during the maiden, and final, voyage, that might just blossom into the healing of her own grief.

“The Memory Ward” (Blackstone) by Jon Bassoff: A seemingly Elysian small town is the scene of bizarre oddities, and postal worker Hank Davies isn’t the first to notice — he comes to realize he’s delivering mail filled with blank pages — but he’s the one whose willing to cry foul. A secreted story discovered beneath the walls of Hank’s bedroom touches off pages of alternate reality as Bassoff delivers a tale of trauma and altered identity, and one questioning the concept of humanity itself.

“American Fever” (Arcade) by Dur e Aziz Amna: This engaging and humorous novel centers on a Pakistani exchange student in rural Oregon who finds herself between worlds — and entrenched in the navigation of first love, racism, Islamophobia and homesickness. When she finds herself quarantined after a diagnosis of tuberculosis, her world shrinks further as themes of religion, family and national identity take on increasingly larger proportions.

“Protecting Jess” (Arcade Crimewise) by Karna Small Bodman: A White House economist and rising star, Jessica Tanner, has both brains and beauty. Sent to Brazil to speak at an international conference on behalf of her boss, a planned exotic dream assignment descends into a dangerous and foreboding nightmare.

“Don’t Tell Me How to Die” (Blackstone) by Marshall Karp: Marshall Karp, of NYPD Red series (aka, co-conspirator of James Patterson) fame, offers a taut, sharp and on-target psychological thriller in “Don’t Tell Me How To Die” (Blackstone). Told in parts, past and present, Karp crafts a evolving storyline centered on 43-year-old Maggie, a woman who is not only diagnosed with the same deadly disease that claimed her mother but vows to not recreate the adolescent hell she endured because of the passing. Seeing firsthand her dying mother’s warning that, once she died, women would flock to 17-year-old Maggie and her sister’s father “like stray cats to an overturned milk truck” and that it would be up to girls to protect him. Which they do, admirably — until one slips through their gatekeeping. … Determined that the same thing won’t happen to her own family, Maggie devises a plan to find a perfect match as wife and mother … before she dies. If this were all to the plot, the storyline would be worth an afternoon, but in succeeding parts of the novel, Karp continuously turns everything upside down, projecting surprise after surprise in a trope-laden, over-blown style that works perfectly for a main course instead of the appetizer it would have been coming from a lesser pen. Karp is a veteran in keeping the cinematic action going and the shocks coming — both of which are abundantly on display in his latest.

“Cold Iron Task” (Berkley) by James J. Butcher: In this Book 3 of 3 in Butcher’s “The Unorthodox Chronicles,” Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby — one of the most notable names in literary history — has solved at least one case, but he’s still a beginner in Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. As he joins an unlikely partner in the heist of of an otherworldly vault, Grimsby touches off past and closely guarded secrets, freeing demons and monsters, Usual and Unorthodox, that could be his demise in this series finisher.

“The Gate of the Feral Gods” (Ace Hardcovers) by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl series): Welcome, Crawler, to the fifth floor of the dungeon in Book 4 of Dinniman’s quest series, and one filled with warrior gnomes, malfunctioning machines and a deadly, haunted crypt. On the eve of utter failure, Carl and his team find they must rely on the untrustworthy crawlers trapped in the bubble with them.

“The Summer Guests” (Thomas & Mercer) by Tess Gerritsen: In Book 2 of The Martini Club, retired covert agent Maggie Bird has “retired” to the seaside. In Purity, life is quiet, but it’s not without murder as a friendly neighbor of Maggies becomes embroiled in double homicide charges. It’s up to the Martini Club, a circle of ex-CIA friends book club, to find the truth behind the secrets that portend more murder on the horizon.

“Gothictown” (Kensington) by Emily Carpenter: What if you could purchase a Victorian home for $100 in a small Georgia town eager to spur its pandemic-riddled economy? So begins this story of Billie Hope’s dream of fleeing cramped and crimped New York City with her husband and daughter. Dreams, as they often do in the offerings from Carpenter — a Birmingham, Alabama, native now living in Georgia — descend from opportunities to devilish bargains, and “Gothictown” is part and parcel of the oeuvre. More than genteel charms lurks beneath the facade of Southern hospitality in this town. View a free 66-page teaser of the novel (“Gothictown: A Sneak Peek”) at online booksellers.

“Home Is Where the Bodies Are” (Blackstone) by Jeneva Rose: Questions and secrets arise when three estranged siblings begin to sort their mother’s estate — and discover a VHS recording of their blood-soaked father involved in a death of which none of them have any recollection. Revive the past or leave it buried with their mother? That becomes the question … with no easy, or safe, answers.

Reach Tom Mayer at tmayer@cullmantimes.com.

I first fell in love with author, Emily Carpenter, back in 2016 with her debut book, "Burying The Honeysuckle Girls", which I cannot recommend enough. I also enjoyed reading "Until The Day I Die" and have other novels of hers on my TBR list.

This latest one caught my eye because I love a good southern gothic story. When I saw it was by the author, I couldn't say no. The premise for this book was truly unique and one of a kind: a family offered a chance to restart their life in an idealistic town for practically nothing. A chance for them to own a house and get a loan to start a business seemed like a dream come true.

Right away, something seems off about the people of this town. On the outside they are all so friendly and eager to help their new neighbors and friends. What secrets are they hiding about this town? Why is it so perfect? How are they able to offer houses so cheap and give out money to fund new businesses on town?

This was labeled southern gothic mystery/horror, and I think that is wholly incorrect. This is a mild thriller and cozy mystery at best. It has a slight paranormal aspect to it, maybe?

While I was disappointed in the genre, I did enjoy the story as a whole. The characters, although plentiful & at times confusing, where all unique and unforgettable. There were also times where the plot seemed to drag on and move too slowly, and I think the ending came a bit too swift and wrapped up a bit too neatly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for allowing me an advanced digital copy to read and give my honest review. It was a 4 star read for me, as I am still thinking about it days later.

"Gothictown" by Emily Carpenter is set to be released on March 25, 2025 here in the U.S. so pre-order your copy now!

Gothictown follows the people in a small Georgia town of Juliana. The lore of the town’s history shaped the progress in ways unknown to people who moved there. The head families started a program to lure people to the town and set up businesses through promises of cheap living and safe small town life. Billie, Mere, and Peter left New York after the pandemic in hopes of starting a new restaurant and a new life. Peter was the first to be affected by the problematic nature of Juliana. Secrets were uncovered and suspense builds as Billie attempts to save her family. Carpenter started with a promise of a haunted feeling and ended with a town filled with murderers and tax evaders. She kissed several marks and many of the twists felt forced.

WOO! I freaking loved this book! I absolutely flew right through out! If you love a "new to a small town" vibe with some cult shit happening AND some major family drama, this one is for you!

I loved the main character, Billie - she felt very realistic to me. Flawed, yes, but still trying to do the right thing for herself and her family. The vibes in this book are immaculate, there are spooky moments and tense moments and it's pretty dang fast paced right from the outset.

Also, the cover is so pretty! I definitely recommend this one!

If someone emailed you and offered you a house in a random town in Georgia for only $100 would you take the offer? No? Me either…

I was hoping for a gothic horror novel and I didn’t quite get that. There was no horror or scary elements to this story. We are following a family who takes a $100 offer to buy a house in a random small town in Juliana, Georgia. When they arrive Billie, the wife, starts up a restaurant and her husband Peter, a psychologist, begins his practice. Things are going well for the family until Peter starts going insane and then leaves the family to go back to New York. The story just kind of goes off the rails after that.

The problems I had with this story were a couple things. I’m not sure if the author should have made Billie a mother, she leaves her daughter multiple times with strangers to figure out the insanity that is the town. I think at one point she left her daughter for four days. Billie also basically leaves her restaurant as well, I’m not sure if the restaurant owner and mother were the best things for this character. I just kind of lost interest in Billie, she didn’t seem like that great of a person and I didn’t really care what happened to her. I was hoping for more scary elements within this book, I was hoping for a haunted house story, but didn’t get that.

I liked the short chapters and the story kept my interest, but this wasn’t a favorite and sadly one that I will probably forget.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Gothictown (which doesn’t feel like the right name for this book) takes a city, Juliana, that feels frozen in time and exposes everything rotten beneath the surface.

I think my favorite character was Mere because she seemed to have an intuitive understanding that something wasn’t quite right. At the same time, she was too young to put everything together.

The MC was morally gray, but I do wonder how much of that was due to the town’s influence. Peter, her husband, takes on the typical ‘he never used to be like that’ role that’s reserved for all the husbands in all of these type of stories. There were a few interesting twists, though.

All in all, I thought this book was entertaining, but I also felt that it lacked something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴.“

When restauranteur, Billie Hope, receives an post-pandemic invitation to move her family to a small town in Georgia, with the incentive offer to purchase a house for just $100 and receive a thirty thousand dollar business grant to start up a new restaurant, the draw is too good to resist. But they soon realize that not all is as it seems in Juliana. And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…

This book is a great modern, Southern gothic- featuring a somewhat unsettling small town,
residents with a near cult-like reverence for their founding families, and a maybe-haunted manor. 𝘎𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 brings a modern take to the gothic mystery thriller!

This book was amazing and I loved it. I have to admit that at first I was actually going to DNF because of the prologue, but that’s because I don’t like historical fiction or anything written that far in the past because it’s boring to me. (Not all, but this type)

But I’m SO glad I continued!

My heart broke reading this book (P & B forever) and honestly I love the eerie town and strange inhabitants. The elite families were written so well.

I’m off to read the rest of this authors books!

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for letting me arc read this book.