This was a fun spooky story and would be perfect for a dark spooky fall night.

Emily and her husband Josh have just moved from San Francisco to Nebraska after her mothers death. This is suppose to be a new beginning until strange things start happening.

This book was spooky and had my favorite thing unreliable narrator. We follow Emily who is plague by noises and strange lights in their barn that no else can see.

Even though this book is 400+ pages it was such a quick read as everything was so fast paced. I loved how the ending was wrapped up and Emily finally got her closure.

Genre: Paranormal Horror
APK: Ebook
Pages: 421
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

I love horror/mysteries that intertwined grief and this book was a great example of that. Following Emily’s journey through her grief of losing her mother made it easy to connect with her. The setting was great — rural and isolated and creepy. Sometimes I struggled with the narrative bouncing around, but it did feel authentic to being in someone’s mind. This was a slow burn mystery but definitely worth it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

A Gothic Thriller Rooted in Grief and Ghosts

Chelsea Conradt’s The Farmhouse is a chilling debut that reimagines the American heartland as a haunted crucible of generational trauma. With a deft blend of psychological horror and rural gothic, Conradt crafts a story where the cornfields whisper, the barn moves, and the past refuses to stay buried.

Emily Hauk, grieving the recent death of her mother, leaves San Francisco with her husband Josh for a fresh start on a remote Nebraska farm. But the land they’ve purchased has a sinister legacy: every woman who’s lived there has died.

🌾 The barn that seems to move, the cornfields that close in like walls—Conradt turns the landscape into a psychological maze.

Far from a passive victim, Emily is a runner, an artist, and a woman determined to reclaim her agency.

Is the haunting real, or is Emily losing her grip on reality? Conradt never fully resolves this tension, and that’s the novel’s strength. The horror lies in the not-knowing—in the way trauma distorts perception and memory.

The Farmhouse is a slow-burn descent into dread, where the ghosts aren’t just in the attic—they’re in the soil, the silence, and the spaces between what’s said and what’s believed. It’s a story about women’s voices—ignored, erased, and finally, heard. For fans of The Silent Companions or Home Before Dark, this is a must-read debut that lingers like a cold breath on the back of your neck.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Farmhouse began with a lot of promise. The fresh start for the grieving Emily and her husband Josh. They find the storybook farm in the middle of Nebraska. The setting was perfect for an eerie, spooky mystery. I was definitely interested, at first, and wanted to know what was going on. The spooky moments were perfect and the isolated setting done well. As the story continued, though, I got lost in the repetitiveness and monotony of Emily’s life. It felt like it was coffee, morning run, work and couch with some mystery in between. I liked the details until it became the same thing over and over. The relationship between Emily and Josh that seemed so strong begins to unravel as Emily experiences things on the farm that he does not. The ending was lackluster and for the amount of pages, not in any way rewarding. I think this story would have been better if it had been shorter and some of the repetitions of daily life been edited out. Ultimately, this was an okay read but not what I was hoping it would be.

The Farm House | Chelsea Conradt
DNF @ 32%

Emily, reeling from the recent loss of her mother, relocates to rural Nebraska in hopes of a fresh start. But soon after settling into the old farmhouse, she begins to hear strange noises, see unsettling visions, and question her own grip on reality. Is it grief playing tricks on her mind—or is something more sinister at work?

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me at 32%. Off to the graveyard it goes. The synopsis pulled me in, but the content gave me nothing. Emily moves, starts hallucinating, grieves her mother all over again, and that’s about it. Every few pages, she’d go on another run or write a running log, which felt completely random and did nothing to move the story forward. I got a taste of the psychological elements, only for nothing to really develop. This was a slooooow burn that was just too slow for me. I couldn’t suffer through another chapter of nothing happening.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔽𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘁

A parent’s death, grief, a young couple, a new beginning, city to country life, and a creepy barn. What could go wrong? Plenty!

I loved the whole backwoods farm setting. The old barn was the perfect eerie accompaniment for this couple’s new country lifestyle. Every time it was mentioned I had a specific and creepy visual going on in my head.

There are underlying issues of a parent’s death and the grief that follows. Could that grief be causing hallucinations? It is a possibility. Or, is what Emily is experiencing real? I felt the anxiety it caused as she tried to decipher what was going on. I liked not knowing as that made me really dig in to the story.

The Farmhouse is a slow burner that leaves you with a fear of the unknown. The seclusion of their new home made it the perfect setting to bring that feeling to the forefront of the story. The book didn’t scare me but did put me on edge.

💕Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing this ebook for me to read and review.

So creepy but also a little slow paced for me. I liked the main character, but found myself frustrated with her repetitive actions that didn't move the story along. There were other elements of the book that didn't add to the plot as well. Still, I loved the atmosphere this author created and it was one of the creepiest books I've read in a long time.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Hmm. What a book.
I enjoyed the storyline, and the characters. I could really feel the emotions and often wondered what I would do too given her situation.
Emily is grieving, and decides with her husband in tow to make a life change, they pack up from sunny California and move to Nebraska where they know no one. Farm life isn’t quite what she bargained for when she begins to suspect that somethings not right.
From there it takes off and although you assume you know- do you really?
I enjoyed the book, I did find it long though. But it was definitely a good thriller.

A chilling psychological thriller with a supernatural twist. Bit of a slow burn, but even during the slower pace, the writing is excellent and keeps you interested, along with a growing sense of dread that blooms as the pace quickens.

Definitely recommend for thriller fans!

If you love atmospheric thrillers with a supernatural edge, The Farmhouse is a must-read. From the moment Emily and Josh move into their new rural Nebraska home, the tension starts simmering and it never lets up.

What I really appreciated about this book is how subtly the unease creeps in. At first, it’s just little things, strange noises, unsettling stories, a barn that doesn’t stay put (yes, really!). But as Emily starts digging into the history of the property, the sense of dread becomes absolutely gripping.

The writing is vivid and immersive, especially when it comes to setting. You can practically feel the isolation of the farm and hear the whispers in the corn. Emily is a relatable protagonist, and I was rooting for her the whole way through, even when others around her doubted what she was experiencing.

This book balances suspense and the supernatural really well. It’s not overly gory or jump-scare-heavy, but it is genuinely eerie. Perfect for fans of slow-burn horror, haunted houses (or haunted farmland, in this case), and stories where the past refuses to stay buried.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! I’ll definitely be thinking twice before any countryside getaways...

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for my gifted ARC!

The Farmhouse premise pulled me in immediately, so it was no wonder this was one of my most anticipated reads. The beginning was so strong and I was sucked in. But it started to get a little repetitive to me. Maybe that was intentional, a spiraling of our FMC, meant to make us feel like we were losing the plot. But… I just couldn’t let myself spiral like this book probably intended. This wasn’t for me, in the end. Solid writing, though. That saved a lot of it for me.

2.5 ⭐️ Agh, I struggled with this one. I had high hopes and was really intrigued by the synopsis, but, unfortunately, this fell flat for me. I felt as though nothing really happened for 90% of the book and then the ending wrapped everything up super quickly leaving a lot of questions. I really liked the rural, isolated setting but I feel it had the potential to be much creepier. I was left feeling bored and underwhelmed. I’m disappointed that this wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 rounded up
Rural Nebraska. A haunted farmhouse. Creepy cornfields. And one of my favorite tropes, a couple dealing with big marital issues seek a fresh start by moving into an isolated haunted house. Horror ensues. The storytelling is fresh and vibrant. The main character, Emily, keeps running logs that are sandwiched between chapters. She’s weighed down by grief–the loss of her mother to cancer. There are a lot of pop-culture references and social media jargon that I wish would stay on social media–like “nom nom”. It’s distracting in the sense that it’s on every page so I was forced to clock it. Emily’s husband, Josh, turns out to be one of those guys that doesn’t believe his wife and dismisses all her concerns about their new house. Even though this book uses familiar tropes which feel predictable, I never once wanted to put the book down. I was entertained and invested enough to see this one through to the end. Perfect for an October reading list for classic haunted house vibes, creepy, rural cornfield atmosphere, and a fast, easy read.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved this book, but I also just love anything set in a rural background and with a haunted building. I loved the combination of supernatural horror and human horror, blending together to make you wonder how much of it was real and how much was in the FMC's head. Speaking of, I appreciated how heavy it focused on the fact that the FMC was gaslit by everyone the whole time, and if someone had just listened to her, justice could have been served sooner. I love horror where the real scary thing is men.

Honestly, this is probably going on my top 100 horror books list.

Thank you NetGalley and Poison Penned Press for this ARC.

Emily and her husband, Josh, decide it’s time to leave big city life behind and move to a quaint farmhouse in rural Nebraska for a slower pace of life and fresh air. However, they are unaware of the dark history that haunts their new home.

"The Farmhouse" had me questioning the sanity of the characters and kept me on edge throughout the entire book. The setting was idyllic, representing everything I had ever dreamed of, until it turned spooky! The story became quite unsettling at times, yet it constantly left me craving more. I do wish the ending had been handled differently; it felt a bit rushed to wrap everything up. Despite that, I really enjoyed the book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced reader's copy of The Farmhouse by Chelsea Conradt.

This novel is a interesting blend of suspense, family drama, and a bit of a slow burning mystery that makes for an ideal October read even though it's not a dive deep into the horror genre.

While it’s not a traditional horror novel the psychological unease and sense of isolation are effective to makes the suspense build steadily, If you're looking for a deeply terrifying read, The Farmhouse won't scratch that itch. But if you enjoy stories that simmer with unease and explore haunted histories it’s a satisfying seasonal choice.

👩‍🌾📸🐓💀

This was a frustrating delight of a book.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of this book! The way that Emily was written so human, going through the emotions of grieving after loosing her Mother, dealing with all the details of after death, then on top of that relocating to a whole new place to start the process of healing, but come to find out there is history on this land, and that history comes knocking at her door.

This is a thriller, a mystery and horror, with added domestic drama and small town secrets. This is very well done, and I could see it becoming a mini series in Netflix.

Now, for the frustrating part, Josh, if he was real and I would catch him on the street, it would be on sight 😤 👊🤜 The way this man would gaslight and dismiss even solid evidence? Every single man on this town would catch a hand and elbow.

Now the horror parts, the way that the ghost shows up, the barn and running log, and the creepy athmosphe surrounding the barn 👌🏽🤌🏽

I would love to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me access to the ARC.

The summary of this sounded interesting and I've been on the lookout for new horror titles this year. We're following Emily and Josh, a married couple who've just moved from California to a farmhouse in middle of nowhere Nebraska. She starts to notice odd happenings about the house and the story goes from there.

I have to stay, the dynamic between the two was so frustrating. Every time Emily told Josh about something he was quick to blame outside sources or just not outright not believe her. It definitely made me suspicious of him. I will also say that the pacing of the book is pretty slow. Emily's basically on a mission to find out all she can about the barn and the town is less than forthcoming. But I maintained interested throughout (for the most part) because I have always enjoyed the whole unreliable narrator trope - never knowing if what's going on is real or some type of delusion. There was a creepy aspect about the barn I found unique and chilling.

My main grievance with the novel was the fact that I didn't really feel like it had a climax. We did get a pretty solid resolution about the plot but the build up to it felt ... lacking. Like it just sort of happened and then the end. I wanted more suspense out of it, maybe some type of bigger reveal. Overall I enjoyed Conradt's writing and I would be interested in her future work

After her mother's death, Emily Hauk moves from her city life in San Francisco to a rural farmhouse in Nebraska. A change that would hopefully help her grieve her loss as well as slow down from the hustle and bustle of life. After all, it was easy for her husband and herself to work from home. Here, they can plant a garden, go for long walks, and listen to the silence. As an avid runner, she could run for miles and miles without worrying about the obstacles of urban life.
The idyllic lifestyle Emily wishes to create for herself isn't quite as easy to create as she had hoped. Emily soon realizes that the farm isn't exactly as it seems; the barn appears to move independently, its distance from the house increasing and decreasing daily. Strange lights appear in the barn in the middle of the night when no one should be on the premises, and on top of it all, Emily starts hearing voices and, more disturbingly, finding human teeth on the property. Still, unfortunately, her husband doesn't take her seriously, and neither does the local sheriff. Eventually, Emily becomes aware of the farm's violent history, which explains the unsettling experiences she undergoes.
The Farm House is a ghost story, a psychological thriller, and a crime story rolled into one. It is a perfect addition to your summer reading list!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eh. I was underwhelmed. The first half of the book was incredibly slow and repetitive. I’m not sure how many times I needed to hear about the exact same feelings about her mother’s death she had on repeat. If they contained layers and nuance it would have helped but it just felt repetitive. The actual climax was underwhelming and didn’t contain any sort of payoff I felt justified the slow build. A lot of weird pieces felt like they built up and just died too (like the help from the librarian who just… stops being in the story randomly?). I also felt a bit cheated by the hints that the farm was dangerous/deadly to all women, I expected some interesting look at feminine existence in male spaces, but no it was just one mother/daughter with an “oh yeah and others” hinted at at the end.

Not for me.