Ghosts of Manor House - Matt Powers

Summary: Edmund and Mary Wilder are very much in love. But the death of their young son, Tommy, has shattered their family. Edmund is determined to bring them back together, drawing on the only bit of strength he has left—his love for Mary and their daughter, Stephanie. But Mary sinks deeper into depression while little Stephanie’s anger grows. Edmund flounders in his attempts to rescue his family from the brink of collapse and doesn’t know where to turn.

Then Mary receives an invitation for the family to become guests at Manor House, a seemingly quaint Bed and Breakfast. This, she assures her husband, is the answer to all their troubles.

Edmund arrives ahead of his family to spend a couple days working on his long-delayed novel. But his growing curiosity about the old house leads Edmund to an encounter that will change him forever. 

What will you sacrifice for love?

An old fashioned psychological thriller with a nod to Stephen King, Manor House will keep you guessing and compel you to turn the page to the very end. 

A mother will sacrifice anything for her children. A husband will risk everything to save his wife. Manor House will take them all. (Summary and pic from goodreads.com)

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Review: ‘Tis the season for scary ghost stories, AmIRight? It wouldn’t be Halloween without a few. We at Reading for Sanity wouldn’t feel right about you living your Halloween season all non-scary and such, so today I’m bringing you a review of a haunted house book.

Haunted houses are, without a doubt, one of the funnest scary things about Halloween, ya know? I’ve talked about my love for non-human characters in the past, and haunted houses are definitely on my list of Fave Characters that are not human. I’m not saying not living, you see, because there are many lovely books about animals as main characters. There are even books about non-living things as the main character, but for Halloween, the choice du jour is definitely a haunted house. Maybe Dracula, too, but I guess we can debate whether or not vampires are living at a later date.

So imagine my excitement when I was given the opportunity for a book about haunted houses. And ya’ll, this haunted house book is definitely creepy. This house is uber evil. It’s not just that bad things have gone on there, but the very land it is on is cursed. And a tree. A big ol’ scary tree that does very nasty things to people. It has a secret as well, but I’ll let you discover that on your own.

This book was full of fun Halloweeny-type situations—mysterious disappearances, deaths, furnishings that appear and re-appear, not-quite-living and not-quite-dead house staff, a house that is hard to find to outsiders, a deep and troubled past…this haunted house has it all. I really enjoyed the back story of this haunted house. It was a great addition to my Halloween reading.

My complaint about this book is that it was at times confusing. I know that the author had intentions of the mystery surrounding the house to be confusing, but I don’t think the story ended up being confusing in the way he hoped. Instead of there being a delicious mystery about what had happened, I ended up wondering if the editing had been messed up and a chapter replaced. I figured it out and the story marched on just fine, but it did take me a little while to confirm what was going on. I don’t think this is because the author had an unformed story, instead, I think it was just a slight inexperience about how to transition smoothly in a situation where the main character is forgetting and letting the reader in on the secret without ruining the shtick. Don’t worry, though. This particular issue resolves as time goes on and the haunted reading commences!

This is a short little read with a creepy vibe. If you’re looking for a fun haunted house story that isn’t a huge time commitment or a big emotional drain, this book is for you!

My Rating: 3 stars

For the sensitive reader: There is some slight language and Halloween-esque themes (nothing too gory, although think witch trials-esque). This book is clean.