Reviews - The House Where Death Lives

87 reviews for:

The House Where Death Lives

Kay Constales, Traci Chee, Alex Brown, Tori Bovalino, Gina Chen, C.L. McCollum, Nova Ren Suma, Justine Pucella Winans, Nora Elghazzawi, Sandra Proudman, g. haron davis, Shelly Page, Liz Hull, Rosiee Thor, Courtney Gould, Linsey Miller

3.65 AVERAGE

tacochelle's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Thanks to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for the ARC.

It's a cool YA horror anthology. I liked how it's structured around the layout of a house from the top down. It covers a wide variety of folklore and styles of horror, as well as tone. Vanishing Point by Traci Chee was my favorite. The grief and guilt that Viv feels over her mother dying, how she feared watching her waste away, it's immediately familiar to me from when my grandmother passed away. The months leading up to her death, I couldn't bring myself to visit because I didn't want to see her change. Even though I was a child then, the guilt from that choice still bothers me, so this story hit hard.

Content Warnings

koalakarakookie's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Review for the house where death lives

Over all for this story collect is 4 stars

This a young adult spooky short story collection prefect for this time of year.

Break down for each of the stories themselves

Good morning Georgia- 5 stars very cute start to a short story collection.

Cradle and all - 3.5

This one is not for me but I do like it was told as acts

“ traditions die because there’s no way to uphold them without the necessary history and locations”

After Midnight- 5

This one is just another reminder we can’t cheat death.

“It wasn’t between life and death, after all. Death would eventually win either way. It always did.”

“Life unapologetically sustain itself on death, and I guess in a way now, so do I.”

The Grey Library- spooky books within a book 5 stars

The Phantom’s Waltz- 5 stars because of the ending

“Because we aren’t dead. We are together. And we are so,so alive.”

Mirror Mirror- 3.5 stars

“My heart is a hummingbird.”

Smartmonster- 3 stars

“They lost and are going to meet death.”

Let’s Play A Game- 4 stars

What Lies In Silence- 5 stars

Gave me Coco vibes

“ Death is silence. Not for the ones who died, but the ones left behind.”

“Death is silence, but music lets us live on.”

ME I’M NOT- 4 stars

Like Mother- 3 stars

In Deep- 2.5 stars

Bloom- 3 stars

The Shoe- 5 stars

Cute story

A Helping Hand- 4.25 stars

smilesgiggle's review against another edition

4.0

Creepy house?? YES!
Creepy cover?? YES!
The Table of Contents definitely set the mood - creepy and intense.
The first story features two young women, an attic room and communicating writing on a mirror. Though my favorite was the hungry hallway. The utter confusion as Viv struggles to cope with her mother's death. I struggled to make sense through the confusion - utterly terrifying.
Loved these unique and horrifying stories! I would love to visit this house!

gigireadswithkiki's review

5.0

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I went into this book with some middling expectations because my past experience with short stories showed me that all short story collections have hits and misses. This was NOT the case with this book, oh my god!

The cohesiveness of a story told through all the different rooms of a haunted house, layered with how there were elements of the other stories teased within some of the stories really brought together this horror anthology.

My favorites were definitely the short stories with SUPER suspenseful open endings, ones with extremely morally grey characters, and ones that just tugged HARD at my heartstrings (Justine Pucella Winans, Gina Chen, Shelly Page, and [the story that played off of Alice in Borderlands/Squid Games, I apologize I forget the author!] were standout favorites for me!)

But honestly none of the stories were a miss for me, I need more people to pick up this delightfully creepy short story collection, especially during Halloween season!

pipinghotbooks's review

3.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I liked some of these stories. Unfortunately, none of them were very memorable.

aleareads's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This anthology took my favorite type of ghost stories (creepy and mysterious, yet short and sweet) and added a pleasantly surprising amount of depth. They encapsulate the feeling of being freaked out by something everyone else sees as normal when you’re a kid while also showing that the scariest things can be the emotions we don’t understand.

I also loved how the stories are organized as if you are making your way through a haunted house.

I would recommend for anyone who loves:
👻 paranormal podcasts (such as And That’s Why We Drink and Scared To Death)
🏕️ campfire stories
🌎 folklore from different cultures