Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read The Univited by JA Baker.

Spooky and scary - A family that wants to start over moves to a new home. Their new start is foiled by noises and creepy sounds. Typical haunted house book.

Just ok for me.

I reeeeaaaaaally enjoyed the first half of this book. The plot was very intriguing and I enjoyed the characters. Unfortunately, it felt like a chore for me to get through the second half, and the twist at the end just felt kind of surreal and confusing. Not my favorite mystery/thriller.

This book was very scary and I liked the old house component of the story. I found the main character a little irritating.. However, the setting and the finding of the old diary redeemed much of the story for me. I would probably read more by this author.

Faye and her husband Hugh have had a traumatic year. Wanting to start again, the couple decide to buy a large rundown property, Cross House in a village in North Yorkshire, hoping to leave the past behind them.

However, the tranquillity is soon ruined when Faye begins to awake, every night, to the sound of somebody creeping around the bedroom. She tries to explain it to Hugh, frightened for the safety of their children Aiden and Poppy, but Hugh dismisses her claims, thinking she is heading for another breakdown. Obsessed with finding answers, Faye is determined to learn about the Wentworth family, a fractured family with a tragic past.

This is told through the narration of Faye. It was a creepy read and a solid thriller but the ending didn't do it for me. Other than that, I loved it! Plus the cover art was really cool, it's what made me want to read this in the first place.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheUninvited
Pub Date: 03 Dec 2018

J.A. Baker had done a great job with this book and will keep you on your toes the whole time you are reading it. This is my first read by J.A Baker and I was really surprised at how well put together this story is and caught my interest from the first pages. The characters are well developed.

Faye and Hugh along with their children Poppy and Aiden have recently gone through a rough patch in their lives. There were two men, Todd and Jeff that had taken to stalking them and causing lots of chaos for the whole family. Faye and Hugh have talked about moving and decide that now is the time. They need to get away from what had been happening to them. When they find a house that needs some work, they decide that it will be their project house and take their minds off of all that has been happening.

Faye and Hugh along with their children move to the Cross House and quickly learn that there are some unusual things going on in the house. These unusual things start happening pretty much immediately after they move in. Faye had been seeking help at the old residence to help her deal with all that had been happening and she fears that if she tells Hugh all of what is going on, he will make her go back to getting help again. When Aiden comes home from school saying that some of his classmates have been talking about the house they are living in, Faye sets out to get some answers for herself.

With lots of research and talking to some of the towns people, Faye is able to piece together some of what has happened that relates to the Cross House they are living in. I was anxious to know what was going on with the house and felt that at some point the book sort of drug along, but I kept reading and boy am I glad I did!

Are these strange things that are going on in the Cross House a figment of Faye's imagination or is there really something going on? Is the house haunted? Is it a ghost? Is it Todd and Jeff again? You will have to read this one to find out what is going on with Faye and Hugh. This one kept me on the edge of my seat and flipping the pages. Very well done!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book!

I do not know where to begin with this book. It just failed on so many levels.. What started as an interesting story about a family that moves into an old mansion just imploded. The main character, Faye, is irritating, egocentric, and really she is a bore. Her husband Hugh is one dimensional and really not even needed to push the story forward. I had high hopes but this book is not something I could recommend to anyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

The Uninvited is a thriller that left me a little disappointed. I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book, but the and had me scratching my head.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for the eARC.
Faye, Hugh and their 2 children are moving into an old fixer-upper, moving away from their old house to try and put their recent unhappy and frightening past behind them and start fresh. During the renovation Faye finds diaries written by Tammy, daughter of the Wentworth family who lived there during the 1970's. She becomes quite obsessed with the family's history and befriends Gwen and Zoe, both of whom she questions, saying she's writing a book about the house. Faye has a history of mental health problems and when she starts feeling there's a presence in the house, the story gets kind of bogged down with her fears. It's told in her voice and I just couldn't feel empathetic, she sounded like a real pain and I don't think I could have been as patient with her as Hugh was. There was no character I felt invested in and on the whole the book didn't keep my interest.

Faye and Hugh buy a grand old house - but an extreme fixer-upper.

As told through the eyes of Faye, the new house is to be a new start for her and Hugh and also their children; Aiden (12) and Poppy (7). It seems as if two men in the last few months, Jeff and Todd, had left an indelible mark on Faye and moving house must be the cure for the awful experiences her family had with these men.

At their new home, Faye will be working from home as a writer. Hugh will be taking less time away from work - as his home base will be their home. While in the process of moving and fixing the place up, Faye comes across some "old" diaries of Tammy's - daughter of the family who had last lived there ("old" being 1978). Faye becomes obsessed with the history of the Wentworth family - Adrian & Hiliary (parents) ; Tammy & Peter (children). Tammy was 18 at the time she wrote the diaries.

Faye (had already been hospitalized for anxiety/depression) begins to feel a presence in the house during the night, She describes it as a shadow that moves and stares at her - even drools and smells. Easy-going Hugh is patient with Faye to a point. Eventually, Faye returns to her therapist because she is freaking out about this regular presence in her bedroom at night. Faye feels that the doctor does not help and only goes one time. She befriends an elderly woman, Gwen, whom she pumps for information about her (Faye's) house's history. Gwen's demeanor changes at times and twice dismisses Faye when she does not like the subject matter that comes up over their tea. Hmmm...….

Faye also worms her way into Zoe's life. Zoe is the mother of one of Aiden's classmates. She lies to Zoe telling her that she is writing a story about the house and gets more information - Zoe's mother was a cleaner for the Wentworths for 10 years.

In the meantime, Faye whines and whines about her "night visitor" and we get a bit sick of this (as the reader). At least I did. Faye strikes me as a very weak character who would be lost without someone to whine to.

Yet, Hugh eventually hears and sees the night visitor and tackles him. The visitor runs off. At this point the reader has quite figured out most of the "twist" in the story. As for the characters, I disliked them. Everyone seemed to have their own hidden agenda and were out for themselves.

Many thanks to Bloodhound Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book !

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Well I found this book entertaining at times I was lost through most of it, and I don’t even feel that the twist made sense. Not an exemplary example of the genre. For diehards only

Faye, her husband Hugh, and their two children move to an old manor house in Yorkshire, eager to escape their old home, now tainted with the violence of Hugh's son and the assault Faye narrowly escaped. The new house needs a tremendous amount of work and the local villagers don't have anything encouraging to say about the home or its history. It's when the children begin to hear noise in the night that Faye begins to think her house may need more than a renovation, maybe an exorcism is more in order. More a mystery than a ghost story, Baker left hints that there might be a more ghostly sequel

The Uninvited by author J.A. Baker is a psychological thriller that is fast paced and full of character. The plot is thick and intense throughout. Awesome, creepy book!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Uninvited in exchange for an honest review.