This book was full of twist and turns. I had to keep reading. This was my first book by this author and definitely won't be my last!

This book was a solid 5 star read! This was my second read by Jennifer McMahon, my first being Winter People. She has amazing talent that never disappoints! I can't wait to see what she has next!

The family legacy, following a ghost story was what kept me up all night reading to find out what Hattie's mysteries were! Twists and turns at all the right moments to keep me guessing. THANK YOU JENNIFER MCMAHON FOR SHARING YOUR WONDERFUL TALENT WITH US!

Highly highly recommended!!! :)

Did Hattie return from the dead? Is she trying to prevent anyone from building on her land? Why is the town so suspicious of newcomers? Helen and Nate have found the perfect location for their new home thaTthey are building themselves. Odd happenings on their land and around the nearby bog seem to be encouraging them to leave their project and the town. Who is scaring them...and Why?

I loved The Invited by Jennifer McMahon! A historical ghost story at its best! McMahon introduces you to a couple that are looking for a simpler time. The couple finds a plot of land perfect for the life they are looking for and at a discount to beat! McMahon does a great job of introducing the history of the land and hooks you right into the story of Hattie and her daughter Jane. McMahon does a great job of introducing characters throughout the book that help develop the rich history behind this land and its prior inhabitants. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and will be looking forward to other Jennifer McMahon works in the future! Special thanks to NetGalley and DoubleDay Books for the Advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

#TheInvited #NetGalley

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm a fan of Jennifer McMahon so I knew this book would be a winner. I couldn't put this book down - I love a good ghost story, so a little scary but not scary enough so I can't sleep, and this fits the bill. Well developed characters, family secrets, missing persons, a strong storyline and just enough of a ghostly presence to be creepy. I loved this book from start to finish and was sad when it ended. 5 stars!

Helen and Nate, teachers in Connecticut, decide to give up the rat race and move to rural Vermont. They want to build their own home from the ground up, and learn to eventually live off the land. While the house is being constructed, they live in a tiny trailer on the property. As soon as they arrive and pour concrete, they start to get the definite vibe that they're not welcome. They also find out that their land is home to the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman accused of being a witch who was hung for supposedly causing a schoolhouse to burn down. Helen's history teacher heart is thrilled by the local lore, and she also thinks Hattie might be trying to communicate with her. As her research leads her to different places in town, she begins to collect things related to Hattie and her family and add the items to their new home. With each addition, she feel Hattie more and more. Hattie needs Helen's help, but getting to the answer might cost Helen everything.

This is a pretty fun traditional ghost story. It's got a fast moving plot and at times gets seriously creepy. Unfortunately the big twist was predictable early on, but it was still fun to watch it play out. The biggest disappointment is the character development. I never really connected with Helen or with Olive, and Nate was condescending and annoying. For example, at one point, he spends almost a whole paragraph explaining to Helen what a porcupine is. This is a woman who is doing her own plumbing, but she's not familiar with a porcupine? Just weird.

Overall, not bad, but not one I would run out and recommend.

Jennifer McMahon once again delivers a twisty, terrifying and enthralling read, richly peopled with strongly realized characters and set against a wonderfully evoked (creepy!) setting. Don't miss this one.

Not my favorite Jennifer McMahon, but still really enjoyable. I love the way she ties everything together.

Another amazing Jennifer McMahon book. As most of her books, The Invited is rich in the paranormal, but it isn’t a “ghost story”. Rich in history, and beautifully played out.
Nate and Helen have given up their former lives as teachers, purchased property in the Vermont woods, and set out to build their dream house. The problem is, the land is rumored to be haunted by a witch named Hattie.
The Invited unravels the mystery of Hattie and her descendants, what happened to them in the past, and where they are now. Are the townspeople and neighbors there to help Helen and Nate, or drive them away?
I don’t want to give anything away. This book took you on a walk through the woods of Vermont, and the history of the people in the novel. Jennifer McMahon always creates the most beautiful stories, and The Invited is no exception!

I first read The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon and when I found she had another book coming out I was so excited! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

There's something missing in Helen's life, and when husband Nate asks what would make her happy, she surprises herself by saying an old house in the country with lots of acreage to enjoy. But finding a house with history isn't as easy as the couple thought, so they decide to build one for themselves, a project that appeals to Helen because it reminds her of her past and how happy it'd make her builder father (may he rest in peace). And it just so happens that the plot of land they purchased, complete with a spooky bog you might recognize from the prologue, is rumored to be haunted. When unexplainable things begin to happen, some of the characters find themselves obsessed with solving the dark and chilling mystery of Hattie, a woman said to be a witch who lived and died on the land many years before.

Just like with The Winter People, I was thrilled to have glimpses into the past, which added to a haunting, modern day story-line. It starts with a frightening and heartbreaking beginning and the eeriness is carried expertly throughout. If you're looking for a creepy paranormal read that merges the past with the present, The Invited is certain to satisfy that itch! It's one of the best books I've read in a while.

I have not read any of Jennifer McMahon previous books but this one was definitely a good one to start with. The Invited is an old fashioned ghost story set in modern times. Nate and Helen leave their safe, secure jobs and lifestyle to move to Vermont to build their dream home. After buying a beautiful and surprisingly inexpensive piece of property, they start to make their dream come true. But suddenly life becomes more of a nightmare than a dream. I loved the way McMahon merged the past and the present to create a story that draws the reader in. The Invited seemed like a true story, it could really happen! The character are real, the descriptions of the settings are vivid and the emotions aren’t exaggerated. The book is so well written that I stopped seeing the words and felt like I was watching a movie. I was there! And I did not see the ending coming! Shocker!! I gave The Invited 4 stars because I don’t care for the f bomb regardless of the situation.
I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon is a multi-generational ghost story told by multiple POVs. Married couple Helen and Nate leave their teaching jobs in Connecticut to live a simpler life in the country. They buy land in Vermont to build their dream home, but little do they know that the property is haunted. I found this book to be a well-crafted page turner with a nice surprise ending. Husband Nate was annoying for most of the book but easily overlooked. This is my first book by this author and I intend to read more.

A couple decide to buy some land in Vermont that local legend has deemed "haunted". They get a "discount".

Nate asks his wife, Helen what would make her "happy". She tells him that she dreams of a country life, away from the demands of the city. She wants land, a garden, chickens, goats, reminiscent of her childhood reading of the Little House on the Prairie.

Nate and Helen buy the land and begin building the home of their dreams. They are building it themselves and adding some pieces of local history to their master plans.

As Helen fills the house with local artifacts, she stirs some spirits from the past. Suspicious and unfriendly townspeople, strange noises in the night, paranoid thoughts, and a story from a century ago have Nate and Helen desperate to figure it all out.

A ghost story and a haunted house made this one an intriguing story with some tension and foreboding. Well-written with a unique spin that held my attention until the end. I really enjoyed this one.



Thanks to NG/ Pub for my review copy!

She came to believe that some objects were like that boomerang- they went out, then found their way right back where they started from.

Having grown up with a builder father Helen got her first taste of working on a house the summer before first grade, coming to the job site with her daddy. From there, she spent her weekends and summers learning his skills. Now, it’s her turn and she is caught up in her husband Nate’s enthusiasm to build their dream house, in the country. Trading their teaching jobs for the peace of forty-four acres in the woods of Vermont, it seems happiness is on the horizon until the land, and its brutal history, begins to speak. The land must have wanted them, seeking out the perfect place, they stumble upon a wooded area with a bog. It was ‘meant to be’. Land reputed to be haunted, if you believe in such things. Braving the rumors, they set up home in the old mobile home that was left behind by the previous owner. It couldn’t be more perfect, land that is exactly what they dreamed up, a place to stay while building… then night falls and nature gets noisy. The gnawing, breaking branches, the screaming, surely it’s just the animals, nature? Then Helen learns about Hattie Breckenridge, the witch that once lived at the edge of the bog! Is she the reason why everything is going wrong, for the strange things that feel like a haunting? Ridiculous to believe a woman from the 1900’s could curse land, it’s silly fantasy! Who believes in witches anyway?

The animals aren’t the only ones unhappy with their presence. There is local girl Olive, who watches them from her perch in an old maple tree. It can’t be, this destroys all her plans! “They’re ruining everything.” Flatlanders! Just what she doesn’t need, an obstacle in searching for the treasure that old Hattie left behind. She concocts a plan to chase them off, but she may not be the only being that is interfering. Olive’s story is tangled up in Helen and Nate’s, and ghosts aren’t as terrifying as the things living people have done. What is the true story behind Hattie? Was she truly an evil?

It’s not ghosts that terrify, its human beings and all their ugliness. People are haunted by more than apparitions, it’s the dark history that has tainted the soil. What makes a witch? Gifts can be curses when people decide to turn on you and a brutal tragedy of the past can echo for decades. This novel is more a heartbreaking story involving family, lies, deception and vengeance. Revenge is a slippery devil, what seems like a path to right wrongs, seek justice often takes more than one bargained for.

The Invited is a character driven novel, it didn’t come off as scary for me, but it is a well written story. McMahon always writes interesting characters who are neither ‘pure’ nor ‘evil’ but whose actions define them in the end. It’s all about choices, and how heinous acts can give birth to fury, leading to repercussions a long time coming. A solid novel.

Publication Date: April 30, 2019

Doubleday Books

What a great idea! Can't find a haunted house to buy? Build one! This was the perfect scenario to grab my attention and request to read the ARC. Thank you to Netgalley/Doubleday for allowing me to do so.
This was a good one. Helen and Nate are middle school teachers who leave their condo and careers to build a new home and future in the woods of a small town in Vermont. As they work to build it themselves they, especially Helen, are interested to know the history of their land. They learn the story of Hattie Breckenridge who owned the land in 1924. Declared a witch by the townspeople for her ability to see the future, she not only lived but died on what was now Helen and Nate's land.
Who wouldn't want to dig a little deeper into that story? And so Helen does. As she does, objects such as a wooden beam connected to Hattie's past are discovered and incorporated into their new home. Soon, Helen realizes these objects act as a conduit for Hattie's spirit to re-enter the physical world. Helen becomes obsessed with learning more and more about the Breckenridge history and uncovers so many more mysteries connected to the land and the people she meets who still live in the small Vermont town.

The unique take on a haunted house/ghost story captured me from the start. The atmosphere throughout the novel created such a sense of dread that I loved. It was easy to relate to Helen and feel what she was feeling. There is a point in the action when the reader needs to suspend disbelief. That is always difficult for me and why I don't read fantasy novels. However, because the atmosphere and progression of events was laid out so beautifully it was much easier to just be taken away when logic told you not to be.

The Invited is a very interesting suspenseful book. Helen and Nate move from the city to build their own house They leave their teaching jobs and everything they knkw behind. They move to a small town where it’s rumored to be haunted by the tragic life of Hattie.

I really didn't think this was going to be my cup of tea when I first started reading the first few pages. But I kept going and I am very happy I did. This turned out to be an awesome ghost story. Nate and Helen have their hands full. Thank you to Doubleday, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow! What a great story! Loved the whole work. Truly suspenseful, with bits of historical fiction and splashes of horror. I'm a new fan! Definitely a must get for library collections! Love!

Title : The Invited

Author: Jennifer McMahon

Genre:Adult mystery / thriller

Pages: 384

Netgalley

book synopsis

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times best-selling author of THE WINTER PEOPLE, returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house, they start building one from scratch, without knowing it, until it's too late...

In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate abandon the comforts of suburbia and teaching jobs to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this charming property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. As Helen starts carefully sourcing decorative building materials for her home - wooden beams, mantles, historic bricks -- she starts to unearth, and literally conjure, the tragic lives of Hattie's descendants, three generations of "Breckenridge women," each of whom died amidst suspicion, and who seem to still be seeking something precious and elusive in the present day



My thoughts

rating: 5

Would I recommend this : yes

Would I read any more by this author : yes

Buddy read it with Frishawn

The genre they have it list as is Adult mystery /thriller , but its more of a mystery then thriller. And its a most read if I do say so myself and I do , its one of those books that once you start reading it , it pulls you into the story and won't let go , you have to keep reading it because you want to know what's happening and why , and you can't stop until the very end. Its a story that has a touch of the paranormal ,but even as your read it , it makes you start to question every thing you know so far, like is there really a ghost , or is it someone dress up as one to scary Helen and Nate off their land and way, what really happened the night to Hattie and to her family , what secrets are going to come out and how is Helen, Hattie and the others connected, and how far will someone or something go to keep those secrets . It tells the story in a way that you get it told in many perspectives that help pull you in to the story , I'm so glad that my friend Frishawn enabled me into getting it to read , because if she hadn't I might have missed out on what turned out to be a great read for me. Now if I can enable my other 2 friends to read it , with that said I want to thank Netgalley and Doubleday Books for letting me read and review what might just become one of my top 12 books of 2019 , exchange for my honest opinion. What more could you ask for : dark secrets , ghostly hauntings , and a mystery all round in one story .

Good read...i felt the book tried too hard to have a surprise ending/twist at the end that didnt really seem to fit with the character you met in the book, but overall a good and intriguing book.