Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy!

I feel like I'm kind of the odd one out here. A lot of other reviewers seemed to really enjoy this book; it just missed the mark for me, for two reasons:

Firstly, and most importantly, this book is not a horror novel. I would say at best it's a lightly creepy mystery, but nothing more. I think I just felt really let down by the promise of a classic haunted house spookfest that turned out to be very PG.

Secondly, I didn't care about the MCs. They're rich, privileged, and building their dream house from scratch, despite no formal experience. Uh...okay. If you can suspend your disbelief a little, you might buy into this, but that still doesn't make them likable.

Overall this just wasn't as compelling or spooky as I thought it would be. I will say, if you scare easily and want a "horror lite" ghost story, you might enjoy this! But more hardcore horror fans would probably be disappointed.

Jennifer McMahon’s writing has always captivated me and this was no exception. A small, haunted Vermont town is the atmospheric setting. Helen and her husband decide to build the house of their dreams using salvaged materials, some of which have a very dark past. Soon ghosts are unleashed and the results are terrifying.

I loved the gothic feel of the setting. The descriptions drew me in and brought me right to the VT woods. The characters, both past and present, were well-rounded and interesting. I did figure out the twist at the end fairly early on, but this did not take away from my overall satisfaction of this excellent suspense.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers/ Avon/ Double Day via Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Very interesting read! I honestly wasn't sure what the outcome would be, is it supernatural? Is it sabotage? It really could go many ways.... Very interesting with many supporting characters that really flesh out the story. And truly it could have gone very cheesy, but I don't think it did, I think the author kept it on track and had a clear vision on how she wanted it to go. I can't say a ton about the actual plot of the book without running off at the mouth and ruining everything. I liked the writing very much and will absolutely seek more from this author.

Unfortunately, I didn't like this book as much as many others who have read this have. I am not one for ghost/witch/horror stories, so that turned me off from the beginning. I did like the mystery portions and McMahon is a strong writer so the plot is compelling. Just not the book for me, but if others like this genre they will love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Helen and Nate have left their very modern and urban life in Connecticut for a small town in Vermont. The inheritance Helen received from her Father's estate will help them build the house they want on the land they want and live the kind of life they would rather live than the one they live in a city. They found the land and have started building the house. Helen, a middle school history teacher, is captured by the lore of the land they have acquired. Hattie Breckenridge, in the 1920s, lived on this land and died on this land. The town considers the land haunted and anyone who lives on it crazy for doing so. Helen and Nate don't believe in all that stuff so they forge on with their plans. But then unexplainable things start happening, stuff goes missing, a general feeling of unease begins to creep into Helen and Nate. Helen starts looking into the history of Hattie Breckenridge and her family tree for possible answers and the closer she gets to uncovering Hattie's descendants the stranger things get on the land. When Helen starts hearing Hattie say things like, "Save her" and "You are in danger" she knows its time to put Hattie and her descendants to rest once and for all.

Jennifer McMahon is a favorite author of mine. She writes creepy realistic stories. This title reminded me of why I like her so much. She weaves the supernatural, very subtly, into a storyline and into characters. In some ways, I think that is probably a lot harder than writing a straight-up horror kind of story. I really liked the trajectory of this story, McMahon had me guessing at all the right places and it turns out I wasn't guessing correctly.

Jennifer McMahon is one of my favorite authors and I will always read what she writes. I loved The Invited and thought the plot was incredibly unique. It was one of those books that I could not put down.

I will say I really liked this book. I read it in one day...I did not want to put it down although there were a few things that left me a little perplexed.

Let me begin...it started off nice the beginning chapters pulled me right on in. I felt bad for Hattie and really wanted to beat up those townsfolk. Now on to Nate and Helen. I think Helen is a good wife she took so much crap from Nate. He was a real condescending jerk-wad. And he was that way all the way until he saw the real Hattie for himself. Like guy you’re upset she is getting free and cheap discounted things albeit morbid but nonetheless, free/cheap while you’re splurging on nightcams and deer feed. But complaining about the budget. She’s a historian for crying out loud of course she’s going to be interested in this old stuff and these stories. Not to mention it’s HER inheritance anyways. Next whatever happened to the friends?. We never hear about them besides Jenny sending two emails no visits or phone calls. There was never any touch back on who turned on the gas in the trailer and put down the windows either. We know Dicky and his friends were involved somehow, so how did they escape punishment? Also Ann’s ghost was never seen or heard from again neither. Is Lori also a ghost in the house now too? What about the male descendants or does Hattie only care about the females? I also don’t understand why Hattie felt attached to Helen and/or Nate. And what happened to the woman that lived there before? Did Hattie really kill or draw her to the bog? Olive was crappy friend to Mike he deserves someone way better than her. She has the same personality as Riley. Also what was the dreams thinking back don’t make much sense seeing as no one was dismembered. Or was it something that was to come? There is just so much. I really enjoyed it

I would give this book about 2.5 stars. The book was ok and had great potential just was really really slow. The book was pretty predictable but how the dots connected was interesting. Not my favorite book but definitely not the worst book I read.

Jennifer McMahon is one of my favorite writers. I love the amount of creepiness she adds into the plot to make you feel unsettled. If you're into haunted houses this book is for you.

I do not read horror much, if at all, but this one sounded really interesting to me so I added it to my list. It was just the right amount of ‘ghost’ for me, and tbh, I could have probably used a little more. I don’t blame Helen for trying to make the most of being drug out of suburbia to build a house on haunted land. Myself, I would have never let it get that far, but she made the best of it I suppose. The setting is so well described though that I could really imagine myself right there along with Helen and that was very well done.

There are a couple of mystery components to this story too that were really good, both in the past and current day. The story alternates between the past and the present from Helen and Olive’s POV and I really liked the two perspectives. (Olive is one of the “Breckenridge women” from the past.) I enjoyed learning about the history of the land, how Helen built their house using specific pieces that had a story.

I enjoyed this one overall, and liked the small town feel of everyone thinks they know something, but do they really. This town reminded me of the one I grew up in, but in a good way. I loved how Helen got caught up in Hattie’s story, and saw the whole thing through. Overall I really liked this one, and it is another horror read in the books for me. It was my first read by this author, and I will have to add others to my list!

The audio for this was really good for those that want to listen to this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the ecopy to review.

Set in the Vermont countryside (in my backyard, essentially), The Invited follows a couple, Helen and Nate, who have just bought property and are building a house from scratch - the only problem being that the land is supposedly haunted. This is the second book I’ve read by Jennifer McMahon (the other being The Night Sister) and honestly I feel similarly about both: I have a soft spot for McMahon and her spooky Vermont ghost stories and I would recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone looking for a quick and entertaining read, but they’re not without their significant issues.

The biggest problem with The Invited is that it takes an agonizingly long time to get going. Once it hits its stride it’s juicy enough, but for the first hundred or so pages, you will be inundated with more construction talk than is strictly necessary, and a parallel storyline following 14-year-old Olive failed to come to life for me (mostly because I never really believed Olive’s voice and found her sections a little tonally inconsistent).

What I did thoroughly enjoy though was the central mystery surrounding Helen’s haunted land and the ghost of Hattie Breckenridge. I’d honestly hesitate to classify this as a thriller (there were really only two twists, both of which I found painstakingly obvious), but if you’re in the mood for a compelling enough, unexpectedly subversive ghost story, I’d say this is a pretty safe bet.

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

4.25 stars

Helen and her husband, Nate, are looking for a simpler life and they find it in forty acres of land where they plan to build their dream home. The problem is that this land has a dark past. A past where a woman was hanged for the crimes her psychic child committed and now the land wants to be heard. A local young girl from the town, Olive, wants to find Hattie's treasure. It's rumored that she buried treasure in the bog near the land Helen and Nate have just bought. What starts up as a few harmless pranks against the newcomers, invites a friendship that overcomes the hauntings and the anger of Hettie and her relatives. If you like campy horror novels, then this is it folks! This is one of those thriller novels that is more of a paranormal haunting and revenge story. It's fully of history and pages of research (which makes sense because Helen is a history teacher). The plot is captivating and at times, convoluted, but it holds up well as an entertaining story. McMahon does a great job at building (LOL, get it because they are building a house) an atmosphere of unease and trepidation. You aren't sure if it's a ghost or if it's Olive pulling a prank until it becomes very obvious that Olive's pranks aren't weighty enough to start the domino tailspin of a haunting that is occurring on their newly purchased property. The sentences are short and choppy. Looking to build a quick and rhythmic story that flows at a haunting and lyrical pace. McMahon captures the essence of the haunting of a historical lineage who wants revenge, but wants to save someone even more well.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 4.5

Helen is a crazy mess. This woman intentionally looks to buy haunted land because a haunted house would be jazzy. Well, she quickly changes her mind on that one. Olive is a really heartbreaking character to follow as she grapples with her mother leaving the family and the book does a great job at capturing the pain that an adolescence feels at being abandoned while also not having a counter parent who is present since he is so devastated by losing her. The intermingling of the two POVs made no sense to me at first, but keep reading a bit and as the stories come together and merge into one it is really quite brilliant. Basically what I'm saying is that this story would've been boring and a flop if we only had Helen's POV.


I enjoyed the side characters like Nate as well as Olive's best friend (whose name has escaped me). I liked the importance of Olive's aunt and her role in the story and I liked that weird seance treasure hunting town club. It was so weird, but interesting.


The Villain- In this story was shocking to me because I hadn't expected it to go in that direction. I didn't expect any of this story to go where it did and that's why I liked how it unfolded. I do wish that McMahon would've taken a more traditional ghost story approach overall, but having a human antagonist was not a bad thing. It just made me lower my rating.

Character Scale: 4.25

Villain Scale: 3.25

Overall, I had exceedingly high expectations for this novel and it was outside of the genre I expected. Yes, this is a ghost story, but it is more of a mystery. While I do enjoy aspects of historical lineages and family secrets, I wasn't the biggest lover of the entire approach. I do, however, greatly enjoy this novel and I'm glad that I read it.


Plotastic Scale: 4.25

Cover Thoughts: I think it's creepy. I really like it, but it's not a favorite.

Thank you, Netgalley and Doubleday, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Had some genuinely creepy moments, and I don’t scare easily. Solid story, with some creative spins on familiar tropes. I saw the ending coming, but that didn’t necessarily “ruin” anything. Good, but not sure I’d consider it a must-read for serious horror fans.

I'm putting this one down at about 30% because it's moving so slowly, and I just can't stay motivated to continue. I love the concept of this book, and I suspect this is much more of a "me" issue than anything with the book, but it's just not working out right now

Thank you, Doubleday for our gifted review copy.

Wow, if you're looking for a character-driven spooky novel, this is for you! This will be high on my fall and Halloween book lists for sure. I'm a huge suspense fan & this definitely kept me turning the pages. The plot simmers & spooky atmosphere is so well done.

One on my favorite titles of the 2019 Halloween season! Recommend it to those looking for a new take on a haunted house tale.

First off, I love a good ghost story which means I adore Jennifer McMahon.

Secondly, is the main issue with the book. Nate and Helen leave the confines of urban sprawl for the freedom of backwoods Vermont where they intend to build a house. By themselves. Using YouTube videos. That bit of weirdness aside, the rest of the story is very compelling.

The story opens with the hanging of suspected witch, Hattie Breckenridge. Her story quickly intersects with Nate and Helen, a couple who drop everything to move onto a plot of 44-acres they snag at a deep discount from a man who is motivated and desperate to sell. Turns out, this haunted piece of land belongs to none other than Hattie. What ensues is a multi-generational ghost story and murder mystery that is nothing short of amazing.

Despite the mystery not being that mysterious, it was still a great story. The characters are engaging, the story is intriguing, and it's just creepy enough to make you look over your shoulder after dark.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am an avid Jennifer McMahon fan and have read many of her books. All different, all suspenseful. The Invited is one that incorporates a haunting, building a new home and a touch of Ancestry.com. You might think it is a strange combination, but you will be surprisingly mistaken.

This book has many twist and turns, which if you have ready any of my reviews in the past, you KNOW I LOVE!

Please, do yourself a favor and read The Invited. It might be your first Jennifer McMahon, but it definitely won't be your last!

Its a great traditional ghost story, it wasnt cheesy like most ghost stories. The way it was written was beautiful and kept me wanting more.