⚜Book Review⚜
📘 It Will Just Be Us By Jo Kaplan @joannapary
❇ I could not put this book down. Read it in 2 sittings. If it wasn't for life, It wouldn't have taken me that long.
❇ It's full of constant suspense. Constantly wanting to know what's next and if suspicions are right.
❇ The great thing is....the ending. Jo doesn't let you off easy or happy. It is fantastic writing on her part! Best book I've read in a while...Highly Reccomend 👏🖤
❇ Publication date August 11th 2020
📚 Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC!!
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This was a ghost story about people who lived in an old house – Wakefield Manor on the edge of a swamp in Virginia. What got me interested was the locked room. Why was it locked and what was in the room? I had also just finished reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
The family living in the house were haunted by their past and kept seeing ghosts of their life and the people who lived in the house before them.
Sam and her sister Elizabeth live with their mother at Wakefield Manor. The old house has many rooms haunted by memories.
The story and the house reminded me of a nightmare that I have had where I have wandered around and things change. I loved the creepiness, the feeling of being in a nightmare and always wondering what was in the locked room.

My excuses for the short review. Oh the joy of a broken arm! So much more time to read, so difficult to type when you can use only one hand ...

I know I repeat others by saying this book reminds me of <i>The Haunting of Hill House</i>, but it does. It gives the same heebie jeebies, by both the whole atmosphere and it being about so much more than ghosts. This book shines an eery light on family, home, grief and past, present and future. It is woven together into a magnificent story that gets under your skin.

A Gothic, slow moving horror novel that reminds me of the Haunting of Hill House but with its own twists. I really enjoyed the slow pace, allowing the characters to be fully fleshed out leading to a point where I had to keep reading constantly as I needed to know what happened! Recommended for ghost and horror fans.

First, can I just say, what a creepy cover this is? The sense of beauty in its creepiness is a very good way to illustrate the style of writing in this book of horror.
This story is about a family that lives in a very old house. Mainly about the two sisters, Sam and Elizabeth, after Elizabeth moves back home 8 months pregnant and separated from her husband. Sam is very different from her sister however, mainly in that she can see and hear the past inhabitants of her and her mother’s home. This does not start becoming really scary until after her sister’s arrival back home which somehow sparks the presence of a new ghost, a little faceless boy.
The past is just as haunting as the present in this thriller and even more so in the gorgeous style of storytelling the author uses that not only makes the reader feel like a part of this tale but see it clearly play out in the mind’s eye. The author truly builds this haunted house with their words and the fear just spills out from the pages.
I highly recommend this book for fans of horror! Thanks for reading my review and happy reading!

I requested this book because it has an amazing cover. Seeing the cover itself gave me chills!
And the story! MY GOD! It is one of the scariest stories I have ever read! I read the whole book in a single sitting, because I don't know what possessed me, I wasn't able to stop myself from turning the page. This book was so full of gothic horror that my whole body got goosebumps while I was reading it. This book is creepy, scary, frightening, terrifying, petrifying, daunting, disturbing, hair-raising, spine-chilling and what not. If anybody thinks that they can't be scared by anything in this world (or other world to be precise) give this book a try!
But this book (according to me) has only one flaw: the slow pace. Apart from that this book is really good and I would recommend everybody to give it a try.
P.s.- I hope the faceless boy isn't after me while I write this review

A thoroughly creepy and disturbing read!

This felt like a classic Southern gothic and it was absolutely oozing with atmosphere and horrifying characters. I loved how the past and the future tangled together inside the house by way of spectral visions. The sense of dread and horror was also artfully woven throughout the story, pulling you through the narrative even when you were afraid to read on.

It was definitely full of moments so scary or grotesque that I felt thoroughly creeped out, as one should by a gothic horror novel. I loved the odd family dynamic and found the whole thing to be a chilling read.

However, my main issue was that the nods to Shirley Jackson (We Have Always Lived in the Castle/Haunting of Hill House) along with hints at The Shining were laid on a bit thick at times, to the point that I felt like the book was standing more on homage to other stories than standing on its own two feet. Maybe if you're not as familiar with the stories it takes inspiration from the reading experience would be more satisfying.

I also felt there was a slight tonal issue, mixing a more old-fashioned voice into a modern character so at times I felt the prose clashed with the dialogue.

I was also put off by a scene of animal abuse but I kept on reading and enjoyed the book, but if you're sensitive it's something to be aware of.

Overall, if you're in the mood for a seriously eerie horror story, pick this up!

It wasn’t t until after I read this that I became aware reviewers were drawing comparisons to We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but from the first sentence, It Will Just Be Us immediately set an atmosphere on par with Shirley Jackson’s rarely matched abilities. Jo Kaplan managed to produce a work worthy of Jackson fans while maintaining an original voice and modern themes . She also produced a work that demonstrates that plot twists and jump scares are not what make a great thriller. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this author!

Sam Wakefield lives in a haunted house at the edge of a swamp with her mother. This is place where ghosts and memories appear daily. When pregnant sister Elizabeth comes to escape an abusive husband something changes. Rather than just being haunted by the images of the dead Sam is seeing what looks like the future.
I enjoyed the idea of just accepting and dealing with living in a haunted house. For example the furniture never gets moved. It can be confusing to walk into a room that is currently haunted by images from years past, you don't want to trip over the coffee table!
Poor Sam wonders if shes going crazy with all the changes, wonders if she has always been crazy. The imagery is dark but the plot is very predictable. Still, even knowing how things will end you want to keep reading to see it play out. Its old fashioned and atmospheric. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

wow this book was a trip. I picked this out on netgalley because of the comparisons to we have always lived in the castle, so I expected it to be kind of a rip off of that but it wasn’t. there were certainly a lot of fun easter eggs though, if you’re a shirley jackson fan. the dynamics between the sisters were totally different and so relatable. I also liked that their mother was also a major character, and that all of them had flaws. my issues with the book were that the pacing was off and the ending felt pretty rushed. I would have loved to see more of sam’s life after the climax of the novel. overall, though, this was a cool metaphor for how pain and trauma are passed down through generations. horror fans will get a kick out of it and it’ll make you think.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy to review.

This is a really good haunted mansion/gothic story. Jo Kaplan did an excellent job with the details and bringing the haunted mansion to life. It was a little slow at first but kept my interest. Storyline was well thought out. Intriguing characters, chilling and very creepy.

I read dead people and they are in everywhere… That son of… faceless kid scared the living daylights out of me!!!

Another batshit crazy roller coaster ride I have, are you also in? Let’s dive into blurb:
Two daughters live with their mother at the haunted mansion built at the edge of the swamp. (Yeap, they should sue the real estate manager, oh, wait a minute, they inherited that place, my bad!) It is a place like same production designer of Netflix’s “Haunting of Hill House” worked on about the entire creepy, spooky details ( creaky stairs, labyrinth halls, echoes behind the walls, spirits of mad ancestors watching you).

One of the daughters leaves the place but then returns back because of the domestic disturbance at her marriage a few years later, pregnant, about to give a birth sooner. And a faceless boy feels the existence of a baby’s coming out, starts wandering around the house, disturbing the last crumbles of the peace, terrifying the children and animals, following Sam who never leaves the place (unlucky daughter)

Sam wants to run! Sam doesn’t want to live in terror, be afraid of her own shadow but she cannot leave her sister and her innocent baby.
This book gothic version of Shining dances with Shirley Jackson’s eerie, nail biter novels (the very same horrifying Netflix production that You’s Love plays I mentioned at the beginning and We Have Always Lived in the Castle). Only negative thing I felt about it was long and detailed descriptions slow down the pace and heart throbbing rhythm of the story-telling.

But it’s dazzling, surprising and it has also mouth dropping and smart ending which was quiet satisfying. If you’re big fans of dark, ominous, claustrophobic, irritating, nerve-bending, gothic stories, this book is definitely great choice for you (and also for me, too, even though it was a little bit slow burn thriller for my own taste)

So I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 and keep my lights open before go to sleep because the haunted mansion’s blood freezing, petrifying vibes will stay with you after you finish your reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sharing this gothic horror ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

Thanks for the ARC of this book. A very spooky book that kept me on edge. Loved it. Look forward to more by this author.

What a wild ride.

It took me a little bit to get into this. At the start I found the writing a bit pretentious I admit, the author substituting 20 words where one will do. The long flowery descriptions of everything was distracting and the sisters were bitchy and unlikeable. I had trouble getting into the story.

But that gradually changed. The long flowery descriptions became creepier, setting the scene for a thrilling ghost story that I devoured in two days. It has been a while since I read anything about ghosts that I really enjoyed, and I worried this would be more of the same. The haunted house. The family with a dark history. The fearful townspeople. While this has some of the typical elements that make up 99% of ghost stories I found myself really enjoying this one and the darkness within.

This was a very interesting, creepy gothic read that had me on every page. I stayed way to late in the night finishing this book because I couldn’t put it down. If you are a fan of Shirley Jackson then I highly recommend this book. It hold your attention throughout the whole story.

I had a LOT of thoughts about this book throughout the time I was reading it so if this is a little long I apologise!

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book.

The setting for the book was perfect, it had this amazing gothic feel to it, I can only describe it as the same feeling I got from the Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, eerie but beautiful. Considering the majority of the book took place within the house and its close surroundings, it never once lost those eerie tones and feelings. The literary horror atmosphere was immense and really grabbed me.

Possibly one of my favourite parts was the idea that the house was ever growing, and towards the end, I felt like we were getting lost in the house, it was a really creepy feel and got me all in a tizzy.

The characters, I loved Sam and Elizabeth so much, I thought they were excellent characters and their interactions were so well written. However, I wish we had a bit more expansion on Elizabeth's husband and their Mom, they didn't seem to have much backstory, which I feel would have lent itself to the story.

Once or twice, I did feel a little lost and confused with the storyline and as though there were too many aspects to it. However, once we hit the last few chapters it all made sense and I loved how the ending brought everything together and tied up some of the larger loose ends of the plot.

And I certainly did NOT expect that ending! I haven't been shocked like this by a book for a very long time and I will certainly remember this book for a long time to come.

"Once this house has you, it doesn't let you go."
Wakefield Manor is a "decaying ancestral mansion" in Virginia; we're told there's a locked room there that hasn't been open for years. Even though it's set in a place that evokes the past and has strong connections to it, the story takes place in the modern day. The descriptions are evocative in this tale of an unreliable narrator, our protagonist, who has flashbacks to what her ancestors did. The language is amazing and very vivid. The immediacy of the pacing is wonderful, and makes for a compelling, fast-paced read even though there's the requisite languidness that fans of Gothic horror have come to know and love for years. It's an interesting tale where the past and present are inextricably bound together. Overall, I think of this book as a direct heir to Edgar Allan Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" mingled with Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."

Samantha, Sam, tells the story of her return to live in her mother's haunted mansion built on swamp land. Although Sam narrates in first person, the house could be called the main character. Horrific events from the past, spanning from before the Civil War and through generations of the Wakefield family, play out in its winding corridors and dusty rooms over and over again. Perhaps even more horrifying, are the events that seem to come from the future. Can they be prevented? Suspense and urgency drove me quickly through the conclusion of the book as Sam tries to change the future.
This is one of the most surprising and unique novels I've ever read. It messed with my sense of time, sometimes through rather ponderous musings of Sam, and more often with quite vivid occurrences. Atmosphere and setting are particularly important to me and they are most certainly well-done here. Horror is not usually my genre, but this book intrigued me. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

An interesting gothic tale with notes of Shirley Jackson and classic horror, It Will Just Be Us keeps the reader on tenterhooks throughout. With deep running claustrophobia and characters that leave you questioning everything, this book builds atmosphere very successfully. There’s a couple of scenes that are extraordinarily tense, like the scratching at the door and the tarot card reading, and they bring an overbearing sense of fear to the reader. This was a very well-written haunted house novel; the best certainly that I’ve read in a very, very long time.

Hi all! 
Today I am going to be giving you a spoiler-free review of Jo Kaplan's upcoming new release (publication date: August 11th 2020) of It Will Just Be Us. I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from NetGalley and was also given the opportunity to interview the author herself! You can check out that Q&A here. If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy, please click here. Without further ado, let's get into this review! 

Screenshot from my NetGalley account
THE PLOT
Sam Wakefield's ancestral home is a decaying mansion built on the edge of an overgrown swamp. Built by her mad ancestors, Sam has possessed a unique gift since she was a little girl. She can witness echoes of the past and the ghosts of those that came before her. When her pregnant sister Elizabeth, moves in with her and her mother, Sam begins to see a faceless-boy whom she suspects is a symbolic prophecy of her unborn nephew. She is further disturbed when he starts to commit extremely disturbing acts and taunts her throughout the labyrinthine hallways of the mansion. As Elizabeth's due date approaches, Sam is determined to prevent an innocent baby from evolving into the evil child he is destined to become. Moreover, the boy appears to be connected to a room within the mansion that has always been locked. What will Sam find once the door finally opens and will she be able to save her family from their dark destiny? 
THE CHARACTERS 
Sam Wakefield is our protagonist and it is through her eyes that we gain insight into not only her life in the present, but also the ghosts of the past. She is an archaeology teacher with a reputation for being quite odd. Throughout the novel, we learn about her tumultuous relationship with her sister Elizabeth and her brother-in-law Donovan. Sam feels incredibly connected to her home, the Wakefield history and her ancestors; having witnessed their memories and presence throughout the mansion. She lives with her alcoholic, negligent mother and strong-willed sister, after Elizabeth decides to leave her husband and move in quite late into her pregnancy. The characters in both past and present are equally important to the story itself; intertwining and creating meaning as the reader gets deeper into the story. It is a little bit difficult to trust Sam as the narrator purely due to her inability to discern reality from memory, but I felt she was the most developed and interesting character within the book. 
THE WRITING STYLE 
The writing style was incredibly strong, beautiful and poetic. It was almost dreamlike but also unsettling as I found myself rather disturbed by certain moments. In my opinion, this is exactly what I desire from a horror novel. I want to be moved but I also want to be scared. The author was able to evoke emotion and fear quite seamlessly. I also felt she painted such a vivid picture with her descriptions. I was utterly absorbed in the novel to the point where I felt like I was getting lost in the hallways of the decrepit mansion. As a huge fan of the horror genre, I couldn't recommend this story enough. It was hauntingly magnificent...
STAR RATING
I gave this an easy 5/5 stars! 
I hope you enjoyed this honest, spoiler-free review. Feel free to order a copy for yourself from the link above.
Thank you for reading
Peace & Love xoxo
Disclaimer: This post contains links to my Book Depository Affiliate which helps fund my blog, I am not being paid or sponsored for this post/products – all my thoughts/opinions are my own