Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. Unfortunately I did not finish this book therefore I will give it four stars. Its not an issue with the book its just nit for me!

Isolation, dark family secrets, backwoods justice, unreliable narrator... What more could a thriller-obsessed reader want? I was initially drawn in by the absolutely gorgeous cover design. It is just the right amount of creepy to hook a potential reader. I was still hopeful after reading the synopsis, but unfortunately, the actual plot is where the story begins to fall flat. I think the idea has a lot of potential, but staying true to the thriller genre while adding in supernatural happenings, time travel, and witchcraft is really rather difficult. I haven't read many books that have been able to accomplish it well. The pacing of this book is slow, but that's typical of fantasy fiction, where worldbuilding is essential. It was also difficult to connect to the characters. If you are looking for something in the vein of Cabin in the Woods, you might enjoy this one.

Dnf at 6% honestly the writing and pacing was really bad. It felt like a rip off of CABIN IN THE WOODS

Archived prior to download. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

A story of missing people, broken marriages, and murder. The story becomes extraordinary when time travel becomes involved. Mysterious and thrilling.

As much as I would have loved to like this book, in the end for me it did not deliver.
The mystery linked to the supernatural happenings at the beginning intrigued me, however at some point too many characters came into play, leaving me lost and confused. Especially because, as I found out in the end, most of their story were irrelevant, when not meaningless, to the main plot. I was disappointed by the end, as I expected some justice or at least a proper closure - but it did not happen!

Unfortunately this one just did not "gel" for me. I think it was a bit beyond my scope ultimately, and I was not the right reader. The premise completely captured me, but I think the execution just didn't completely hold up. However, I do think readers who have a more witchy, sci-fi, or fantasy focused mind-set will be drawn to this story and will have much more potential to enjoy it.

I've totally been in this mood for something a bit on the creepier side and this one was a bit of a bizarre one with witchcraft and gateway portals, but I enjoyed reading it. It brought me back to the days of Twin Peaks with its interesting characters and twisted circumstances. Mixed with a bit of dark sci-fi, witchcraft and David Lynchian weirdness.

I liked the plot and the way the characters were presented. I actually felt that the characters seemed pretty real. Michelle was a likable heroine one could root for. Pink was a rogue if I'm kind in describing him, but I found myself cheering for the dog anyway. I didn't understand cliff. Many other characters populated this book and all seemed realistic. I would recommend this book for sure and read more by this author. One warning: Lots of foul language

I had such high hopes for this book, I wanted a captivating mystery with a paranormal edge and The Cabin on Souder Hill seemed like it fit my requirements. That wasn’t the case. I ended up DNFing this book after about 50%, I had just lost all interest. The story wasn’t holding my attention and I didn’t feel invested in any of the characters.

Maybe it was the pacing, it was too slow and meandering to be considered exciting and nail-biting, which, I don’t mind if instead the story builds up slowly, ramping up the tension and atmosphere as it goes. But The Cabin on Souder Hill didn’t do that either. It just plodded along leaving me in its wake with absolutely no interest in seeing where it was meandering off to.

I can see how some readers may enjoy this slower paced style, with its cast of odd, not quite likable characters. I had almost a Twin Peaks style quirkiness to it, which normally I would appreciate, but in this case it just wasn’t doing it for me.

This premise of the book really drew me in but the story did not. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish this book.

Sometimes a book just doesn’t hit you the right way. The premise looks good, the synopsis pulls you in, but you just don’t connect with the meat and potatoes of the story. The Cabin on Souder Hill was that book for me.

There was nothing technically wrong with the book, the story was well thought out and developed, the characters were diverse and intriguing; but something was missing. I never left Souder Hill looking forward to getting back to Souder Hill.

There are certainly many distractions going on in the real world right now, but I want my fiction books to take me away from the real world; the stories should be the distraction not the real world. At a certain point the author has to write a story that overpowers the real world and makes me want to get away, to look forward to the story; the story needs to captivate me more than the crap that is going on in the world. This is where Lonnie Busch failed.

There is that old expression, you only have one chance to make a first impression and, unfortunately, The Cabin on Souder Hill did not impress.

*3 Stars

A science fiction book at heart but with a twist! This book is a must read for fans of multiple universes as this is a new take on the theory!

The Cabin on Souder Hill was a really interesting read. It had some seriously spooky vibes and the whole story was a psychological rollercoaster!

I felt that the idea of the story was really good. It starts out as a missing person mystery but takes a pretty wild turn when the whole story FLIPS! I won't say too much as the twist kind of sets up the rest of the story, but let me say, I was pretty shook!

I do enjoy psychological thrillers but this one kind of fell short for a couple different reasons. First off, too much time was spent on the main characters frustration and anger. It was important to understand how the character felt but also, that left less time for actually solving the mystery and I would have rather read about that!

Second, there is a magical element to this story but it's HARDLY talked about until the end. It's hinted at throughout the whole story but nothing happens and then even when something did happen it wasn't really that amazing.

Lastly, one of the male main characters was so weirdly sexual and just the things he thought and said throughout the book seemed unnecessary to the story and was just uncomfortable. I liked his character but the sexual aspect of his story added nothing in my opinion and just took away from his story line.

I felt like this book was okay... I enjoyed parts of it and the story wrapped up well at the end which I liked. However, this book just fell flat. There was so much that could have been expanded on (like the magical elements and the mystery solving).

I would recommend this book if you like a psychological thriller/mystery that focuses a lot on character/ back story. It kept the reader in the dark throughout so you get to solve the mystery with the characters which can be fun!

Started off well with an intriguing mystery leading to supernatural happenings at an isolated cabin in the woods. However, I felt it lost its way and became a depressing and confusing narrative of small town characters with no great discovery. There were moments of interest though that kept me reading even though I felt the ending was a bit disappointing.

Rating: 4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2 !!!!!!!!!

Weird. Gross. Yet so thrilling!! The Cabin on Souder Hill was so different than what I would normally read. I was so intrigued by the storyline and couldn’t read fast enough to try and solve the puzzle. It was NOTHING that I imagined and if you say you figured it out, I call baloney! I definitely would recommend this book to those that like to suspend reality and get a little different storyline than a typical thriller. If you read it, please let me know what you think!

Book: The Cabin on Souder Hill
(AVAILABLE NOW-Release Date: September 29, 2020)
Author: Lonnie Busch
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Mystery

Thank you to @NetGalley @BlackstonePublishing and @BuschLonnie for an advanced copy of @TheCabinOnSouderHill

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Happy pub today to this thriller/mystery from @blackstonepublishing. Michelle and her husband, Cliff, are trying to repair their relationship by spending a “romantic” weekend away at their cabin in Souder Hill. Late the first night of their trip, Cliff becomes fascinated with a light down the hill. He’s convinced that there weren’t supposed to be any other dwellings around and takes off to investigate. When Michelle wakes up the next morning, Cliff is missing. After a day of searching with the police, Michelle returns to the cabin the next night and sees the lights herself. She stumbles across another cabin and finds Cliff but soon realizes this is not the same man that she came to Souder Hill with, even though he looks the same.

This novel started out promising. The beginning gives off creepy vibes that got me interested but this was just A LOT packed into this story. Witches, incest, murder, alternate realities & more! The characters were irritating and vulgar but simultaneously fascinating as they all seemed intent on self destruction. It was a bit too long for me and that took away from the premise that initially had me hooked. I did like Busch’s style of writing as it reflected his characters stream of consciousness, which I have always been a fan of. His writing style was what saved this from a lower rating. The ending dragged out but it did leave me feeling as though justice was served.

Isolated cabin in the woods plus supernatural entities is two of my fave night read. This book is interesting and suspenseful. I, however, got confused about some of the transitions. I felt like the first part is very strong, and it got a bit weak towards to end. I still enjoyed reading it,

Y’all I really wanted to like this book but it was just a ★★★ for me. I only give ★ and ★★ ratings if I DNF a book and I did finish this book. The concept is really great, and I enjoyed the premise but it felt sooooo long, and it’s only 300pages!

Michelle stumbles into an alternative realty, after going searching for her husband who goes missing at their cabin on Souder hill. In this alternative reality, she learns about witches and that the original owner of her cabin, is still alive and well. This new reality is close enough to the Michelle’s reality, that it was sometimes hard to keep track of which reality things needed to be in. Utilmately this is a story of the efforts one women makes to get back to her reality but also to understand what is really ‘real’ around her.

Marked down as a thriller/ mystery, this book fell more under supernatural for me. It was 1/3 mystery, 1/3 witchy, and 1/3 trying to be horror story. The main theme of the book though really threw this into the supernatural realm and genre. The multiple dimensional aspect also could put this book under a sci-fi genre as well. This book is a bit all over the place and just placing it in a genre really reinforces that.

While I loved the original concept and plot behind the story, I honestly was a bit bored and found it hard to get through the story. I think there were just too many things going on without a solid execution. I hoped the ending would save it for me but atlas, I still don’t feel that any real resolution was achieved. I appreciated what the book was trying to do but the story fell flat for me.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on The Cabin on Souder Hill. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. This book comes out September 29th, big thanks to Blackstone Publishing for my Advanced Copy.

When Michelle awakens one morning in their mountain cabin, she remembers her husband, Cliff, going down the mountainside in the middle of the night to check out a strange light. Cliff has not yet returned. When she calls the sheriff for help, an all out search is conducted. When Michelle sees the light herself, she decides to take matters into her own hands and search for Cliff. When she finally returns to her cabin, Cliff is there and everything is different. They have been looking for her! The sheriff doesn’t remember her and her whole life is completely different than when she left. What happened in those woods? Is she totally crazy? This book started out very intriguing but turned quite weird. There were some enjoyable parts, but it was not the psychological thriller expected. Early on there are some hints of witchcraft, but not too over the top until near the end where a ritual is explained in detail (a scene that I skipped to reach the conclusion). This type of story is not something I gravitate to or prefer to read. This was an uncomfortable, dark and dreary read and not one that that I can honestly recommend.

I have to admit that I kept reading this in the hope that it would, well, coalesce for me. Up front- Clff, Michelle's philandering husband, disappears from their cabin after going to find the source of a mysterious light. Then he reappears. Then there's some odd doings. Is she a reliable narrator? Is there a parallel universe thing going on? I finally gave up. It's certainly twisty but it wasn't for me. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.