3.5 Stars

"What was dark but the absence of light?" - A House at the Bottom of a Lake.

REVIEW: Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group/ Del Rey Books, and Josh Malerman for proving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This story follows 17-year-olds James and Amelia as they go out on their first date. They set off in James' uncle's old canoe to explore the two nearby lakes. However, when they come across a mysterious third lake, they find something extremely unusual. A house, that is below the surface of the water. Enthralled by this discovery, the teens decide to dive down under the surface to explore all the house's dark corners.

Overall, I thought this was such an interesting book and a quick read. The premise alone drew me in and made me wonder what the teens were going to discover. I loved the dreamy and eerie atmosphere as well. The book is definitely ambiguous and is open to interpretation, something that I personally love in books. There is much more I could say, but I think this is a great book to step into blind and let yourself become wrapped up in the story.

SYNOPSIS: Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes. It sounded like the perfect first date: canoeing across a chain of lakes, sandwiches, and beer in the cooler. But teenagers Amelia and James discover something below the water’s surface that changes their lives forever. It’s got two stories. It’s got a garden. And the front door is open. It’s a house at the bottom of a lake.

For the teens, there is only one rule: no questions. And yet, how could a place so spectacular come with no price tag? While the duo plays house beneath the waves, one reality remains: Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

RELEASE DATE: December 01, 2020

I was so excited to read this because of the success of bird box. And this book did not disappoint. Creepy af and keeps you drawn in until the end. What is a house doing at the bottom of a lake anyways? And is it really haunted? Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was billed as a horror story, but that is not accurate. While there was suspense, I kept waiting for something to happen, other than two teens exploring an intact, furnished home that magically appears under water. The house is fully furnished, nothing floats, and nothing is water damaged. The house is not threatening until the two teens culminate a sexual relationship. Once the boys semen floats to the ceiling, they hear a presence., as if their sexual act gave birth to the being in the house. A being with no face, that floats dresses to them. I'm sure the story is rife with symbolism, but I don't think high schoolers would understand it.

Who knew that finding a house at the bottom of a lake cound feel so unimaginative/uninteresting. The inner dialogs amoung the characters made this novella drag and feel well beyond those 108 pages. Was the point of the book to not give you a time frame to what year this was? The kid watched The Woodsman and she made a reference to Deliverance. I mean come on. I've yet to meet a teenager whose seen that movie. At times it felt like a man in his 40s was writing behind these characters. It was odd and creepy to me reading about the characters having sex. It felt so centered on it by the middle of the book. I also didn't need the describing factor of reading about his sperm clouding up in whiteness to the ceiling when talking about 17 year olds. Eek! So many of my Booktubers raved about this book but for the love of me I don't get it. 75% of this book is just complete nonsense. I'm sorry to the tree that was used to make this into a book. Maybe the magic in this book isn't the house but how short about if time they could afford scuba equipment, lessons, and to build a raft they were able to sleep on. I'm pretty sure it takes months to get certified to dive unsupervised.

This one wasn't for me! I was intrigued by the premise, which is definitely unique and strange for a horror book, but it ended up falling a little flat for me. I can see why other people would enjoy this, but it did not creep me out as much as I had hoped it would.

What just happened? What did I read? Did I like it? I did!

A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE is a curious, haunting novella from Josh Malerman, about two young lovers who discover a mysterious submerged house while canoeing on their first date. It is the kind of read you MUST finish in one sitting. They become obsessed with it, and are drawn back to explore it again and again. To Amelia and James, the house is everything they desire and fear - love, sex, domestic bliss, partnership, the future. They are seventeen, after all.

What Malerman does so well in this novella is establish a sense of dread and anticipation - as these two teenagers swim around in an impossible underwater setting, we KNOW something is wrong but don't know what. The craft of this is incredibly intricate and perfectly wrought. He is great at creating an anxious atmosphere - BIRD BOX is similar. Here, Amelia and James agree to just go with the dreamy, surreal experience without asking any analytical questions (how? why? who?), and when that approach cracks, the house and their connection changes.

If the underwater house and the characters' fascination with it is a metaphor for the addictive obsession of young love, then I have no idea what happened at the end! Does it mean the impossible could be possible, and that Amelia and James could have what they want (each other? the house?) in real life? I don't know. I'm perplexed. There is a wildly confusing cliffhanger at the end that I'm not sure I appreciate, but I did very much enjoy the novella and this creepily compelling reading experience. Four stars. I have MALORIE, his sequel to BIRD BOX, waiting for me at my library and am now looking forward to getting into it!

Thanks to NetGalley for opportunity to read it.

Format: e-book, via NetGalley
Read for:
2020 POPSUGAR Summer Reading Challenge Prompt 14 - A book that takes place during the summer before high school or college (This is exactly true of the setting, because at seventeen the characters are probably rising high school seniors, but it is during the summer and it is a coming-of-age kind of thing. Counting it!)

**I was given an e-ARC of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

James and Amelia go canoeing on their first date. While exploring, they discover something unexpected—a house, submerged under the water. Intrigued, they decide to dive down and explore. What they see inside the house is very curious, and the two begin to spend a lot of time at the lake, trying to discover its secrets.

I breezed through this short story. The premise was very engrossing, and I wanted to find out more about the house as much as James and Amelia. Be warned though—this story is creepy! I rarely get scared by books or movies, but something about this story was unsettling. I *think* I liked it...I was left scratching my head, but it is a gripping story. If you liked Bird Box, you might like this work too.

I sure wouldn't put this in the "horror" category. I would say that it is more of a YA Thriller. Two teens (a boy and a girl) discover a lake at the bottom of a hidden lake. They free dive to see what is in the house, then come back with the proper equipment to look further. What do they find? What finds them? That is where the "thriller" comes in!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advanced readers copy.

This book left me with overwhelming feelings of confusion. While I am not wholly disappointed with these emotions, or with the experience of the story overall, I definitely think this story is done dirty down by incorrect marketing. This did not strike me as horror at all, more of a light contemporary fantasy story about the magic of first love.

The concept in itself is perplexing, but the author's change of direction and the open ending undermined what I thought was a very strong first half. In order to effectively achieve the suspense that I believe Malerman was going for, this book would have needed to be longer with more development.

Interesting short story. I think I understood the ending but I would have liked it to be a little clearer. The relationship seems unrealistic, almost dreamy, which matches the tone of the rest of the book. Not much really happens and they spend most of their time exploring the house under the lake but not really learning anything about it.

<b>“We found a dangerously magical place. A place to fall in love”</b>

This quick novella, of which I would put straight in the “quirky but eerie” genre category (similar to the likes of <i>The House That Fell from the Sky</i>).

Amelia and James happen upon the unthinkable on their first date - a house at the bottom of a hidden lake. What transpires through this novella is their love story, fueled by exploration and obsession with exploring this hidden place.

But the house is just as mysterious. And while I wouldn’t call this story scary, it’s just a little bit creepy. Some might not enjoy the lack of solid, on a platter, answers to all the questions in Amelia and James’ story. I, on the other hand, felt they weren’t necessary.

3.5/5.

this was not what i expected.

i feel like this book was definitely mismarketed. it was portrayed as a horror story but i feel like this was more of a fairy tale with a haunted feeling to it than anything else, a tale of first love overshadowed by a haunting, impossible environment made to feel like Lovecraft wrote a Scary Story To Tell In The Dark. it was still very very enjoyable, but not something i will hold onto for a super long time after this.

I loved this little gem-HOWEVER I do feel that it has been marketed somewhat incorrectly. This is most definitely not a horror novella. I loved it for what it was but the term "horror" should be nowhere near the marketing of this book.

It's not the first time Amelia has been into James's father's store, but it is the first time he's gotten up the nerve to ask her out. And he's hoping the date he has planned will be a win: his uncle has a canoe and beyond the lake, there's a second secret lake they can explore minus any crowds.

But as it turns out, there's an even more secret lake beyond that. One that James and Amelia have all to themselves. And in that lake, lying just below the placid surface, is a roof. A roof topping a house that's impeccably preserved under the water. A house James and Amelia have decided to explore...

I love, love, loved Josh Malerman's debut, Bird Box. I've bought it as gifts and recommended the ever living hell out of it. It's that good. And, like everyone else who fell in love with it, I've been reading anything and everything Malerman might write next. So much so that even the Cover-pocalypse wasn't going to prevent me from enjoying Bird Box's sequel, Malorie, earlier this year.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake is an odd one. Stylistically it's got vivid—and incredibly creepy. It's timeless in the sense that there is no real telling detail about when the story might take place. Which actually adds to the eeriness of the story.

It's something of a quiet tale, luring readers into a story of first love and first dates—those early days when everyone is on their best behavior trying to impress one another and overthinking each and every detail. Will he or she like me? Did I say something stupid? Will we have a second date? A third? It's something almost everyone experiences and is, as such, incredibly relatable.

But as we're drifting into this story alongside James and Amelia, Malerman carefully builds an underlying sense of dread. The discovery of the house is as exciting for us as it is for James and Amelia, but we have the foresight of knowing that something is going to happen. As their obsession with the building grows, we're treated to more and more details of the house with each new exploration. But that sense that something might be waiting - lurking - just around the corner is always there.

It makes for a deliciously tense read in my opinion!

That said, as with Bird Box there is no final explanation. Is the house real? Why has no one discovered it before? Or have they? These questions burn beyond the final page, making A House at the Bottom of a Lake the kind of horror that stays with you long after you finish.

I.. Liked this book? But I'm really confused on what I just read. It was good, I had a few good creepy feels. But I still don't consider this to be horror. Maybe more of suspense, asking what's going to happen next but not downright afraid or scared. I feel maybe this was more of a psychological read. Played with your head and I always have a problem trying to understand those books because I never really understand what's happening. I was a little uncomfortable with the obsession over the house, to the point of doing certain things in it? Just no.. Come on. I could have lived my life without thinking of that. All in all it was interesting? Interesting enough that I read it in one sitting. I could and will probably read something else by the author for sure.

This is a tale of first love. Amelia and James go on a canoe ride for their first date. They are paddling around two interconnected lakes when they find a third hidden lake. Under the waves they found a house at the bottom of the lake. Day after day they return to this house wear everything is in perfect condition. Books on the shelves are pristine. Furniture sits in place exactly where it should be. They decide they won't ask why or how this place should look like this, only that it is theirs and no one else's. Eventually strange things occur: shadows, sounds, and more unexplainable events. I read through this book in one sitting. It is a story of first love, magic, and a little terror mixed in. It is also a story of loss and the consequences of falling hard and falling fast. I highly recommend reading this book. Just like with Bird Box, Josh Malerman kept my attention riveted to this tale until the last page!

This book was weird. Weirdly written, weird subject matter, weird relationships. Yet...I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I find it hard to connect with shorter stories, but I feel like this one gave me everything I wanted. It is a mix of horror and childhood magic.

I want to start out by saying damn Josh Malerman can write. He has easily become one of my favorite authors after reading Unbury Carol, Birdbox, and now A House at the Bottom of a Lake. This beautifully mastered story had me on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time. How many books can you actually say you loved the House more than the characters? If you said none, then look no further, because this story will blow your mind.

One thing I really loved about this book was the atmosphere it created for the reader. I felt like I was right next to Amelia and James exploring this creepy underwater masterpiece. Parts of this story gave me actual goosebumps because I had no idea what could be lurking around the next corner and not to mention all of this takes place underwater! TERRIFYING! I also really enjoyed the mystery around it all and that I honestly had no idea where the story was going.

Sadly the ending was a huge issue for me. I really didn't understand it and wished it had ended differently. I'm also not a huge fan of ambiguous endings. I want the author to lay it out for me. That's the main issue I had with it. If you are into that type of thing this book is right up your ally.

Overall I gave this book 4.5 Stars because I loved absolutely everything about it till the ending. It gave me the creeps and I believe that is such an important thing in a horror novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this gifted copy for an honest review.

I adore this book. It is so strange and weird. Josh Malerman does an incredible job creating an eerie atmosphere. This is definitely not for everyone. It is VERY different but if you like unique strange little stories than I highly recommend it .

*Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with a free digital arc in exchange for an honest review."

Synopsis: The story begins: young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date., thinking outside of the box.
At seventeen years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary.
But they didn’t expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake.
It house is cold and dark, but it’s also their own.
Yet how to explain the furnishings? The upkeep? The icy sense of something living there still?
And the suction sounds?
Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: swim deeper into the house—all the while falling deeper in love--or return to the surface, to safety, to sanity?
Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned:
Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

Review: As someone who doesn't live too far from an actual town under a reservoir I instantly wanted to read this. I'm not sure if that gave me too high of expectations but I know how creepy it is to know people once lived in the structures that are now submerged. It has it's own haunting nature but coupled with the eeriness that accompanies being underwater I was expecting to be scared out of my skin. There were times when I was genuinely creeped out but towards the end I was just a bit confused. In retrospect it is kind of a cool story because you can take what you want from it. It is at heart the story of two teenagers navigating their feelings for each other and expectations for the future. The house is a symbol of that as they explore deeper and deeper into the house things get more and more serious between them. The ending feels very open ended though and I've thought about it a lot since I finished reading and even while writing this review. I think it's possible to come to multiple conclusions about what happens to James and Amelia and that's kind of cool. Based on that I think this would make a good book club choice.