This was an ok book, a large part of the story is made up of dialogue between the characters, which doesn't allow for a lot of character building. Kate has recently lost her policeman husband during a home invasion gone wrong, she still lives in the house where it had happened (though he was killed outside the house) with her two kids. One night she sees two teenagers on her property and in the morning investigates a cottage that is part of the property and owned jointly by her and her estranged sister. Inside she finds a knife embedded in the bedroom wall. The police investigate and her father in law who is a retired police chief. He suggests getting a tenant for the property and provides the details for a guy that might be suitable, Kate meets him and they come to an agreement. Not long after more vandalism occurs and the police provide a police officer to watch the property during the night. Kate invites her sister to stay with her after her neighbour, who usually watches her kids while she's working, is forced to take a job due to an overwhelming debt load incurred by her husband. I found the story got better after the first part of the book, once the attacks on Kate escalate the plot thickened quickly. Still it took a very long time to get to that point. Though I enjoyed the book and would recommend, I wish the author would have trimmed it. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Great book, absolutely breath-taking! When I started this book, I haven't realized what a plot twister it was going to be until I finished the whole book in three hours! Great plot, choice of characters and the twist!

Stalker stories never fail to freak me out and keep me reading. This one was enjoyable but nothing great or ground breaking; I would still recommend it to anyone who was to feel eerily uncomfortable.

Granted this is an ARC, but there are so many missing and incorrect words I lost count. The missing words weren't a matter of style, but a matter of no proof reading.

I hate present tense as it is hard to carry off well. This book did not carry it off well. It slipped from present tense to past tense and back again. The author kept to mostly dialogue with no tags to try to get around the fact, but still didn't manage.

The author told me every single thing Kate did and was obsessed with her changing her underpants.

In one conversation that would have taken maybe fifteen minutes total, Kate used the word Dad ten times. Who does that in real life? No one. It completely changed the tone of all those conversations. And not in a good way. It made her come off as a bit snarky and sarcastic. Maybe that was intentional and by then I just couldn't care less about her character.

I could go on and on. The plot was obvious and not very thrilling (hard to be on the edge of your seat when you keep being interrupted to watch Kate change her underpants again). I knew who was harassing her from the moment the character was introduced and why.

Surprisingly enough (considering the rest of the book), the writing at the end was tighter and had better pacing--the only thing that kept this from being a one star rating.

The writing style of this book kept me from becoming involved in the story, and I just did not like this one at all, sadly.

DNF at 10%

I was turned off by the writing style right away and couldn't get past it so I decided to give this one a pass.

The Cottage by Daniel Judson is a suspense thriller centered around Kate Burke. While living in their current home, passed down through generations, Kate's husband and father of twin children is murdered in a senseless home invasion. Kate is clearly suffering from PTSD, plagued by daily migraines and is spending all her energy on just getting through each day. Kate's situation gets worse when she starts to notice vandalism on the property. Kate understands how serious the situation is and that it could mean life or death but who can she trust to help her?

I really enjoyed the plot of this book. I thought the author did an excellent job at planting seeds throughout while leaving me guessing to the end. To be honest, I still have questions but I won't spoil anything. One other aspect I enjoyed about this book is that I either loved or hated each character and I personally like the conflicting personalities.

Unfortunately, the pros do not outweigh the cons for me. The dialogue felt clumsy and forced throughout the whole book which took away from my experience. I also felt the dramatics were being forced by repeatedly bringing up the same issues. I pushed through to finish the book because of the plot and the need to know what happened. I'm giving this book 2 out of 5 stars.

This was the first novel I have read by Daniel Judson, and I am still undecided on how much I enjoyed it. I found the writing style slightly clunky with use of a lot of unnecessary commas. By the second half of the book the commas had become less which made that part of the story more enjoyable to read.

Kate is a widowed single mother suffering from PTSD, raising two children on her own after her policeman husband Leif, was killed during a home invasion gone wrong two years earlier. One night, Kate hears a noise outside her window and when she goes to check on it, she sees two, what look like teenage boys running from a vacant cottage on her property. This is just the start of a series of events that has Kate feeling like she is being watched and that her and her family are in danger. As the incidents become more frequent and threatening, Kate begins to wonder if what her and her family are experiencing is from the same person who was menacing the family before Leif’s death by committing frequent acts of vandalism or, are this new string of attacks being committed by someone closer to home?

I found this story quite difficult to read due to the style of writing and chapters of the book that felt unnecessary as nothing really happened in them or added to the backstory. I didn’t’ warm to Kate’s character either, I found her overly judgemental and that she treated her 12-year-old children in a condescending manner and like they were toddlers. I felt it was obvious who was behind the attacks on Kate and her family too, which was disappointing as I found myself guessing ahead of time who had been responsible for what.

I did enjoy Rebecca, Kates’s estranged sister coming into the story more, when she came to live with them. I also found once Rebecca moved in, Kate became a more likeable, less judgemental person and, started to build a more teenager/mother relationship with her children. The very last twist in the story I didn’t see coming and I thought it was an excellent one. Overall, I enjoyed reading the second half of the book a lot more than the first.

Thank you NetGalley for an e-book copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had high expectations for this story from the short description of this book. I was intrigued and excited to dive deeper into what exactly is going on with Kate and the mysterious intruder. However, I did have trouble getting into this book. I was hoping for a page turner, but for some reason it just fell a little flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eArC in exchange for my honest review.

It's been a while, where I just don't know how I feel about a book. 🤷‍♀️

The Cottage by Daniel Judson is a slow burn family drama mild thriller book. Kate has spent the last two years suffering from PTSD after her husband was killed by intruders. Now, her paranoia has gotten the better of her when a series of triggering events happen. Is it just troublesome teenagers? Her new neighbour? Her estranged sister? Or could it be someone else, lurking in the woods?

My Thoughts

Although I couldn't connect with any of the characters, the prose of the storyline was okay. I actually didn't mind it, It kept me intrigued where I still wanted to read the book, however sadly that was literally the only thing that I did enjoy about the book.

One of the main things I really didn't like was I found out who the instigator was rather quickly, it practically jumped off the page and it frustrated me because Kate was completely oblivious to it. Like come on! Your stalker/intruder pretty much said they were doing it. 🙈🙉🙊

I only recommend this book if you like a nice easy read, or don't mind getting told who the instigator is while pinpointing it on other characters.

**Just wanted to add in a little note that this book does mention Harry Potter, for those who are against J.k Rowling.

I want to say thank you to Netgalley, Thomas and Mercer.

I struggled with this book from the very beginning. There wasn’t anything necessarily *wrong* with it, but for some reason it just wasn’t delivering early which kind of scarred me. I really liked the premise of the book and the set up, so I think it’s still one I would recommend.

When Kate is again harassed by vandals following the death of her officer-husband two years ago, can she trust anyone around her?

The Cottage is an interesting amalgamation of thriller and character piece that just doesn’t quite work. The story has solid bones, but I just wasn’t sure whether to be scared or not. There’s a lot of creepy vibes and it’s hard to trust anyone, but it’s pretty obvious who the bad guy is from the start. Plus there’s a plot teaser that just never fully develops despite being trotted out every other chapter.

I did enjoy the dynamic of estranged sisters trying to reconnect after years of absence. I also liked the will-they-or-won’t-they romantic interest. I thought Katie’s character was very well drawn. I just didn’t really care about how her story ended up. And yet, I was still disappointed by the answer. Kind of a mess, really.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

The Cottage... I wish I could say I loved this book but the author put two things into the story that ruins the story for me. too many useless,over detailed descriptions and too many characters too keep up with.

This book has tons of potential but the story should flow better. I did enjoy the creepiness of the story though.

My thoughts and opinions are of my own.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to let me read this story.

The Cottage is mystery/thriller by Daniel Judson. The Cottage is about a widowed mother named Kate. One night she is awakened by a sound outside her window. This triggers Kate’s PTSD due to the traumatic memories of her husband’s death, which was from a home invasion. Unsettling things begin to take place after that, from strange phone calls in the middle of the night to her property being vandalised.

I had high expectations for this story from the short description of this book. I was intrigued and excited to dive deeper into what exactly is going on with Kate and the mysterious intruder. However, I did have trouble getting into this book. I was hoping for a page turner, but for some reason it just fell a little flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eArC in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't enjoy this all that much, it wasn't awful, but I wouldn't really recommend it. The writing style didn't flow nicely, and it was a bit far-fetched. I guessed the protagonist early on and had an inkling about the twist at the end, but that doesn't bother me, it just seemed a bit contrived. There were quite a few grammatical errors - at one point the author was talking about Maria and Leif's party, Leif who was long dead. I do understand that this is an uncorrected proof, but still. There is potential here, but I'm afraid it wasn't quite reached for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC.

3 for neutral! Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish this book ang tried to get into it many times. Am a moody reader though, so will update if able to finish later!

Just a decent or fun cozy mystery (to me). I would grab a coffee in the morning or late evening, snuggle into my blanket, and read this to relax. It wasn't absolutely astounding or remarkable, but it was fun.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Very captivating with amazing character development.
A widow is being terrorized and threatened to leave her home. Who is it. And why are they doing it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is my first novel by Daniel Judson and it was a super scary and thrilling read.

We meet Kate who has PTSD after her husband's murder - she is being terrorized but as a reader we do not by whom!! I did not overly warm to Kate as the main character - but you cant like everyone when reading novels. I did feel for her as she had a really bad time with her husband dying etc during a home invasion.

This novel did keep me guessing and I enjoyed it. If you are going to read this novel then try to make sure someone is in the house with you as it did have a few scary/thrilling parts in the novel.

Like many a reviews have mentioned that the novel reads like a screen play which I do agree with but I did not find it off putting when reading this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Daniel Judson and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Due to my own PTSD, I was hesitant to read The Cottage. Once I got the courage to start reading, however, I could not stop. It seemed as though I started one minute and was halfway through the next.

Kate lives with the awful memory of her husband’s murder. Her own yard is a constant reminder of how he bled to death as she watched helplessly. Just as she is beginning to feel stronger, the vandalism starts again just like it did two years prior just before her husband was gunned down outside their home.

Thinking another set of eyes on the property will make her feel safer, she rents out the cottage her estranged sister used to live in during the off season. As she becomes more comfortable with her new tenant, the intrusions into Kate’s life become much more personal and invasive.

As soon as she sees Rebecca, her sister, Kate can see a change. Getting to know the new Rebecca and seeing how happy her children are to have their aunt with them, Kate begins to let down her guard and trust Rebecca, putting the past in the past to make a fresh start with her sister.

When Kate discovers the truth about her husband’s murder and who was involved, she discovers a betrayal that changes her life forever – not just hers but also the lives of her children.

Daniel Judson serves up a thriller with all the right ingredients – lies, betrayal, murder, and plot twists. Some parts of The Cottage seem a bit mundane – play-by-play accounts of how Kate does chores, cleans the pantry, etc. Once the reader gets through the unnecessary aspects of the book, the story becomes more and more interesting and shocking. There were times when I wanted to stop reading – too much of the day-to-day in some cases, and in other cases unsure of whether I could handle what happened next. Nonetheless, I am glad I finished. The Cottage is filled with love, loss, unimaginable betrayal, murder, and suspense – everything one needs to deliver a best seller.