Cover Image: Gallows Hill

Gallows Hill

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Member Reviews

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

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The beginning of this book was a slow burn and I struggle with slow burns. I kept waiting for something - anything scary to happen. The later part of the book brings on the frights. It occurs in stages but once you hear the bells, you know things are about to get real- real fast! Finally!

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I absolutely loved this book! The atmosphere was everything I hoped for and more! If you're looking for a book to give you creepy and unsettling vibes while reading, this is it.

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I think I will give up on this author. This is. The third book in a row that I just didn’t like. I found the story boring .

I guess this author’s books just aren’t foe me .

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Margot’s family has owned and operated Gallows Hill winery for generations. But when Margot’s parents die suddenly, she stands to inherit. But she doesn’t want it. Why would she want something when her parents didn’t seem to want her?? She goes to see it and get a sense of what she wants to do with it. It’s here she finds out the land the winery is on is in fact cursed. But does she really believe that? Well, she’s about to…

This was a good and intense book at times! Definitely had a Walking Dead vibe to it! I understood Margot’s hesitancy with wanting to keep the winery but also understood her want of figuring out the cursing and trying to break it. I enjoyed that there was an element of history to it along with the need for healing and forgiveness! This is an author I will continue to read! Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review!

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Another fantastic read by Darcy Coates! This one is a slow burn, very unsettling and it has a bit of mystery going on. I didn’t see the ending coming which made me very happy! Great book

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Darcy Coates is one of my auto-buy authors. I enjoy the gothic dark atmospheres that she creates. “Gallows Hill” is a supernatural gothic slow burn with a great setting. The atmosphere surrounding the haunted winery is dark and eerie. Being claustrophobic, the scariest parts to me were the underground tunnels. When Margot falls into a collapsed tunnel, with no way out but narrow dirt-filled passages, it is terrifying and anxiety-inducing.

The characters and the first half of the book were where I struggled. The characters were not as dynamic as I would have liked them to be, and the first half of the moved very slowly.

Margot was an interesting character. There is just not a whole lot to her, and she tends to come off a bit dry. Her character does pick up a bit in the second half of the book when things start to pick up. In. my opinion, it did not redeem her. The supporting characters are fairly standard.

The story moves at a slow pace. The last quarter of the book picks up speed. The story has lots of confusing details. Some things didn’t add up at the end. There were some creepy moments with the restless and angry spirits but the repetition took away some of the enjoyment.

I am excited to pick up the next Darcey Coates book.

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Margot Hull returns to her childhood home, a prosperous winery called Gallows Hill, after her parents' sudden deaths. The locals whisper that the deaths were because of the curse that has haunted the many generations of owners of the winery, but Margot is unaware of these stories of violent deaths and loss.

After spending a terrifying night at the old house, Margot is told about the history of the hill upon which the winery sits, and about the bloody past of the Hull family. Violence runs deep on the hill, starting from when it was used for many years as an execution site, before the Hull family bought the land. When the winemaker Ezra Hull and his whole family disappeared, to be replaced soon after by Ephraim Hull and his family, there were rumours of murder, but nothing was ever proved. Each successive generation of Hulls, while prospering, has lost many of its members to sudden violence or illness.

Margot, after learning this decides, despite her terror, to do something about the genuinely terrifying presences haunting the house and its grounds. In the process, she decides to change the legacy of her family.

I wanted to love this book, but I did not. I found that Margot and the supporting characters didn't capture my imagination they way Keira, Mason and Zoe did in the author's "Gravekeeper" series, which has a nice mix of humour and horror. I think humour was what I was missing from this book, realizing fully well that this standalone is a different beast from the other books, and is meant to evoke different emotions from the reader. The atmosphere in "Gallows Hill" is wonderfully chilling, and there are several scary scenes in this story about the legacy of violence, and how the evil and nastiness has seeped into the very ground of the hill. It's an interesting use of the genius loci idea, and I wish I had enjoyed this story more than I did.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

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It was a good book. I always love Darcy Coates books. A little long, but overall, enjoyable. I love the setting and the History of the location of the book.

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This was my first read of the author and I did not know it involved paranormal elements. I have to be in the right mindset and know beforehand to truly enjoy a paranormal story.

For me, this started out slow and I struggled to finish, but I think that is just because I wasn’t prepared going in.

Overall, a great story.

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I love a haunted house and this is no exception. I thought Coates' writing was superb, and I was so chilled throughout - I definitely had to read with the lights on!

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Holy spooky. Coates knows how to write something to give you the creeps. It’s tense and dreadful. I love the way Darcy writes her atmosphere. Definitely don’t read with the lights off.

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Darcy Coates' books should have a cautionary label, something like: "WARNING: High Voltage Horror. Read with caution and in daylight. Not for the faint of heart." However, his stories are like the habanero pepper: if you like it, you will always want more.
Gallows Hill is an excellent read, which I inadvertently started reading late one night, but couldn't stop reading until I knew the ending. Miss Coates' style is recognizable from the first chapters, her characters are strong, the setting is superb, her plot catches the reader like a spider's web, the environment envelops the reader and her endings are unexpected but very appropriate and satisfying.
I recommend this and all of her books to strong-hearted readers who want to spend a few hours on the edge of their seats and watching their backs to the slightest rumor, real or imagined, they hear.
I thank Ms Coates and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

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Ok, so I loved this book a lot! It was creepy and suspenseful and full of mystery. Darcy has a fantastic imagination to create something this amazing! I read this book in two days.

The main character's parents die so she takes over the home and vineyard but is told not to leave the house at night. Lots of mysterious things happen. This book is so good. Just read it. Trust me. You'' love it!

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I couldn’t get hooked on this book. It was too slow paced for me and the horror element didn’t really stick. :( I really wanted to like this.

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GALLOWS HILL by Darcy Coates will grab you immediately and hold your attention right to very end.

The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for many generations. The wine made there is award-winning and not only does their business thrive, but so does the family. At least they do until...

Hugh and Maria are found dead.

Hugh and Maria's daughter has to return to Gallows Hill to bury her parents. It should be a fairly straightforward task, but the house may just have other plans for Margot.

Vivid descriptions, a fantastic sense of place, and near-perfect pacing all make Gallows Hill a book nit to be missed.

4 out of 5 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

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Gallows Hill has all the elements that I love in a Gothic novel; a spooky old house, parents who were killed under mysterious circumstances, bells that rings in the night, hallways that meander forever, major historical secrets, a town that looks at the main character suspiciously, things that go bump in the night, and atmosphere galore. So why did it take so long for me to get through this one? And I had to force myself to read through to the end, wishing I had DNF'd it like I wanted to.

First of all, the main character, Margot, drove me crazy. I didn't dislike her per se, but she really did some silly things. How is it that you go into a new house like this and not check things out? At least the poor girl could have found a bathroom in the first 48 hours she was there, but instead, the author had her getting lost in the same hallways and being mesmerized by a videotape for hours on end. And although I liked the atmosphere of the house, I really felt like I didn't get to KNOW the house through Margot's eyes as there was so much repetitive stuff going on that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. I liked the bumps in the night and the scary stuff that was happening, but to make a main character sound so ditzy in order to further a plot point bothers me. How many times will the author have Margot forget to charge her phone in order to advance the plot? Have her fall in this hole without her phone to use to contact someone, have her be attacked in this scenario without a charged phone to contact someone, have her get lost here without a charged phone to do anything about it, and so on. See my point?

While the first three-quarters of the book was repetitious and a bit boring, the ending was actually the best part, but by no means was it great. The author did up the ante on tension and suspense, but by then, I had lost interest and I had to force myself to finish. Furthermore, I felt like the author thought the reader wasn't capable of grasping the fine points of the historical events, and needed to reiterate everything again, something I actually resented. Readers are quite capable of reading between the lines, thank you very much. I can't say the same for the MC, so maybe the retelling was for her benefit?

Gallows Hill had a lot of great ideas, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I typically enjoy this author's books, so this was a big disappointment. Unfortunately, while the author always has a great writing style, this one had very weak characters and character development, and a plot that was slow and pedantic despite the atmospheric horror elements that were included. This one just didn't work for me and I struggled mightily to finish.

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Can't go wrong with a book by Darcy Coates!
The Hull Family has owned The Gallows Hill Winery for generations. Everything has been business as usual until the day Margot's parents pass away and she inherits the property. This property has a pretty dark past which wouldn't surprise anyone why it could be haunted - now that she is living here alone she is starting to believe the rumors that the land is cursed!

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This was not a win for me unfortunately. I struggled with Margot's motivation in the first half of the book and found myself quite bored. Things did pick up in the latter stages, but the ending was a bit of a cliche and overall, I just didn't enjoy myself with this one.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! I liked the story but didn't fall for it quickly. The story is slow and it took me a bit to finish it. I rate it a 2.7

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