I am a sucker for a good spooky read and it has been a while since I’ve read a truly creepy one. I didn’t know what to expect from this book from an author I’ve never heard of and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

Haunted by his past, one evening Jacques ventures out of his isolated cottage to the local pub. There he meets a beautiful, mysterious woman who seems to know him better than he knows himself. Before long, they embark on a passionate affair inside her delapidated mansion. But who is this woman and what does she really want?

Jacques is living alone and looked after by his housekeeper Lorca. We don’t really find out why this has to be his living arrangement until the end, so I was a little confused as to why he needed to be taken care of, considering he seems to be able to function by himself. However, he is clearly lonely, as demonstrated by his preoccupation with finding a companion and his interest in pretty much every woman he comes across.

As soon as a woman shows a romantic inclination towards him, Jacques starts believing that everything will get better for him. It’s a very naive, immature way of thinking and I suppose it goes to show how vulnerable and desperate he is. However, I found him to be quite annoying and I struggled to conjure up any sympathy for him. He is a grown man after all!

There is so much very uncomfortable sex in this book and it was obvious that Jacques was so obsessed with Eloise that he didn’t care how toxic things were. It was horrible to read and I definitely grimaced more and more as I realised the true nature of who Eloise was. I know it’s a horror novel but it really was unsettling and not in an exciting way.

We occasionally get extracts from the diary of someone called Belle, who has been watching Jacques when he’s in the pub. She apparently has psychic powers and knows that there is something unusual about Jacques. I still don’t really know why Belle’s parts existed, as it made it all quite disjointed and she didn’t really come into the main action at all. However, Belle had the potential to be a much more interesting character than Jacques, so I think I’d have enjoyed seeing more of her.

Dinner with Eloise is a pretty lacklustre horror with some very uncomfortable scenes. Although I got creepy vibes from it, particularly in the second half, I wasn’t terrified. I wasn’t thinking about the book when I was away from it and to be honest, I couldn’t wait for it to end. So, I definitely can’t recommend it to those of you who love a genuine scare.

I initially found the summary of this book very interesting and in the beginning it was fine. But eventually I lost interest as I found the writing and language to be unnatural and robotic almost.
The premise of moving to a small town to better manage his mental illness and being drawn to a mysterious woman in a decrepit mansion sounded so interesting. But that is only surface level. It doesn't go beyond much of that.
I really wanted to like this one but I just couldn't.
Thank you to RedDoor Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I did not enjoy this book. I found the writing to be stilted and unnatural, and for the two main characters to have a complete lack of chemistry. Although it held the grains of an interesting story, very few of these were realized in the actual creation of the book. ‘Dinner with Eloise’ is the story of a mentally-ill man who moves to a small town and then immediately falls in love with a mysterious woman whom may be more than she appears to be.

Things I liked about this book:
#1) I thought the story had the potential to be very interesting. And the first chapters pretty much were, before the expository vomit that took so much of that mystery away.
#2) The book’s world clearly has an interesting vampire mythology, which also includes other creatures such as witches?
#3) The cover looks spooky.

Things I didn’t like about this book:

1) The main character talks several times about how the girl was so aggressive with him that she ‘practically raped him” - I find this terribly offensive and a flippant use of a word that has deep and triggering meaning to a lot of men and women. Don’t just toss it around because the woman happens to be a bit aggressive in bed - when everything was consensual. Very gross.
2) The main character also talks about being happy he just stopped taking his meds and how much better everything is since he can drink now (this is said/alluded to way more than once) which is such a dangerous and terrible way to look at mental health medications. ~Maybe this makes some sense at the end, and only then *maybe.* It’s basically saying that it’s great to go stop your meds. Not cool.
3) The writing, especially the enormous amount of exposition. Please, <I>show</I> us something instead.

I found this book to be problematic on several levels and I do not recommend it.

Dinner with Eloise is a tale of fright that will leave you wondering. Cleverly done.

A man whose family has sent him to live a quiet and peaceful life has ignited the interest of two women who each try to get to know him better in their own peculiar way.