I loved the premise of this book, it just didn’t snag me like i had hoped it would. It became pretty repetitive half way through. I would say it wasn’t until the ending that i couldn’t put it down! And I’m so glad i stuck it out because i thought the ending was beautiful and super unexpected! I for sure thought she was going to choose “life” so when she she chose death, i was shocked.
This was definitely a different read than I’m used to but still give it a solid 3.5 stars!

I wanted to enjoy this as the premise sounded super promising, but ultimately I was left wanting more from both the characters and the plot itself.

When Eve wakes up in a mansion and sees that all her clothes are put away in the caretakers act as if they were expecting her she still baffled as to how she got there but when her sister Lynn arrives E thinks she knows more about the island then she saying when she meets Nick and he wants her off his brother eve is Dooley board until she sees him her attraction to him is a curious one and although Nick is just as good looking and seems to like her as well she can’t help but to want his brother but they steal the nagging issue of how she got there and why she’s there and can chance of the mystery about this strange home on the strange Island and who is this ghost she keeps saying and is Nick‘s brother as dangerous as he claims? I thought this book was pretty good I thought the mystery was a good one and although I did think it was going to be a little bit different than it turned out to be I still enjoyed the book. I would highly recommend this book if you love a good mystery you’ll definitely love this book I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Of course, when Eve wakes up in a room that is not hers, she’s concerned. The room is nice enough but where could she possibly be? As she takes in her surroundings, she discovers that she is in fact, on an island. That can’t possibly be right though. Eve is terrified of the water. She can’t remember getting here or how but she would never willingly get on a boat.
It doesn’t take long to discover she’s not alone. The two caretakers are nice enough, sure. And the pair of estranged brothers, while odd, both have an appealing nature of their own. Even her twin, Lyn has seemed to tag along; but no one will answer questions as to why she’s on the island, only her exact location.
Eve figures she’s set herself on a retreat in the mysterious Lakeview Manor on the Isle of Esse; a place shrouded in mystery. She’s heard plenty of stories but never any first-hand accounts. She’s always wanted to see for herself.
As she explores the manor and the ground, Eve continues to be left with more questions than answers. All anyone seems to tell her is that she needs to “Relax, reflect, and release”. The strange happenings make it impossible to relax. And how is she supposed to know what to reflect on and release if she can hardly remember who she is?


To be honest, when I first started this book, I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it. The storyline is somewhat confusing and it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s going on or to whom it’s happening. For that reason, I would have to give the book a 3-star rating.
The setting is both confusing and intriguing and you never really know what’s happening. In my opinion, upon further reflection, that might be the point may be to keep the reader as confused as Eve is.
The plot is unique and compels the reader to want to figure out what exactly is happening. It’s almost written as if you are watching a horror movie. However, it did take me a significant amount of time to finish the book because I really had to push myself to get through it.
Everything gets wrapped up nicely at the end and it all does make sense so I would still recommend this book to someone looking for a unique story with an excellent twist.
Life can be harsh but remember to “Relax, Reflect, Release.”

I struggled with this. It's very slow. In fact nothing much happens until nearly the end. And what does happen is confusing.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The House on the Lake by Holly Hill Mangin is a blend of multiple genres with a twist you won't expect at all! The story revolves around Eve, who has just arrived at creepy Lakeview Manor on an isle. Eve and her identical twin Lyn get to known the people in the island. That includes two attractive brothers. But why is Eve seeing a mysterious figure of a woman? Is the manor haunted?

Here is a chilling excerpt from Chapter 1:

"The first thing I'm aware of is the light filtering through my eyelids. It's not the bright, perky light that alerts one straightaway that it's morning, nor is it the artificial fluorescence belonging to flickering overhead lamps. It's muted. Gray. Just there, a constant irritating presence.
Rolling over, I commit myself to falling back to sleep, but the gray pallor invades and prompts the nagging feeling that I'm not where I usually am when I wake up. The smell is different, slightly musty, like the windows have been left open during a storm, and from the extra firm feel of the mattress, this isn't my bed."

Overall, The House on the Lake is a unique blend of horror and romance that is difficult to categorize. One highlight of this book are the chilling moments, which were few and far between. I did take out 2 stars, because this book was completely not what I expected. There was a lot of focus on the love triangle and romance. I was expecting more horror. Also, although I did not expect the twist, it just wasn't satisfying. I predicted part of it, and then the part that I didn't predict catapulted this book into a new genre. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, you can check out this book, which is available now.

I thought this was an interesting and unique book. The setting had plenty of atmosphere, and I enjoyed getting to know the main characters Eve and Lyn. There were many twists and turns that kept me guessing, which is saying a lot since I read a lot of thrillers. It is a debut, and I think the writing could have been stronger, but I enjoyed the author's intriguing storyline.

I really struggled getting into this book, waiting for a story line to kick off and start flowing. There was nothing of that, but instead what felt like snippets of smaller stories, sort of connected but still not, and they were not really making any sense. I was very close quite a few times to not finishing the book, but as I had been given a free copy to review, I persevered - the strong reviewer duty taking over.

Having finished reading the book, I must say it's clever, convoluted and with a very unexpected ending. If you do have the time and the patience, it's worth a read.

I was really looking forward to reading this story. It is eerie and extremely haunting! There were several slow parts of the story that had me skimming through and a conclusion you will not expect. Overall I was a little disappointed. It did not grasp my attention as I was hoping. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

You know how RL Steins books say " reader beware you're in for a scare." Well this book needed a "Reader beware you're in for a roller coaster of a story". I came into this blind and just felt so many emotions.

Eve wakes up in a house on an island and doesn't remember how she got there. The caretakers tell her that she's on a weeks retreat in an old Victorian Manor. She believes that she came alone but it seems that her twin sister, Lyn, is there also, but not expected. Even though Eve wants some time alone to rethink her life and is deadly afraid of water, she is drawn to the quirky and shifting house. But when strange occurrences take place and the realtors and caretakers are being secretive, will Eve get to the bottom of these mysteries and remember what happened?
Thank you NeGallery for this e-galley of "The House on the Lake".

This is a ridiculous book. It made no sense to me. I think the author was trying to recreate a trippy “Alice in wonderland” type of book but it does not work at all.

Thank you for the ARC.

This book is complex. Our girl wakes up on an island in a maze like house and discovers two caretakers and two hot guys, and her twin.
She completely underreacts.
It gets crazier from there. There are some good metaphors.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I had high hopes for this one, based on the synopsis, but unfortunately, it quickly became a DNF for me.

The book started off with Eve waking up in a strange room in a strange house with no real recollection of how she got there. Through the window she can see she’s in a building completely surrounded by water, which makes her panic a bit, because she’s terrified of water. All she can remember about how she got to this place is that she was heading to a Manor House she’d found that rented rooms for solo retreats. So, she figures this must be that house, but she doesn’t remember traveling or arriving or anything else about it.

Eve gets dressed and leaves her room to check out the rest of the house and finds the caretakers of the Manor, who don’t seem to know anything either about how she arrived, but also aren’t at all surprised to see her. They even already know her name. Um…what?

Just then, the door opens and Eve’s twin sister, Lyn, is standing there in surprise and…she doesn’t know how she got there either. She woke up in the strange house as well. The caretakers have no idea why Lyn is there. They just keep saying that it is “highly irregular” and seem very upset. They “only expected Eve.” They tell the twins that they don’t have a clue what’s happening and urgent the ladies to talk to the owner of the Manor, Nick, in order to find out what’s going on. The caretakers don’t really say where to find Nick though, instead offering the twins breakfast before exiting the room.

The twins have breakfast and then set off to find this Nick, but decide to explore the house first. Because if you just woke up and found yourself in a strange house with no explanation as to how you arrived there, the first thing you would do is eat breakfast and then excitedly explore, right ?!

As they’re exploring, they come upon a hidden door pretty much right away and of course they go through it. It leads to a staircase and a bunch of dust-covered rooms in which they have a conversation about how cool this part of the house is and how they could clean it up and organize it!

Huh?!

They find some paintings in one of the rooms, just as the caretaker, Hammond, comes into the room to tell them they are going to be shutting off the power in the house to “check on some things.” They have a whole conversation about the paintings and then Lyn and Hammond go downstairs leaving Eve to continue exploring. From the window, she sees a woman sitting on the edge of a dock. So, when Lyn returns, the two of them decide to go downstairs and find the woman.

This is where I gave up. The writing has no real depth and the whole storyline just seemed laughably preposterous at this point and not at all believable. I just couldn’t continue on with this one.

Full post at https://wellreadpiratequeen.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-house-on-the-lake.html
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I had absolutely no intention of buying any books or making any sort of ARC requests or grabbing any "Read Now"s on NetGalley until after I return from my upcoming mini-vacation next week.

That cover, though.

All the gothic feels and heebie-jeebies and I just had to have it.

I haven't had a ton of luck with NetGalley picks lately. For every one that I've really loved, like Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age (yes, that is a shameless plug for my own post), there have been several more that I've given up on ... or, have at least wished that I had given up on. I hesitated clicking the button for this one for a split second.

That cover, though.

Once I let myself stop swooning over the cover long enough to begin actually reading, the awe continued.

By 5% I had already highlighted 7 passages.

I do so love gothic heebie-jeebies and this has them oozing out of the dark and musty woodwork from the secret passageway to the creepy attic right out of a Dickens tale.

Holy crap I love this book.

I even switched from the Kindle to the phone and back depending on whether I would be stationary or mobile while reading. I didn't want to put it down until I had gone through every twist and turn. There were times when I thought I knew what was going on. I love that I was horribly wrong.

[Have I mentioned that cover yet?]

The highlighting of passages became few and far between shortly after I hit this at 16%:
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One would think I would turn around and find Lyn immediately. But no. I'm the girl in the horror flicks running up the stairs instead of running out the front door, the girl who picks up the stranger in the middle of nowhere after hearing there is a maniac on the loose killing everyone in his path, and in this particular case ... yeah, I'm the one who follows the creepy dripping girl like an idiot.
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I did not stop highlighting because I wasn't completely enthralled, but because I was so enthralled I didn't want to pause reading long enough to even highlight. Besides, I had already decided that it would be a Book Beginnings & Friday 56 post (and grabbed a random 56% blip) because there was absolutely no way I would be able to narrow it down for a Tuesday Intros/Teaser Tuesday or even an I'll Sleep When I've Read...

That cover, though.

I had really high hopes for this book. It is an eerie, haunting tale with quite the surprise conclusion.

The characters were…. Interesting. Lyn was my favourite as she seemed to question what was going on. Eve was a bit too complacent, not overly worried about her amnesia or the strangeness surrounding her. It turned into a bit of a love triangle which also was a bit bizarre under the circumstances.

Guessing what was potentially going to happen around the midway mark, I skimmed through the rest of the dry chapters to get the important facts and read the ending.

I do think this book could be trimmed down a bit into a more interesting short story or novella.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and BooksGoSocial for a copy.

This book kinda seemed all over the place and hard to follow even the beginning seemed like it stated in the middle of a story

I was not the biggest fan of this book. I found the writing really hard to get into. I did like the overall story, but was not engaged in what was going on

I was very pleasantly pleased by this book. I was unable to make sense of what was happening. There are bends and shocks, and until the very end,

It's the first of its kind that I've read, which, in my opinion, is really positive.

The plot itself is crafted in a way that, when the deadly elements are removed, makes you think of mystery books.

The book opens in a strange location where it's unclear where you are. Then, you continue the story as it takes unexpected turns without seeming forced.

If you're asking me if it's terrifying, I'd say that I find the atmosphere to be magnificent rather than frightening. The author was able to create a sense of atmosphere without having to use laborious and lengthy descriptions.

The plot flowed beautifully, and the characters were brilliantly written. There are so many turns. amazing descriptions You'll read this kind of book while attempting to decipher what is really going on.

This was really fun for me. One of those books that will stick in your mind for a while is this one.