I thought it was decent until the end???? I’m all for artsy/ambiguous endings, but I have NO IDEA what that was

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

No one does horror in quite the same way Emily Carroll does. A Guest in the House is extremely tense and atmospheric; there’s a real sense of dread with every page you turn, like sinking deep into a lake. You know there are bodies there—there always are, in water—but you don’t know where, exactly, or who, or when they’ll reach out to grab at your ankles with their cold, clammy hands. But this book is also gorgeous, with Carroll’s ever-amazing art, color work, and sense of page layout. Her splash pages in this one are unreal and genuinely some of the most stunning I’ve ever seen.

I really think the only negative for me here is the ending, which is a little on the ambiguous side. I don’t mind ambiguity, exactly, and it definitely wasn’t unintentional here, but I guess I wish there were just a couple extra pages to really stick the landing for me. That said, obviously this book is excellent. If you’re looking for something spooky to read by firelight on a dark summer night (perhaps on an ominous, thematically relevant pier), I can’t recommend this enough.

I've been a big fan of Emily Carroll since <i>His Face All Red</i> went viral, so I was super excited to see she's got a new graphic novel coming out - and it did not disappoint.

The art is gorgeous, primarily black and white with splashes of color used in fairy tale-esque fantasy and surreal scenes. I really liked the way Carroll would play with the page layout, shirking traditional panels and using the entire page at times to create both beautiful and horrific scenes.

The tension and atmosphere (as always) is masterful; I found myself on the edge of my seat as I made my way to the end of the story. This can be a difficult story to discuss without giving away anything (and I do recommend going in without spoilers!), but I did like the exploration of Abby's struggles of feeling not present in her life and of trying to fit herself into the life expected of her.

As usual, Carroll's work does leave the reader with more questions than answers by the ending (which for me leaves it as a 4 out of 5 instead of 5 out of 5), but some of those questions are still very much fun and interesting to ponder.

"A Guest in the House" cements Emily Carroll as the queen of spooky graphic novels. Stunning and thoroughly unsettling, "A Guest in the House" follows Abby as she explores the mysterious death of her new husband's former wife. Carroll is in top form with her signature inky style, but it's her use of color that is utterly breathtaking. Used incredibly sparingly, it's the moments where the pages explode with color where I was unable to look away. I found the plot to be captivating--though somewhat rushed in it's conclusion--with a brilliant twist that leaves you guessing until the very end.

I was so excited to see a new Emily Carroll book. Her stories are always creepy and scary with the additional enhancement of her art. Carroll has a distinct style and color palette, which despite the many stylistic differences still reminds me of Stephen Gammel, Illustrator of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. This story stepped away from the more dark fairytale/folksy stories Carroll has told previously, into the Horror of daily living. Specifically looking at newly married young woman and the Horror of living with a new Husband and Step-Daughter, feeling as though you have stepped into a role you were not expecting or were truly prepared for. At the start of the story, things appear to be fine until the main character begins to be haunted by the ghost of her Husbands deceased first wife. Throughout the story you feel as though you know what is going on, because the narrator seems to know what is going on, but as you come to learn things are not always what they appear. Leading to a more sinister story, by the end, then Readers might expect. Truthfully, after finishing the story I felt as though I now needed to reread it to see if I could catch some of the nuances and details I may have overlooked in my first quick read. Carroll's stories always manage this. Will be recommending to others who love Horror and perhaps adding to my Libraries High School Collection. (Thank You to Netgalley and First Second for the ARC)

Very rarely can a story effectively recontextualise its entire narrative with a single plot twist. Not only does Carroll manage to pull off the big reveal but she does so with a flourish. This is a lush and vibrant graphic novel that deftly handles heavy themes relating to the patriarchy, gendered violence, sexuality and desire.

The story begins with the protagonist in the midst of a transitional state. Recently married to a widowed older man with a young daughter, the protagonist, Abby, juggles with her new role as both “wife” and “mother” – two particularly gendered roles that have previously not applied to her. To represent the humdrum nature of her everyday existence, Carroll uses a monochromatic colour scheme with precise linework.

In sharp contrast, Abby’s troubled dreams are covered in swathes of bright colours applied with a generally more expressionistic style than her waking life. Due to the particularly harsh juxtaposition in colour scheme, Carroll’s every stroke seems to leap off of the page during these sequences. Her work is utterly magnetic. It lures the reader in with the promise of a creeping family melodrama then hooks them with bright splashes of colour draped across the page like blood splatter. Now the reader is in the maw of this beast, unable to escape from the absolutely frightening ways in which Carroll unfolds this creative tale of queer terror.

100% recommend this. If you’re worried about taking the dive, this is the go ahead from a queer body & gothic horror enthusiast. Can’t wait to own a copy of this to show off to all my friends. The less you know about this before you read it, the better. Although I will say the twist is so good that rereading is actually more of a satisfying experience than the first time through.

Thank you to First Second Books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What a ride. I'm not sure who to believe or what happened exactly and that's just the way I like it.

It's hard to know how much to say without giving things away and I went into this mostly blind but we're taken into the life of Abby. She's adjusting to life with her new husband and his young daughter when she starts to see the ghost of his ex in the house. It's equal parts unsettling, creepy, and satisfying and the illustrations are spectacular.

Years ago, I read Through the Woods by Emily Carroll and I've never read anything quite like it. A Guest in the House blew it out of the water. Pacing, character, story, the works. My only critique doesn't have anything to do with the book itself, merely the ARC provided for review which wasn't a high enough quality to appreciate Emily's gorgeously creepy illustrations. It also made it incredibly difficult to read entire pages of story but I persevered and I'm ready to get my hands on a physical copy to pour over and see what bits I missed.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this author. She writes beautiful horrific tales. The art is stunning. The Story is captivating and creepy. This book gave me a visceral response. I could feel my heart beating faster and my skin crawling. What master of art and horror. Highly Recommend

A brilliant, haunting horror graphic novel by a master. The illustrations are gorgeous - Abby's every day depicted in highly detailed grayscale and her inner world a lush and vividly colored dreamscape. Carroll expertly weaves a creeping dread into Abby's mundane life, one that is ripe for suggestion and ready for ghosts.

I enjoyed this book, but there are a lot of blank pages at the end, like 5 or 6, and I'm not sure if my copy is a corrupted file or if there is just no resolution to the story. Full review to come, will be posted on No Flying No Tights.

With beautiful and haunting artwork, Emily Carroll tells a slow burning story of what horrors may come from the mundanity of day to day life.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Emily Carroll is queen when telling a story and making it the creepiest thing ever. It does not matter whether you are going through the woods, arriving at a castle or, as this comics shows, you have just married and moved to a new place with your husband and step-daughter.

Abby just found love after many years of loneliness, but this is a Carroll story, so you know it is not going to last. Her story is told in a monotonous present and some magical, colourful dreams, but there is something lurking in the house and lake, something that jumps out of the page with its black and red. I am sure no one could have depicted this in such a raw, ethereal and unsettling way; I truly have never seen any other author use graphic horror in the way Emily Carroll does. How is she even able to create jump scares in a still medium like a comic? I am speechless.
And then there’s the ending. I am still trying to accept and move on from those last pages. And I think I will, but that will set me to read everything again and again and again…

You can always count on Emily Carroll to put out something exceedingly dark and creepy, and her latest is no exception. I found myself staring at some of the artwork in horror, but unable to look away because it was also beautiful. The plot lost me near the end, and it seemed a bit rushed, but I still enjoyed the story overall.

Visually gorgous, especially on the colour pages, with a haunting eerie romantic mood carrying us to the ambiguous ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Somehow simultaneously meditative and viscerally disturbing, this ghost story floats at the edge of perception and just out of reach in the best possible way. The art is stunning, vacillating between stark black and white and lush color. The story offers morsels of information carried on a platter of internality that is rich and resonant, with an ending that stopped my heart. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I love an okkum-spookum story and this one was fabulous! I loved the abrupt and unsettling ending and was obsessed with the misandrist sapphic ghost love story. The grotesque artwork was also memorable. Highly recommend!

This book kept me reading due to the well placed hints and questions I had about the mother. The stepmother is figuring out this new life and situation with no real grasp on who the husband really is and what happened to his first wife.

Who is doing it like Emily Carroll?? Here she is again, absolutely killing it. She’s been an inspiration of mine for the longest time and my favorite indie comic maker hands-down. And A Guest in the House truly doesn’t disappoint: gorgeous art, unsettling narrative, twisty characters… I’m all about it.

This is a haunting story that gave off Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca vibes.The story follows a woman named Abby who has just gotten married to a recently widowed dentist who has a daughter. Abby has always been lonely, but she hopes that she can be a good wife and a good step mother. Yet the more she learns about her husband’s previous wife the more suspicious she becomes of what actually happened to her. Was Shiela’s death due to natural causes or was it something more sinister. Abby becomes obsessed with finding out what happened... it also doesn’t help that she has begun to see the ghost of said wife and start communicating with it.., yet the real question is, what is real? This definitely was such an interesting mundane horror story, filled with gorgeous artwork and honestly had me guessing as to what was actually going on til the end of the book.


*Thanks Netgalley and First Second Books, First Second for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Emily Carroll's GUEST IN THE HOUSE is giving Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca + unreliable narrator crime thriller. And I'm here for it.

Abby is having trouble adjusting to her new life as a wife and stepmother. It doesn't help that she's isolated in a new town with no neighbors or family nearby. On top of that, she seems to be haunted by Shelia, the first wife. First in thoughts, then as a ghost. As Abby tries to put together the pieces, everything will unravel around her.

Emily uses a limited color palette, nightmare-ish panels and dramatic lettering to enhance the suspense of the narrative.

For adult readers who love psychological thrillers or horror. Recommended for purchase at public libraries or senior highs.