“Well, if you were losing your mind, wouldn’t it be better to have a little company?”

“Withered,” by A. G. A. Wilmot

Ellis and her mother move to the town of Black Stone after her father’s death and her struggle with an eating disorder. The town is small and slightly eerie, and she quickly finds out by the locals that their new home is haunted. Ellis meets a girl there, Quinn, who she hopes will become something more than friendship, but she also has reservations about that house. When strange things start happening, Ellis starts to think maybe the town is right.

This book is a good coming-of-age ghost story that has a ton of mental illness, eating disorder, and family trauma that the characters work through. The book wasn’t boring, and I really like the main character, she felt very relatable. The ghost story felt spooky, and I anticipated the scenes. I liked reading it, 3 out of 5 stars.

-Ghosts
-Eating Disorder
-Bullying
-F/F

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

My Rating 4.5/5

A beautiful and tragic horror story with grief, loss, acceptance, love, and more.

Haunted house is one of my all-time favorite horror tropes and Wilmot did it wonderfully. I do wish there were more scenes with the sentient house, but the parts that were included were great. I loved the imagery of Annaliese and her heart strings and the love and resilience that she showed.

I don't come across many queer books where the MC is not only non-binary but also ace and I loved it. Also, the parallels between having an eating disorder and body dysmorphia and being trans was beautifully done. I loved these characters.

Would definitely recommend do my queer paranormal/mystery loving folks out there. I love that cover art too, would buy a physical copy just for that reason alone.

Thank you NetGalley, A.G.A Wilmot, and ECQ Press for the advance copy. This is my honest review.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror

Withered is a queer paranormal horror novel that follows a small family of mother and daughter who move to the small town of Black Stone after the death of the father. However, there is a catch with the cheap price they paid to buy the house in that town. All the locals claim that the house is haunted. The family will then have to decide how to deal with all this, whether it is true or just rumors.

A haunted house is one of my favorite horror tropes in the genre, so this was the main thing that attracted me to the story. The nice thing about this horror tale is that it tackles several important themes, like mental illness and all its complexities, grief, and trauma. I appreciate the LGBTQ representation in this book, but I must say that using the pronoun “they” for Ellis (one of the main narrators) was a bit confusing, and it took time for me to get used to it.

The atmospheric setting of the town and its eerie backdrop are the main highlights of Withered. I think the author did a fantastic job in that area. The pacing, though, was slow for my taste compared to other books in the same genre. The multiple POVs were another aspect that I was not a fan of here. I’m not sure if all the POVs were necessary to the plot.

In conclusion, Withered attempted to incorporate heavy themes and LGBTQ elements into the horror and mystery genres. The result is satisfactory, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

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

Thank you, AGA Wilmot and Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for so many reasons. This was my introduction to the author's works, and based on this I will be looking into them further!

This book is delightfully complex, well-written, and has extremely well-rounded characters. On its surface, it is a story of a haunted house that is consuming and collecting the souls of those who reside within its walls. But wait, dive on in and discover just how deep the story goes

The underlying themes of love, grief and guilt really added to the 'haunted house' trope and turned it into something inspiring. The thought of a mother, so overwhelmed with love for her child, refusing Death its due and creating a tie that remained beyond her physical body was so.....inspiring to me, as the mother of a young child. I could not imagine myself in her position and it really resonated with me, how far she was willing to go.

Definitely will be recommending this book!

I unfortunately did not have time to download it before it went out so I didn’t not get to read it. But the premise and cover sounded amazing so hopefully when it is published I’ll have a chance!! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending it!

Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

This haunted house novel was so good!!! It was creepy, interesting, page turning, and different. Definitely felt like a new take on an old horror trope.
There did seem to be a bit too many characters side stories within the larger story made it hard to keep straight. However the overall issues dealt with (mental and physical health issues, ED, grief and death to name a few really gave the story depth and atmosphere that made it different from other horror novels.

4/5 ⭐️

This creeped me out and left me feeling ick at times. Reminded me of horror films, which are my favourite! .This will definitely find its crowd!

“Just because you can see the lines in the sand doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still follow them.”

Brief synopsis: After the death of their father, Ellis and their mother, Robyn, are looking for a fresh start. Robyn decides that moving back to her hometown of Black Stone is the perfect solution to recover from their loss. Ellis isn’t too thrilled about this because they didn’t want to leave the apartment that they shared with both of their parents. They also suffer with anorexia, so life isn’t simple for them. From the get go, Black Stone feels very off. Everyone in the town says the house is haunted, which Ellis later believes because they start experiencing different phenomena in the house. Ellis meets Quinn and they embark on a journey to figure out what’s really going on in the house.

Read if you like:
-YA romance
-queer stories
-horror but with a lot of heart
-anything supernatural
-haunted houses + ghost stories
-superstitions
-fresh starts in a new town
-the animated supernatural horror movie: Monster House
-the shows: Stranger Things & American Horror Story: Murder House
-cursed towns
-öccült vibes
-art + photography

As soon as I read the prologue, I knew I was going to be obsessed with Withered. I devoured it. It immediately gave off the supernatural vibes that I was looking for. It was exciting, compelling, heartbreaking, fascinating, and suspenseful. I did NOT want to stop reading. There are some tough topics discussed in this book, which are listed in the trigger warnings below. The way that Wilmot wrote all of the trauma and real-life topics was really beautiful. I resonated with this story and characters on such a deep level.

The representation in this book includes:
-non-binary + ace main character
-black FMC
-depression
-anxiety
-anorexia + recovery
-body dysmorphia
-OCD
-pro therapy

Overall, I had a blast reading Withered.

Trigger warnings: eating disorder & recovery, loss/illness of a parent, illness of a child, grief, cancer, mental illness, unaliving yourself is mentioned

Thank you to A.G.A Wilmot, ECW Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest voluntary review!

#Withered #NetGalley

This was a gripping read and I was intrigued by the characters. I will look out for more by this author.

I received a free copy to review from Netgalley, Below is the blurb:

"After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted — everyone including Quinn, a local girl who has quickly captured Ellis's attention. And Ellis has started to believe what people are saying: they see pulsing veins in their bedroom walls and specters in dark corners of the cellar. Together, Ellis and Quinn dig deep into Black Stone’s past and soon discover that their town, and Ellis’s house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue."

I really loved the concept of this story, without ruining it for you, the story behind what was going on and the imagery was really good. I liked how the story developed flipping between different character's. What I did struggle with was some of the characters, I didn't necessarily develop an empathy with them and I couldn't tell you why. Overall a good read, it does come over more of a teen/young adult fiction type story (not sure if that is intention or not). In addition, at the end I was wondering what happened to one pivotal character.

Tried to read it but the constant use of 'them/they' made my brain hurt. It's definitely something I need to get used to. A great beginning though. Perhaps this type of writing is better in small doses at least for myself for now.

If I could ask for anything from Withered, it would be “more”, especially as relates to the inner workings of Ellis’ mind. At times, it felt like we were privy to their inner thoughts, but others, they seemed to keep hidden and revealed after the fact. I would have liked to feel like I was there with them the whole time.
It was refreshing (if a bit idealistic) to read a story with a queer protagonist surrounded by acceptance and support.
The. most effective portions for me were those describing Analiese’s experiences - they were haunting - in the way that grief haunts - and beautifully described.
I also appreciated the Easter Egg for Faculty of Horror fans in the names of the curiosities shop owners (not to mention the name drops of numerous classic and not-so-classic horror films).
Withered feels like a cozy horror to me and I would recommend to anyone who thinks they would enjoy something that sounds like that.
Thanks to. NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review. #NetGalley #Withered

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Withered releases April 16, 2024

2.5

After the death of their father, Ellis and their mother move back to their mother’s small hometown called Black Stone, where they take up residence in the towns haunted house.

I enjoyed the nonbinary and ace rep with our main character Ellis, but I wanted more of the sentient house as its own character, as well as more interactions of the ghosts that inhabited and made up a large part of the town.
The use of multi-pov could have been executed better for it to feel like one seamless story instead of little fragments pieced together.

cw: body dysmorphia, recovering anorexic, trichophagia, brief misgendering

I found Withered to be a meandering horror that doesn't ever quite pick up the pace enough to be thrilling, but the queer representation and sweet relationships help it along just enough to be worth the read. The concept is enticing- a house that can breathe on its own, a town terrified of its own history. Ellis is a lovely main character and it was a joy to be in their head through most of the story- they are gentle, intelligent, and curious enough not to leave the reader frustrated about the mystery to be solved. There is some tough content surrounding disordered eating and recovery, but it is handled in such a way that enhances the story rather than feeling like a trauma for the sake of a traumatic backstory. I feel this story would be better suited to the YA category, and I hope that the author returns to the fictional little town of Black Stone to explore more of its backstory. The characters are truly strange and fascinating, the town itself clearly has more to offer, and there is so much potential that could truly make for a beautifully horrifying sequel or spinoff.

I requested and received an ARC of this book for NetGalley, and my opinions are my own. I would recommend this to fans of YA horror, YA romance, and queer literature.

The premise is my horror catnip, so I went into this one with sky-high expectations. And while this novel didn't 100% live up to those expectations, it's still got immaculate vibes and some truly great character work. The overall themes are interesting, poignant, and well-executed too.

DNF at 50%

I wanted to enjoy this haunted house story, as I was excited to read some non-binary representation in horror. Unfortunately it seemed to lean heavily into YA romance that slowly trodded along, which disrupted the horror aspects. The dialogue was laden with witty remarks and superfluous chit chat that I found hard to relate to, and found myself skimming over.

The story may have benefitted from editing the dialogue, the repetitions of discoveries, and sped up the action into horror. The glimpses of horror felt delayed and brief. I wanted more reflective and creepy aspects, some breathing space to let those horrors emerge. I struggled to mesh with the emotional aspects as well, which didn’t feel fully fleshed out. The differing elements felt fractured, and I wanted to know more about these elements - such as Tessa, and the introduction of Death. There were some creepy moments, and I loved the description of the town in relation to the house. I stuck it out for a while hoping to glean more intense mysteries, but I felt bored through the first half, which primarily depicted young romance that I decided life’s too short.

The story had promise, but perhaps better suited for YA audiences, particularly those struggling around eating disorders, grief and queer identity.

Thank you to A.G.A. Wilmot, ECW Press and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy. Publish date will be 16 April 2024.

I really wanted to like this as I love the non binary character representation and the exploration of grief and mental illness through the lens of the paranormal and horror should have had me gripped. Unfortunately I just didn't connect with this, a lot of the writing was clichéd and the dialogue felt really unrealistic, almost like conversations or quips that you'd wish you made when reflecting back on a conversation rather than grounded in reality. I think this would be good for a young adult/teen audience as they may find the MC/other characters more relatable than I did.

Initially I found this book to be too slow paced for me however it did pick up pace in the latter half. Once Death is introduced to be a character I found myself much more interested in the supernatural elements and the haunting of the house as before that I was only interested in the relationship between Ellis and Quinn.

Ooh this was creepy. It wasn't my cup of tea but if you like horror and very creepy horror then this is for you

Is Blackstone a real place? Let's hope not. The title is Withered - there is decay in this novel.

Creepy and then some

Thank you NetGalley, A.G.A Wilmot, and ECW Press for the early access copy of Withered.

Withered tells the story of Ellis and their experience of moving to a new town, where their new house is the center of supernatural experiences. Ellis’s story also follows their grief and loss after losing their dad, their mental health (anorexia and body dysmorphia), and their search for answers about the house they moved into at the end of Cherry Lane.

Withered is written with excellent queer representation. The writing style is a great fit for those who enjoy a focus on the setting with heavy description. As Ellis is 18, the book has a Young Adult feel to it.