Ahhh this book is perfect for a fall, spooky read!! Nic is recently widowed, her husband, Anton, died in a horrible car accident and the last words he spoke to her were "I'll be waiting". This wasn't how things were supposed to happen though. After being born with cystic fibrosis, Nic is living a miracle having lived as long as 38 years, and it was always known that she would die before Anton. These turn of events escalate her grieving for her husband and she turns to paranormal efforts to learn what exactly Anton meant with his last words. After several months, Nic admits to her obsession with mediums and seances to contact Anton in the afterlife and vows that she will participate in one last try before totally giving up. She contacts a reputable professor who specializes in the paranormal and sets up a getaway to the lakeside house she and Anton visited and loved. Along with her brother in law and a new friend she made in a grief counseling group, Nic will attempt one more time to talk to Anton and put to rest all of her questions. Not long after they arrive at the house, mysterious and weird things start to happen that will make them question what is real and maybe Nic's past has more to do with present events than she would like.

Armstrong does such a good job setting the stage for a creepy week of seances! You're instantly questioning, alongside Nic, whether the things that are happening are paranormal or maybe a figment of her imagination. Is it human or spirit malice? Is Nic having a mental breakdown or is someone messing with her? Her struggle to question everything and find a rational explanation is so well done that I couldn't figure out what was going on until the climax of the book! I got The Haunting of Hill House vibes a few times and loved it! And the little bits of humor/sarcasm you get from Nic sprinkled throughout the book had me laughing out loud: "It was a nightmare. So why does it feel so real? Because it’s the middle of the night, and you’re in a haunted house. Oh, and the reason it’s haunted? Because you brought your dead husband and all your fucking past baggage with you. Well, I do always overpack." I really appreciated all the overthinking and rationalizing of every event, I would do the exact same!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I want to start by saying how excited I am that I was able to review an ARC for an author that I read as an adolescent and loved. I am extremely grateful to Netgalley for allowing me to do this review for this book.

I started off reading this with my expectations rather high, and I believe that my expectations were certainly met! I wasn't sure how I would feel about reading a book about seances in the beginning, but it was surprisingly not as bad as I thought. Ms. Armstrong's storytelling is incredible, and while there were parts in the middle of the book that felt like they were dragging pace-wise, the majority of the time was captivating.

I spent part of the book wondering who or what was going to be the cause of all of the problems and I felt as though I was losing my certainty after each page with the narrator.

I do feel like the way that things were wrapped up in some aspects was a little farfetched, but I was not expecting it and everything else wrapped up rather nicely. That being said, I finished this close to midnight and had spent quite a bit of time peeking into my hallway because it was dark and I was spooked.

All in all, I very much enjoyed this book, and I am very glad that I received the opportunity to review this as an ARC copy for Ms. Armstrong.

This is the perfect spooky read. I was frightened and intrigued at the same time. If you want a spooky seance, look no further. I loved the mysterious element and wondering what we were dealing with. A great read for the month of Oct.

I’ll Be Waiting by Kelly Armstrong, Nickie and Antonn are planning a cruise to Iceland. While they’re discussing it, they get in a car accident that kills her beloved Anton right before he passes he tells her he loves her and that he’ll make contact until he sees her again he’ll be waiting for her. In the aftermath Nikki visits psychics and goes to séances trying to contact her lost love. She meets Shania in a remorse group for those dealing with grief, they become very close and Shania becomes one of the few people in Nicholas Close friend group. Shania was also there when Nicola busted all the fraudulent psychics and see Sayers,this is why Nicki invites her to Anton‘s families vacation home. She’s going there with her brothers husband Jim, Shania end a professor who deals in the afterlife but only deals in facts. All Nicola wants to know is if Anton is waiting for her or not. Nicola years ago use to be named Janica, due to a horrible incident in her teens and the publicity of that she changed it. After all she has cystic fibrosis and so with the grief of losing Anton she has enough on her plate just trying to keep her lungs working and getting over the death of her beloved husband. Unfortunately when looking for the fax it will not just be the ones Nicola is looking for but there may be someone else with an ulterior motive that before it’s over instead of looking for a sign from Anton she will be doing everything in her power not to join him. I love so many Kelly Armstrong books especially her stitch in time series, so the fact I absolutely loved this book was no surprise to me she is such a great rider with a relaxing style that is not so laid back that she doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat. I thought her integrating Nikkis CF into the story was done so brilliantly as well as how she cared for herself due to the illness. As well as all the great facts about the disorder. This is a great paranormal mystery from one of the best authors in the genre a total five star read. #NetGalley,#Saint Martin’s press, #KellyArmstrong, #I’llBeWaiting,

This book is creepy. Perfect spooky read for spooky season. Ghosts, seances, death & a mystery. Armstrong always delivers an enjoyable book, and this is no exception!

This book started off really well and I was enjoying it very much. Nic lost her husband Anton eight months ago so she decides to go to a bed and breakfast that she and Anton frequently visited. They visited there often because the house used to belong to Anton's family. Nic visits there with a professor/medium to try to contact Anton. It was wonderful getting to know Nic and finding out about her secret from twenty years ago. She has cystic fibrosis and I really got an education about the disease.

I was so hoping for a spooky read to recommend to fellow Halloween/Paranormal book lovers like myself for fall. And it was that for about three-quarters of the book. Where it lost me was the last twenty-five percent when went completely off the rails with disembowelled bodies and outrageous demonic possessions...and not in the good (The Exorcist) kind of way. So, for the exciting beginning and middle, four stars for sure but that ending is a two-star read at best so I'm going to go with the average of three.

Nicola Laughton never expected to live as long as she has, nor did she ever expect to fall in love. Nicola has cystic fibrosis and medical advances have extended her life span. She didn't expect to outlive her husband Anton, but a freak car accident takes his life. Before dying, he was overheard to tell her that he'd be waiting for her on the other side.

Their story went viral and new Nicola is being plagued with psychics who want to help her connect with her lost spouse. Grieving hasn't ruined her find analytical mind, though, and she ends up outing a number of fake psychics.

For one last try at contacting Anton and finding her own peace, Nicola agrees to one last seance. Dr. Cirillo is a noted parapsychologist and has agreed to conduct it at the Lake Erie beach house where Nicola and Anton built a number of happy memories. Accompanying her are her brother-in-law Jin and a young woman named Shanie who she is met at a grief counseling session and is now mentoring.

As soon as they arrive at the house, weird things start to happen. There are the usual ghostly sounds of footsteps and creaks. Locked doors are found open. The house is surrounded by midges. The housekeeper's son who acts as groundskeeper goes missing. And Nicola experiences a series of "accidents."

Nicola hasn't admitted to anyone that this isn't the first time she's been at a seance that has gone wrong. When she was a teenager, she accompanied two friends into the woods to try to connect with a pair of lovers who were grossly murdered. The seance leads to the death of one of the friends and the other being committed to a mental health facility for the rest of her life.

This story was spooky. Nicola tries to keep her analytical side at the forefront but there are quite a few things that can't be explained rationally. She also comes to suspect that each of her fellow guests at the seance may be manipulating events to meet their own agenda.

Fans of horror will be the perfect audience for this one.

I love a spooky seance. I love a grisly urban legend. I love an isolated house by a lake.
Lucky for me, I'll Be Waiting has all of this and more. (Did I forget to mention creepy dolls?)

A truly eerie tale of grief, parapsychology, and adolescent pranks gone wrong. All those elements mix together for an unforgettable cocktail of things going bump in the night and the past coming back for a vengeance to haunt you...even from the afterlife.

Thank.you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I love Kelley Armstrong, she is one of my favorite authors, but paranormal is truly not the genre for me unfortunately. It just did not work for me. I could not get into this one and it felt way to farfetched for my liking.

3🌟

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to read this book in exchange for a good review.

Side note- I am such a fan of Kelley Armstrong.

I unfortunately did not love I’ll be waiting. The book has such a strong start. Janica & her husband contemplating a specialty cruise together while driving in the snow. Unfortunately one thing leads to another and they end up in a fatal accident. Janica always thought that she would be the first to pass due to her cf diagnosis. But alas, it is her husband that is breathing his last breaths. He says he loves her and he’ll be waiting. Unfortunately not just her experienced this, but also onlookers.

Janica kept trying seances just to find out they had set everything up. Nic decides this will be the. Last seance to interact with her husband. They have found a researcher that they thought could be unbiased.

They had the professor, jjin,, janica, and two other people.
Eery things started to occur. This escalates into janica not having faith that the professor had her best at heart.

I won’t share the ending. It does bring some surprising twists and turns you don’t see coming.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy a scary ending.

"I'll Be Waiting" is a hauntingly atmospheric mystery that’s both eerie and unsettling. The book's chilling atmosphere was a definite highlight, but I felt the pacing slowed down around the middle. Nicola was a difficult character to connect with for me, making it challenging to fully engage with her story. I really wanted to empathize with her but ended up being mad at her for a good portion, and I’m not so sure how I feel about the ending. However, I was fascinated by the possibility of her reconnecting with her deceased husband and that really kept me reading. The twists left me contemplating the revelations as well. While I was absorbed in the missing person storyline and the surprising return of the past, I was hoping for a more impactful overall experience.

Kelley Armstrong is one of my favorites when it comes to storytelling. I adore her novels so much, and this ghost story was just amazing!

The mystery surrounding Nic's history was intriguing, and the plot was as well-written and clever as any Armstrong book. A combination of flashbacks to a few significant historical moments and the current day are used to tell the story. The plot was really exciting and tense, and I really enjoyed seeing it all come together! The story takes so many unexpected turns that it becomes even more engaging.

I was astonished at how much I enjoyed the characters. Nicola is the best character, which I appreciate given that she is our narrator. Her personality is extremely endearing to me. She is a real cynic when it comes to seances, but I liked that she genuinely wants to communicate with her husband, Anton.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I'm eager to read more of Kelley Armstrong's work! For fans of horror, ghost stories, and, of course, Kelley Armstrong, this stand-alone is well worth reading.

This was a 4 star!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the opportunity to #arc read this book. Kelley is an auto-buy author for me and I have been in love with her since the early 2000s.

This story caught my interest as soon as I read the back blurb - a spooky ghost story was definitely perfect for kicking off spooky season,

This story revolves around Nicola, a widow grieving her husband and torn between being skeptical and wanting to make contact with his spirit if possible.

I enjoyed the plot of this book but the pacing was a bit slow for me. But man, once things go going closer to the end it sure got me invested. I even had to stop reading at one point because it was scary and I’m a big baby haha.

The twists are well done and this book will have you second-guessing EVERYONE!

Make sure you add this to your TBR - it is a great ghost story!

Troupes: suspense, thriller
Spice NA
Plot 4/5
Pace 3.5/5
Character Personality 3.5/5
Character Growth 4/5
Writing Style 4/5
World Building 5/5

No one does horror thrillers quite so well as Kelley Armstrong—and the same sentiment rang true once again with her newest horror thriller “I’ll Be Waiting”. I really enjoyed Nic’s journey throughout as the plot thickened and twisted, turning from a suspenseful horror to one with paranormal aspects. Armstrong’s storytelling is top-notch with a well constructed plot and twists that kept me on my toes until the very last page. Overall, “I’ll Be Waiting” was a fantastic read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that likes the thriller/horror genre!

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC of this novel.
I enjoy Kelley Armstrong’s work very much. Her writing style makes for compulsive reading and this book was no exception.
The story is that of Nicola a young woman with cystic fibrosis who has lived to adulthood and marriage due to advances in treatment . Her husband and soulmate is tragically taken away in a car accident. What follows is the story of her and others attempts to contact dead loved ones and reconcile their earthly losses.
The first half to two thirds of the book were slowly evolving but riveting - a very good ghost story with lots of potential .
I have to say I did not enjoy the rest of the book which was filled with so many bizarre twists that I was left feeling like - “Whew what just happened here and WHY”. Definitely one or two too many twists for me. I found the ending disturbing but likely that was the point the author was going for.
I feel readers who like horror and paranormal fiction will really enjoy this book which is well written - it just wasn’t quite for me.

Kelley Armstrong is an author I enjoy, especially the Havens Rock series. It's well written and paced, but I wasn't a fan of these characters. This was good but just not my taste. I will continue to read Kelley Armstrong because she's a great author this book was just not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my review copy of this book.

"Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them." (Sue Grafton)

That's exactly how Nicola Laughton feels. She lost her husband, Anton, in a horrible vehicle accident. She bent over him and heard his last words: "I;ll be waiting." It was more than she could bear.

Nicola always thought that she would be the first to die in this marriage even though she has beat the odds. Nic has CF (Cystic Fibrosis) since she was a child. She's bombarded with medications and treatments on a daily basis. But it never stopped her from becoming a successful software engineer. She just wishes to contact Anton once more.

After experiencing many, many charlatans, Nic seems to have hit on some success. She's contacted Dr. Davos Cirillo of Chicago, a lead researcher and parapsychologist, to set up a seance. It will be held in a B&B in Ontario which once was the home of Anton's grandmother. She's bringing her friend, Shania, and her brother-in-law, Jin. Everything is perfect.......until it's not.

I'm a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong. I must admit that I'll Be Waiting actually kept me waiting. The first half of the book was tightly written and engaging. The second half became tedious and repetitious. Noises, sounds, whispers.......again and again with empty air. None of these characters were even likeable.......not even Nic. Too many loose strings and corridors that went nowhere. It seemed that Armstrong handed the second half over to a ghost writer. (Pun intended) And then the ending was whipped into a frenzy at rapid speed. Not what I expected from the talented Kelley Armstrong. But I'll be actually waiting fro the next one with open arms.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Kelley Armstrong for the opportunity.

This book is an addicting blend of dealing with grief, ghost story, and tense horror/thriller.

Nicola is a complex character. She’s lived longer than anyone expected with her CF, which I didn’t know a lot about before reading this book and thought was very respectfully represented. Now she’s unexpectedly a widow when she thought her husband Anton would outlive her and she is drowning in her grief – going from phony medium to phony medium trying to contact Anton after a news story made her tragedy infamous.

Her friends suggest one last seance with a respected parapsychologist during a getaway to Anton’s grandmother’s former home that has been converted into a vacation rental. One last shot to make contact.

But from the moment Nicola, her brother-in-law Jin, her friend Shania, and the parapsychologist, Dr. Cirrilo arrive odd things begin happening. As Nicola reflects on the past – on another seance gone terribly wrong – it becomes clear that Anton may not be the only spirit the group has brought back.

This story grabbed me early on and I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the stunning conclusion. It’s tense, well-written, and all of the characters are well rounded and come to life on the page. Nicola is clearly sitting on a secret that unravels through memories throughout the story. Shania seemed too good to be true and definitely has flaws underneath. And Dr. Cirrilo reminded me a bit of Joyce Reardan from Rose Red or an unrepentant Mr. Marrow from The Haunting.

Overall this is a perfect spooky season read and will definitely become a mainstay reread for me for years to come. But it’s more than horror or thriller, it’s a gripping portrayal of dealing with grief while not wanting to let go of the person you love – even though you know they would want you to keep living, especially in Nicola’s case with her medical condition.

This book is a combination romantic ghost stories with a practical and healthily skeptical main character, too many suspects both ghostly and non, and horror movie twist. I adored and devoured it.

**Review of *I'll Be Waiting* by Kelley Armstrong**

I don’t usually gravitate toward horror, but as a fan of Kelley Armstrong, I decided to give *I'll Be Waiting* a shot—and I’m glad I did. Despite having to skim through some of the more intense scenes, I found myself thoroughly engaged in the story. The suspense kept me hooked, and even though I somewhat guessed the ending, the journey to get there was still incredibly satisfying.

I think horror fans will really appreciate this one, but if you’re not into blood and guts, you might want to pass. That said, I’m eager to dive into another one of her books.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This Novel will be released on October 1, 2024.*

#KelleyArmstrong #Horror #Novel #NetGalley #ARC-Book-Read #IllBeWaiting