In Kelley Armstrong's new novel, Nicola has just lost her husband, Anton in a horrible accident and is desperate to contact him. She goes to a few seances, but she can tell they are all fake. She decides to go to an old house that was in Antons family and try to contact him there. Unfortunately, her past catches up to her. I really enjoyed this story and just when I thought I had figured it out, another twist happened. I highly recommend this book.

This one is a creepy, extrememly enjoyable ghost story with a likeable protagonist. Nicola has arranged a seance, trying to contact her dead husband. His last words at the site of the deadly car crash were that he would be waiting for her. She's already lived far longer than expected and the story of a terminally ill woman holding her dying husband immediately went viral, especially after onlookers claimed that it was his ghost who spoke the words. Nicole has a history with seances and knows exactly how to make it look like supernatural things are happening, but she also knows that real spirits exist. This isn't a particularly scary book, but it has all of the trappings of a good ghost story.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I definitely enjoyed some elements of this book but overall I didn't love it.

I’m always here for Canadian based, isolated, spooky stories, especially involving seances. Kelley Armstrong writes fabulous horror.

So I wanted to love this book (i didn't love it but it was good, that is why I am giving it a 3.5-star rating) sinister secrets, haunted house vibes, possessions/paranormal elements and seances.
Nicola (who has CF) is married to Anton, their thoughts are that she will always be the first to die because of her health issues but that is not what happens. Anoton ends up dying in a car accident and lives just long enough to speak the words.... "I'll be waiting for you."
That private moment ends up becoming public from someone who overhears it and leaks it to the press. She is now hounded by tons of spiritualists promising closure. Which non provide..
Enters the next person; a professor (who seems ok at first but then later on in the book, things get crazy) doing a seance at the Lake Erie beach house that Anton's family used to own. This house definitely gives off sooo many haunted vibes. Hello haunted ghost house!!!
So many things keep happening, all while Nicola is haunted by nightmares mainly about her past. She has no idea why all this is happening.
Here is the part when it gets annoying she gets away too much into her head, and has too many inward (in her head conversations) and so much on repeat also. It's hard to deal with and you have to have a lot of patience. Back-and-forth, memories none really don't make too much sense til the end. The backstory is needed but it seems like it was drawn out away to long and not in the best way.
The characters in this book are not enjoyable to me. You don't really tend to care about them or take their side, which also make it a struggle to get through this book but have patience.
This book has your mind all over the place and keep thinking of new things or how the past and present make sense and why its important and sooo many theories.
Then we also get a storyline of a missing person with a thriller mystery element, so much going on.
But I needed to see how this all comes together in the end. I needed a conclusion, closure to this book. The end was worth it and glad that I had the patience to get to the end.

This book encompasses all things spooky! I enjoyed the tension greatly and I feel that this was the strong point of the story. What I didn't care for was the writing style and repetivness. Overall, I think this is a solid read if you enjoy thrilling stories!

Though I found the premise of this intriguing, the story itself I just could not get into. I found it repetitive and just not what I was looking for. I love this author’s work though so I will eagerly be waiting for her next book!

Than you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC! This book is out now.

I remembered reading Kelley Armstrong in my teenage years, so I was excited to pick up a standalone and see if it was the same feel.

This was a creepy haunted house tale that did well building its supernatural atmosphere through tension and a spooky atmosphere, and it gave me the chills more than once. The story's strength lies in its ability to create genuine spooky vibes and unsettling haunted house imagery as you go along for the ride with the mystery. Where it started to fumble for me was in length and a bit of repetitive moments. However, it did a great job at being spooky, and a bit of horror at the end, to keep me invested.

I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong, and when I read the synopsis included seances, I knew I was in. This is the perfect spooky read and has a very memorable final showdown.

Not my type of book. It sounded interesting but i cannot get into it. Will i try again to get it to it.. def

I love Kelley Armstrong and pick up anything with her name on because I enjoy her writing. I was excited to be able to review this new book for my favorite season! I enjoyed the first 3rd/first half and then it felt like it changed. It lost my attention and began to feel repetitive and that it was dragging a bit. I believe this book would have benefited from being a bit shorter so that it was not repetitive.

The beginning felt like a good haunted house type of paranormal story with a good representation in the character and it turned into something overly gory and unnecessary. While it was a 4 star at the beginning the last portion was about a 2 so I am doing.a 3 star for this rating! I hope to read more from Kelley Armstrong in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve been seeing posts looking for spooky reads for October and I think this book fits the bill perfectly. The setup of Nicola’s story & what happened to her husband Anton was the perfect pace. Then add in a spooky experience in her adolescence and you get a great addition to the main event, Nicola, her brother in law Jin, a friend Shania & a paranormal psychologist rent a house on Lake Erie that Anton’s family used to own. The bugs, the attempted seance and creepy dolls all around added to the suspense. I am not a fan of stories involving the paranormal especially ouija boards but I enjoyed Hemlock Island last year so I took on this book & I’m glad I did. This was a great spooky story.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book.

I love the way the author tells a story, and I'm loving the way she is sliding into the horror genre ! This book was interesting, I was immediately engaged in the MC's life, what had happened to her, and what might happen to her in future.
The slow exposition was delightfully creepy, and there was character growth shown, as well.
I enjoyed this book , and anyone that likes horror , but not TOO horror, should read this one. It would make a fantastic movie !

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong! This was a little different than my series favorites of hers. This had a definite creepy, atmospheric vibe to it that started off strong. Nicola, who has cystic fibrosis, always expected to die young. Tragically, she ends up burying her husband instead. His final words, "I'll be waiting"... This leads to her trying to contact Anton through mystical ways.

This book had various subplots beyond the reaching beyond the grave and things that go bump in the night. There is Nicola's backstory with a seance and murder of a friend. In fact, Nicola is not even her true identity. There is mystery and suspense, trying to figure out what is true and what is not. There is a connection between Anton and a murderer from the past. Is he really the loving, devoted husband Nicola thought she knew? There is the missing man who may be sneaking into the house. Suspicion is almost as thick as the fog of insects...

The last part of the book became almost a little chaotic It was beyond just a ghost story and suddenly we had dismembered bodies and murderous evil spirits. Oh, my! It still leaves you on the edge of your seat even if you wonder "what?!"

3 stars

Nicola the FMC has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis since childhood, never did she expect to see adulthood. Yet, here is she in the 30s and married, but a horrible car took Anton from her far too soon. Stricken with grief at the sight of the crash someone claimed to have seen him become a ghost.


This story was not what I expect from the blurb, while entertaining, there was often times of lulls that were hard to push through that kept me wanting to know the end. While I did finish this story as a whole, I was lacking the intensity that normally comes with *ghost* stories. Overall there was many twist that kept me enticed enough to not DNF but unfortunately not enough to be at the edge of my seat wondering how this will pan out.

Kelley Armstrong is one of those authors that I would read no matter what she writes.....and I pretty much do that. She writes in different genres and I read her books in each of them without fail. Needless to say, when an opportunity came out to read a new spooky read from her, I jumped at it and snagged I'll Be Waiting.

Our main character, Nicola is grieving the sudden loss of her young husband. As if the loss wasn't enough, he was seen telling her "I'll be waiting for you." Onlookers saw it and made a big deal of it which didn't help Nicola dismiss it. This probably wouldn't have felt like such a big deal except Nicola has already been exposed to ghostly haunts in the past so she has a strong belief in the otherworldly and supernatural.

This book revolves around the story from her youth and how that influenced her entire life as well as her recent loss and how that added to the stress and grief she was already balancing from her earlier years. When Nicola decides to try for a seance, her brother is protective and questions if it's okay for her. But she feels like she won't be able to move forward without answers. From the moment the group arrives at the house where they plan to carry it out, things are strange and only continue to get worse.

This book as well-written and twisty. I enjoyed it and could barely put it down.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I was also provided with an early listening copy from NetGalley. I really enjoyed the audio - - the narration was really strong and made the storyline even more believable. I would recommend the audiobook for this book without question. 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook.

I've been hearing about Kelley Armstrong's books for years, though I'd never actually read one before I'll Be Waiting. But when I stumbled across the description on Netgalley, I knew I wanted to read it. There was something about the setup that just got into my brain and I had to see how the book would turn out.

I love a creepy ghost story, especially during spooky season, and this was an excellent supernatural horror. It was fast paced and compelling, while also exploring themes of grief. There's a lingering question throughout: is there an afterlife? This was a horror premise I hadn't read before, and I really enjoyed it. I found Nicola to be a really sympathetic character to follow, and I was on the edge of my seat for the entire reading experience. I would definitely recommend this to any fans of supernatural/paranormal horror!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for granting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wow! I’ll be waiting was my first introduction to Kelley Armstrong as an author. Let me tell you I was happily surprised. I myself love a good scary, ghost and supernatural story. So when I came across this one on NetGalley I requested it immediately,it went straight to be fall tbr.

This book had me on the edge until the end. It’s perfectly creepy for spooky season, atmospheric in the best way. I’ll be waiting was filled with mystery, suspense and gruesome horror scenes. Kelley did an impeccable job at weaving a well written and paced narrative. The book follows a widower by the name Nicole who is not a novice when it comes to horrific tragedy. She heads to her late husband’s family Lake house in order to try and communicate with him through a seance. During her time at the Lake house she is accompanied by family, friends and a hire medium who are there to assist her with finding closure for her husband’s death. After the first day is where things start to unravel and the skins crawling, hair raising paranormal thrills begin.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for giving me this an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have read many books by Kelley Armstrong and I have to say that this one was just not one I enjoyed. I was bored and it took me forever to read.

I'll Be Waiting is the perfect creepy ghost story for October! This is not quite my normal read, but I love Kelley Armstrong's books, so I read everything she writes. Nicola lost her husband Anton in a car accident and is trying to reach out to him. After many attempts she finally feels like she found the right person to help her, a professor/medium, and along with her brother-in-law Jin and new friend Shanie, they go to a beach house on Lake Erie that she and Anton had been to. But things go from bad to worse and she needs to figure out if someone is sabotaging her efforts and what is really going on!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 1 October 2024