I am so glad Kelley Armstrong is getting into the horror genre because... DAMN! I loved Hemlock Island and I'm not surprised that I loved I'll Be Waiting too! It's so rare I find a book that I can't predict the ending, but this was one of them! There are so many unique elements to this séance horror - it will keep you on your toes! Even the set up was interesting, and when we get to the actual horror elements it really sucked me in. I couldn't put it down and sped through the last 60% of this book in one sitting (when I definitely should have been sleeping instead).

The story is told through a combination of present day and dream/haunting flashbacks to a couple of key points in the past. It's laid out in a way that isn't confusing, and receiving bits and pieces of the past throughout the story was engaging and made me want to keep reading on (to solve the current mystery AND learn the answers from the past one).

As always, I will read anything Kelley writes (and I hope she continues with more horror books because they've been great)! If I could rate her horrors higher than 5 stars, I would.

Nicola Laughton suffers from cystic fibrosis (CF), and was told that she'd never survive past her teens, but medical advances have greatly helped her, and she found herself making a life for herself, going to university, starting her own successful business, and falling in love with Anton Novak, whom she knew in high school.

They build a happy marriage together, but one night on a snowy ride home, their car was hit and Anton was fatally injured, surviving only long enough to tell the extremely distraught Nicola, "I'll be waiting for you."

Nicola's deeply private last moment with her husband was captured by a bystander and posted online, bringing her fresh grief and a certain notoriety, and attracting supposed spiritualists to her. To prevent her further spiraling, and falling victim to more con artists, her concerned family suggest a carefully selected and reputable medium to help her test whether Anton is still present, and if so, allow Nicola to have a final word with him.

To ensure a peaceful atmosphere, Nicola rents a cabin she and Anton have been at before. Coincidentally, this same cabin was owned by Anton's family in the past and the medium feels that the happy associations there should allow Anton to be present for the séance they intend to hold.

All starts well; Nicola's brother-in-law Jin, and Shania, a friend she met at a grief counselling group and who has accompanied her to previous séances, attend, along with the medium, a professor of parapsychology who has debunked false hauntings in the past. Nicola is not easily fooled, as she tells Dr. Cirillo, and when she begins hearing the occasional footsteps and possibly Anton's voice, she's shaken, and Dr. Cirillo is intrigued.

There are repeated spooky incidents, with everyone getting a little excited and intrigued, then later annoyed with each other as these keep happening with no further development, and Nicola positing different ideas of what could be happening. She and Dr. Cirillo begin butting heads, and the whole weekend seems like a bust, then they find a dead body.

I generally love Kelley Armstrong's works. I think this book started strong, with all the character introductions, some of Nicola's backstory, and her all-consuming grief. The atmosphere at the Lake Erie cabin is nicely built up, from the peaceful surroundings, the unfortunate bug swarms, and the super creepy doll room.

I also really liked the way Armstrong wrote about how Nicola had to manage her condition. It's straightforward, with no melodrama or pity.

Then the story lost a little momentum, as the hauntings became repetitive, but we did get more information about Nicola's girlhood, and understand how incidents then are affecting her present. The reveal of the culprit actually felt a little over the top, including the shocking amount of violence that occurred.

Though I was a little underwhelmed by the back two thirds of the novel, I still found Nicola a compelling character, and mostly enjoyed this book. If it had been a little shorter, or the scenes of hauntings tightened up a little, I would have given this book four stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I was hoping that Kelley Armstrong's I'LL BE WAITING would quench my thirst for a spooky good time. And while there are aspects of this story that are rich in atmosphere, the plot and characters were less than desirable for me. It's just a solid 3 for me.

Wow this book was so much more than I expected. I wasn't a fan of the ending but enjoyed the suspenseful journey the author took us on. The cover is beautiful and this is a book I would recommend to others.

Nicola Laughton, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis and never expected to live into her thirties or to meet the love of her life. She and Anton dreamed of many happy years together but then he died in a car crash, his last words to Nicola, 'I'll be waiting for you.'

After she becomes obsessed by spiritual con artists, Nic's best friends, Libby and Jin, intervene and set up a séance with a well reputed professor of parapsychology at the Lake Erie beach house where Nic and Anton had many happy memories.

Odd things start happening there and Nic is haunted by nightmares from her past. There's a crescendo of violence, and ghosts (friendly and vengeful) involve themselves in what transpires.

Nicola always expected to die young given her cystic fibrosis, but new treatments have allowed her to live longer than expected. Now 38 and happy married, she and her husband are in a car crash that takes his life. She is devastated and haunted by his last words, “I’ll be waiting.” Feeling like he wanted to say more, she has been contacting psychics, knowing most are charlatans, to try to find one who isn’t so she can have her husband finish his story. This leads to a week at a house once owned by his family and some spooky goings on before a horrific, gory finale.

I don’t read a lot of horror but enjoy it now and then, often finding it more laughable than scary, but this one got under my skin, disturbing my sleep. I think that’s the marker of a good horror story! I enjoyed the characters and liked the backstory from high school. Another excellent entry from Kelley Armstrong!

I'll Be Waiting was finally my first Kelley Armstrong book, after owning at least five and just... not getting around to them. Well reader, I have been missing out! In this twisty, exciting book, Nicola always planned to be the first to die. She was born with cystic fibrosis, and thanks to medical advances, has far outlived her initial prognosis. Even though she's doing well, she and husband Anton always planned for his survival, not hers. That all changes with a terrible car accident and Anton's untimely death.

Because of her diagnosis, she became headline fodder. "Terminally ill woman outlives husband" was everywhere, and Nicola could not escape it- or Anton's last words to her, the titular "I'll Be Waiting". Was it just him saying he'd be waiting for her in death? Did it mean something more? Nicola has been contacted by all sorts of mediums, psychics, and general fraudsters, trying to use her story to their gain. Eventually, Nicola takes one last chance, on a professor who also studies spiritualism, and they head to a weekend retreat/seance at Anton's childhood house that has been turned into a B&B.

There, things take all kinds of turns. The atmosphere is incredibly on point, and you certainly cannot help but feel for Nicola. Even though she is harboring some secrets of her own, it is still awful to think about what she's been through. And it is clear from the start of the trip that she really can't be sure who is being honest with her and who is using her for their own pursuits.

I enjoyed the many twists and turns, and trying to figure out what had happened, both in Nicola's past, and in the present at the retreat. I also found that I learned a lot about CF, including all the medical advances, so that was a big plus. I found the story to be very readable, though I did find the ending a tiny bit overwhelming, the story as a whole was very much worth it.

Bottom Line: Lots of twists and lots of uncertainly, this one definitely kept me hooked!

Author Kelley Armstrong's newest release, I'LL BE WAITING, is the perfect book to put readers in the mood for the spooky season. A grieving wife's desperate attempt to connect with her deceased husband beyond the grave turns deadly in this highly atmospheric tale of supernatural horror. Make sure you have all the lights turned on before starting this one!
Terminally ill Nicola Laughton considers herself to be a fortunate woman. While she's lived with cystic fibrosis since childhood, modern medicine has improved her quality of life as well as her life expectancy. Married to Anton, the man of her dreams, she's enjoying life to the fullest until the day a car crosses the center line claiming her husband's life. As Nicola kneels on the pavement cradling her husband in her arms, Anton's dying vow is to wait for her. Captured by cell phone cameras, the scene soon goes viral with rumors that Anton's ghost or spirit appears hovering over them while whispering to Nicola. The news is all it takes to bring self-claimed psychics out of the woodwork telling Nicola they can facilitate her reconnection to her dead husband only to leave Nicola disappointed and disillusioned. In one last desperate attempt, friends and family step in to set up one final seance with a reputable parapsychologist to take place at Anton's family's Lake Erie beach house where Anton spent a great deal of time. Soon after their arrival, mysterious events occur indicating the possible presence of entities residing in the old house. Is Anton reaching out? Or has something darker, more sinister been awakened?

I'LL BE WAITING is a tension laden, highly atmospheric paranormal thriller. A foreboding tone is set early enhanced by the setting in a secluded beach house complete with unexplained voices and footsteps, doors opening and closing, a creaking dumbwaiter, a room full of creepy porcelain dolls watching . . . and a history that includes a missing boy and murder. As the story progresses, short flashbacks give readers insight to past events raising more questions while leaving readers to decide what's real and what's not. The author slows the pace through the middle portion of the book, taking time to build the suspense while keeping characters and readers off-balance with a variety of eerie, goosebump worthy incidences only to pick up speed again as danger escalates through the final showdown. Some readers may find it hard to connect with characters who appear illusive due to the mysterious, ever-changing aura and circumstances surrounding them. Readers are challenged with uncovering the truth while figuring out who to trust in this tale of things that go bump in the night.

Author Kelley Armstrong has expertly rendered another paranormal page turner, a smoke'n'mirrors mystery, perfect for fans who enjoy a good ghost story without crossing over into full-blown horror. Armchair detectives will also enjoy the challenge of solving this one.

This is a very haunting ghost story following the grieving young widow, Nicola, who lost her husband to a tragic accident when it should have been her first for the “til death do us part”. Nicola had cystic fibrosis and wasn’t supposed to outlive Anton, so in her grief she tries to contact Anton by going to seances. After many failed attempts, Nic’s family helps her find a professor who will help conduct a seance for their final attempt.

This was such a beautiful and frightening ghost story! Full of grief, wanting to believe in the other side or an afterlife, and full of twists! It was spooky, tense, and just an overall excellent ghost story. The representation of CF felt very well researched and the characters were a fun group to follow. This is such a great book to add to your spooky season reads! 👻😍

This one was such a disappointment for me . I love this author and I loved the idea of ghosts and Seances m( I mean i did have a Ouija board when I was a teen and loved holding seances for fun ) but this was just so slow and at a 100 pages really but much had happened and I found myself scanning to try to the end .

2.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.

If you are looking for a light horror/suspense novel, I'll Be Waiting is a great choice. This book was full of creepy atmosphere and plot twists. While I did guess a few, there was so much more to the mystery than I initially anticipated. Which is always a fun surprise when reading a murder mystery. I give this book 4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin Press for the opportunity to review I'll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong

3 ⭐️ This book started so strong, it has an interesting premise about a woman with Cystic Fibrosis who has defied odds and lived much longer than anticipated, she’s married and living a normal life. Then an accident kills her husband and his parting words to her are “I’ll be waiting for you”. She then goes down a path of trying to speak to her husband through seances and that’s when things go sideways. I think the problem was it was a bit too long and repetitive in the middle but overall it was an interesting read for spooky season. The book does have some gore, a little bit suspense around the ghosts but it wasn’t too scary. It’s a pretty mild horror novel in my opinion. I also think things went a little off the rails at the end, but I liked it and I didn’t see it coming until the book set me up to see it coming.

This book is out now! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

So this one was really creepy. It's an atmospheric, paranormal, horror ghost story and I was definitely entertained. Nic has cystic fibrosis and has met the love of her life, Anton. She ends up losing him in a horrible accident. While dying, he says to her “I'll be waiting for you”. A witness at the scene photographed that moment and it became public. Eight months later she rents a house that used to belong to Antons family to meet with a medium to contact Anton through a seance. Once there, unexplained things start to happen. It gets pretty damn crazy I'll tell you. You'll have to just roll with it and suspend some disbelief here. If you're good at doing that, then you will like this one. A great read for Halloween and spooky season for sure.


Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I am not a horror fan, but this is by Kelley Armstrong and that us the only reason I decided to give it a try. It was spooky and perfect for the Halloween season. It was very interesting and hard to put down, because I had to know what happened. I liked the characters and the story was well developed. I still don't like horror, but this felt more supernatural to me.

A grieving widow attempts a last effort to communicate with her late husband at an isolated lake cabin and awakens something else. This started out a strong four stars - atmospheric and tense. Unfortunately by the end of the book, it had downgraded to two stars - flat characters and weak plot, hence the three star rating. Thanks to MetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

Wow, this book was so good. I of course was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover and started reading without even glancing at the synopsis. I don't think I've ever read anything by Kelley Armstrong but her writing style immediately drew me in. I honestly couldn't put this book down and couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading. I was not expecting so much grief and heart felt moments to be intertwined into a spooky haunted house book. I've never lost a spouse but some of things the main character experienced absolutely broke my heart. Having a chronic, terminal illness, losing the love of her life, and dealing with the trauma from her past was so hard to read. I don't think I've ever found so many relatable quotes in a thriller/horror book before. Speaking of horror and thriller, this book definitely had both. Certain parts were legitimately freaking me out until the main character's inner dialogue had me cracking up while I was spooked. Nic's perception of everything and her dry wit were one of my favorite parts about this book, she was hilarious. And man, the twists really got to me. This was one of those books where I constantly kept guessing and actually gasped out loud a couple of times. Definitely an author I'll be reading more of.

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for the gifted copy for my honest review!

Can a horror novel be beautiful? There are jump-scares and psychologically terrifying moments in I"ll Be Waiting, but beyond that, there's also a tragic love story about loss, grief, and yearning. This book is impossible to put down, and makes a lasting impression.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

Just a perfect horror/suspense/supernatural?!?! read for fall. I really loved Nicola and the way she told the story.

Nicola has Cystic Fibrosis and never expected to live long enough to get married but she did, to the love of her life, Anton. She had also expected she would die long before he did but when he is killed in a car crash not long after their marriage, she is devastated. Like so many unable to let go of their grief, she has been to seances in hopes of contacting Anton but her logical mind has always been able suss out the fakery. Still, her friends convince her to try once more and they find a medium with a good reputation, a professor of parapsychology, hoping maybe this time it will help give her some closure. But almost as soon as they begin, odd things start to happen, things she can't easily explain including several possible attacks against her. And that’s before they find the first body.

I’m not a big fan of supernatural horror stories but I am a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong so when I spotted I’ll Be Waiting on Netgalley, I was thrilled to receive an e-arc. The story is told in the first person by Nicola and we get to know and feel everything from her point of view. It started out at a fairly even pace as we get to know more about her backstory, suspenseful and, at times, shocking but always from her rational perspective, often raising questions that she can’t or won’t honestly answer making her seem an unreliable narrator albeit not necessarily intentionally.

However, in the last quarter or so of the book, Armstrong really ramps up the tension until the suspense, the chills, and the horror feel almost palpable. A darkly atmospheric and emotionally charged supernatural story that reminded me why I love Kelley Armstrong’s books and a perfect spine tingling tale just in time for Hallowe’en.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review