Thanks to #NetGalley and #AtriaBooks for the book #WeUsedToLiveHere by #MarcusKliewer. I absolutely love this thrilling book about a haunting and a house that makes things seem the opposite of what is reality. Eve and her partner Charlie buy and house to fix up not knowing about its eerie past. A family shows up one day claiming the dad uses to live there and he wants to show the family. Auger they leave nothing will ever be the same again. Highly recommend!

This story was told only by Eve, with mixed media in between. To be quite honest, Eve and Charlie were not likable at all. Eve was too scared to have a voice and speak up for herself, always looking to Charlie to talk for her. And Charlie was just plain rude and condescending to me. She liked to challenge people and make them feel small in the name of being direct.

The book jumped right into the action from the very first page. The random family showing up made the awkwardness and tension that more enjoyable. There were creepy elements that really set the tone for what happened throughout. Where the book lost me was I didn’t like how I had more questions than answers. This book initially captured my attention immediately, but as the book went on, Eve and Charlie became more unlikable and the conclusion was a little too open ended for my taste.

Oh. My. God. This is by far, my favorite horror read of 2024! Such an INCREDIBLY Haunting psychological horror! UNPUTDOWNABLE and MIND-BENDING!

👀 Fun Fact! This book was actually a Reddit novella first! It was picked up by Netflix in 2021, I believe, and will soon premiere as a thriller starring Blake Lively!

Eve and Charlie are a queer couple in their 30’s who’ve just purchased a magnificent old house to renovate and flip. Right from the opening paragraph, Eve, home alone, hears a knock at the door. On the threshold is a family of five, Thomas, the father claiming to have grown up there and asking to show the house to his family.

Strange. They’re in the middle of nowhere, very rural, mountainous region during a snow storm, and these people just show up at her door!

Very reluctantly, out of feelings of guilt, Eve lets them in. Big mistake! Weird and strange occurrences start to happen and so begins this truly CREEPY horror!

My thoughts:
☁️☁️☁️
I could not put this book down! Very speedy read and INHALED it! Strange, CREEPY, scary and spooky! So many TWISTS and disturbing surprises that took me on a rollercoaster ride!

Fans of Rachel Harrison and Stephen King will want to pick this up!

If you've ever watched a horror movie and yelled at the characters for doing something stupid, like going down a dark staircase, then the beginning of this book will have you shouting the main character, Eve, from the beginning of the book. It really just continues from there. I constantly felt myself thinking, she shouldn't have let them in.

Kliewer somehow manages to portray the previous inhabitants as harmless while still as somewhat odd, with something slightly off about them. He also is a master at raising the creep factor slowly through the book, so again, I was always thinking, why did she let them in?!

Finally, I see this book as a balance between kindness to strangers and the isolation we practice to protect ourselves. No, 99.99% of the time our kindness will not cause such horrible things, but this story makes me wary of helping anyone with anything, for fear of ending up like Eve.

Definitely a mind-twisting horror novel, I'd love to see this made into a film. I do feel Kliewer did well making this book one that plays in your mind, very much like many recent films.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

One of the most unsettling books! the mixed media gives you that “Is this based on a true event?” Kinda vibe, it was dripping in dread. It’s that type of book where you find yourself talking to the character, needing a second to catch your breath before you continue.
It was wild and one that I know will be a favorite 🖤

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to @marcus_kliewer @atriabooks and @netgalley for the ARC, opinion is my own.

I ate this up! The way this whole book had me feeling so tense! Even when nothing was happening, it was like I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Fantastic psychological horror!!

A couple are fixing up their newly purchased home when they get a knock on the door from a family claiming to have ties to the place. What was supposed to be a quick look around turns into an extremely frightening situation where they refuse to leave and shit goes wild. Parts of this had me jaw on the floor freaked out. The atmosphere and vibes were perfectly unsettling. Too many unanswered questions by the end but other than that this was one of the best horror books I’ve read in a while!

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer is an atmospheric debut.
What a creepy, unsettling thriller.
This book kept me up so late. I literally couldn’t stop reading.
The premise of this book is so intriguing.
The way that the details were revealed to us was extremely well-done and the setting was creepily atmospheric which I totally loved.

Thank You NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is gonna be a tough book to beat for my fave summer read. It was amazing! Theeee vibes in this book were soo creepy. I felt uneasy the whole dang book because I didn’t know what was gonna happen next. Everyday tasks and things just feel ominous and it kept me turning page after page. I binged this in one day and was left with my jaw on the floor. If you read this one please slide into my DMs because I have questions?!?! If you want an insane, creepy horror then check this one out

I was able to read this book as an ARC thanks to Netgally. The first 50% of this book was quite slow, with little happening besides hints of something not quite right. I usually would not continue by this point, but I have seen a lot of great reviews and I continued on. Once it began to get interesting, I was intrigued and needed to know how this story would come to an end. The main character had a lot of depth and thr details in this book really had me wanting more. There were a lot of creepy moments that I enjoyed and was able to imagine a pretty vivid picture in my head.

We Used To Live Here is very hard to describe because it’s a patchwork of influences and genres that ends up making a fast-paced and completely intriguing quilt of vibes that ends up being a terrifying and entertaining read. It’s part House of Leaves (but not quite as gonzo), part Backrooms (but not as desolate), part “Parasite” (like the blurb says, but make it even creepier), and add some gothic sprinkles on top for extra atmosphere.

(If you don’t know what Backrooms are, just look it up on Wiki. Seriously intriguing Creepypasta stuff).

What do you end up with? A book that managed to freak me all the way out (few books do that) and kept me completely engaged all the way from start to finish. I can completely see why this is being made into a film because it’ll make a great one.

It’s not perfect. I felt there were a couple of plot holes and I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending, but I could live with the ending as it is. I loved the LGBTQ couple versus the traditional couple aspect and I wish that theme had been explored more, but not exploring it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

It’s a freaky fun time and I think if you want your brain bent for about 320 pages, this is the book you want right now.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Ghost Fiction/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/Paranormal Horror/Psychological Thriller/Suspense Thriller

A really great read. Great representation all around, as a queer reader and person the having that representation in the book meant the world to me. The plot of the book felt very grounded and based in reality—while reading the book, I felt myself being pulled into the the story as if it were a movie on one of those streamers. Eva and Charlie felt like people I know in my town in Virginia. Albiet the book is a thriller, it still felt believable, I'll need to listen to the audibook so I can feel a sense of the characters and the stakes. Side bar, HGTV could never make something this amazing. Thank you Netgalley and Atria for the early copy of the book.

"We Used to Live Here" by Marcus Kliewer is an unsettling thriller with an innocent storyline that quickly turns into something sinister and horrifying. This is a perfect novel for readers who love psychological thrillers that have them questioning the sanity of every character, including their own.

Shortly after Charlie and Eve purchase a new home to flip and resell, they get a knock on their door. A family stands at their doorstep. They were passing through town and the father wanted to show his kids the house he grew up in. Eve, finding it hard to say no, allows them in for a quick look-see. But a quick look becomes an everlasting nightmare when Eve struggles to get the family to leave.

Strange things begin to occur. Eve swears there's a ghost in the basement. The house is changing in ways that shouldn't be possible. The family won't take the hint that it's time for them to go. The family's youngest daughter goes missing in the house. Soon after, Charlie goes missing and Eve begins to lose grip on reality. Is something strange going on with the family and the house? Or is something strange happening to Eve?

The story was a bit slow to start, but when the family arrived the narrative really picked up and the atmosphere became tense and chilly. Kliewer has a knack for keeping the reader on their toes and continuing to keep the sensation of wrongness rolling throughout the book until it's nearly suffocating. It is impossible to read this book without feeling discomfort or sharing Eve's anxiety at having this family intrude on the home. Because even though they ask to come in, there is no doubt their presence is an intrusion.

Like most psychological thrillers, there is so much to unpack, especially with this story. There are so many hints and clues dropped throughout the book that you almost have to read it twice to fully piece the puzzle together. And it was awesome to have random bits of information thrown in too. While they were likely pretty big clues to figure out the larger picture of what was happening, it also helped to throw me off the trail because I got so hung up on the details and couldn't see what was happening right in front of my eyes.

What also had me hugely invested in this story were the characters who felt super realistic to me. While I wanted to bump Eve over the head for letting strangers into her house (because honestly, who does that?), I also couldn't blame her because there was something about the family that just seemed so normal and didn't immediately scream "serial killers." So, even though I was frustrated with Eve I also couldn't blame her because I could see myself doing the same thing in her situation. I also loved Charlie for the same reasons as Eve because she is so bold and unafraid to call people out on their crap.

The one thing that did bother me with the book was that there were so many unanswered questions, but honestly, I think it added to the horror aspect for me because I have no idea if certain details were added in as a ploy or if they were symbolic of something even bigger than the story itself. And honestly, either answer is equally terrifying. This was a fantastically creepy story.

Fans of horror and psychological thrillers will have to get their hands on this book! "We Used to Live Here" by Marcus Kiewer is expected to be released on June 18th, 2024. Add it to your reading lists and make sure you purchase this book and give it a read! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books (Atria/Emily Bestler Books) for providing me with a copy of this e-arc and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

Thank you so much, Simon and Schuster, for this ARC.

Let me start by saying that I am a scaredy cat. I do not read horror. I love thrillers. but whenever there's a horror element to it, I go nuh-uh. Having said that, I gobbled this book up. WOW!!!!

I was creeped out from start to finish but could not put this down. I read it in almost one sitting and have loved every second of it.

I had a single throughout the book, "This will make an amazing movie," and the fact that it is being turned into one by Netflix has me all excited for it.

PS: Beware of strangers and DO NOT read this in the dark!!

Here are my reasons why you should read this:

♡ Canadian author
♡ Debut horror/psychological thriller
♡ Creepy, atmospheric, eerie, and unsettling
♡ Queer representation
♡ Unreliable narrator

Creepy, haunting - it gets under your skin!

Eve is an anxious person. She's recently bought a very old, mildly secluded house that she and her partner plan to fix up and flip. It's something they have done a few times and they are just moving their things into this house. Because a trip to town can take quite a while, Eve is home alone working on the house when an older gentleman and his family arrive on her new house's doorstep.

This man identifies himself as Thomas, a previous resident in the house. He says he grew up there and is currently moving across the country - from Oregon to the East Coast. Could he possibly show his family the house he grew up in before they leave for good?

This was a fabulous horror story. I loved the unsettling feeling the whole story gives you. The chapters are broken up by blog posts, descriptions of videos or police interviews and documents. It was such a fun addition to the story and added another layer or "what's really going on here" to it all. It was fun to run the scenario in my mind, wondering how I'd handle it, and imagine each twist and turn and wonder how it all could turn so quickly. The ending was jaw dropping and I loved it.

If I hadn't read it, I'd never believe this started as a reddit post. I can easily see how this has been (rumor has it) optioned as a Netflix show. This one was so good, I hope we see more from this author!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Okay, so maybe don’t read this book the week you buy a house like I did. This was spooooooky! There is such an overwhelming sense of dread through that leads to a big finale. I really felt for Eve but there is no way in hell I would let people into my home the way she did. There are some questions you are left with at the end, but I am going to believe they were intentional based on the plot.

BOOK REVIEW✨

We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

Imagine you’ve just bought an old fixer-upper home with your partner, you’re getting settled in, and there’s a knock on your door one night. It’s a family — the man claims to have grown up in this house and wants to show his wife and kids around. Hesitant, Eve decides to let them have a look. But after the young daughter “hides” and won’t come out and then a big snowstorm hits the town, the family’s quick 15 min visit turns into a lot longer.

I mean…how could you NOT be intrigued by that premise?! It’s like the perfect thriller set up!!!

I was addicted to this story until it all fell apart in my opinion. The family just cannot get the hint that they need to leave, Eve’s girlfriend, Charlie, vanishes, and all these creepy things are going on. It kinda has an “all these things are happening and you’re scared and confused and trying to put the pieces together” feel to it but it just didn’t come together how I hoped. I never felt like certain things were answered.

The positive is that the entire time I was reading I kept thinking how great of a scary movie it would make and I see that a Netflix thriller is in the works starring Blake Lively! 😍 I will definitely give it a watch.

While this one wasn’t a big love for me, I have seen a ton of great reviews so if horror is your thing, give it a try!!

Thank you to the publisher for the early copy - all thoughts are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

We Used to Live Here follows a couple and their dog as they buy a new house. When a family shows up and the father claims that he used to live here, Eve lets them in for a tour. Things quickly turn and weird things start to happen around the house.

I loved this book! I read it in under 24 hours because I had to see where it went. We also have bits of mixed media throughout and I loved that addition. This story was so creepy and haunting. It was very tense and eerie while reading.

This one reminded me of books like Episode Eleven and Kill Creak. It is paranormal but also gets weird. While I was freaked out, it wasn’t necessarily scary just off putting and eerie.

While I understand the ending, I didn’t like it lol.

Overall, this book was unique and freaky. I would definitely recommend!!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Atria books for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes on 6/18/24!

This book puts a whole new spin on what one may consider a haunted house, but in a good way. To me, this book was a bit of a slow burn in the beginning with some repeat themes, but the last 20% was akin to a roller coaster at full speed. Giving this one 3 stars because of the pacing and my frustration with the main character/narrator at several points. Despite this, I enjoyed how this author made a common trope their own and added in some articles and internet “posts” to color the story a bit more from a different perspective, as this book featured one POV. Generally I would recommend giving this one a read!

We Used to Live Here tells the story of Eve and her partner who have recently purchased an old fixer-upper on a mountain in the middle of basically nowhere. One evening there is a knock at the door, a man, his wife and their children, The man lived in the house as a child and was hoping to show his family around. Reluctantly, Eve lets them in Unfortunately, a nasty winter storm hits and the family gets stranded at the house (only for one night, promise). Odd things start to happen and Eve finds herself questioning if she is losing her mind or if the family is playing tricks on her.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. The atmosphere is really creepy at times and the ending really made me question everything I had read. It caught my attention right from the start and I found myself saying "just one more chapter" the entire time because I HAD to find out what the heck was actually going on in this creepy house. The chapters were great lengths. The story moved quickly. The characters were developed just right. This was an author I'd absolutely love to read again.

I was lucky enough to read this for free thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author, and this was my honest review.