This was a slow, sinister story about a family of strangers arriving at a young couple's home. The husband claims to have grown up there and wants to show his wife and two young children his old, family home. Once they enter the house, strange things begin to happen. The main character is not sure if she is imagining what is happening or it is real. The tension seems to build as the story continues. You are left wondering what exactly this man is... is he some sort of parasite, malevolent entity and what is the reason behind this abduction of the couples lives. Although questions are not really answered, the story is creepy enough to keep you thinking about it long after. I received a complimentary eBook in exchange for a review.

We Used to Live Here is about a house flipping couple named Eve and Charlie. They have recently moved into a home in a seemingly quiet and rural area that they got a killer deal on. The plot is immediately moving as the house’s previous residents show up on the doorstep and ask to come in. If you’ve ever had any semblance of anxiety then our main character, Eve, has an extremely relatable inner dialogue. As unexplainable events begin to happen the reader is left wondering if these events are really what they seem.

…please go into this book blind otherwise 🤐 a great debut novel that kept me up at night :-) thank you NetGalley and atria books for the ARC!

Sadly I wasnt a huge fan of We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer. I guess I am not the biggest fan of horror books and this one definitely left your stomach churning and eyes open wide as you read. Overall it was a decent read for me , i am sure others will enjoy it more than I did.

Wow! This was a wild ride! I really enjoyed this book. Eve and Charlie just moved into a new home and one day the doorbell rings and Thomas, who grew up in the house, wants to show his family the house. The problem is..they don’t leave..

This was a very gripping and thrilling horror novel. A similar thing happened to my Uncle, a family asked to use their phone during a snowstorm and wouldn’t leave the house. He ended up calling the police to have them removed. So this kind of story does happen which makes it even creepy!

This was hard to put down and I kept thinking about this book. I liked Eve, our main character and the family was just so creepy. You didn’t know who was real or an illusion.

I’m not sure if I will watch the Netflix adaptation because I think I will be too freaked out! This had some spooky parts.

If you are looking for a fast-paced horror book that will give you nightmares then this is the book for you!

Thank you to Atria Books who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very eerie and creepy read that I highly enjoyed. For someone who has lived in an older home, I know what it's like to have someone knock on your door and say they grew up there and would like to look around. Before reading this book, I would have no issues letting that happen, but know I may give it a few extra thoughts. I heard this is going to be adapted to a movie on Netflix and I surely hope they do this book justice. Thank you NetGalley for this awesome and different read.

This book is simultaneously relaxing and creepy at the same time. The author is very descriptive and I feel like I’m in the house with Eve. But damn it’s creepy! Felt very much like the slow burn of Conjuring or Parasite (as the synopsis says). I love these types of stories. Has some found footage elements which were sometimes interesting and sometimes seemingly pointless. Also reminded me a bit of House of Leaves, if you’re a fan. Overall, great book!

Charlie and Eve have just moved into their newest house project, an older house they are working to flip. A family knocks on the front door, with the father asking to show his family his childhood home. Eve, currently home alone, doesn’t have the heart to tell them no and they promise to be out of her hair in no time. However, the family just keeps lingering as the weather worsens and strange things start happening. Eve starts to lose her grip on reality, what is really happening in this house?!

I loved this book! It was so creepy from the first page; I was hooked but also too scared to read this at night. The pacing was perfect, and I even really enjoyed the odd excerpts between each chapter, they really helped add to the mood of the book and kept you guessing if it was indeed a haunted house or maybe Eve is just losing it. Each new chapter had some new chilling aspect, and I love that even as the book ended, I’m still trying to figure out what really happened. Would be an amazing movie!

I'm blown away. Totally jaw dropping, blown through the wind, shocked to my core.

We follow Eve and her girlfriend, Charlie, a couple who flip houses. While staying in their newest flip while restoring it, a family stops by right before a huge snow storm. The dad, Thomas, says he grew up there and wants to reminisce with his 3 kids and wife. Not so bad right? Wrong.

The youngest, Jenny, disappears and when she returns a benevolent entity starts stalking and warping Eve's perception of reality. Is Eve going crazy or is something sinister and ancient after her?

I was thoroughly freaked out through the whole book. I was turning on lights and having a feeling of being watched 🥲 I loved the story and how it was laid out, alternating between Eve's chapters and forum posts about alternate realities and the like. It really took me back to my creepypasta days 😂

This is one of those books that will stick with me. It was so unique, creepy, and just terrifying to think about.

Thank you so much @netgalley & @atriabooks for the gifted copy!

PSA: Don’t read this before bed 😱
Thank you, Atria Books, for the gifted copy of We Used to Live Here {partner}

Genre: Horror
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 6.18.2024
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

When We Used to Live Here hooked me from the very first page. It had me speed-reading, holding my breath, and jumping at every little sound. It quickly became a book I knew I shouldn’t read before bed, but I also needed to understand what was happening.  And that last chapter? 🤯_

I have been so torn about how to rate We Used to Live Here. On the one hand, it is absolutely the creepiest, most unhinged book I’ve read since The Book of Accidents, but on the other hand, I STILL don’t know what I read because there were so many unanswered questions in the end. On some level, I think that’s how the author wanted us to feel. There’s an uneasiness to uncertainty, and that’s exactly how I felt while reading the book. 

One of my favorite aspects of the story is the extra details we get from emails, transcripts, and other very real phenomena, which give me goosebumps just revisiting them while writing the review.

💨 Fast paced
🫣 Unsettling
📝 Unique structure
😅 So many unanswered questions
🧐 Could there be a sequel?

I recommend reading We Used to Live Here if you have a good chunk of time to read during the day because once you start, you won’t want to put it down.

dripping with dread!!!

Eve and Charlie have just moved in to a new home, still unpacking the boxes, when a family of five comes knocking on the door with a request: the father had grown up in the house and would love to show his family around. Hesitant at first, Eve eventually gives way, steps aside, and allows the family in—what harm could it do? As it turns out… A lot.

This story alternates between a third person narrative and epistolary pieces. It bothered me at times that I couldn’t make sense of the latter—as they only sometimes seemed related to the present story or even coherent—but I greatly enjoyed the narrative timeline and grew to like the epistolary segments the further I got in to the book. I enjoyed the religious undertones, the exploration of madness, and the drab, gray, winter setting. Evenly paced with slow building suspense right from the start, it will have readers anxiously chewing on their nails in anticipation.

And don't let the cover fool you... It is definitely psychological thriller-y but there are elements of horror without a doubt; it's a healthy mix between the two. That said, I think thriller lovers and horror lovers alike will enjoy this one. An incredibly original debut from Kliewer—I really liked the direction this took; I will be looking out for future works.

We Used to Live Here is a mystery horror about a couple in their thirties who start to experience unexplainable things in their newly purchased Victorian home in the northwest United States. Eve is alone one night, waiting for her partner, Charlie, when she hears a knock on the door. The visitors are a family, and the father says he grew up in their house and asks if his family can have a look around. Though uncomfortable, Eve lets them in. Odd things start happening once they're in the house. Charlie comes home to find the family and offers them dinner. Due to a bad storm and closed roads, the family stays the night.

The story is told from Eve's perspective and we're not sure what's happening. Is she experiencing a psychotic break, dark supernatural forces, or hallucinating? Until the end, we don't really know. Even with some things revealed, I have so many questions and want to talk to someone about this book! The horror did get a little gross at points, but it was more psychological. Interspersed are excerpts from newspaper articles, web forums, and other documents. We're not sure until the end where these have come from. In this way, it reminded me of Night Film or The House of Leaves. Overall, a super quick and creepy read that will keep you up at night!

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

If you are looking for a high concept, trippy psychological horror then you must read We Used to Live Here. The novel grabbed me from the first chapter and left me feeling unsettled and tense. I loved the idea of the maps and changing rooms plus the supernatural aspect. The eerie, haunted house setting and the sense of impending doom was 5 out of 5 for me. However I did take a star away because I felt the ending was too ambiguous and there needed more plot development and answers. I am excited to see the future adaptation of this story and how it translates to cinema.

My rating 4 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC that will be published June 18 2024.

This will without a doubt be one of the top horror books of 2024!

Eve and Charlie move into an old dilapidated mansion with the goal of renovating and selling. One evening while Charlie is at work, Eve answers a knock at the door to find a family requesting to view the house; it was the husband’s childhood home and, since the family was passing by, he thought they could take a quick look for memory’s sake. Eve, ever the people-pleaser, hesitantly invites them in.

This begins a wild, curious, and creepy story! I read it completely within 24 hours because I had to know what was going on. It’s refreshing to find new horror, not the same old haunted house tale we have read a hundred times. The documents that are included in the book add to the tension dripping off of every page because you know something horrible has happened. I can’t recommend this book enough and look forward to more from the author.

Thank you for the opportunity to read in advance!

We Used To Live Here is a wonderfully suspenseful and atmospheric horror/thriller that kept me up at night! The house on Heritage Lane is terrifying and Marcus Kliewer vividly brought it to life. Seriously, the basements and attics and nooks and hallways and the creepy events that happened in all of these places are forever seared in my mind. I absolutely loved the vibes, 10/10. It is creepy, horrific, disorienting. Your heart will race!

The book had me hooked early on and I couldn't put it down. But it landed at 3.5 stars for me because I felt a bit dissatisfied in the end. There was SO MUCH I wanted to know, to understand and a lot was left unanswered. I often enjoy ambiguous endings, but in this case I felt shorted. 

If you're a fan of horror stories, haunted houses and the paranormal...this book is for you!

Thank you Atria for a Netgalley!

Well this was creepy AF. Like no joke couldn’t read it at night in the bedroom if my husband wasn’t reading next to me.

This reminded me of the preview for The Strangers, which I’ve never watched. But the line when she asks why they’re doing this and they say “Because you were home”. The book is the same level of freakiness to me.

Love the premise and it took a hot minute for the interludes to really strike home.

My biggest qualm was the fact I have a few unanswered questions that made the plot feel like it had holes.

But overall, this was a great horror book and I cannot wait for the adaptation!

I love a good haunted house story, so how could I pass on this one? The plot follows a queer couple who flips houses for a living. One day a family knocks on their door and asks for a tour claiming that they used to live there. And then...they just never leave.

As a kid I adored horror movies, but I never understood why main characters would try to fight the paranormal presence VS leave the house and never look back. As an adult I get it now, they have something even scarier to be afraid of - the MORTGAGE 😀

When it comes to originality, I would be lying if I said that I have not seen a similar thing done in some movies, but I do have to agree this book has some twists that are unpredictable.

Overall, it is a smash. It is creepy, fast-paced and bingeable. Read this (it comes out on June 18th), have fun, move on! Can’t wait to see Netflix adaptation.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

Oh this one had allllllll the creepy vibes!!!! 🙌 From the very first chapter I was on edge, my book peeps!!! 🫣

Was I yelling at the FMC to not do anything stupid?? Yes, yes I was!! 😂 But that didn’t detract from me enjoying every minute of this book!! I did not want to put this down at all!! 👏👏

I highly recommend this one!! I also think this would make a great book club read - lots to discuss with this one!!! ❤️

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria, and Marcus Kliewer for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️ I think I preordered this one, but if I didn’t then I’m definitely buying it so I can reread it!!! 🤓

💀💀💀💀💫

We Use To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!
Publish date: 6/18/24

Eve and her partner Charlie buy an antique of house with hopes and dreams of fixing it up and reselling. All of that comes to a halt when a man knocks on their door saying that he used to live here. The man, Thomas, asks for a quick tour of the house that he grew up in, but that quickly turns into a long stay with weird occurrences that don’t normally happen. Is Eve seeing things that aren’t real?

Y’all, this a book that you want to read during the day! It was creepy and unsettling! The supernatural tendencies had you shook! As soon as you open the book, you are on the edge of your seat and biting your nails because you are so anxious. You get a mix of home invasion with haunted house vibes. It almost reminded me of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. I am still shook but so excited that they are going to make this a series on Netflix.

#weusedtolivehere #marcuskliewer #supernaturaltendencies #arc

what
in the actual
f u c k
😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫
complete fever dream.
This was such a trip of a read and I'm so uncomfortable after finishing it but, ya know.. IN A GOOD WAY. 😁🤣

This was a clever and super creepy read. If you’re looking for a palate cleanser and something you can read in one sitting, look no further. It’ll leave you guessing until the very last word.