What Happened At Hawthorne House is an interesting novella about what happens when girls seek power (?) It is broken up into two parts, which I thought was great, and I appreciate the author a little more for being bold enough to take that leap when writing such a short story. Unfortunately, too much time was spent on the first half and not enough development was put into it. It felt long and as if it just dragged on. Overall, I'm not sure of the point of the story (hence the question mark in the first sentence). Maybe if she would have focused on the latter timeline with small flashbacks, or the first timeline with current day details.. maybe then it would have worked better. I felt like I was listening to a friend tell me a long, drawn-out story. The concept was great, though.  I can get down with multiple girls in an orphanage, doing whatever it takes to be "queen." I just don't think this novella was for me.
Thank you NetGalley, Brigids Gate Press, and Hadassah Shiradski for this read.

Unfortunately, this book was a big miss for me. The premise of this story was super intriguing, but the execution was disappointing.

There was no real point to the story, other than watching children play a boring, violent game. None of the characters had any sort of development, I didn't like any of them, and had no interest in learning more about them.

Despite the promise, I didn't see much horror or gothic elements within this book, and there was no tension. This left very little entertainment value in the story for me.

The switch in pov confused me and I didn't understand what the second half of this book added. It was essentially a continuation of the first half, but from someone else's perspective.

I would have loved to enjoy this story, especially based off of its summary, but it was very difficult for me to connect or engage with this book.

“What Happened at Hawthorne House” is a short, atmospheric gothic novella set in an orphanage for girls.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely loved the writing style. It was so easy to picture events as they happened, and the way the acts of violence were written out were drawn out just enough to make me squirm in my seat without feeling like it dragged. The author does a fantastic job utilizing the creepy kids trope, simultaneously creating a cast of children that are both easy to feel sorry for and shudder at the thought of.

Personally, the only reason I rated it 3 stars despite the 5 star writing style is mainly due to the structure. While I can see the intent the author had by meshing both the events of the past and events of the present, for me the jump from before to now was jarring and threw me out of the story. Had the story just been the first part with the orphanage burning and ended with maybe a mock news article or brief epilogue, I would have walked away satisfied. Instead, with the way it ended, I found myself wanting more from the story, and not in a “man I wish it didn’t have to end” and more in a “wait, that’s it?” kind of way.

I really had fun with this read and am definitely going to keep my eye out for more by this author. If anyone is looking for a quick, creepy read to cozy up with during those cold autumn nights, this novella is sure to delight.

I was looking for something to read outside of my usual genres and this free copy met that. Unfortunately, I didn't like it much though. It was hard for me to keep track of who is who - whether that was due to my lack of interest or due to the writing style, I'm not sure.

girls will be girls xoxo

a fun and fast paced gothic horror read. i wish this was longer!! i would have loved to spend more time with the girls and their clover court. they were evil little freaks (affectionate). the author has such a fun way with worldbuilding and setting, so i'm looking forward to more of her work.

2,5
To be honest, this book was simply not written for me. It has a great setting and a cool concept, but it was just... Boring. I don't like horror, but it was not scary at all. I didn't get the point of the book, I guess that was my main problem. At first I thought it's gonna be an interesting, thrilling, and exciting read, but it was so flat.

This is a quick, dark and much creepier than I expected little novella that took me a little while to get into but once I did it was enjoyable

Rating - ⭐️⭐️.75
Spooky rating - 👻👻👻
“ɪғ sʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴊᴜsᴛ ɢᴇᴛ ʜɪɢʜ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ, ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ, ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ— sʜᴇ ғᴀɪʟᴇᴅ. ʜᴇʀ ғɪɴɢᴇʀs sʟɪᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ. ᴀsʜ ᴡᴀs ɢᴀᴛʜᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ʜᴇʀ ɴᴀɪʟs, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ғᴇʟᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴇʀᴇ sᴛᴀʀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʟɪғᴛ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴀɪɴ.“
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❤️ If you like spooky and creepy, you’ll love this! The concept of this short Gothic horror novella is fantastic. You follow along a group of children in an orphanage who to pass time create a game to ‘become the queen’, however this is not a normal kids game and things start to get dark, very quickly.
It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before, and I will be checking out more of this authors novellas.

💔 I do love a past/present POV in a book, and I thought this book did do that well, however for me I think the divide between the two was not equal enough and it could have been interweaved more evenly to create more of a flow within the book.

Thank you @brigidsgatepress for allowing me to read this ARC copy through @netgalley

I found this one quite difficult to get into, the characters felt very flat and had nothing really to them to draw me in. Once the ghost story aspect got going I enjoyed it, however it was all very 1920's Scooby Doo vibes, I was waiting for the ripping off the mask segment, and 'if it wasn't for these meddling kids' to be rolled out. This wasn't the spooky vibe that I thought it was going to be unfortunately.

Review to come in March to my blog (yes, my blog is a tad full).

I received this book from the publisher/Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was so excited about this one, it sounded dark and scary, but in the end I am quite disappointed.

The main problem was that the first part, the POV of the girls or well Rosalyn, was just horribly hard to read. I read the blurb, I read the warnings in the back, I knew I was going in for a ride given I have been bullied myself, but holy shit I had not expected it to be THIS horrific from the start. From the get-go we see that this game is super toxic. A crown made of barbed wire for instance. Three girls around the same age and they are just bullying each other? Rosalyn just got back from punishment with the matron because she was in the garden... where she was finding her clothes again as one of the two girls yeeted those out of the window. There are constant threats, constant bullying, constant survival mode, constantly wondering what would be next. These girls were out for each other. And all that for a game. A game in which one of them will be queen and can order around the others. A game in which the bullying escalates. The pranks escalate. And then two more girls come into the orphanage and things escalate so much that I was just wondering if I should drop it. If I should just stop. Because this was just too much. These are 9-10 year olds, and kids can be cruel, but holy shit, these 5 were demons. Especially the two ringleaders, Sophie and Marie. I am still not sure which of these two I found the worst. Oh, did I mention the scepter? A hammer made of FUCKING nails. Yep. And they use it as well. In the mean time the Matron didn't seem to give a damned about who was right or who was wrong and just hit the girls and punished them when she saw fit. It was just so messed up and I wanted to just yeet my Kindle at the wall. Then when you think things cannot get more fucked up it ends in flames.

Oh, and I know that this book is set in the early 1900s but WTF with not having any way at all out of the house. 

Then at around 60% we go to another POV, the after. A man who can spirits is trying to help out with rebuilding the hall. Why the fuck people in horror books are always so eager to rebuild on ground with ghosts or death I don't know, but it is messed up. Andrew acts like an ambassador. Yep. The girls are, even in death and hell and damnation, still playing the game. To the fullest. The crown is still in the game. The scepter is there as well. And the girls are not giving up. That is also why I had a hard time reading this one, the girls seem to know they were dead, that time had passed, that things were different, and yet they still wanted to murder each other. Andrew was an interesting character, though I found him the most interesting in the beginning when he wasn't as entwined with the ghosts and the house. We see years pass, we see that the house is now just for tours (ghost tours it seems). No one can live in the house because the girls will want to play with them. And as I said in the previous part, the girls play mean.

I loved the epilogue with the guide to the house and the ghosts. That was by far my favourite part of the whole damned book. 

Along with the cover which is so haunting now that I know what is going on. What that crown means. What that blood means. What those symbols mean.

But all in all, this was not my book of the year. I was just so angry, so horrified, so shocked, if I had known it was going to be this bad I wouldn't have requested it. I would have just let it go by. The first part I can only rate 0.5 star, the second part gets a 2.5 star.

I really couldn’t get into this one. I made it to 25% but I couldn’t keep going. Very young girls squabbling over who was a princess or a queen and I couldn’t even keep the names and characters straight. Nothing was happening except kid bullying.

Unfortunately I had to DNF at 17%

The writing just was not for me, I don’t do great with reading from the pov of such young characters as there is no way I can relate or really appreciate them for who they are.

Really sad this was not for me, but it still may be for you ☺️

This one was a DNF for me. It’s based in 1926 so a hard for me to get into. I felt like it was kind of all over the place and I just wasn’t a fan of the storyline.

I loved the darkness of this book, the ghost story, the setting and the girls all made this a great quick read for me.

I didn't realize this was actually a Novela instead of a regular length book. I didn't hate the book, but I just can't sit here and say I loved it, either. The story takes place in an orphanage and the girls that are there are preteens. Like 9 and 10 year olds. They were absolutely horrible. They made each other do terrible things, I would have sat in my bed by myself before I woukd have dealt with the awful shit they were doing.

I picked up this book because it reminded me of the videogame Rule of Rose (which I Love) and those are exactly the vibes I got from this—at least the first part. The second part felt more like an afterthought and didn't feel as polished or integrated into the plot, and I'll admit did put me off reading for a bit.

The writing, while rich in description, felt a bit repetitive and sometimes confusing with the sequence of names and actions. I could tell all the girls apart though and even grew fond of them, so I think it was more a matter of execution and editing than anything else.

This could have used a few revisions to polish it up and really bring forth its themes and motivations because it's a good premise that I desperately need to see more of in fiction.

First Thank you to Netgalley for this Novella. In the beginning of the book, you read about young orphans and how they live their days in Hawthorn, Roslyn makes up a game about court. Whoever is the Queen is in charge. They will do anything to become queen, and I mean anything. It was a slow start for me in the beginning , but then it turned dark and boy, did it turn dark, this ended up being a great read for me as well as a quick read! I love my horror books and this was a perfect gothic horror for me.

I really enjoyed this story, especially the second half. It is clever and unique. It's a great intro into the horror genre for those that do not normally read it. And a good "cozy horror" for those readers who love the genre already.

a unique spin on a orphanage story, the girls all had a deep and very convincing character, one could not help but hate the matron.
a must read for gothic lovers who love to be swept away in a mystery.

I apologize, but this book isn't for me. I had high hopes for the plot, but despite my best efforts, I was unable to continue reading.