Emily and Josh leave San Francisco for rural Nebraska after Emily’s mother passes away.
They buy a farm and soon begin to learn about the dark past of the farm and the barn on its land.
Three years ago a teenage girl went missing on the farm. Then her mother mysteriously died. A trail of death seems to come with this property unbeknownst to the new owners.
Can Emily uncover the truth of the property and convince Josh of what she’s is seeing and hearing?

Moving to a new area is never easy and now Emily must learn the ways of the rural locals. As she tries to settle in there are unsettling things she comes across on the property. Josh is dismissive at first leaving Emily to dive deeper into the various deaths.

The creepy atmosphere of the farmhouse was great and the eerie happenings were on point. The story did drag a bit but I’m glad I hung in for the conclusion.

Thank you to author, Chelsea Conradt, Publisher Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Old farmhouses are supposed to have that cozy, lived in feel, but not this one. This one comes with your worse nightmares, but only for females? If a ghost reaches out for your help, will you?

The Farmhouse is a psychological and supernatural thriller. This book is such a slow burn. It's 432 pages long and keeps you at this low level of tension throughout the entire story.

A young couple leaves their life in California, after the death of the wife's mother. They move to a farm in rural Nebraska. It doesn't take long for our female main character to start to sense something is wrong with their farm. She eventually learns that the daughter of the previous owner went missing and shortly after the girls mother died via a tragic accident. Our main character, Emily, tries to get her husband to understand that there is something sinister with the property, but he blames it on her grief and lack of sleep after the death of her mother.

This book is a masterclass in gaslighting and is a social commentary on the perception that unfortunately still can exist, that woman are prone to hysteria and therefore cannot be believed.

There were parts of this story that felt a little unnecessary. Our main character has a text exchange with the librarian helping her to do research, but that storyline never gets resolved, as an example. I think perhaps some tighter editing would have helped the pacing of the story.

I didn't find this book particularly scary, but I rarely find books to be so. But there was one moment in the book that gave me a little jump scare. For me the psychological aspect was stronger than the supernatural.

This was a decent thriller. It was a bit predictable to me, and could have been a bit shorter, but it was an interesting story and I think the author did a good job of keeping the tension up. I'd put it at a 3.5 ⭐️, it wasn't quite just ok, but it didn't really blow me away either.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced digital copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

The Farmhouse is a slow-burn mystery with an excellent sense of atmosphere. While it’s not a fast-paced or twist-heavy psychological thriller, I really enjoyed the small-town setting, the layers of secrets, and the simmering tension throughout. The eerie, almost claustrophobic vibe works so well here, and the author does a great job building that unsettling feeling as the story unfolds.

I also appreciated how relatable the main character felt—her coffee habit, step-tracking obsession, and determination to uncover the truth made her easy to connect with.

Readers looking for something high-octane may want to adjust expectations, but for anyone who enjoys a moody, secret-filled mystery with a steady pace and plenty of atmosphere, this one delivers.

I featured The Farmhouse in my June 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q31xhbo1tE, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

Chelsea Conradt sure knows how to create a creepy vive without much to go on. Emily comes to the farm to escape the city life and maybe live off the land, but gets so much more. After her mother's death, Emily moves with her husband Josh from San Francisco to a secluded farm in rural Nebraska—seeking peace under wide-open skies. But the farm holds a dark history: all the women who previously lived there either disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances. So that alone might give me some pause, but still, let's continue. I surely would have been out of there after the 3rd or 4th night of strange screams. No, it's not a fox honey!

Not only that, the barn itself seems to physically shift closer, eerie music drifts through the cornfields, and she hears loud noises at night. As she starts investigating the history of the barn, she learns of all the women who lived there died under myterious circumstances. This is a slow burn and the author does a great job creating an escalating sense of dread and foreboding that will keep you on edge, long after you finish a chaper for the night.
Along with all this we see clear themes emerge of the silencing of women-did these women know something they shouldn't have? As well as women that struggle to be heard as noone Emily meets in the community believe her stories.
As she desperately tries to measure her footsteps every night to prove to Josh that the barn is moving, she's always met with silence. It's as if he's complicit in what is going on.

I think some editing could have been helpful here as it took a long time to get to the point, but I was along for the creepy ride to the finish.

First, thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC!

I honestly was not sure how to feel about this book. I do love a good eery thriller, and I also enjoy supernatural elements from time to time, so, I was of course curious. And the famrhouse setting was a plus, as well. In my opinion, at least (and surely one of the reasons why I could never live anywhere remote. I would be scared shitless all of the time).

So, while I am glad I've read the book when there was still daylight outside (it was hot today so there were not many options when it came to how to spend my time), I felt thoroughly entertained. The story was eery, creepy, just with the right haunted house vive without drifting too much into the supernatural. Also emotional with following Emily's journey while she tries to uncover the dark things going on in this place while also asking herself what is real and what she might only imagine.

A very good book, and very much recommended!

I came for the chickens and country calm… what I got was a shifting barn, ghostly whispers, and a farm full of secrets I couldn’t look away from. The dread was real—and I gotta say I kinda loved every minute.

Chilling tension, creeping dread, and ghostly unease!

THE FARMHOUSE by CHELSEA CONRADT is a chilling, eerie, and quietly disturbing psychological thriller with a supernatural twist that slowly burrowed under my skin and kept me turning the pages.

Chelsea Conradt delivers a haunting and well-written debut that blends mystery, grief, and ghostly suspense with vivid, unsettling imagery. She does an excellent job getting inside Emily’s head—we get a front row seat to her unraveling thoughts, creeping fears, and the toll isolation takes on her. The atmosphere is beautifully drawn, and although the pacing leans more steady than fast, the tension builds with quiet intensity as the story unfolds.

A slowburn that pulled back at times only to pull me right back in. While some moments tested my patience, the growing sense of unease kept me reading. The imagery is so effective—a barn that seems to move, eerie music drifting across the fields, and things that go bump in the night you definitely can’t explain away. I especially loved Emily’s creative running log; it added such a personal, grounded layer to all the unexplainable moments.

There is a strong manipulation element that runs throughout the story, and although gaslighting plots usually aren’t my favourite, I’m glad I stuck with this one. It becomes quite rewarding in the end.

As someone who struggles with insomnia, I really connected with Emily’s nighttime dread and the eerie stillness that crept into the darkest corners of the story. That tension felt almost too real at times.

On a personal note, I live in the country, surrounded by a quarter section of land, coulees, and horses—so the title and cover immediately drew me in. I expected calm open skies, but what I found instead was a deeply atmospheric story laced with tension and long-held secrets that linger long after the last page.

To sum it all up, this was a cleverly layered, atmospherically rich, and steadily paced debut with chilling tension, creeping dread, and a satisfying conclusion. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC—would recommend!

Twisting and turny I enjoyed this a lot. I liked watching Emily settle into farm and rural life with touches of the supernatural. Overall I was really surprised at the twist and loved how Conradt gave it a feminist “women stick together” vibe. I’ve already recommended it to several friends.

I found The Farmhouse by Chelsea Conradt a mixed bag. A slow burn thriller with an unlikeable main character. I really didn’t like Emily, the main character, and I’m unsure if it was written this way. She had a major coffee addiction, always drinking coffee and not sleeping. Training for a marathon, so she logged steps and miles on her watch. The weird thing about that was- it was almost always different steps and distances to the barn from her farmhouse. She started hearing things and seeing things. She becomes obsessed with the history of the farm and finds out about the family that owned the farm before her, the Belkin family. Their daughter disappeared and was never found & the wife died mysteriously also. Emily’s husband is gaslighting her and doesn’t believe any of the weird stuff that she believes happened on the farm. I couldn’t figure out the mystery until it was revealed. The ending wasn’t very satisfying to me. Something got under my skin about this book though. ARC was provided by Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. I received an advance reading copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’m sad about this one, because there *is* a good story in here—it’s just far too bogged down with minutiae to be engaging in any way. And I do want to find out what’s actually going on! However, when you keep looking down to see how far along you are…that’s not a good sign.

Emily is still grieving the loss of her larger-than-life mother and decides to buy a farm in Nebraska with her husband, Josh. Born and raised in San Francisco, the Midwest small town life is quite the culture shock for Emily, but the couple falls in love with the quaint farmhouse and beautiful, open scenery. They are leasing the farmland back to the farmers who tend it (honestly, that’s the only way to do it, for me! 😂), and pretty quickly there are some strange things going on with the farmhands.

However, the BIG problem is with the delapidated barn located not too far from the couple’s house. It seems to be…moving. Emily is a dedicated runner who times her runs *and* count the steps to the farmhouse from the barn everyday. And the counts are always different. Add to that the fact that Emily has extreme insomnia and starts hearing and seeing inexplicable things, and she starts to look pretty crazy (especially since no one else can confirm these odd things). Once she finds out that the previous owners had a streak of bad luck (to put it mildly), Emily goes full-on sleuth to figure out what’s going on, once and for all.

Sounds intriguing, right? I agree! But the action scenes are few and far between, and this story desperately needs trimming down. I felt like I was stuck in the farmhouse with Emily, with absolutely nothing going on except racing thoughts and staring out the window towards the barn. That got old, really quickly.

I would love to read a shorter, more action-packed version of this, and I think it would be fantastic. As is, it’s a very long near-miss.

DNF at 39%. ☹️

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC. All opinions are mine alone.

This book filled me with such a sense of dread and foreboding that I was constantly searching the room for shadows. The move to a farmhouse in Nebraska was supposed to be a fresh start for Josh and Emily after the death of her mother. While Josh seemed to settle in, Emily was plagued with nightmares and strange happenings in the barn. The gaslighting from her "perfect" husband was almost more than she or I could take as she desperately searched for someone to believe that she was not crazy or drowning in grief. The suspense and frustration that I felt reading this book left me desperate for a satisfying ending. Did I get it? Guess you'll have to read it and decide for yourself!

I really enjoyed this read and it was the perfect amount of mystery and spookiness. Emily and Josh decide to pack up their lives in California and move to a secluded farmhouse in Nebraska, thinking it’s a fresh start after Emily’s mom died. Emily is an avid runner and runs the farm every morning, but when she does, she notices the barn in the back keeps moving distance. Some days the barn is far away, other days it’s super close to the house and she begins to wonder why.

She starts digging a bit deeper into the history of the farm and the family that lived there prior and to who the farmers are that still work on their land. She discovers that women who used to live on the farm have either died or gone missing. Sinister things start happening on the farm, and you begin to question if Emily is a reliable narrator or not.

I knew Emily wasn’t going crazy and honestly, there were so many times I couldn’t stand her husband, Josh. He seemed like a total gaslighter and didn’t believe a word of what she was telling him. This one definitely kept me guessing as to what was going on.

If you like a sort of haunted house type read, I do recommend this book. It did not disappoint!

Debut author Chelsea Conradt delivers a twisty, atmospheric feminist speculative thriller set on a farm in rural Nebraska, THE FARMHOUSE —get ready for a lot of running, moving, ghosts, creepiness, and gaslighting in this marvelously chilling page-turner.

A slow-burn thriller that creeps under your skin and stays there.

About...

Emily is grappling with the loss of her mother. She and her husband, Josh, are seeking a fresh start and moving to rural Nebraska from the bustling life of San Francisco. Emily's hope for healing is tied to this new environment, and her journey will grip you from the start.

Driven by a sense of urgency and a desire to embark on their new journey, Emily and Josh leap into the purchase without delving into the details or history of the farmhouse.

Little do they know, the farmhouse holds a dark secret. Three years earlier, a teen girl vanished from this very farm, and soon after, the girl's mother died under mysterious circumstances. But there is much more.

The deeper Emily delves into the mystery, the more connections she uncovers tied to the farmhouse, her new home. Emily slips into darkness while working from home alone in this remote location as though the property is chasing her. She is obsessed with running. What is going on?

As chilling events unfold around her, Emily is consumed by the need to uncover the truth about the farmhouse. The cornfields, the farm equipment, the workers, the barn- they all seem to hold secrets. She must find answers before she loses her mind and sanity.

Does anyone believe her, including her husband? The farmhouse was supposed to be her refuge, a place where her marriage was supposed to grow strong, a place free of her mother's memory, and a sanctuary from grief. Could her marriage be saved? Would the farmhouse finally be her solace or drive her away?

The ongoing mystery of what happened to the girls and women? Bridget, Kinsey, Adeline, and Maryanne? These characters are not just names, but they hold the key to the dark secret of the farmhouse.

My thoughts...

Chilling and menacing, Conradt sets the stage with an eerie, creepy, and claustrophobic setting that is infused with Gothic horror vibes. This smashing debut will draw you in from page one to the end, with a strong female protagonist you will root for. One to savour on a cold and dark rainy night.

The author does a super job of getting inside Emily's head. Add in the creepy cornfields and a barn moving, teeth, her mom's songs, and plenty of gaslighting, keeping you in suspense, turning the pages in this deviously twisty thriller. From page one to the next, the author expertly weaves the past and present. Eerie, dark, and twisted,

Ghostly, engaging, and unnerving! A gritty speculative thriller (a genre of fiction that blends the imaginative elements of speculative fiction, like science fiction, fantasy, and horror) with the suspense and tension of a thriller.

THE FARMHOUSE, pushes the boundaries of reality and raises thought-provoking questions about the human condition, such as what if the past could haunt the present?

Mixed with Emily's creative running log, the mysteries from the past to the present— ghosts and spirits haunt its edges in a truly unsettling way. Clever, compelling, and creepy, you may never want to move to a rural farmhouse ever. An author to watch!

I am looking forward to listening to the audiobook narrated by the fabulously talented Brittany Pressley.

Interview...

Stay tuned for my fun #AuthorElevatorSeries QA with Chelsea, where we go behind the book and learn more about this talented new author. (pub day June 17)

Recs...

THE FARMHOUSE is for fans of Jennifer McMahon's The Invited, and fans of Jennifer Hillier, Simone St. James, Sarah Pinborough, John Marrs, Carol Goodman, Kira Peikoff, and CJ Tudor.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: June 17, 2025
My Rating: 5 Stars
June Newsletter
June 2025 Must-Read Books
#AuthorElevatorSeries QA

Creepy, Emotional, and Totally Gripping

Really enjoyed this debut! The ode to music hit home for me — I lost my mom, who loved old rock, so that really resonated. And as a fellow coffee addict, I loved those little details too 😂

The eerie, haunted vibe pulled me in right away. It’s more of a slow burn, but it kept me turning pages.

"Every woman who has lived on this farm has died. Emily just moved in."
Tell me that doesn’t give you chills.

After Emily loses her mom, she and her husband move to a quiet Nebraska farm for a fresh start. But they probably should’ve asked why it was for sale…

A missing girl, mysterious deaths, and the more Emily digs, the more disturbing the farm’s history gets. The barn seems to move. Her mom’s favorite songs drift through the fields. And those screams? Not foxes.

If Emily wants to survive, she’ll have to face the truth about whatever’s lurking out there — before it gets to her too.

Creepy, emotional, and a really solid read. Definitely recommend.

3.5

After Emily Hauk's mother passed away, she knew she wanted to get away from the hustle of San Francisco. Both her and her husband Josh work from remotely, so the possibilities are wide open, and they have found their own little piece of heaven. The clear skies and acres of land on a rural farm in Nebraska are just what they wanted. Having both grown up in the city, running a farm is not what they have planned so things work out perfectly when they purchase a beautiful farmhouse with the prior family continuing to lease back and work the land.

With space away from her past, Emily has hope for dealing with her grief from losing her mom and hopefully sleeping better. She never expected a new horror to enter her life on the farm. There is something wrong about the barn in the field behind the house. A ghostly figure seems to be trying to warn her of something and when Emily wakes night after night hearing screams or music coming from the barn, she knows she has to find out what has happened on her farm. Is there a dark secret or is her sanity just slipping away from her?

Overall, I enjoyed this debut novel. The cover grabbed me first and I love a creepy, remote haunted house read. For the first half of the book, it was rating pretty high for me, but then it started to get a bit repetitive and such a slow burn that I was wondering if we would ever get to the point. I liked the characters, and the story gave lots of eerie creeps that kept me going. I feel like a little more editing would have benefited the story. You get a pretty good idea of what happened for quite a while before the reveal and the actual reveal is very short and to the point, end of story. For the buildup, I felt there was no twist or shock to the end. I will watch for future books from the author though. I liked her writing and the setting for the plot was well built. The payoff at the end was just missing a bit here.

Oof, I stuck this one out until the end, hoping and praying that the ending was going to stick the landing.

Nope, we just have a basic story of city people going to the country, mild ghostly encounters, some random serial killer type things, and a whole lot of gaslighting.

Nothing about anyones motivations made sense, there was nothing driving this story forward and the ending was so completely baffling that I could literally hear my eyes rolling.

Sometimes you just need to trust your gut and DNF.

This was a creepy book for sure!. The atmosphere is very eerie and haunting and the writing definitely pulled me in. I think the author did a great job setting up the scene and building up the tension. It’s definitely a slow burn but I don’t mind slow burns.

A haunted house horror story. Emily and Josh moved to rural Nebraska for a fresh start but what Emily finds is more of a nightmare. All sorts of odd things are happening so is Emily an unreliable narrator or is someone or something after her? No one believes her when she describes the lights and the movements, not even Josh but then....well, no spoilers. This is overlong but it did keep me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. it's the sort of novel that's good for travel.

What a great thriller with creepy horror vibes this one was!! 🙌

I love me a good haunted house story, and the author did an excellent job of building the atmosphere! Definitely recommend checking this one out! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Chelsea Conradt for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️