i love the modern but just as eerie haunted house vibes this book gives. because there is so often more to it than that and this one covers all the bases.
it managed to give me those eerie feelings. and i wanted to find out more and more what was happening to this house or the people in it.
Emily and Josh have moved to a fresh start they desperately need. this farmhouse seems like the perfect place and answer to the grief Emily is suffering with due to the recent loss of her mother. but what was a lovely farmhouse dream turns into something much darker. because strange things start going on around her. what is this house trying to tell her? then she finds out that every female in this property has either died or gone missing. and now Penelope is getting sounds from her own mothers memory. but not even her own husband seems to be listening to what she thinks is going on. so what will Emily do next or what will the house do next?
is it the towns folk that dont want her to keeping investigating. is it even her husband? or as a reader can we actually trust what is going on actually is!? i mean a barn moving? is this Emily is such grief that she is getting all mixed up or do we too see something darker here?
love the keep me guessing way this book pulled me along. i wanted answers by the end too.

Emily and Josh decide to start over after a lifetime in the city by buying a farmhouse in rural Nebraska. They own the farmland, but lease it back to relatives of the former owners, to continue to work the land. While Josh is immediately at ease, Emily begins to feel strangely, such as noticing on her daily runs that the old barn on the property moves its distance from the house. And she begins hearing music and voices. When she finds out the previous owners experienced dual tragedies on the property, she is convinced their spirits are lingering on the property. But can he convince anyone else that what she’s experiencing is real?

I’ve read similar books with a similar trope: couple moves to an isolated cabin/farmhouse in hopes to start anew and the wife begins to experience paranormal events and her husband basically tells her she’s going insane, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s used because it’s interesting and can be very creepy when done right. But this book, I think needed a little more pep for it to go from “OK” to “excellent.”

It starts off slowly and doesn’t pick up in intense creepiness until about 40-50 percent in. It’s a little too much. I also feel like we didn’t get a lot of closure with the ending. After we got everything ramped up and got to the point where we were invested, the book just kind of ended, but with some major changes. Like, we should’ve gotten more details, but we didn’t. It was disappointing.

The mystery turned out to be interesting, however, and the solution was pretty intense. It was worth hanging in there for, IMO. I just wish it was more fleshed out - maybe instead of the more elaborate B-Story with her dealing with her mom’s death, we could have gotten more about gentrification of farmland and farming legacy, etc.

Do this book is a little hit and miss. If it sounds good to you, pick it up!

Unfortunately, I found this book to be quite boring. The quality of writing itself was good and the premise had a lot of promise, but the pacing, themes, and focus were all a big miss for me. This didn't feel like a slow-burn, but rather a story being drawn out simply to read a word count; it felt as if nothing of any importance was happening, and what was important was so brief that I was underwhelmed. Conradt focuses less on the supposed mystery of the farm and instead on the honestly cringey relationship between the main character and her husband.

On the subject of the characters and relationships, I couldn't have cared less about them. Emily was fine enough and fit the type of character needs that suit horror/mystery, but she was also bland. Her husband, Josh, was incredibly cookie cutter and fulfilled a trope that I loathe - "husband doesn't believe his wife, and thinks she's being crazy" is a huge turn off in books for me. There were moments where their relationship was cute and realistic, but not too often. Although I generally dislike this term, the only way to describe their dynamic is truly cringeworthy.

The mystery and horror elements were pretty lacking. The first 100 - 200 pages felt like a contemporary story about a couple moving to the country, no hints of darker elements to be found. Once those elements were introduced, I simply wasn't interested. Admittedly, I didn't read this book all the way to the end simply because it dragged on so much that I lost all interest.

I think Conradt had an interest premise for a narrative and shows skill in writing, but unfortunately this book suffered from a dull narrative, bland characters, and some severe pacing issues.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy of this novel!

If you are looking for eerie, in-the-middle-of-nowhere vibes, then this book is it. Although a bit of a slower burn, it works well with this plot as readers slowly slip into a state of constantly second-guessing along with the FMC. This book also touches on some important topics, such as grief, which I believe were done well. It did take me a bit to get into this book, but I was invested for the large majority of it. I did struggle at times with liking the MMC at all, but for the sake of a spoiler-free review I won’t go into any further detail. Overall, this is an eerie debut that would be great for an early spooky season read!

I really enjoyed this read! It gives suspenseful moments and made me feel like I was losing my mind.
This was solid!

This was fine!

I do love a haunted house story, but this one wasn't really for me. It did have something to say about women being ignored, overlooked, and abused, which I appreciated, but the story and characters needed some work.

I found Em grating at times, in a trying-to-hard-to-be-quirky kind of way. It was especially bad in the beginning of the book but became less a problem as things got crazier. Her husband Nick goes from sweet to the absolute worst really quick. The breakdown of their marriage seemed inevitable, but it came on really fast.

The plot was decent, nothing super original, but still fun. The first half of the book was quite slow and probably could have been cut down on, and there were a few loose ends I was curious about that never got addressed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for the gifted digital ARC!

I unfortunately decided to DNF this one about 50% in. I felt like the plot was super repetitive and the story didn't seem to be advancing. I knew I'd have a hard time reading a whole other half of the book as it was.

It's a weird thing to fixate on but I also couldn't get past the constant references to the female MC making a pot of coffee. It really irked me for some reason!

I didn’t love the pacing, and there are a lot of jarring sentence fragments, but the mystery was gripping enough to make up for it. The description of grief is real and accurate.

I think this will be a big hit with fans of Simone St. James.

DNF 13%

I was so excited to read this book based on the blurb and the cover, so I'm so bummed that this one isn't working out for me. The writing style feels very clunky and sentences can be difficult to follow. Also, the narrator keeps saying his great her husband is, but he seems like a real tosser.

The Farmhouse gives off very creepy vibes. Emily and Josh move to a farm in Nebraska after Emily's mother passes away. What was meant to be their new sanctuary quickly turns into a nightmare.

This one is a littler slower paced than I would have liked, but it did not skimp on being creepy. At times I was frustrated with Josh for how he responded to his wife. I will not say more to avoid any spoilers.

The setting is what really makes this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"The Farmhouse" delivers authentic supernatural tension but struggles with pacing issues. Chelsea Conradt successfully creates an unsettling atmosphere through disturbing elements like the mysteriously relocating barn and the haunting presence of Emily's mother's music drifting across abandoned fields. The isolated Nebraska farmhouse provides an ideal backdrop for this haunted tale, and Conradt demonstrates skill in building atmospheric dread.

Unfortunately, the narrative progression feels unnecessarily drawn out. The story spends excessive time cycling through repetitive scenes of Emily discovering unsettling phenomena while her husband Josh dismisses her experiences as grief-induced delusions. Their relationship dynamic becomes increasingly frustrating, with Josh's dismissive behavior undermining rather than enhancing the tension. The plot doesn't gain significant momentum until the final quarter, making the journey feel needlessly extended.

Despite these shortcomings, Conradt's atmospheric writing shows considerable promise for future works. When the supernatural elements finally intersect with the farm's dark history, the resolution proves satisfying. As a debut novel, "The Farmhouse" demonstrates potential but would have benefited from tighter editorial control. Horror enthusiasts who appreciate slow-burn narratives may find enough to enjoy, though readers seeking more immediate thrills might find their patience tested.

I’ll be honest—I struggled a bit with The Farmhouse. The pacing felt slow at times, and the paranormal elements didn’t quite deliver the level of creepiness I was hoping for. That said, this isn’t a critique of the writing itself. Chelsea Conradt does a fantastic job crafting an atmospheric Nebraska farm setting, and the characters are layered, flawed, and deeply human.

While the book leans more toward character-driven suspense than traditional thriller, Conradt weaves in meaningful themes, particularly around sexism and the weight of societal expectations. These elements felt powerful and timely, though I did find the relationship between Emily and Josh somewhat frustrating. As someone who’s single, I may not fully connect with the intricacies of a long-term partnership, but Emily’s reliance on Josh’s opinions occasionally felt at odds with the feminist undertones of the narrative.

The conclusion also felt a bit rushed given the slower buildup, and I was left wanting a more balanced resolution.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, twisty thriller, this may not be the best fit. But if you enjoy a slow-burn psychological story that explores themes of identity, sanity, and the pressures women face, The Farmhouse offers a thought-provoking and atmospheric read.

I'm a huge fan of unreliable narrator and this was recommended to me by Lish McBride, so I was pretty eager to get to it.

I liked Emily. She has a lot going on and is trying to make her way in this new version of her world. The layering of the grief, sleeplessness, and caffeine overload really helped to keep me wondering if it was really happening or all in her head. I will say all of the men in this story are complete asshats and need to be kicked repeatedly.

Plot wise, it's a bit of a slow and repetitive meandering towards the build up and reveal. The setting is eerie (seriously, corn is the worst) and Chelsea does a good job of setting the tone and once it gets going, it's a ride. I did want a little more from the ending as it felt slightly rushed; however, it was a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, for me this was a good and spooky debut and I look forward to Chelsea's future books.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

The Farmhouse by Chelsea Conradt is a debut thriller set in rural Nebraska. Hoping for a new beginning after her mother’s death, Emily Hauk moves into an old farmhouse with her husband, Josh. But their dream home quickly turns into a nightmare when Emily learns that every woman who lived there before her died mysteriously. As strange events unfold—like eerie noises and a barn that seems to shift—Emily is left to face the dark presence alone, with Josh refusing to believe her. She must uncover the truth before she becomes the next victim.

While I wanted to love this book and the premise really intrigued me, it unfortunately just fell flat for me. The book felt extremely long winded, and could have been at least a hundred pages shorter. The build-up to get to the climactic point of the book took too long, and it dragged in parts and struggled to hold my attention until the last 20% of the book. I don't regret reading it and thought it was a pretty good story overall, but it was just an average thriller for me that could have been improved by cutting out a lot of the detail.

This was a DNF for me. I could not get into the story. I felt like the repetiveness and the overused trope of hysterical wife was over done. I loved the premise for the book. Just not for me.

The Farmhouse starts off with an eerie atmosphere that pulls you in. Emily and her husband Josh move from California to the middle of nowhere Nebraska they just purchased. It doesn’t take long before weird things start happening that only Emily seems to notice. With a little digging Emily finds out the women who have previously lived in this house all seem to wind up dead. Could Emily be next?

I loved the creepy vibes of The Farmhouse. As a debut novel I felt the setting and atmosphere was well executed. I was able to stay engaged in the story, needing to know what comes next.

Personally the biggest flaw for me, and what brought my rating down to 3 stars was the non-believing husband trope. It was a bit excessive throughout and the constant making the wife feel delulu overpowered what could have been a great plot.

I still feel like The Farmhouse is worth recommending and I can’t wait to see what Chelsea Conradt has in store next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC opportunity. This is an honest and voluntary review.

Emily and Josh decide it's time for a fresh start, so the leave San Francisco and buy a farm in Nebraska. Emily starts to discover things that are just not right. She swears the barn is moving, the farm hand has a body in his truck and she hears music and screams in the middle of the night. Josh ignores her concerns and tells her she needs to sleep. Emily starts to learn about their new homes history and discovers that the previous owner died after her daughter went missing. As she learns more about the past, she experiences more terrifying situations, until Josh is forced to believe her.
This book was a bit of a slow read and it seemed to take awhile for the story to get moving, once it did, it was great.

This one was pretty good although for whatever reason it felt like it took me a long time to read. I didn’t love how the paranormal aspect was written but other than that it was a solid read!

** Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the digital ARC.

Shew, what a ride! This book totally gives off "What Lies Beneath" vibes and I'm here for it!

This book is about a couple moving from the city to Nebraska to get away from everybody and everything after the wife's mother passes. This was to be their fresh start in a secluded farm house. But things turn out to be not as ideal as she had hoped. While her husband is asleep or away on work, Emily has some strange experiences. Her husband, Josh, blames it all on her not taking her sleeping meds. She's hearing a voice, seeing things, believes the barn on the farm is moving around the property, and that a light keeps coming on in the window of the barn and playing her mother's favorite music. Is this all in her head, or are strange things happening on their farm? Is that why is was so easy for buy the farm?

I feel like I can't get too into this without spoiling the book, and I personally like reviews without spoilers. If you enjoyed the movie, "What Lies Beneath" and you enjoy creepy, ghosts, murder mystery, and trying to figure out if the narrator is reliable... this is the book for you!

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because it provided all the stuff I need for a creepy house book. I would highly recommend this book to anybody that's also a fan of creepy house books. It was an easy read. The characters were interesting, although I felt they could have been more fleshed out. Overall, it's a great read and I look forward to more books by this author.

“The Farmhouse” was a good read. It was a slow burn, not really picking up until about 70%. Once it picked up, it was creepy and suspenseful. I enjoyed Emily’s character as a whole but Josh was insufferable. He was the absolute worst.

Overall, the book was decent for a debut.