I really wanted to like this book! The synopsis was intriguing and had plenty of things that I usually like in books, but I never connected with any of the characters or really found my rhythm reading this. It was disjointed and the back and forth of reading reality vs. the manuscript just did not work for me. I couldn’t find a single sympathetic character, and the abrupt twists of the big reveal were too rapid to keep up with or enjoy. I know plenty of people will like this book, and I’m glad for them but I’m sad I’m not one of them.

After Deidre suffers a bizarre accident her sister Jewel rushes to her bedside to help her in any way she can. Which initially feels strange for Jewel, given that they are not close sisters. Deidre is living out Jewel’s dream of being a best-selling author, which seems to strain their relationship even more. Jewel finds herself back in their childhood home while trying to make sense of what led to Deidre’s accident when her publisher calls. Jewel answers and hears herself say she can finish the book Deidre has been working on to meet the tight deadline. As Jewel works her way through what must be the book in question, strange things begin to happen…

A HAUNTED MANUSCRIPT. This book was seriously insane. I knew I needed this IMMEDIATELY after how much I loved T. Marie Vandelly’s other book, Theme Music. This author can write some FREAKY scenes that will infiltrate your nightmares 🫠🫠 An Evil Premise was no exception!

Pick up An Evil Premise when it releases on August 12th 📚 OR read Theme Music ASAP because it is WILD

This book was EVERYTHING. OMG. I absolutely loved Vandelly’s debut Theme Music and this one was even better!! T. Marie Vandelly does horror well and knows how to shock readers with a handful of twists that come out of nowhere! 😱

An Evil Premise follows Jewel. She’s just learned that her sister, Deidre, was recently involved in a hit and run and is in a comatose state. Jewel leaves her home and goes to be with her sister in this time of distress. Jewel is thrown completely off guard by Deidre’s shocking physical state. Her face is completely disfigured and seems to be overtaken by a severe rash of sorts. Jewel stays at Deidre’s home nearby so she can continue to monitor her sister’s state. Meanwhile, Jewel has been contacted by Deidre’s publisher to finish her current novel she has been working on. There’s a deadline to meet and the book needs to be finished. Jewel is also an author but not sure she’s up for the task. She’s even more surprised to discover that it’s a horror novel. Her sister is a fantasy writer, so why all of sudden the horror genre? Jewel decides to take it on to help her sister anyways but soon discovers that this manuscript is indeed haunted and has a mind of its own.

Highest of recommendations! This is going to be such a huge book success when it’s released to the public. Horror fans with completely devour this and their minds may never recover… I’m sure in a doozy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing and the author for this ARC. An Evil Premise releases on August 12th, 2025.

Im not screaming you are!

I was soooo excited to see a new release from the author of “Theme Music” which was in my humble opinion an excellent horror book especially for a debut and so I was obviously extremely happy to see the author had published another book, and another horror no less.

Have no fear it absolutely lives up to expectation and I think I actually liked this one even more than theme music!

The premise follows Deidre who is hospitalized after a strange incident which leaves her disfigured with a mysterious rash and an inability to communicate. Despite not having a close relationship her sister Jewel rushes to her bedside and decides to try and help Deidre anyway she can. After going to her home and finding an unfinished manuscript and having a conversation with Deidre’s publisher she promises to try and help finish Deidre’s book by the publishing deadline..except there’s something kinda weird about the manuscript (and not just weird in the writing content but actually weird about the manuscript itself weird 😂)

This book was so unsettling! It was fun to watch Jewel begin to question everything and slowly unravel whilst trying to figure out if this is what happened to Deidre. I definitely felt a sense of unease whilst reading, if these events happened to me I would definitely lose it 😆

Please read this is you love a good psychological horror 🫣🫣 The story writes itself, literally 😂

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and T Marie Vandelly for the gifted copy!

Publishes - August 12th 2025

After LOVING Vandelly's "Theme Music" I had high hopes for this possession horror story; however I was sent a 'pre edited' copy which had no chapters, nor an paragraphs, which made it very hard to read and get into the storyline. What started out as what I thought was going to be a great 'Baby Jane Hudson' type of story of two grown woman, who happen to be sisters, AND happen to both be authors......one is suffer the consequences and after effects of an accident and some type of possession, turned into a book that I had to DNF at 46%. I really think that if I had had a physical copy or epub copy, I would have thoroughly loved this one too. So, I cannot give a rating to a book that I did not finish.

Woooow woow woow! Theme Music was great, An Evil Premise was EXCELLENT. I read A LOT of horror and this truly freaked me out. I actually had a nightmare whilst reading😅 if you don’t pick this up, you’re wrong🤷🏼‍♀️ Jewels sister is an author and unfortunately she’s in an accident and on deadline. Deidre’s editor enlists Jewel, also and author, to finish the novel. But things are not what they seem and Jewel is quickly in the midst of horror.

I loved this author's previous novel, Theme Music, and recommend it all the time. Sadly, this one didn't do it for me. I had a hard time caring about the characters and parts felt too silly for me to be scared. The interactions also felt awkward and not fully believable. There's unsettling aspects that reminded me a bit of Evil Dead, which was nice, though. The main idea was good.

Whoa!!!

This meta-fiction is seriously great. We follow Jewel, a writer who finds out her sister is in a coma, prompting her to move into her apartment and work on finishing her horror novel for her. When she becomes increasingly haunted, confused, and terrified, the reader begins to question what is real and what is fiction, just like Jewel.

This book is genuinely scary. I read it at night on kindle with my lights off, and had to tuck in my feet many times! I did not anticipate where the story would go, and it indeed kept me guessing until the very end. Highly recommend.

Another creepy book by T. Marie Vandelly. This book follows sisters Julie and Deidre. They’re both writers, but one happens to be writing something so creepy that it might have put her in a coma. The twists and turns in this book were so unexpected and kept me turning the pages till the very end. I hope I too, don’t meet the muse.

I'm (almost) always up to giving second chances to authors whose some previous books I didn't enjoy. I made no exception with this author. I didn't particularly like their previous book but wanted to try another one.
Sadly, it didn't work for me again, either.
The plot sounded interesting to me, and creepy too.
But the slowburn execution and character's development didn't clique with me.
Probably it's just me. Vandelly is not an author for my personal taste.
I cannot pinpoint anything essentially wrong with this book. It just isn't for me.

Wow wow wow like so good such a page turner I stayed up all night reading this book because I could not put it down so damn good I will recommend

Twisted, clever, and deeply unsettling. This one plays dirty with the “book within a book” trope and leans hard into psychological unraveling. It’s part possession horror, part writer’s nightmare, with a slow creep that turns downright nasty. A little meta, a little gooey, and a lot of fun if you like your horror brainy and bonkers.

A brand new addition to the abattoir that is T. Marie Vandelly's spine tingling writing. Just like her previous work, An Evil Premise makes me want to live with the lights on and a blanket over my head. So fun and perfect for Summerween!

I found this to be a slow-burn psychological horror with some body horror thrown in. I never anticipated that ending!

This book wasn't for me. I hoped in vain that the book would be suspenseful. There were come creepy moments (in a good way) and some good intentions, but the book didn't deliver.
The description drew me in but the narration was hard to follow at times.
The surprise moments towards the end (and at the end) were confusing rather than riveting.

Others that enjoy horror might enjoy this but it lacked the suspense and character development I enjoy.

I tried so hard to finish this book. Theme music was one of my favorite books I read when I first got into thrillers, but for some reason this one just didn't come together for me. I got about 18% in but it wasn't creepy enough to catch my attention. I plan to come back to it later when I have more time but it just didn't work for me right now. She is an amazing writer, but the premise was a bit slow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read the ARC. Based on the description of the book, I thought I would enjoy it a lot. It was slow and didn’t pick up for me. I didn’t connect with the characters.

‼️BANGER ALERT‼️ 😱😱😱😱
Oh-my-gawd was this book PHENOMENAL! A hundred pages into this and I immediately ordered Theme Music, her last novel. What does that tell you??? That I was absolutely HOOKED!

A tragic hit and run accident leaves Jewel’s sister, Deidre, in a coma at the hospital. Deidre is a bestselling author, unlike Jewel, self-published, who wishes she was.

Jewel decides to stay at her sister’s apartment to be close. She gets a call from Deidre’s literary agent, who is frantic, about a manuscript that has a deadline. She asks Jewel to finish it. Can Jewel finish it in time?

As Jewel is reading the found manuscript, strange things start to happen. Awful horrors are coming to life as she reads them from the pages.

HOLY HELL, THIS WAS OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD AMAZING! The twists will blow your MIND! 🤯 A favorite of the year! Outright creepy, gory at times and evil! I was seriously creeped out. Also, there were times I literally laughed out loud! The satirical humor is absolutely BRILLIANT! This is, without a doubt, a MUST READ FOR HORROR FANS! Add this to your TBR.. pre-order your copy NOW! YOU MUST READ THIS!

A GAZILLION ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#AnEvilPremise #TMarieVandelly
#BlackstoneInsiders #HorrorBooks

At some point in this dark meta-story, one of the characters says how you wouldn’t want to spend time inside a horror novel. Well, this is probably one of the books where I’d like to spend the least amount of time. Truly horrific, powerful images that feel like a punch in the stomach made me cringe. Jewel returns home when her sister Deirdre, a successful writer, is run over by a car and is in a coma. Deirdre is also afflicted by a disturbing skin condition. At her sister’s bedside, staying at her sister’s apartment, meeting Deirdre’s neighbors or taking over her unfinished manuscript; Jewel’s world starts turning more bizarre and soon it’s hard to tell what’s real. Vandelly takes a bit from Stephen King’s use of the creative process as a basis for horror, adds a huge helping of American Psycho and populates it with the most unsettling images. There are a lot of unpredictable twists. I didn’t connect with Jewel or found her likable, but I was still rooting for her. Much of her inner dialogue is an analysis of writing, reading and the creative process. She is aware of the world of horror and tries to figure out what’s happening with a clear head, even if it’s not always possible. Again, I cannot stress how creepy some of scenes are. The Shining twins level of goosebumps. The final part was a little disorganized, but I think that it was on purpose. You may want to read this with all the lights on.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Blackstone Publishing.

I loved THEME MUSIC, so I was excited to read AN EVIL PREMISE. It started out strong, ominous, creepy from the jump. Then, a lot happened that made the story fast paced and thrilling, but I also lost the “why” of the story. The thread didn’t pick up for me, there were several reveals, but I wanted to understand why these things were happening, and I don’t believe that I had complete clarity on it.