I had such high hopes for this one because haunted houses are my favorite! Play Nice fell flat for me in many ways, so unfortunately it will not be taking the top place as a new favorite.

This was pretty tame in comparison to Rachel’s usual scare level. I almost wanted it to be more spooky! The pacing was fairly slow and nothing happened until the half way point of the story which made it feel like a bit of a drag to get through at times. Sadly this was missing the suspense element and feelings of unease I always love in her books. The ending was also so abrupt that I didn’t want to believe it was over!

The main character in this story felt like nothing unique! Most of Rachel’s characters start to feel the same and this was no exception. They’re all alcoholics with a careless attitude and outlook on life which can get slightly irritating.

What I did really love was the book within a book element that kept the story progressing at a steady pace, while also adding some intrigue.

Overall, I loved the concept of the story as a whole. Fighting off your own demons and grief despite childhood trauma and seeing the different forms it can take is such a realistic topic I can see so many people relating to!

Thank you to Berkeley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Play Nice is a fresh, fun twist on the possessed house trope. This book taps into the terror of having your sanctuary turned against you and asks: what happens when that chaos gets livestreamed? It’s haunted house horror reimagined for the influencer era, where the walls, like followers, are always watching.

I especially enjoyed the way the author uses the demon’s presence to mess with stereotypes about dramatic, “difficult” women. There’s a sharp feminist current running under the bloodshed, along with smart commentary on how families either bond or break under pressure. It also touches on the idea that influencers often start by curating a brand and end up curating their entire lives.

A solid pick for horror fans with a feminist streak, a soft spot for underdogs, and ladies who are done playing nice.

I've read most of Harrison's books but this one is my favourite. She does haunted houses right. Demons, drama and dysfunction could we ask for anything more?!

This book follows three sisters who are debating attending their mother's funeral. The youngest one Clio does and finds herself gifted the home they shared with their mother post parents divorce. Problem is the house is haunted, or is it?! And it's up to Clio to uncover the truth, but she has to do it without her sister's help because they want nothing to do with that damn house.

This book freaked me out. It takes a good writer to do that. And Harrison is GOOD. There was a good amount of breath holding and feeling that "afraid of the dark" feeling because you don't know what's out there.

This book also provides a good amount of family dysfunction and drama which adds a nice flair to the scary aspects of the haunted house.

TLDR; great haunted house story, I LOVED IT.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

What a fun read! Clio inherits her mother's house and decides to flip it, haunted house stories be damned. After all, her mother was a little kooky...and definitely drank too much. Besides, it'd show her older sisters that yes, she contributes, and yes, she's reliable. But the more time she spends in the house and reading her mother's self-published haunted house family history, the more she comes to realize that she's not alone. There's something taunting her.

Of course, we have family drama, a cute boy next door, and strange happenings all as she tries to manage her online influencer persona. I both loved and hated her family, in all the ways that make you love and hate your own. They all have their secrets, all trying to hold everything together--especially when Clio looks like she's going down a paranoid path...

This was just so good and entertaining, and I loved how meta it was with a book within a book. Definitely a fun read, especially as we creep up onto October!

another solid book from Harrison! I usually prefer darker and grittier horror but her stuff is always so readable and she writes such fleshed out and relatable narrators - i really enjoyed Clio in this one. A very obvious ‘inner demons’ allegory but it was a fun story with some hard hitting themes and the horror ended up being a little more gruesome than expected. I’ve unintentionally read several haunted house books over the past few weeks and this was the strongest of them.

When influencer Clio Barnes inherits her childhood home, once declared “possessed” by her late mother, she plans a viral renovation. But as family secrets unravel, she starts to wonder if the haunting might be real.

I’ve never met a Rachel Harrison book I didn’t love. Her writing is dark, funny, smart, and full of bite. She nails the millennial voice. As a Xennial whose cultural references lean more Millennial, I can honestly say she gets it.

Clio is prickly, performative, and clearly wounded—precisely the kind of complicated, messy character I love. And the sister dynamic? Spot on. As someone who grew up with three sisters, that part felt personal. The haunted house vibes and possession storyline absolutely delivered. My only complaint? I tore through it too fast and didn’t want it to end.

I've read quite a few Rachel Harrison books, so I thought I knew what I was in for. I was wrong.

Like all the best haunted house stories, this book asks a fundamental question: are houses haunted, or are people? I don't want to give so much away, but the best possible answer is... kinda both? And that's what Harrison is playing with in this book.

She once again nails the super relatable protagonist, even though on paper, Clio is nothing like me. She's involved in fashion, she's an influencer, she lives a high life in New York - and yet, and yet. She's also fractured (I won't say broken, because her will is something else) in ways that are deep and ugly and also, somehow, so so endearing. She is, to be blunt, a little shit a lot of the time, and she knows it, but Harrison still makes her feel fleshed out, makes her feel alive, and makes me want to root for her.

After the death of her estranged mom, Clio returns to her childhood home - the one that is supposedly haunted - and this rips whatever scar tissue had built up around her family. While Harrison's books are a usually a little more obvious with their supernatural elements (even if there is still some doubt), this one pulled it off SO WELL. Even a full 3/4s of the way through, I was still unsure if the house was the problem, or if it was simply Clio and the dysfunction of her family. It was a wonderful exploration of a family with all the niceties taken away, just brutally honest - which is what Clio wanted the whole time.

While I normally read Harrison's books for a fun (but spooky!) romp, I think this one is my favourite. Yes, it skirts that line a little bit, and yes, it is, at times, more character study than plot-driven horror, but... I loved it. I've already started recommending it to friends. While some authors struggle with this balance, this book absolutely nails it.

As always, Rachel Harrison delivers a nuanced book that looks at a larger, feminist issue through the lens of a horror monster trope. She expands it beyond the "demon" into a metaphor that cuts through the centuries long "she's hysterical" method of silencing women. She references Jane Eyre, acknowledging the long history of this problem, and shows us how it's a problem we still have. I tabbed, highlighted and annotated my physical ARC more than any other book I've read this year. Impeccable story. Her best yet.

Rachel Harrison continues to remind us why she is one of the masters of modern horror. This book got under my skin and kept me guessing until the very end.

Play Nice is a wickedly smart reinvention of the haunted house novel! Harrison swaps creaky floorboards and cold spots for ring lights, trauma denial, and Instagram-perfect renovations. With a biting sense of humor, Rachel Harrison delivers another genre-bending gem that is downright chilling.

At the center is Clio Louise Barnes, a woman who’s spent her adult life crafting an image of control and curated success. A stylist and influencer with a glossy social feed and a beauty-first brand, Clio’s life looks effortless. But her past is anything but. When her estranged mother—author of a memoir about raising three daughters in a demon-infested house—dies suddenly, Clio inherits the very home that supposedly started it all. Her sisters want nothing to do with it. Clio? She sees content and answers to her past.

But as Clio rolls up her sleeves to transform her childhood house into a viral sensation, strange things start to happen—subtle at first, then unsettling, then downright horrifying. Is the house really possessed? Or is Clio simply unraveling under the weight of long-repressed truths?

This book works on multiple levels: as a haunted house story, a family drama, a satire of influencer culture, and a slow-burning psychological thriller. Harrison excels at capturing the thin line between performance and reality—what we show the world versus what we bury deep inside. Clio’s voice is equal parts sardonic and vulnerable, and as the façade cracks, her emotional descent becomes just as compelling as any supernatural scare.

What’s truly haunting in Play Nice isn’t just the demon (don’t worry—there’s one of those, too). It’s the way trauma seeps through the walls, the way memory distorts, and the way a child’s need to believe in a “normal” life can become its own kind of possession.

#playnice #rachelharrison #Berkley

This dark and witty novel is definitely one of a kind! It was unlike anything that I have ever read. It was not just about a haunted house, it was also about a multilayered dysfunctional family. The things that these characters said to one another made me laugh, which made the novel feel more realistic and balanced. I really enjoyed how this book is fast paced, but it explains everything at the same time. It has a strong build up and it ended up being well executed. While this book did give me some laughs, it also made me emotional, tense and sad. I loved the mystery vibes it had! It also came with horror, that slowly sneaks up on you! The twist that this book had, I did not see coming at all!

“Play Nice” is a novel that revolves around a woman named Clio and her sisters. Clio is forced to confront the demons of her past, while attempting to renovate her old childhood home, after her and her sisters’ Mom passes away. The Mom named Alex wrote a book prior to her death and Clio ends up finding it and reading it. As Clio’s memories start to resurface, she begins to realize that maybe her Mom wasn’t as crazy as she thought! Overall, I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

This novel is perfect for fans that love to read about hauntings, family trauma and a questionable reality! Content warnings include child abuse, grief, death, self harm, substance abuse and violence.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Rachel Harrison and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This book is expected to be published on September 9, 2025!

Clio Barnes is the youngest of the Barnes girls, she doesn't remember much from her childhood when they lived with her estranage mother, Alex on 6 Edgewood Drive. The house that their mother lived in was haunted by a demon and Alex wrote a book about it all. The sisters have sworn to their father that they would never read the book and so far they have all kept that promise. When Clio finds out that her mother died of a heart attack the Barnes sisters meet at their father's house in New Jersey to process the information. Clio is the only one that wants to go to the funeral, while Leda and Daphine want nothing to do with their mother. Upon learning that their mother never sold the "haunted house", Clio decides that she is going to fix it up and sell the house against her family's wishes. Now alone in the house Clio is hearing things and seeing things could this be the demon that lives in the house or her own imagination from reading the book that she found in her old bedroom that has notes written to her by Alex. The more Clio read the book the more she is remembering from her childhood. This book reminded me of How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. Play Nice is a fast paced read that will have on the edge of your seat until the very end. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Berkley for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

Rating 3.5 rounded up

Quick very high level summary.
Clio’s mother claimed her childhood home was possessed by a demon and the idea consumed her so much that it lead to a messy divorce. Now as an adult, Clio has inherited the house. Over the years Clio and her sisters have always dismissed her mothers claims as mental illness but as she begins renovations she the sinister and disturbing events begin.

My Take.
At first the MC Clio, seemed like someone I would dislike completely in person. Which worried me because once a character is not likable to me I really do not feel and kind of connection so I never feel an emotional attachment. Without that emotional attachment the rest of the story does not seem to have the impact it should. With that being said, I eventually came around to Clio. What I truly enjoyed were the portions of the story where Clio is reading her mom’s memories. For me it made the story darker, more tragic and so much more interesting. For me Rachel Harrison books are fast entertaining reads. Not overly scary, nothing too complex just pure fun.

YES, just yes! I loved every second of this. I didn’t think anything could compare to Cackle, but I was wrong—plus, this might be Rachel Harrison’s scariest book yet. I loved the main character, the romance plot, the haunting family dynamic, and the story being revealed through a novel within a novel… loved it all! No one does cozy horror like Rachel Harrison.

Can you please just play nice? 😊

Rachel Harrison does not miss. Play Nice may be my favorite of her novels, which says a lot, because I couldn’t get enough of her last book, So Thirsty.

Clio Louise Barnes has it all. Beauty, impeccable style, the perfect Instagram feed, a rotation of hookups, and lots of family drama and emotional baggage. When her two sisters, Daphne and Leda, inform her that their mother, Alexandra, has passed, she’s not sure how to feel about it. Can you grieve a mother who went crazy and abandoned you because your house was haunted? And what if said haunted house was now yours?

Clio figures it’s time to go all Joanna Gaines on this house, because it can’t actually be haunted, right? She’ll fix it up, get some good reno content for Instagram, and call it a day. The smiley face gouged into the wall is really making her question things, though...

Play Nice is perfect for a haunted house story lover. Add in the messiness of family, a sassy FMC, and a really, really creepy demon and you have a perfect horror novel. I’ve seen many people say that they don’t like the character Clio, but honestly, I’m obsessed with her. I love when FMCs are imperfect, sassy, and sometimes downright unlike-able. Harrison knows how to capture the essence of being a woman and make relatable characters. This is her creepiest novel to date and one you have to read this Halloween season.

You’ll like this book if you love:
-family drama
-hot neighbors
-sassy/bratty FMCs
-demons who like to draw
-a fixer-upper haunted house
-breakdowns that rival 2007 Britney Spears

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the e-ARC of this book.

The queen of "millennial horror" does it again. Another story with an angsty female protagonist taking on one of horror's most popular tropes: a haunted house. This story feels reminiscent of Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House -- with hints of A Head Full of Ghosts by Tremblay -- but Harrison's style and incredible dialogue makes it feel wholly unique. If you like family trauma mixed in to your horror, you're going to love this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First, can I just say how much I love this cover??? A haunted house story plus dysfunctional family drama sign me up! Clio returns to her hometown after the death of her mom, who she hasn’t had contact with since she was young, to find she has inherited a house her mom claimed was possessed by a demon. Her family called her crazy. Clio’s memories from that time are hazy. So what else can she do but fix the house up and sell it. Then she can get back to her life. But being back in her mom’s home is stirring up memories and just maybe her mom was telling the truth.

I don't really think this is much of a horror book. It felt less demon-y and more dysfunctional and psychological. I kept expecting the haunted house aspects to pick up the farther I got into the book and then realized it really wouldn't happen.

I do know there will be a large group who love this book, but it wasn't doing it for me.

I seriously, seriously enjoyed this. I don’t read Horror very often, but I’m always a fan of the supernatural, and while the demons I tend to read about have more sex appeal, the one in Play Nice is on a whole other level of creepy—and honestly, I will say maybe a tad bit endearing. Okay, so, if you read my review and then read the book and call me a psycho for saying that I wouldn’t judge you, but honestly Rachel Harrison has such a way of characterizing everyone in this that even though I would never dream of being friends with someone like Clio, she’s is so unapologetically her that it endeared me. A brat, spoiled princess who cries too many crocodile tears, and brutally honest about all of it. Her demon—my guy uses too many emojis for me to not giggle at a few parts where maybe I shouldn’t have giggled. There’s a lot that happens in this, and to avoid spoilers I can’t say too much, but for my first foray into horror in a while, I think Rachel Harrison has set the bar really high. Suspenseful, dark, creepy, but also at times sweet, funny, and emotional, Play Nice is a roller coaster that I highly recommend.

I loved this book, which is not entirely surprising, considering I usually love everything Rachel Harrison publishes. I think she's a great author. I believe Harrison masterfully weaves a narrative that is both unsettling and darkly humorous, pulling you into a world where the mundane takes a sinister turn. The characters are incredibly well-drawn, making their descent into the bizarre all the more impactful, and the tension builds with a relentless, almost suffocating grip. If you're looking for a horror novel that's smart, original, and genuinely unsettling, "Play Nice" is a must-read that will linger in your thoughts long after you've turned the final page.