Arc review ✨

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early audio copy in exchange for an honest review! Some parts ahead are maybe spoiler ish so warnings there but if you are a horror buff, you will not be surprised by them at all, I know I wasn’t.

This one follows a popular horror plot of “Young family moves to a what anyone could see is a too go to be true idyllic small town filled with red flags for a better life” and I figured this would be predictable (it was) but I so badly needed a fun and fast paced pallet cleanser read in between all my literary fiction and over the top complicated fantasy trilogy binges though.. so I kept listening… and waiting.

Note here, the audio narrator did well! I didn’t mind them.

First off, poor Peter. Thats pretty much the extent of my emotional range in this book, I could care less about anyone else. I saw what was coming for him from the first chapter. Anywho, overall this book was not as exciting as I had hoped. I was expecting more action I think. The author could have just went ham with this, all the ingredients were there… it all felt so safe and that’s why it’s a lower rating. I was kind of bored. They did one of the “sacrifices” by just putting someone to sleep almost peacefully…

The ending felt off as well… I do love a happy ending as much as the next person but they got out relatively unscathed and everyone just goes to prison?…. Again, safe. That’s how I’ll sum this one up. It wasn’t bad, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. Kind of a bummer.

⭐️⭐️.5 rounded up cause goodreads makes me round.

🖤

*Gothictown* is an eerie, slow-burning gothic thriller that left me feeling unsettled—in the best way. While the story dragged at first, it gradually built an atmosphere of creeping dread that kept me hooked. The audiobook’s unsettling tone and suspenseful moments made for a disturbing yet compelling listen.

I especially loved that the protagonist is a mother, adding a unique perspective and emotional depth. Her strength in standing against a delusional cult and its narcissistic, power-hungry men was one of the highlights of the story.

The narration enhanced the haunting atmosphere, and the production was clean. Though the pacing wasn’t always perfect, the chilling twists made up for it. If you enjoy slow-burn gothic horror with cult themes and a strong female lead, *Gothictown* is worth a listen.

From the start, you knew the main character, Billy, and her husband, Peter, and daughter, Meredith, were in for some rough times. The suspense was amazing as they moved to Juliana, Georgia, and started meeting the locals, who had strange customs and somewhat diluted stories of the creepy history of the town. With time, Peter especially deteriorated under the strain of the strange dreams the whole family experienced, haunted by ghosts of the past. I found myself wondering when the shoe was going to drop for Billy and her family and eager to find out what horrors awaited them. The narration did a great job of portraying the tone of the novel. Fans of spooky, gothic thrillers will love this book.

READ IT IF YOU'RE INTEREST IN OR LIKED
- Creepy small town vibes
- Cozy horror blended with dark thriller
- Cults
- Southern gothic
- Folk horror
- Murder mystery
- Too good to be true fixer-upper
- The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
- The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

BRIEF REVIEW
Saving my favorite of the week for last. This book could have gone in so many different directions but where it ended up was not what I expected AT ALL. I think this may have had one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. I don't usually like slow burns but in this Southern Gothic story it was just enough action to keep you unsettled the entire time.

Special thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for advanced audiobook for honest review

Welcome to Gentle Juliana! Where if you treat her right, good things will be passed on to you, BUT wake the sleeping bear and everything you love could be lost. Set in northern area of Georgia, Juliana is an idyllic small town that is postcard perfect. So much so, that it captures hearts of Billy and her family with a great incentive to move. The old families worship Juliana, and they will stop at nothing to keep the old ways alive.

Cassandra Campbell was amazing! Keeping the many characters in line. The different southern dialects and the main character being from New York.

5 Star read & audiobook, highly recommend.

I'm not a huge fan of horror but I love an eerie setting and a sense of dread and unease coursing through a story. Gothictown was that exactly. Not jump scares but a vague disquieting feeling.

When Billie is offered the chance to move her family from an expensive life in NYC to a home in a small, southern town for only $100, she jumps at the chance. All is not what it seems in the town however, as Billie, Peter, and Meredith soon learn.

I enjoyed the narration and I think it was perfectly paced. For a book like this, how the story is read makes such a difference. I highly recommend this version.

3.5 stars rounded up. Gothictown is a slow-burn Southern Gothic steeped in eerie atmosphere, though its mystery prioritizes creeping dread over thrills. Carpenter evocatively renders Juliana, Georgia—a town masking rot beneath Southern charm—while channeling Shirley Jackson’s unease and Gillian Flynn’s small-town decay. Protagonist Billie’s relocation, lured by pandemic incentives, intrigues, but her baffling choices (dismissing glaring red flags) undercut tension. Some subplots, such as the mother joining a cult, did not fully come to fruition to bolster the story. While the finale delivers poetic justice, its emotional flatness disappoints, leaving resolutions logical but hollow. A compelling, if uneven, dive into darkness where setting eclipses character depth.

Thank you to RBmedia for the audiobook ARC!

This book was interesting, but slightly disappointing. I loved the eerie cover, and yes I know judging a book by the cover is a no no, but I am the queen of cover judging and a lot of the times it works out well for me. The title- Perfection. The Local-fantastic. When you look at all of that you have to ask, why were you disappointed.

To begin with, I liked the story, I was fond of the main character, I mean she drove drunk and had a list of things I really disliked , and I would never be friends with a person like her. The local was totally my vibe, I can not pass up a creepy old house, however I should, they never seem to be the cozy quaint old houses the characters think they are. But like all good Gothic stories, you need an overly creepy house, this did give me that.

Now here is the kicker, the story as I said was good, but it wasn't really creepy or gothic, other than the house. I felt that I was reading a domestic family story with just a bit of creep thrown in. Yes it had some murder, but it just didn't have what I was expecting it to have.

BUT, please do not let my review stop you from reading. It is a decent story regardless, and there will be people out there, that want just that little hint of creepiness and not the huge amount I wanted.

Gothictown was an entertaining blend of B-rated horror and mystery that kept me engaged throughout. The plot and pacing were a bit all over the place, but this only added to the chaotic energy of the story. I particularly enjoyed the experience of loving to dislike the female main character—her actions made her both frustrating and fascinating to follow. Despite the unpredictability of the plot, there were enough tense moments to keep me hooked. It was an enjoyable ride overall.

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Emily Carpenter masterfully crafts an eerie and atmospheric thriller in Gothictown, a suspenseful tale that lures readers into a seemingly idyllic town where nothing is quite as it seems. When a family moves into this picturesque community, the offer they receive is too good to refuse—but as they soon discover, everything comes at a price.

Carpenter excels at building tension, weaving a slow-burning mystery that keeps readers hooked as the layers of the town’s dark secrets gradually unravel. The suspense intensifies with each chapter, leading to a series of shocking twists that make for an unforgettable reading experience. The setting itself becomes a character, its gothic charm masking an unsettling truth beneath the surface.

With a gripping plot, well-developed characters, and an atmosphere thick with intrigue, Gothictown is a must-read for fans of dark suspense and psychological thrillers. Carpenter delivers a compelling narrative that lingers long after the final page.

After losing her restaurant due to the pandemic and her mother running off to join a cult, Billie Hope is lost and waiting for a sign. Then, an email appears with an offer she can't refuse. The town of Juliana, Georgia started an initiative to revitalize their town and offered Billie an old beautiful Victorian home for the measly price of $100 and a business grant to start a new restaurant. Her husband, Peter, Billie, and their daughter Meredith decide to take the chance and prepare for a fresh start. Shortly after arriving, this town seems too good to be true and is completely picture perfect with some of the most warm and inviting citizens. Billie thinks she's hit the jackpot, but Peter isn't too sure. It seems that this sunshine-y Georgia town is hiding something much darker than they could have ever expected.

I'm not sure how I completely feel about Gothictown. The premise was super interesting and unique with great potential. I definitely expected to have much more present horror elements, but it turned out to be much more of a cozy mystery than a typical Gothic or Southern horror. However, with the expectation of such, it made this book drag a bit for me. Not to mention, Billie was so unlikeable in so many ways. Unfaithful to her husband, completely self absorbed, and would forget to even mention the existence of her 6 year old daughter for long stretches of time.

The audiobook was also just okay, but I did have a hard time getting fully immersed into the story. Not sure if that was an audio problem or a plot problem in general. This one wasn't for me, but I do think a lot of people would like if this if they went in with the expectation of a mystery book over a horror book!

Thank you to Netgalley, Emily Carpenter, and RB Media for this advanced listener copy!

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me the opportunity on the ARC audio. This was a first for me on a book of this style. The story did start out great and had me hooked. However, 50% through it lost me. I had hopes for a scary and creepy book. It was neither of these for me.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of Gothictown.

The start of the book had a promising start. It seemed to draw on though. Nothing really exciting happened till about the 64% mark.
The prologue pretty much gave away what was going to happen in the book. That’s why I don’t read the prologue, but since it was an audiobook i did.
The characters weren’t that great to me. The FMC was a whiny baby most of the story about how her mom moved away to live her own life.
Then the ending was a total disconnect from the whole book.

This novel stressed me out in a good way. It concludes semi-happily but Billie Hope, the main character, and her family are really put through the ring. Billie sees an email in her inbox one day from the Juliana, GA Initiative. In exchange for moving down south and opening a business, she and her family can purchase a huge Victorian mansion for$100 and receive another $30,000 toward her new business. Billy and her husband and young daughter jump at the chance. The offer seems too good to be true and in actuality, it really is.
From the first day, the family experiences insomnia and worry. Their family cat becomes feral and Billie's husband knows there's something rotten in Juliana. But Billie is thriving and even though she knows there are issues, she's content to work through any problems. However, when her husband up and leaves after another argument, Billie finally tries to piece together what is actually happening in Juliana.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books for this digital audio e-arc.*

Gothictown by Emily Carpenter is a Southern slightly horror novel set against the backdrop of a pandemic. The concept of the story is intriguing, and the atmosphere is effectively eerie, with a strong cult-like vibe permeating the town. I found the ending to be a bit too neatly wrapped up, the story kept me hooked from start to finish. The narrator was excellent.

Disjointed, needed another few rounds of edits, if it was supposed to be a modern gothic horror it fell horribly short. I honestly DNFd it 50% through. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did.

This is a southern gothic novel with elements of mystery, horror, and thriller. The timeline skips between Billie’s new life and dark events throughout the town’s history, giving the reader insight that Billie is missing. This does add to the growing sense of dread and unease, but also means some major plot points are revealed well before Billie herself figures them out. I found that the plot veers between folk horror and cosy mystery, never quite landing on either side for long.

I thought the audiobook was very well done - the narrator balanced the accents well, and it worked well for Billie’s inner monologue.

3.5 ⭐️ This was a fun thriller/mystery to listen to on audio 🎧 my only complaint was that the towns ‘attractive hot guy’s’ voice did not match the voice the narrator was giving 😅

If you want a thriller with creepy culty town vibes then this is it 👏🏼

2 ⭐️ 4🎧

DNF @54%

This book had everything it needed to be a great horror read. A deal too good to be true, a mysterious town with a deadly past, terrifying dreams and a FMC stop stupid and selfish to realize there is anything amiss.

I don’t expect to love or relate to MCs in a a psychological thriller but Billie was entirely unlikeable and I found it very hard to find any sympathy for her. Her mommy issues were staggering, especially since she was married to a psychiatrist or was it a psychologist? Either way. She just made one bad decision after another. Poor Peter and Mer were the only characters I felt bad for and wanted better for them.

I ultimately DNF because I found myself struggling to pick it up after setting it down. I did skip ahead to see how it ended because I was hoping for one outcome but was disappointed.

Cassandra Campbell did a great job narrating. I’m not sure I would have made it as far as I did if not for the great job she did.

Gothic town

Juliana, Georgia is an ancient town with a dark, yet unknown to the public, history. Starting with a history of what makes the town special then flipping to the future in a post-pandemic world. Billie receives an email that feels too good to be true. For a small cost, through the Juliana initiative, she can get a new house in a Victorian like city and start up grant funds for a business. While it felt too good to be true, it also was typical for towns to rebuild their population and economy post- COVID.

She decides to take the bait and moves to the small town with her husband and daughter. Their welcoming is whimsical and has the family feeling like this is the best choice they’ve ever made. Shortly after arrival though, things start to feel off. The citizens of the town, the nightmares they start getting, creepy house sounds, and weird violent behavior coming from Peter, her husband.

Creepy small town vibes ! Love these kind of books that make you think, are they crazy? Is something paranormal going on? Am I going crazy and even connecting the right dots here?

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 3/25/25.