I felt a personal connection with parts of this novel; just like Veronica and Star, my mother and I were also the only ones there for my grandmother in the end and I actually ended up furnishing my apartment with my grandmothers furniture luckily I did not encounter any cursed or haunted pieces of furniture but reading this book made me appreciate that I have her items.
I definitely was not expecting the twist in this book, I actually had to set my kindle down and walk away for a minute because I was shocked!

No spoilers!

I really enjoyed this book. It is fairly short and gets right to the point, but still allows for some story weaving to be done. This was a unique read. I've never come across a book like this before for multiple reasons. In my opinion, thus is one of those books you just have to read to understand how good it is.

I had never read anything written by Wendy before but I really enjoyed CREDENZA.

I like just a touch of horror and this was a nice (actually kind of a gross) story and a quick read.

The relationship between the main character and her daughter was interesting, as well as the relationship between her and her own mother and grandmother.

I thought the pacing was both a bit too fast and a bit too slow. I know, I know. I think maybe we needed more character development from the main character's mom and grandmother.

Nonetheless, this would be a good story for those who like antiques and wonder about the history of items. I'm sure there are cursed antiques floating around out there. :)

Thank you NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for an e-copy of CREDENZA to review.

I rate CREDENZA four out of five stars.

I don’t typically read horror, but in searching to expand my genres, I was given Credenza. I was a little concerned going into this that I wouldn’t enjoy it because I’m terrified of all that goes bump in the night. To my surprise, this was a really enjoyable read, more of cozy horror in my opinion—but that’s probably just me trying to be hopeful during the tame parts. The author's writing style was easy to follow, and the way the story progressed kept me interested enough to finish this in one evening.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this for my honest review.

Thank You NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the ARC!

This book had so much wonderful haunted blends and suspense within family drama! The world building is wonderfully eerie and haunted and there's creepy heirlooms at every corner, you can't tell if its haunted or there's something darker looming. The twists and tension always keep you on the edge of your seat. There were just a few things that needed more clarification, but the language itself flowed so well it always kept you interested.

I was able to get this ARC through NetGalley.

Veronica, used to handling things on her own gets thrown into a dark and horrifying reality. When her grandmother dies, she inherits her credenza. Taking it home Veronica plans on making use of it with her daughter Star.

Once she gets it home though, Veronica starts experiencing weird things. Why is she seeing her dead grandmother, why do strange things keep happening at home? Why is her daughter Star hearing whispering coming from the credenza?

This book had me in its claws the ENTIRE read. I couldn’t wait to get home to see how it ended. There were plenty of twists and turns, with some nostalgia thrown in as well. The ending had me floored and wanting to know if anything else evil is to come… I definitely would recommend this book to anyone craving a good dark thriller.

We love a Florida horror story! This was a relatively quick read at 234 pages and had an easy pace that kept me hooked. I enjoyed the complicated matriarchy themes and diving into the back stories of the four women (1 child)'s life. The novel dives into what we pass down our family tree both physically, mentally and spiritually. I love a haunted object, cursed family trope. It was definitely a lighter horror read than I am used to and it didn't get gorey until the end.

This novel took a real turn that I did not see coming. It was interesting enough, but it did leave me wanting after such a big lead up. There were also a few inconsistencies and plot holes that needed plugging.

Thank you NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publish House for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Deliciously creepy, makes me not want to flip furniture ever again.

I love books that have a creep factor attached to perfectly innocuous objects! A monkey doll, a couch? A credenza! Why not?

In my mind, true horror is the one that sneaks up on you while you're busy doing something else and you find yourself distracted from your task, heart racing and hair on end.

Hello, you sneaky piece of furniture!

Enjoy the creepy.

I grabbed this off of Netgalley to read on a whim, and no regrets.

Am I a sucker for a pink cover? Yeah I am but it was in the horror section, so that’s my story.
I loved a story where someone dies ( lord was that morbid lol ) and they will someone some thing, sometimes its a house and sometimes its a uh supernatural credenza possible from hell.

Veronica has this covered, she has everything covered, kind of have too when you always have to do everything on your own, so hauling this piece of furniture home, not a big deal, and after always having to work for everything, I know the feeling of finally getting something nice for free, and all you need to do is get it home.

When things get weird, and a creepy guy shows up wanting the credenza, you start to wonder, what secrets was granny hiding ?
This isn’t what you think, but it is what you think, I really did think I knew exactly what I was getting into with this book, but I was so wonderfully surprised to get much more.

This wont be my last book by Wendy, this was beautiful and horrifying and some how wholesome, with twists that kept me on my toes, wondering, what really is going on with this family and this credenza, is it just a simple cursed object or are there more factors at play, making things, complicated and crazy in a way no one really expected?

Check it out.

Wendy Dalrymple, a queen of pink horror, is at her best with Credenza. Her "cursed object" novel portrays strong character voice and pacing that centers the lore of a haunted family credenza. I recommend this title to lovers of Wendy's work, cozy horror lovers, and a reader who is looking for explore pink horror.

Thank you to Quill & Crow Publishing House, NetGalley & Wendy Dalrymple for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4 stars.
Genre(s): horror.

Overall impression: a fast-paced and quirky pink horror novel that revolved around a very unassuming piece of furniture. I really liked the backstory to the credenza and could have easily spent more time going down a rabbit hole to learn about the evil wood that it was crafted from. The rest of the story was exciting and unpredictable, with lots of twists and turns. I found the characters to be really relatable and their reaction to supernatural events to be very realistic. I had a lot of fun reading this!

Tropes:
➵ Single mum
➵ Family heirlooms
➵ Haunted furniture
➵ Evil book
➵ Helpful or harmful ghosts
➵ Mystery men in black
➵ Rituals & human sacrifice
➵ Secrets & betrayal
➵ Flawed characters
➵ Not everything is as it seems
➵ Not everyone survives
➵ Happy-for-now (HFN)

⤷ Plot:
The story was a mix of plot- and character-driven. Veronica inherited an evil piece of furniture from her deceased grandmother and was subject to hallucinations, unsavoury characters and deadly rituals. At the same time, she had to mend broken relationships, be a steady presence for her frightened daughter and redefine her identity as life evolved. There were a few twists towards the end which I wasn't expecting and it had an open 'happy-for-now' ending that left me a bit unsettled (which I don't mind at all in horror books).

⤷ Characters:
Veronica and her family were really interesting and had very complex relationships. Generational trauma and mental illness were unpacked and we got to see the start of the healing process between Veronica and her mother/ex-husband. I found the characters to be very relatable with their flawed personalities, ability to adapt and grow, and responses to supernatural events. There was a lot of depth to the story which made it even more intriguing to read.

⤷ World-building:
The initial setup for the story was really well done and it had me hooked. The first scene showed where the wood came from that was then crafted into the credenza and we got to see some of the early horrors it brought to people through newspaper clippings and flashback/old POV's trickled throughout the story. I wish there was a bit more time spent describing the old days and how the wood actually grew from evil. It was glossed over at one point and I felt like it was a missing part of the story. The world-building did ramp up a lot towards the end and we were confronted with some grotesque scenes involving cannibalism, rituals and sacrifice. It certainly felt like a horror book in the last few chapters!

⤷ Writing:
The story had a great flow and it was a very quick read. I liked that we got to see the different generations cope with the credenza through past POV scenes - it helped build a few of the characters' backstories up and made it easier to understand how they ended up the way they were. I'll definitely read more of Wendy's books in the future.

A short, fun, horror-tinged romp. I love haunted houses, and cursed furniture is adjacent to that so I enjoyed myself with this one. It's nothing groundbreaking, doesn't explain itself very well, and rushes at a breakneck speed to the conclusion - these aren't necessarily bad things, just observations. If you're looking for a creepy, easy summer read, this has got you covered.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy.

I went into this book completely blind. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even know what a credenza was before I started reading, but I figured it out quickly and flew through this short read.

The pros: This book is written well and the creepy scenes did a good job of creeping me out. Veronica is a relatable main character and her story was very real.

The cons: I didn’t find the plot very exciting. I love a good haunted house story, but I don’t know if I’m crazy about haunted furniture. I also would’ve liked more chapters from Grandma Maddie and Karen to build the history. I know not everyone is a fan of multiple POVs, but sometimes they help the story. The ending was rushed and left me with more questions than answers and it’s a bummer that didn’t feel full fleshed out.

With all that taken into account, I still enjoyed the book. It was creative and kept me interested. However, won’t be buying any credenzas in the near future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this!!

At it's core this book is about generational trauma and learning to trust those who may have hurt you in the past. But also TW's for cannibalism, murder, familial trauma, houses burning down, and gore.

A fair amount of this book wouldn't have happened if any character (aside from Star because she is a child) participated in healthy communication methods rather than trying to solve everything by themselves or just ignoring the problem and hoping it disappears and YES I am blaming grandma here. The story would have also resolved so fast if I was in Veronica's shoes, as soon as weird shit started with this credenza I was like "girl you need to burn it. get some salt, some sage, the wholeass pope for a cleanse and then cast this piece of furniture into the fires of Mt Doom."

I felt like a fair amount of the more "supernatural" moments initially involving the credenza didn't have a lot of value because me as the reader was instantly clued in that this thing is bad news and yet with all of the weirdness happening Veronica is just brushing it off, trying to force normalcy and pretend that nothing is wrong even though her sliced open and charred finger is no longer sliced open OR charred.

This story moved at a breakneck pace which when looking at the page-count makes a ton of sense but there are some things that I think deserved to have more time spent with them. Like the book Veronica receives in the mail from an unknown international sender, it appeared and was gone almost within the same chapter.

All in all though I really did enjoy this! I mostly liked all of the characters or grew to like them as the story continued... some of them I grew to hate. But it was really enjoyable and I think if you can enjoy and appreciate a story about generational trauma and Old Gods (though they didn't have much of an appearance) you would enjoy this book.

Y’all. CREDENZA by @wendydalrymplewrites is pink gothic at its absolute finest. When Ronnie, owner of a vintage boutique, and an EXTREMELY relatable parent to her middle school daughter Star, inherits her grandmother’s old credenza, she is NOT READY for the world of evil scary shit that’s about to descend on them. This is a lean and mean cursed object story that moves fast through unease into fear and outright terror, while still very deftly giving us hugely empathetic characters, complex family dynamics, and a ton of supernatural lore too. You really feel for Ronnie and the day to day things she’s struggling with, from paying bills to grappling with how fast her daughter is growing up. And that’s all before the horror starts creeping into their world, building unrelentingly to a truly upsetting crescendo (in a good way!). Many thanks to @quillandcrowpublishinghouse and @netgalley for the arc! CREDENZA is an excellent blend of character and terror, and I insist that you preorder it immediately! The Old Mothers would want you to…..

Wendy Dalrymple snagged my attention with her story in Truborn Press' Punk Goes Horror antho that released earlier this year, and since then, l've been looking to sink my teeth into more of her writing. And Credenza was the perfect venture for such a thing.

Haunted furniture feels like a very niche, specific kind of horror plot that may be limited, but in the right hands flourishes as with Credenza. Veronica inherits a unique piece of furniture from her Grandma Maddie, a large credenza. While it's not much to bat an eye at, weird things start occurring around this piece of furniture including strange dreams, borderline harassing salesmen, and a feeling Veronica can't shake. As events unfold, it's soon realized that there's more than meets the eye with this piece of furniture, an object with much deeper meaning than Veronica could have ever imagined.

I really enjoyed reading this story as Dalrymple elevates what can be a limiting plot into vast, sprawling territory. You may think you know what to expect with haunted furniture, but this particular credenza has much more to offer than general scares. In fact, Credenza is a story full of stomach-churning gore and thought-provoking insight to familial trauma and cycles. Which is so impressive.

This is a solid read, and if you're looking for something haunted, freaky, and unique, I highly recommend picking Credenza up!

3.5 rounded up.

I picked this because, well it’s a cursed piece of furniture! The actual story was different from what I had anticipated and it was a very quick read. There were a few creepy moments and some gore, but it was not revolutionary and the ending was very straightforward. I suppose in my head I had hoped for something a bit sillier like a murderous piece of furniture!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable emotional journey packed into a quick, easy read. If you’re looking for accessible horror with cursed objects, this is definitely your book. The pacing moves fast, which works perfectly for the story being told.

What really got me were the flashbacks that trace the credenza’s entire lifetime. We get to see it through generations of women in Veronica’s family, all the way back to when it was crafted, and even further back to the actual chopping down of the tree for the wood. There’s something both beautiful and deeply unsettling about following this piece of furniture through time and watching how it affects each generation.

The horror elements hit just right. Creepy enough to give you goosebumps but not so extreme that you’ll be sleeping with the lights on. There’s some gore, but it’s not overwhelming, making this a great choice if you want to dip your toes into horror without diving into the deep end.

The mother-daughter themes and family trauma elements give the story real emotional weight beyond just the supernatural scares. It’s not just about a spooky piece of furniture, it’s about how family secrets and trauma get passed down through generations, sometimes literally through cursed objects apparently!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ARC of this title in exchange for my review.

Could a horror story about haunted furniture with a pink cover really work? Yes, yes it can, and yes it does! Is haunted furniture actually scary? Yes, it is when it holds onto secrets, whispers threats, stabs people and bleeds! And of course Veronica, a vintage reseller, inherits the haunted furniture. We meet Star, Veronica's daughter, Fernando, Veronica's aunts nurse, and Paul, a furniture dealer - who seems just too interested in said haunted furniture.

While the pacing can be slow, the characters are fun to read and feel real. This is a slow burn, good for fans of haunted house books and home improvement shows.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. Recommend and encourage you to check out her other books - I know I will!

This was an entertaining read. I haven’t read a lot of books about cursed objects, but I enjoyed this one.

Veronica inherits a credenza from her late grandmother. There is something not quite right about the credenza. Sure, it’s a lovely addition to her decor, but strange and disturbing things have started happening since she brought it home. Could it be cursed?

The story is mainly told from Veronica’s perspective in the present time, with some chapters taking place in the past, exploring the dark history of the credenza.

I loved the supernatural elements in the story. There was just the right amount of creepiness. I liked the main characters and the close relationship that Veronica had with her daughter. I thought the ending was really good.

Overall, this was a quick and fun horror read that I would recommend to fans of supernatural horror, cursed object horror, or pink horror.

I can’t wait to read more from Dalrymple!