Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for a pre-release copy of Per Jacobsen's 25 Days. Below is my honest review.

Well, I'm currently rethinking my annual desire to rent a cabin for Christmas vacation and sit up in the snowy wilderness because Per Jacobsen has demolished the idyllic feeling of said vacation and replaced it with a slasher straight out of horror cinema.

The Grays decide to take a week vacation in a remote cabin up in the snowy mountains in early December. For Adam, it's a chance to reconnect with his wife Beth and strengthen what was slowly starting to unravel. Oh, and a chance to get their kids Abby and Chloe off of their electronics and spend time together as a family. So what's not to love about a cabin nestled in a clearing up in the mountains? It has a barn with fluffy little animals for the girls to play with, and it has a food stock in case a snowstorm traps them up there. It's basically a little slice of heaven for a family getaway. Or at least, it should be... unfortunately, someone has their eye on this little family and starts leaving progressively more violent presents in a stocking nailed to the barn door, and as the days pass like an advent calendar, the Grays start to realize that there's a high chance that they won't make it out alive.

Was it perfect? Nah, there were some trope-y moments and some dislikeable character moments, and there were quite a few suspend-your-disbelief moments. But was it fun? Absolutely - for us, the reader. Not for the Grays... yikes not at all for the Grays.

This would make an excellent movie. Maybe one day it will be!

Recommended for horror/slasher fans and fans of remote isolated settings.

I loved this!! It was so entertaining to read and kept me wanting to read it. Very thrilling and I really enjoyed it a lot!!

The Christmas from Hell!

First, Adam takes his wife and two daughters on a trip to an isolated cabin for the holidays to reconnect and create a new memory. One day a stuffed stocking appears on the barn door. That is when the terror begins. On several days there are terrible items left in the stocking, many of them dripping blood. The family finds themselves stranded with no way out, no way other than to walk miles to the road, in the cold and snow. They soon decide it is in their best interest to begin walking. Things only take off from there.

The book is divided by days or weeks leading up to Christmas. It is similar to an advent of suspense! I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in a psychological thriller, there are trigger warnings, please check before reading. I found myself stopping a couple times during reading to prepare for the next day.

I am giving the book four stars because I loved it up until the last couple chapters. I felt the ending was too prettily wrapped up, everyone seemed completely fine and didn't seem to have any trauma related to the events that had occurred one short year before.

I was given the opportunity to read 25 Days by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book by PerJacobsen! Mysterious, definitely! It is meant to be read as an advent calendar type book and it really reads well that way! It will keep you guessing every chapter. I loved it. It had me guessing all the way through. Who was messing with these people who were just trying to have a nice little family getaway.

A Christmas horror story that you read throughout the month of December, leading up to Christmas Day!

But then it leaves you with nothing but questions! Clearly the stalker didn’t die in the fire and we are left with no answers!


The story was good, the time jumps kind of annoyed me, I thought we would get more of the days in the chapter and not small glimpses of what the person of the day experiences.

Overall not a bad read and I would do it again if I could!

This book was a fun read. I liked the horror theme for Christmas. A few times I realized I shouldn't have read it in the dark, lol. Would gladly read another book by this author.

This book will live rent free in my head for awhile. I was so creeped out the entire time!! I loved the advent calendar fell though I didn’t stick to it lol hope there’s another one next year!

NetGalley review: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review

I absolutely LOVED everything about this book! Reading it as an "advent" book before Christmas is highly recommended IF you can hold out to only reading a chapter a day but it is SO worth it! If you like Stephen King, particularly The Shining, this gives very similar vibes and suspense! The author and his wife are also extremely engaging on social media and with his fans, and have read along groups on Facebook for this and other books! I absolutely recommend this book and cannot wait to read some of Per's other books as well!!

I LOVED the advent calendar formatting of this book! It made it so much fun to read even though I read way more than a chapter a day because I am who I am. There is excellent suspense but I felt the ending could've been much better.

This was quite fun. It was intended to be read as a daily advent calendar style of a story a day for the month of December. The story was very suspenseful and some will find it difficult to stop each day. I really enjoyed this and while I felt the story had a bit of an abrupt ending and some unanswered questions, the author did a great job building suspense.

The way this story is set up is so fun! I love that you can read this book like an advent calendar... but i will say i didn't love the ending! The experience in and of itself was 5 stars for me though. It is hard to stop after just a chapter, but I think it is worth it to read it that way. Gives you something to look forward to!

I loved this book. The writer did a fantastic job at character building and setting the scene. It kept me guessing and a little horrified. I read this advent calendar style, a chapter a day and it made it so much more fun

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Thank you NetGalley & Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to read this book.
I was losing interest having to read 1 chapter a day... So, if you're anything like me who doesn't have the patience to wait and see what happens, I would suggest you keep reading all the way through. My official rating for this book is a 3.25 rounding to 3 stars. It was good but not entirely gripping enough for me. Definitely worth the read during the holiday though.

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I was losing interest having to read 1 chapter a day... So, if you're anything like me who doesn't have the patience to wait and see what happens, I would suggest you keep reading all the way through. My official rating for this book is a 3.25 rounding to 3 stars. It was good but not entirely gripping enough for me. Definitely worth the read during the holiday though.

I really enjoyed 25 days, it has all of my favorite things, suspense, action, and some scary parts. It has multiple POVs but not too many to keep track of. The chapters are short, and the story line moves along quickly with all of the action of suspense. The book does end with some things unanswered, however I don't mind that because sometimes in life you don't get answers.

This book was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. I am so thankful I had the pleasure of reading it. I will be recommending to everyone!

The marriage of Adam and Beth Gray had been murky, of late. Adam decided he needed to “course correct the ship”. A one week pre-Christmas family vacation at a remote cabin in the snowy mountains seemed like the perfect getaway…no cell service, no internet and with an old landline, for emergencies, in the master bedroom. Upon examination, the cabin looked both “inviting and intimidating…” Outside the weather conditions were harsh and brutally cold with shadowy darkness. Inside the cabin, a crackling fire created a warm cozy atmosphere for Adam, Beth and their two daughters Abby,15 and Chloe, 9.

A vacation booked for one week would turn into a 25 day Christmas horror nightmare in a novel that might be read in one fell swoop or as an advent calendar countdown to Christmas. This reader’s opinion is that of an outlier due to psychological elements of horror witnessed by the Grays young daughters including mistreatment of animals especially Bumbleball, Chloe’s favorite barn animal.

All seemed well with the Gray family until it wasn’t. Every morning a nameless person left a gift in the Christmas stocking nailed to the barn door. As the “contents become more terrifying (the family had) been dragged into a deranged game of Secret Santa…”. Who was the rider of a black snowmobile who watched and waited from atop the mountain? The family soon decided to cut their trip short but were snowbound when their car ceased to start and the landline phone cable had been cut. The horror show was ramping up!

Thank you Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

Christmas in July!!! With the temperatures we've had lately, I was excited to step into the frigid cold of a winter horror story. I tried to keep to the 'advent calendar' one chapter per day until about 55% of the story, after that, it was game on and I had to know where this is going! I liked the multiple POVs, especially during the second half; they worked really well with the action. I was hoping for a bit of a revelation part....or a POV from the 'other side'...and explanation of some sort. Maybe that was the whole point, to be left wondering and questioning - I just wanted my jaw to drop with some major reveal hahahaha

Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to go through it and provide an honest review.

I read this during Christmas as a buddy read, one chapter a day, and it was such a good call. The story itself pulled me right in, but it was the eerie anticipation and the shared experience that made it something special. I was feeling super stressed at the time, and this book gave me the perfect kind of escape—dark, mysterious, and just unsettling enough to keep my mind off everything else.

As for the reading pace… do yourself a favor and go slow. One chapter a day builds the tension in the best possible way. The suspense lingers and creeps up on you, and it makes the reveals hit harder than if you raced through it. And if you have some reading buddies? Even better. Grab them and dive in together. This one is definitely more fun when you feel like you’re all unraveling the mystery side by side.

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed with the ending. So much so that I removed stars because of it.

This was the first advent story I started for December, the other one being Xmas Break (I disliked this one), and for the most part I was so enthralled by the story. I couldn't wait to find out who the killer was, why Beth and Adam needed to fix their bond, etc.

These were NOT answered by the end of the book, which pissed me off, to be honest. I felt like I wasted my time all month, reading this one day at a time, for no reason.

I know the author put up a post (and put it in his author’s note) explaining that the reason the killer wasn't revealed was due to the fact that he wanted to focus on the character ARC's for each of the family members... but like... Adam and Beth were borderline hating on each other and we still don't know why. Did I miss that somehow? Isn't that a BIG plot point and part of the ARC? WTF.

Anyways, the writing was really good and Per is very good at keeping you on your toes for each chapter, so I am super pleased with that!