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The Haunting of William Thorn
How to Sell a Haunted House meets The Haunting of Hill House in this split timeline queer romance, set against the backdrop of a haunted English manor from #1 bestselling author Ben Alderson.
William Thorn had his life all planned out… until he discovered his long-term boyfriend Archie in bed with another man. Distraught, William kicks him out of their home, where tragedy strikes when Archie is killed instantly in a car accident.
Riddled with guilt, William is shocked to learn that he’s inherited a manor in the quaint village of Stonewall, left to him in Archie’s will. He leaves the city with plans to make a new start for himself, but is surprised by the rundown state of the manor, and the unwelcoming villagers who want him gone. His only ally is Edward, a seemingly friendly local with secrets of his own...
However, it’s not only the villagers who are adverse to his presence. A malevolent spirit roams the manor, one that seeks to drive William out for good. But when he uncovers the heartbreaking tale of two men in love in the 1920’s, William strives to find peace for the spirit, ending the haunting once and for all.
But what dark secrets lie hidden in the manor walls? And will William be able to put aside his own grief to save his new home...and his life?
An evocative tale from #1 bestselling author Ben Alderson, exploring grief, trauma and the bones of the past, The Haunting of William Thorn is the perfect read for fans of the gothic.
William Thorn had his life all planned out… until he discovered his long-term boyfriend Archie in bed with another man. Distraught, William kicks him out of their home, where tragedy strikes when Archie is killed instantly in a car accident.
Riddled with guilt, William is shocked to learn that he’s inherited a manor in the quaint village of Stonewall, left to him in Archie’s will. He leaves the city with plans to make a new start for himself, but is surprised by the rundown state of the manor, and the unwelcoming villagers who want him gone. His only ally is Edward, a seemingly friendly local with secrets of his own...
However, it’s not only the villagers who are adverse to his presence. A malevolent spirit roams the manor, one that seeks to drive William out for good. But when he uncovers the heartbreaking tale of two men in love in the 1920’s, William strives to find peace for the spirit, ending the haunting once and for all.
But what dark secrets lie hidden in the manor walls? And will William be able to put aside his own grief to save his new home...and his life?
An evocative tale from #1 bestselling author Ben Alderson, exploring grief, trauma and the bones of the past, The Haunting of William Thorn is the perfect read for fans of the gothic.
421 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 9, 2025
112 people are currently reading
11091 people want to read
About the author
Ben Alderson
27 books14.4k followersBen Alderson is a #1 Amazon bestselling author. His stories are set in fantasy worlds filled with magic, adventure and MM romance. Ben lives in Oxfordshire and, when not writing, can be found reading, taking Winston - his Labrador - out for long walks, or obsessing over Marvel’s The Scarlet Witch.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 477 reviews
August 29, 2025
So. Even after all kinds of mental gymnastics, I couldn’t scrape enough positives for a three-star rating. The cover is beautiful, the premise interesting, and I very much appreciated the actual ending. And if you’re genuinely looking forward to reading this book and are already familiar with the author, do yourself a favor and don’t read my review any further.
The Haunting of William Thorn has the bones of a good story - ghosts haunting a Gothic manor steeped in mystery, a dual timeline told through diary entries, two quietly mirrored love stories, and dealing with grief after a lost lover. Unfortunately, it’s just a fragile skeleton with no flesh holding it together, buried under a disappointing execution and incredibly unpolished writing that had me thinking it must be a first draft of a debut novel.
And I don’t just mean grammatical errors and typos, oh no. Sentences didn’t make sense, scenes didn’t flow naturally, the characters behaved erratically (clearly for the plot and the drama), and the plot holes were quite staggering.
I’ll eat my STEEL boots if an editor actually saw and okayed this. (And if they did, Ben Alderson should reconsider them for his future books.)
Our MCs, William and Edward, lack clear characterization that would allow me to connect with or care about them; they felt like simple names on paper.
Their relationship did absolutely nothing for me. Fans of insta-love based on forced proximity won’t be mad about it, that’s for sure. After a year of quite intense grieving his killed fiance (contemplating, even attempting a suicide, because of the circumstances that led him to blame himself for Archie’s death), William feels jealous of an inanimate object touching Edward. Enough said.
One of the main reasons I was really looking forward to this book was its focus on grief and dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially as the loved one supposedly hurt our MC in a profound way right before passing. I expected a mess of contradicting emotions that would touch and hurt me, but imagine my disappointment when I didn’t feel a single thing.
And when it came to Edward, what they had with William was trauma bonding, not love. It’s also where the grief theme completely fell apart, because after a certain revelation in the last third of the book that should’ve been devastating, William suddenly wants to live and sees his future clearly. With Edward. Just like that. Nuance? Not in the room, not even in the manor.
All in all, the grief felt more like a deliberate tool the author used to create a sense of depth (unsuccessfully) and for some “shocking” reveals later on.
I do have to acknowledge the ending, though, because it’s probably the only light in this dark tunnel. While it felt slightly rushed and not entirely plausible, the twist took me off guard, and I truly appreciate the author going there.
I would love to say that at least the spooky scenes saved the story a bit more, but most of them felt over-dramatic in a B-horror movie kind of way. Melodrama was the overall theme, worthy of the 90s soap opera scripts, so I’m not even surprised, by now (as a bonus, there was literally a scene of one character on his knees, grasping frantically at the other’s trousers while begging him not to leave. I kid you not.) By the end, I was just exhausted and on the verge of a reading slump.
It’s safe to say I’m not interested in picking up more of BA’s books. That’s not to say his stories don’t have their readers who genuinely enjoy them, but I certainly won’t be one of them, not after being so severely disappointed.
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book as an e-ARC. The Haunting of William Thorn is released on the 9th of September.
The Haunting of William Thorn has the bones of a good story - ghosts haunting a Gothic manor steeped in mystery, a dual timeline told through diary entries, two quietly mirrored love stories, and dealing with grief after a lost lover. Unfortunately, it’s just a fragile skeleton with no flesh holding it together, buried under a disappointing execution and incredibly unpolished writing that had me thinking it must be a first draft of a debut novel.
And I don’t just mean grammatical errors and typos, oh no. Sentences didn’t make sense, scenes didn’t flow naturally, the characters behaved erratically (clearly for the plot and the drama), and the plot holes were quite staggering.
I’ll eat my STEEL boots if an editor actually saw and okayed this. (And if they did, Ben Alderson should reconsider them for his future books.)
Our MCs, William and Edward, lack clear characterization that would allow me to connect with or care about them; they felt like simple names on paper.
Their relationship did absolutely nothing for me. Fans of insta-love based on forced proximity won’t be mad about it, that’s for sure. After a year of quite intense grieving his killed fiance (contemplating, even attempting a suicide, because of the circumstances that led him to blame himself for Archie’s death), William feels jealous of an inanimate object touching Edward. Enough said.
One of the main reasons I was really looking forward to this book was its focus on grief and dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially as the loved one supposedly hurt our MC in a profound way right before passing. I expected a mess of contradicting emotions that would touch and hurt me, but imagine my disappointment when I didn’t feel a single thing.
And when it came to Edward, what they had with William was trauma bonding, not love. It’s also where the grief theme completely fell apart, because after a certain revelation in the last third of the book that should’ve been devastating, William suddenly wants to live and sees his future clearly. With Edward. Just like that. Nuance? Not in the room, not even in the manor.
All in all, the grief felt more like a deliberate tool the author used to create a sense of depth (unsuccessfully) and for some “shocking” reveals later on.
I do have to acknowledge the ending, though, because it’s probably the only light in this dark tunnel. While it felt slightly rushed and not entirely plausible, the twist took me off guard, and I truly appreciate the author going there.
I would love to say that at least the spooky scenes saved the story a bit more, but most of them felt over-dramatic in a B-horror movie kind of way. Melodrama was the overall theme, worthy of the 90s soap opera scripts, so I’m not even surprised, by now (as a bonus, there was literally a scene of one character on his knees, grasping frantically at the other’s trousers while begging him not to leave. I kid you not.) By the end, I was just exhausted and on the verge of a reading slump.
It’s safe to say I’m not interested in picking up more of BA’s books. That’s not to say his stories don’t have their readers who genuinely enjoy them, but I certainly won’t be one of them, not after being so severely disappointed.
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book as an e-ARC. The Haunting of William Thorn is released on the 9th of September.
September 13, 2025
Past and present storytelling where the tragedy of a house and several families collides a century later. Does the trauma of a victim cascade into the existence of all future generations, and if so, how can you tell whom to trust? Good balance of love, reality, and danger. I enjoyed the plot and characters. Struggled a bit with some missing pieces, meaning I wanted more emotion or love from certain aspects of relationships. But this was minor. Generally, I found myself intrigued by the possibilities and liked the way various descendants of the original sin came together. First book by the author and will definitely read more.
dnf
August 25, 2025DNF @21%
Will circle back once it’s published, because the grammar errors are driving me up a wall.
This was absolutely riddled with errors, and as much as I tried to ignore them, I couldn’t. The grammar issues were so severe, they kept taking me out of the story. The writing was clunky and some words were used incorrectly (as if someone used too much Thesaurus).
I was trying to get into a spooky mindset and then—BOOM—third-grade writing. It’s not a bad story, it just reads like a first draft.
Even the disclaimer, which told reviewers not to mention errors (sorry, not sorry), was grammatically incorrect. Lmao when I’m reviewing an ARC, I generally expect a near-final copy with minimal grammar issues/typos.
Arc reviewers are not beta readers.😬
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
Will circle back once it’s published, because the grammar errors are driving me up a wall.
This was absolutely riddled with errors, and as much as I tried to ignore them, I couldn’t. The grammar issues were so severe, they kept taking me out of the story. The writing was clunky and some words were used incorrectly (as if someone used too much Thesaurus).
I was trying to get into a spooky mindset and then—BOOM—third-grade writing. It’s not a bad story, it just reads like a first draft.
Even the disclaimer, which told reviewers not to mention errors (sorry, not sorry), was grammatically incorrect. Lmao when I’m reviewing an ARC, I generally expect a near-final copy with minimal grammar issues/typos.
Arc reviewers are not beta readers.😬
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
December 16, 2025
I’m on BookTube now! =)
**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Angry Robot in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Trigger warnings:
It’s been a while I read a haunted house story that touched me as deeply as “The Haunting of William Thorn” did and I’m glad I picked up this book and decided to read it. For me this story was the perfect mixture of creepy, cosy and mysterious and I thrived reading it. I think as genres and tropes go, this book might have bent the rules a little bit, because we got the new invention of an eerie/comfort trope. I know, it sounds strange but I honestly couldn’t find a better description than that. There were scenes that creeped me out big time and were extremely atmospheric, and then there were those tender moments between William and Edward that made the horrible experiences of the nights fade away. As I said eerie/comfort. It is a thing now, I made it one, and no one can persuade me otherwise! ;-)
Anyway! What made this story stand out wasn’t just the special blend of comfort and spooky happenings but also the grief representation and the way the characters were portrayed. On the one hand, we had William and Edward’s timeline and on the other hand, we had Robert and Teddy’s story. The entire tale of Robert and Teddy was told through Robert’s diary entries and the things the villagers remembered about his family. Robert’s death and what happened to Teddy is a big mystery and William is bent on finding out what exactly transpired back then. It’s the mystery element that runs like a continuous thread through the entire storyline and all the creepy moments seem to be connected to their story somehow. I was totally on board of that timeline because the diary entries made everything even more intriguing and I was extremely curious about Teddy’s sudden disappearance during the war. The “What happened all those years ago?” was so strong in here!
In addition to that, we also get William’s POV and the things he experiences right after he stepped out of the taxi that brought him to Archie’s manor. I know many people might think William’s character is annoying, dislikeable and too standoffish, but for me the author nailed what unresolved grief is able to do to a person. I mean William found out his boyfriend cheated on him, sent him away, and a couple of minutes after that Archie was in a deadly accident and they never got a chance to talk things over. William had every right to be prickly, angry and yes, also devastated, even a year after Archie’s death. Grief is not a linear thing, it catches you off guard, hits you like a brick or follows you around wherever you go. I felt this whenever we were in William’s head and it’s no surprise he was so unapproachable at the beginning of the book.
But then along came Edward and even though William wanted to get rid of him at first and Edward quite literally had to beg him to be allowed to stay in the manor, those two started to form a tentative bond. I know many people might think their relationship developed too quickly, but considering their circumstances and what they both went through, it’s only natural they sought comfort in each other and found it. This said and out of the way, the development of their relationship is really sweet and tender, and lives from little gestures. It’s a quiet kind of love and it was so beautiful to read about.
Not that William and Edward are characters that are easy to like. They are both multi-layered and complex. The first one trying to drink away his grief and sorrow, lashing out at everyone who gets too close and the other hiding his true feelings and insecurities behind jokes and a cheerful attitude. They clash, they call each other out on their bullshit and they talk things through. They’re both guilt-ridden to the core and consumed by their fears and inaccessibleness, but together they are able to breathe and work through their issues. In short: They are a mess, but they complement each other in a way only they can.
As for the creepy parts: There were plenty and I’ve to admit that I was very sceptical if the book would be able to deliver on that front. Ben Alderson proved me wrong, though, and some of those scenes really had me at the edge of my seat. I’m kinda glad I read most of this book during the day, because the atmosphere was so eerie and William gradually losing control hit at least as hard as Edward temporarily losing it. I think that’s one of the things I really loved about this book, we didn’t just get a gory and scary ghost story, we also got a healthy dose of the abysses of the human soul and I lived and breathed for that. For me, both can be eerie in their own way and the author blended them together so well.
Conclusion:
“The Haunting of William Thorn” was such a rollercoaster and surprise. From the title, right to the creepy atmosphere, to the mystery surrounding Teddy and Robert and the slowly blooming connection between William and Edward, this was excellent! This story had me smiling, screaming, crying, punching the wall and sobbing my heart out and this all while I was creeped out by the things that haunted those two men. No, seriously, I was feeling all the feels. This book had no business hitting me that hard, but it did and despite everything, I’m kinda thankful for it. If you want to read a creepy story that packs an emotional punch, this one is for you. The eerie/comfort trope - It is a thing now!
_____________________________
This was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!
I can’t believe I went from being creeped out af to cozy and then to sad before the entire cycle started anew. In short: I loved this and gobbled it up like nobody’s business! <3
Full RTC soon! I need to find coherent words first!
______________________________
In my #Rainboween Readathon Announcement Video” I mentioned that I was approved for a couple of queer horror ARCs on NetGalley and “The Haunting of William Thorn” is one of them!
I’ve been so curious about this one! I mean we have William who finds out that his boyfriend betrayed him and had a secret affair with another man. And then right after that discovery he inherits a big manor because Archie, the aforementioned boyfriend, dies in a tragic car accident.
Unfortunately the manor is in a bad state, the villagers seem to dislike him and a malevolent ghost haunts the house and wants William out. Will he be able to solve the mystery around the ghosts origins and bring peace into the house?
This sounds great and is going to be the first book I start reading for #Rainboween! Let’s do this!
Find me on:
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**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Angry Robot in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Trigger warnings:
It’s been a while I read a haunted house story that touched me as deeply as “The Haunting of William Thorn” did and I’m glad I picked up this book and decided to read it. For me this story was the perfect mixture of creepy, cosy and mysterious and I thrived reading it. I think as genres and tropes go, this book might have bent the rules a little bit, because we got the new invention of an eerie/comfort trope. I know, it sounds strange but I honestly couldn’t find a better description than that. There were scenes that creeped me out big time and were extremely atmospheric, and then there were those tender moments between William and Edward that made the horrible experiences of the nights fade away. As I said eerie/comfort. It is a thing now, I made it one, and no one can persuade me otherwise! ;-)
Anyway! What made this story stand out wasn’t just the special blend of comfort and spooky happenings but also the grief representation and the way the characters were portrayed. On the one hand, we had William and Edward’s timeline and on the other hand, we had Robert and Teddy’s story. The entire tale of Robert and Teddy was told through Robert’s diary entries and the things the villagers remembered about his family. Robert’s death and what happened to Teddy is a big mystery and William is bent on finding out what exactly transpired back then. It’s the mystery element that runs like a continuous thread through the entire storyline and all the creepy moments seem to be connected to their story somehow. I was totally on board of that timeline because the diary entries made everything even more intriguing and I was extremely curious about Teddy’s sudden disappearance during the war. The “What happened all those years ago?” was so strong in here!
In addition to that, we also get William’s POV and the things he experiences right after he stepped out of the taxi that brought him to Archie’s manor. I know many people might think William’s character is annoying, dislikeable and too standoffish, but for me the author nailed what unresolved grief is able to do to a person. I mean William found out his boyfriend cheated on him, sent him away, and a couple of minutes after that Archie was in a deadly accident and they never got a chance to talk things over. William had every right to be prickly, angry and yes, also devastated, even a year after Archie’s death. Grief is not a linear thing, it catches you off guard, hits you like a brick or follows you around wherever you go. I felt this whenever we were in William’s head and it’s no surprise he was so unapproachable at the beginning of the book.
But then along came Edward and even though William wanted to get rid of him at first and Edward quite literally had to beg him to be allowed to stay in the manor, those two started to form a tentative bond. I know many people might think their relationship developed too quickly, but considering their circumstances and what they both went through, it’s only natural they sought comfort in each other and found it. This said and out of the way, the development of their relationship is really sweet and tender, and lives from little gestures. It’s a quiet kind of love and it was so beautiful to read about.
Not that William and Edward are characters that are easy to like. They are both multi-layered and complex. The first one trying to drink away his grief and sorrow, lashing out at everyone who gets too close and the other hiding his true feelings and insecurities behind jokes and a cheerful attitude. They clash, they call each other out on their bullshit and they talk things through. They’re both guilt-ridden to the core and consumed by their fears and inaccessibleness, but together they are able to breathe and work through their issues. In short: They are a mess, but they complement each other in a way only they can.
As for the creepy parts: There were plenty and I’ve to admit that I was very sceptical if the book would be able to deliver on that front. Ben Alderson proved me wrong, though, and some of those scenes really had me at the edge of my seat. I’m kinda glad I read most of this book during the day, because the atmosphere was so eerie and William gradually losing control hit at least as hard as Edward temporarily losing it. I think that’s one of the things I really loved about this book, we didn’t just get a gory and scary ghost story, we also got a healthy dose of the abysses of the human soul and I lived and breathed for that. For me, both can be eerie in their own way and the author blended them together so well.
Conclusion:
“The Haunting of William Thorn” was such a rollercoaster and surprise. From the title, right to the creepy atmosphere, to the mystery surrounding Teddy and Robert and the slowly blooming connection between William and Edward, this was excellent! This story had me smiling, screaming, crying, punching the wall and sobbing my heart out and this all while I was creeped out by the things that haunted those two men. No, seriously, I was feeling all the feels. This book had no business hitting me that hard, but it did and despite everything, I’m kinda thankful for it. If you want to read a creepy story that packs an emotional punch, this one is for you. The eerie/comfort trope - It is a thing now!
_____________________________
This was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!
I can’t believe I went from being creeped out af to cozy and then to sad before the entire cycle started anew. In short: I loved this and gobbled it up like nobody’s business! <3
Full RTC soon! I need to find coherent words first!
______________________________
In my #Rainboween Readathon Announcement Video” I mentioned that I was approved for a couple of queer horror ARCs on NetGalley and “The Haunting of William Thorn” is one of them!
I’ve been so curious about this one! I mean we have William who finds out that his boyfriend betrayed him and had a secret affair with another man. And then right after that discovery he inherits a big manor because Archie, the aforementioned boyfriend, dies in a tragic car accident.
Unfortunately the manor is in a bad state, the villagers seem to dislike him and a malevolent ghost haunts the house and wants William out. Will he be able to solve the mystery around the ghosts origins and bring peace into the house?
This sounds great and is going to be the first book I start reading for #Rainboween! Let’s do this!
Find me on:
My Blog
June 28, 2025
I genuinely have no words.
I was terrified.
I was swooning.
I was yelling.
And yes, I was SOBBING.
Ten out of ten.
Wow.
Just.. wow.
I was terrified.
I was swooning.
I was yelling.
And yes, I was SOBBING.
Ten out of ten.
Wow.
Just.. wow.
July 24, 2025
I finished this last night, and no lie, felt like crying. How that one twist got me, I'm not sure, but it did, and then the ending, and I can't really say anything about that because spoilers.
Alright, so a bit of a summery: William Thorn inherits a haunted manor from his ex. His ex who died right after William discovered he had been cheating on him and kicked him out of their apartment. So, Willam blames himself for his death, and now he's moving into the creepy old haunted manor. Which, of course, he doesn't believe is haunted, because he doesn't believe in ghosts. Then there's Edward, who shows up, and let me tell you, their first interaction had me shipping them. It was really giving the same vibes as one of my fav ships, so that was fun. The two of them begin to uncover the tragic story of two men from the 1930's and their forbidden love story, which resulted in one of them taking his own life, and thus the haunting of the manor.
If there's one thing I've realized it's that maybe I need to read more horror, if it's the right kind of horror, because I have absolutely LOVED the Alex Stern books, Don't Let the Forest In, and now this. I was actually unsure about requesting this ARC at first, but I am so glad I did, because this is probably my favorite book that I've read this month. I was not expecting it to be a five star when I first requested it, but here I am.
The haunted house vibes were excellent, I am a sucker for a good haunted house setting, but this isn't just about a haunted house, it's about grief and guilt, and it's tragic, and I am SUCH a sucker for tragic books. Also, the emotional whiplash this gave me was something.
I will say there were some moments of irreverence towards Christianity, which I'm used to, but as a Christian, not really my favorite, yk?
I've seen several reviews saying that the middle was a bit slow, but it honestly never felt that way to me? I was like thoroughly invested pretty much from beginning to end. And that feeling the ending left me with? That's the sort of feeling I want from finishing a book at least a good portion of the time. A potential favorites list material type of feeling. I'm... not over it lol.
I legitimately loved this so much.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Alright, so a bit of a summery: William Thorn inherits a haunted manor from his ex. His ex who died right after William discovered he had been cheating on him and kicked him out of their apartment. So, Willam blames himself for his death, and now he's moving into the creepy old haunted manor. Which, of course, he doesn't believe is haunted, because he doesn't believe in ghosts. Then there's Edward, who shows up, and let me tell you, their first interaction had me shipping them. It was really giving the same vibes as one of my fav ships, so that was fun. The two of them begin to uncover the tragic story of two men from the 1930's and their forbidden love story, which resulted in one of them taking his own life, and thus the haunting of the manor.
If there's one thing I've realized it's that maybe I need to read more horror, if it's the right kind of horror, because I have absolutely LOVED the Alex Stern books, Don't Let the Forest In, and now this. I was actually unsure about requesting this ARC at first, but I am so glad I did, because this is probably my favorite book that I've read this month. I was not expecting it to be a five star when I first requested it, but here I am.
The haunted house vibes were excellent, I am a sucker for a good haunted house setting, but this isn't just about a haunted house, it's about grief and guilt, and it's tragic, and I am SUCH a sucker for tragic books. Also, the emotional whiplash this gave me was something.
I will say there were some moments of irreverence towards Christianity, which I'm used to, but as a Christian, not really my favorite, yk?
I've seen several reviews saying that the middle was a bit slow, but it honestly never felt that way to me? I was like thoroughly invested pretty much from beginning to end. And that feeling the ending left me with? That's the sort of feeling I want from finishing a book at least a good portion of the time. A potential favorites list material type of feeling. I'm... not over it lol.
I legitimately loved this so much.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
June 23, 2025
Oh. My. God.
This book has taken over my life in the last 10 hours and I will never get over the emotional whiplash. I have been terrified, moved, surprised, and SHOCKED to the core in the span of 400 pages.
I have had a couple of Ben Alderson’s books on my shelves for the past few months and I never really found the time to dive into them—until I got this ARC. I was so excited to read something that wasn’t typically my usual genre (horror/thriller isn’t usually my thing at ALL) but I was too curious to pass this on.
And, well. I think I’ve discovered one of my favorite reads of the year, no doubt. What a book! I will now be crying for the foreseeable future thinking about William, Edward, Robert and Teddy.
And mostly, thank you to NetGallery & the publisher for kindly offering me an advance copy of this book for an honest review!
5 ⭐️
This book has taken over my life in the last 10 hours and I will never get over the emotional whiplash. I have been terrified, moved, surprised, and SHOCKED to the core in the span of 400 pages.
I have had a couple of Ben Alderson’s books on my shelves for the past few months and I never really found the time to dive into them—until I got this ARC. I was so excited to read something that wasn’t typically my usual genre (horror/thriller isn’t usually my thing at ALL) but I was too curious to pass this on.
And, well. I think I’ve discovered one of my favorite reads of the year, no doubt. What a book! I will now be crying for the foreseeable future thinking about William, Edward, Robert and Teddy.
And mostly, thank you to NetGallery & the publisher for kindly offering me an advance copy of this book for an honest review!
5 ⭐️
January 16, 2025
This book devastated me on so many levels! The story follows William Thorn, a young adult who, after a traumatic event, inherits a neglected, abandoned house that is, in all likelihood, haunted by old spirits. His stay in this remote place is challenged by a series of strange occurrences, but most of all by the gardener, who seems determined not to leave him alone with his thoughts. Despite their sometimes hilarious interactions, this book felt like a punch to the gut.
It delves into themes such as coping with grief and the burden of guilt, which drag Will into an abyss of nightmares and depression. Ultimately, it’s about forgiveness—towards others and oneself. At the center of it all lies a tragic mystery that Will, with Edward’s help, must unravel chapter by chapter.
The romance element is subtle, almost just hinted at, as it’s not the core of the story—and it’s perfect that way. No spicy scenes, just lots of tears!
In my opinion, it’s perfect for spooky season; after all, it gives off the same vibes as The Haunting of Hill House (reason enough to read it). It was one of the best books I read in 2024. I said what I said!
It delves into themes such as coping with grief and the burden of guilt, which drag Will into an abyss of nightmares and depression. Ultimately, it’s about forgiveness—towards others and oneself. At the center of it all lies a tragic mystery that Will, with Edward’s help, must unravel chapter by chapter.
The romance element is subtle, almost just hinted at, as it’s not the core of the story—and it’s perfect that way. No spicy scenes, just lots of tears!
In my opinion, it’s perfect for spooky season; after all, it gives off the same vibes as The Haunting of Hill House (reason enough to read it). It was one of the best books I read in 2024. I said what I said!
July 6, 2025
✨Expected publication September 9, 2025.✨ Omg that cover looks so pretty!! 😍😍
The Haunting of William Thorn was an intense (almost... melodramatic?) haunted-mansion story centered around two queer MCs. It has a very mystical, creepy, small-town vibe that I like. There aren't a lot of characters to learn and keep track of.
The middle part dragged a little bit though, and ngl William Thorn (the man, the myth, the legend!!) got a bit on my nerves. 💀 Despite a lot of sexual tension and a few steamy scenes, this is not a romantic story.
But I was exhilarated to have finished it though, the end came with a few plot twists that I didn't see coming.
Bottom line - this is a great book that's worth pushing through to the end.
The Haunting of William Thorn was an intense (almost... melodramatic?) haunted-mansion story centered around two queer MCs. It has a very mystical, creepy, small-town vibe that I like. There aren't a lot of characters to learn and keep track of.
The middle part dragged a little bit though, and ngl William Thorn (the man, the myth, the legend!!) got a bit on my nerves. 💀 Despite a lot of sexual tension and a few steamy scenes, this is not a romantic story.
But I was exhilarated to have finished it though, the end came with a few plot twists that I didn't see coming.
Bottom line - this is a great book that's worth pushing through to the end.
Read
August 21, 2025William was more like the Final Gay, except didn’t the gay characters usually die first in horror films…? Well shit.
Dual timelines between a journal written in 1939 and William in 2024 who finds it in the supposedly haunted mansion that has been left to him.
This was written with so much yearning and emotion that I was invested in the first 30%, but then it started to feel overdone.
Dnf at 50%.
Where there was horror, it was spine-tingling, but it was more focused on repetitive sleepwalking and angsty, grumpy characters.
This was not a bad book, but I just knew it was going to be a low three stars or high two stars and I am definitely slumping. I need something totally new rather than a story that has been told and rehashed, even if I do think this author would make a killer angsty historical romance.
Definitely check out other people’s reviews, because this seems to be a hit.
Arc gifted by Titan.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
Dual timelines between a journal written in 1939 and William in 2024 who finds it in the supposedly haunted mansion that has been left to him.
This was written with so much yearning and emotion that I was invested in the first 30%, but then it started to feel overdone.
Dnf at 50%.
Where there was horror, it was spine-tingling, but it was more focused on repetitive sleepwalking and angsty, grumpy characters.
This was not a bad book, but I just knew it was going to be a low three stars or high two stars and I am definitely slumping. I need something totally new rather than a story that has been told and rehashed, even if I do think this author would make a killer angsty historical romance.
Definitely check out other people’s reviews, because this seems to be a hit.
Arc gifted by Titan.
Bookstagram
Tiktok
September 27, 2025
First published: 09/09/25 (ARC)
Genre: Horror, LGBTQ+, romance
Page count: 400
Series: N/A
Format read: 📱 DNF’d at 3%
Others read by this author: N/A
Rating: ⭐️
Thank you to Ben Alderson, Angry Robot, & NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
I had at least two friends who rated this highly, so I was shocked to find that I couldn’t even get to 10% without DNF’ing. The writing is extremely clumsy, things over-explained to the point I was rolling my eyes. From the very first page when a police inspector finds a telegram — “Being a stickler for details, he knew how important evidence was – and this stank of importance. Then again, anything could’ve been evidence that told the tragic tale of a young man’s death.” — to his sergeant congratulating him on the find because "Evidence is going to help put this all together." You don’t say. There were sentences that just didn’t make sense (“Seemed odd reducing the corpse as a boy, when they were likely both the same age”) & some really strange descriptions (“A breeze filtered into the room, engulfing Callum in a chill so unkind it was like the gawping maw of a deep lake”, “The air caressed his face, like fingers tracing shapes”) that constantly pulled me out of the narrative. I seem to be in the minority based on the other reviews I’ve seen, & I really did want to give this a decent chance, but I struggled to get through the prologue.
Genre: Horror, LGBTQ+, romance
Page count: 400
Series: N/A
Format read: 📱 DNF’d at 3%
Others read by this author: N/A
Rating: ⭐️
Thank you to Ben Alderson, Angry Robot, & NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
I had at least two friends who rated this highly, so I was shocked to find that I couldn’t even get to 10% without DNF’ing. The writing is extremely clumsy, things over-explained to the point I was rolling my eyes. From the very first page when a police inspector finds a telegram — “Being a stickler for details, he knew how important evidence was – and this stank of importance. Then again, anything could’ve been evidence that told the tragic tale of a young man’s death.” — to his sergeant congratulating him on the find because "Evidence is going to help put this all together." You don’t say. There were sentences that just didn’t make sense (“Seemed odd reducing the corpse as a boy, when they were likely both the same age”) & some really strange descriptions (“A breeze filtered into the room, engulfing Callum in a chill so unkind it was like the gawping maw of a deep lake”, “The air caressed his face, like fingers tracing shapes”) that constantly pulled me out of the narrative. I seem to be in the minority based on the other reviews I’ve seen, & I really did want to give this a decent chance, but I struggled to get through the prologue.
August 7, 2025
2 stars, maybe a little bit more. I had hoped for a hot, juicy Gothic queer story, replete with a haunted house, tragic backgrounds, etc., and the book sort of delivered that, except for the juice. I think there are a lot of readers for this, and I wasn't completely disappointed, but I did find myself skimming quite a lot after about a third of my way into the book. I also wasn't blown away by the ending, and by the lack of chemistry between the two main characters. Oh, and I really hated how churlish the one main character was. There's a fine line between having an unlikable main character and someone who is just plain annoying. His disappointments in love didn't really feel a strong enough basis for how he treated the other main character, so the enemies-to-hopefully lovers aspect was too weak to believe in these two people together.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
November 25, 2025
The Haunting of William Thorn was such a refreshing and genuinely scary read — I couldn’t put it down!
I loved William and Edward, how their stories intertwine, and how insanely hard it must’ve been to deal with everything in their lives on top of being haunted 😂
The last few chapters and the final plot twist made this book EPIC. I was already enjoying it from the beginning — the characters, the plot, the eerie setting — and because I read so much, I’m usually pretty good at predicting where a story is going…
Well. Not this time.
I was stunned. Shocked. Speechless.
This book includes an MM romance and what I can maybe, perhaps, call a real HEA (for sure is ever after) 😂
I loved William and Edward, how their stories intertwine, and how insanely hard it must’ve been to deal with everything in their lives on top of being haunted 😂
The last few chapters and the final plot twist made this book EPIC. I was already enjoying it from the beginning — the characters, the plot, the eerie setting — and because I read so much, I’m usually pretty good at predicting where a story is going…
Well. Not this time.
I was stunned. Shocked. Speechless.
This book includes an MM romance and what I can maybe, perhaps, call a real HEA (for sure is ever after) 😂
October 16, 2025
Heartbreakingly beautiful
dnf
October 1, 2025I really wanted to like this, but while the premise for the story is great, the writing isn't working for me. It feels like the author didn't quite pick a 'vibe' for the writing, and we ended up with something that feels like pretentious historical writing (at times) in a contemporary horror story, but not in a consistent way I could get used to either. Sadly a miss for me this time.
Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC.
June 6, 2025
Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
What an unexpected emotional rollercoaster this was! I was pulled in by the promise of a haunted house and a dual timeline and left with a broken heart. I loved the two queer romances, one told by heartfelt diary entries and the other by William Thorn himself as he finds himself caught up in the creepy manor's histories alongside Edward.
I did find the first quarter or so of the book to be a gradual ramp up, but then came the twists and turns that kept me reading. I think I finished the last third in one day which is quick for me. The writing style is simple and easy to dip into and whilst I love lyrical prose especially in gothic horror, I found the plot engaging enough for it not to bother me. It matches the vibes of the book well.
As well as the mystery and intrigue, there's gore (I visibly grimaced in a few parts), betrayal and lots of yearning. I really ended up enjoying the two main characters. William and Edward are both brimming with guilt, the former lashing out and using alcohol as a crux and the latter masking with humour. They're a mess. I love them.
And don't even talk to me about the end I'm still getting teary-eyed over it.
What an unexpected emotional rollercoaster this was! I was pulled in by the promise of a haunted house and a dual timeline and left with a broken heart. I loved the two queer romances, one told by heartfelt diary entries and the other by William Thorn himself as he finds himself caught up in the creepy manor's histories alongside Edward.
I did find the first quarter or so of the book to be a gradual ramp up, but then came the twists and turns that kept me reading. I think I finished the last third in one day which is quick for me. The writing style is simple and easy to dip into and whilst I love lyrical prose especially in gothic horror, I found the plot engaging enough for it not to bother me. It matches the vibes of the book well.
As well as the mystery and intrigue, there's gore (I visibly grimaced in a few parts), betrayal and lots of yearning. I really ended up enjoying the two main characters. William and Edward are both brimming with guilt, the former lashing out and using alcohol as a crux and the latter masking with humour. They're a mess. I love them.
And don't even talk to me about the end I'm still getting teary-eyed over it.
June 9, 2025
I was really looking forward to this book, but had a very hard time getting into it.
It has some classic gothic elements, including isolation, a decrepit manor with a tragic past, and history repeating itself. Even so, I did not sense the impending doom that the characters seemed to. It created an odd dissonance between the growing dread the story was intended to have and what I was actually experiencing as a reader.
I would also have liked more chemistry between the main characters. It felt like their attraction was more due to proximity than romance.
I'm grateful for the chance to check out an ARC of this book and I hope that the final version will improve upon some of these issues.
It has some classic gothic elements, including isolation, a decrepit manor with a tragic past, and history repeating itself. Even so, I did not sense the impending doom that the characters seemed to. It created an odd dissonance between the growing dread the story was intended to have and what I was actually experiencing as a reader.
I would also have liked more chemistry between the main characters. It felt like their attraction was more due to proximity than romance.
I'm grateful for the chance to check out an ARC of this book and I hope that the final version will improve upon some of these issues.
September 10, 2025
The Haunting of William Thorn is one of the most frustrating books I’ve read in some time because it could have been a five-star/A-grade read – but the good things about it (the premise and the storyline) just don’t rise above the poor execution.
William Thorn’s fiancé Archie Thomas was killed in a road accident around a year earlier, and William, tortured by grief and guilt is still haunted by the events that led up to it, and blames himself for the fact that Archie was on the road at all that day. When the story proper begins, William is on his way to Hanbury Manor in the Cotswolds, an old property that had been in Archie’s family for many years and which he left to William in his will. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the place or even if he wants to do anything with it, but from the moment he arrives, things start going wrong. The electricity is out, the place is cold and dusty and neglected, and he’s thoroughly fed up and questioning his choices (not for the first time). Hunkering down in the living room with a bottle of wine, he finds an old journal sitting in the ashes of the fire, and opening, sees it belonged to one of Archie’s ancestors, a young man named Robert Thomas. The first entry is dated May 1939, and between the singed covers, William discovers a heartbreaking story of forbidden love between Robert and the son of family friends.
He wakes with a start the next morning to the sound of banging at the front door. He grabs the poker before heading down the hall to open it, yelling angrily at the man on the other side, who accuses him of being a squatter and then barges past him into the house. Furious, William sets the man straight, and he then sheepishly introduces himself as Edward and says he’s the part-time gardener. William sends him packing, but lets him back in later in the day when a very bedraggled Edward turns up in the middle of a storm asking for shelter.
It’s only when William is roughly shaken awake by Edward in the early hours of the next morning that he realises something is very wrong. Instead of being tucked up in the bed where he’d fallen asleep, he’s lying outside in the gardens, the storm raging around him. He recalls there being a man in his room, and that he’d followed him outside – that must’ve been a dream… and yet here he is, outside in the wind and rain.
The Haunting of William Thorn has all the ingredients of a gothic romance – an old and isolated country house with a tragedy in its past, restless spirits wanting to drive the inhabitants away (or worse), and an enigmatic love interest – but unfortunately, the atmosphere I’d expect to find in a gothic novel – unsettling and eerie with a growing sense of dread – just isn’t there. There are some genuinely scary moments – which are very well done – but while we’re told the characters are feeling terror or horror, I rarely felt those emotions when I was reading, so there’s a disconnect between what William and Edward are describing and what I was experiencing.
The author seems not to trust his readers to work things out on their own, and a lot of the storytelling is torpedoed by over-explanation. As an example, the chapters in the second half in which we finally learn the truth about Edward had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to work out what was going on (I already had an inkling but hadn’t worked it out completely) – only for the overall effect to be almost ruined by too much explanation afterwards and arguments about who was more at fault.
The solution to the mystery surrounding the house comes right out of the blue and doesn’t feel ‘earned’. It’s not been seeded through the rest of the book, and the characters involved are introduced briefly near the beginning and then never mentioned or seen again until they’re needed near the end, so it feels like a cop-out.
The leads are poorly developed. I get that Edward is supposed to be a bit of a mystery, but William’s personality is either angry and rude or sulky and closed off with very little in between. Granted, he’s still struggling in the aftermath of Archie’s death, but his mood swings seem random and/or written to serve the plot rather than being an organic part of his trauma response, so he often comes off as petulant and immature. The connection between William and Edward is lacklustre so the romance falls fairly flat (until the end), and their dialogue is often a frustrating round of repetitive back and forth about trauma and insecurities.
BUT. When the book is good, it’s GOOD. (Hence my frustration with it!). Despite all the reservations I’ve expressed, I was engaged enough in the story to want to keep turning the pages and I read it in a couple of sittings! Some of the scary goings-on are genuine behind-the-sofa moments (the bit with the portrait is really terrifying!), the plotline is intriguing and the final twist is brilliant and emotionally devastating. Had the rest of the book been as clever, heartfelt and well-written as the last three chapters, it would have been a 5-star read, no question.
One final thing. Because I read and review so many ARCs, I’m used to their not being finished copies so I don’t mention typos or errors in my reviews. But the number of mistakes and grammatical errors in this one meant I had to re-read some lines and phrases several times so I could understand them properly, and unfortunately, having to do that took me out of the story each time. I hope all these issues are fixed pre-publication.
The Haunting of William Thorn is a hard book to rate, because the good parts are really good, but the less good parts are, well, poor, and I can’t help wishing that the book had gone through another round or two of developmental edits to iron out some of the bugs. In the end, I’m going with a middling grade – it isn’t bad enough to warrant a D, but it’s not good enough for a B – I can’t recommend it but there was something about it that kept me engaged and interested, which means there’s something to be said in its favour, I suppose.
Note: This is NOT a genre romance, so while the leads are together at the end it’s not an HEA in the accepted sense.
William Thorn’s fiancé Archie Thomas was killed in a road accident around a year earlier, and William, tortured by grief and guilt is still haunted by the events that led up to it, and blames himself for the fact that Archie was on the road at all that day. When the story proper begins, William is on his way to Hanbury Manor in the Cotswolds, an old property that had been in Archie’s family for many years and which he left to William in his will. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the place or even if he wants to do anything with it, but from the moment he arrives, things start going wrong. The electricity is out, the place is cold and dusty and neglected, and he’s thoroughly fed up and questioning his choices (not for the first time). Hunkering down in the living room with a bottle of wine, he finds an old journal sitting in the ashes of the fire, and opening, sees it belonged to one of Archie’s ancestors, a young man named Robert Thomas. The first entry is dated May 1939, and between the singed covers, William discovers a heartbreaking story of forbidden love between Robert and the son of family friends.
He wakes with a start the next morning to the sound of banging at the front door. He grabs the poker before heading down the hall to open it, yelling angrily at the man on the other side, who accuses him of being a squatter and then barges past him into the house. Furious, William sets the man straight, and he then sheepishly introduces himself as Edward and says he’s the part-time gardener. William sends him packing, but lets him back in later in the day when a very bedraggled Edward turns up in the middle of a storm asking for shelter.
It’s only when William is roughly shaken awake by Edward in the early hours of the next morning that he realises something is very wrong. Instead of being tucked up in the bed where he’d fallen asleep, he’s lying outside in the gardens, the storm raging around him. He recalls there being a man in his room, and that he’d followed him outside – that must’ve been a dream… and yet here he is, outside in the wind and rain.
The Haunting of William Thorn has all the ingredients of a gothic romance – an old and isolated country house with a tragedy in its past, restless spirits wanting to drive the inhabitants away (or worse), and an enigmatic love interest – but unfortunately, the atmosphere I’d expect to find in a gothic novel – unsettling and eerie with a growing sense of dread – just isn’t there. There are some genuinely scary moments – which are very well done – but while we’re told the characters are feeling terror or horror, I rarely felt those emotions when I was reading, so there’s a disconnect between what William and Edward are describing and what I was experiencing.
The author seems not to trust his readers to work things out on their own, and a lot of the storytelling is torpedoed by over-explanation. As an example, the chapters in the second half in which we finally learn the truth about Edward had me on the edge of my seat as I tried to work out what was going on (I already had an inkling but hadn’t worked it out completely) – only for the overall effect to be almost ruined by too much explanation afterwards and arguments about who was more at fault.
The solution to the mystery surrounding the house comes right out of the blue and doesn’t feel ‘earned’. It’s not been seeded through the rest of the book, and the characters involved are introduced briefly near the beginning and then never mentioned or seen again until they’re needed near the end, so it feels like a cop-out.
The leads are poorly developed. I get that Edward is supposed to be a bit of a mystery, but William’s personality is either angry and rude or sulky and closed off with very little in between. Granted, he’s still struggling in the aftermath of Archie’s death, but his mood swings seem random and/or written to serve the plot rather than being an organic part of his trauma response, so he often comes off as petulant and immature. The connection between William and Edward is lacklustre so the romance falls fairly flat (until the end), and their dialogue is often a frustrating round of repetitive back and forth about trauma and insecurities.
BUT. When the book is good, it’s GOOD. (Hence my frustration with it!). Despite all the reservations I’ve expressed, I was engaged enough in the story to want to keep turning the pages and I read it in a couple of sittings! Some of the scary goings-on are genuine behind-the-sofa moments (the bit with the portrait is really terrifying!), the plotline is intriguing and the final twist is brilliant and emotionally devastating. Had the rest of the book been as clever, heartfelt and well-written as the last three chapters, it would have been a 5-star read, no question.
One final thing. Because I read and review so many ARCs, I’m used to their not being finished copies so I don’t mention typos or errors in my reviews. But the number of mistakes and grammatical errors in this one meant I had to re-read some lines and phrases several times so I could understand them properly, and unfortunately, having to do that took me out of the story each time. I hope all these issues are fixed pre-publication.
The Haunting of William Thorn is a hard book to rate, because the good parts are really good, but the less good parts are, well, poor, and I can’t help wishing that the book had gone through another round or two of developmental edits to iron out some of the bugs. In the end, I’m going with a middling grade – it isn’t bad enough to warrant a D, but it’s not good enough for a B – I can’t recommend it but there was something about it that kept me engaged and interested, which means there’s something to be said in its favour, I suppose.
Note: This is NOT a genre romance, so while the leads are together at the end it’s not an HEA in the accepted sense.
November 5, 2025
I've never read anything by Ben Alderson before, and the stunning cover of The Haunting of William Thorn grabbed my attention. Plus something a little gothic and scary sounded like just the thing for Halloween.
I really enjoyed the mystery of the story - how Alderson sets the stage with their descriptions of everything from the discovery of the hanging body, to the stormy weather, and the creepy old manor. It is all quite nicely done.
If you're looking for a good, spooky mystery, The Haunting of William Thorn will fit the bill.
The audio version of The Haunting of William Thorn is nicely performed by John York and Raphael Corkhill.
an audiobook copy of The Haunting of William Thorn was provided by Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio, via NetGalley, for the purpose of my honest review, all opinions are my own
I really enjoyed the mystery of the story - how Alderson sets the stage with their descriptions of everything from the discovery of the hanging body, to the stormy weather, and the creepy old manor. It is all quite nicely done.
If you're looking for a good, spooky mystery, The Haunting of William Thorn will fit the bill.
The audio version of The Haunting of William Thorn is nicely performed by John York and Raphael Corkhill.
an audiobook copy of The Haunting of William Thorn was provided by Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio, via NetGalley, for the purpose of my honest review, all opinions are my own
September 1, 2025
This did not work for me and I really wanted it to.
I hate having a negative review, and I might actually have DNF’d (which I never really do) but Angry Robot supplied a copy—so let’s start with some positive. Some of the writing, especially the truly haunting scenes, were written quite well. I’d actually notice myself falling into the cadence and getting with the flow. There is one particular scene involving a turned over portrait that I actually stopped reading to reread the entire section. It was unique, paced really well, and chilling.
For the most part, the rest of my experience was not so good. For me, I said yes to an ARC based off the beautiful cover and title. I love a great cover and a haunting. But I actually think the style is a little misleading. The cover with its portraits to me looks dark fantasy-esque, with their almost anime style jawlines. And that is not the vibe of the book at all.
Now, as a writer, I have pulled the trigger on releasing an ARC too early…and early reviewers called me out on it. But I also self release, and I can only assume this was read through by 1 or more AR person. The book is almost rife with errors. Not just the tiny things, like a ‘t’ making the word ‘it’ instead of the correct ‘is’. The things you can ignore. There were sentences, paragraphs, even some pages that didn’t really make sense. Character reactions seemed out of place, and there was more than one spot that was just randomly in first person? The book is broken into sections to mark William’s week at Hanbury Manor, but the chapters run on, and in more than one spot there’s mentioning of sleep and morning, but the section break comes later…making the day sections not make sense. I don’t say this to drag it, because editing is hard, but this almost felt overly rushed, if not bordering careless.
For me, the real problem lies with William Thorn. He is grieving, suicidal, struggling through something unbelievably hard. And he was unimaginably insufferable. Every time he spoke, every choice he made—how he flip flopped—grated on me for hundreds of pages. The book’s blurb promises a split timeline, and I would say that it is not. The book opens in the past, but the rest of the book is present day, with William sometimes reading journal entries from the past. These entries are short, never quite deep enough, and don’t really offer much in the way of ‘the past’. The book, if you can believe it, also tries to function as a forced proximity romance, but the proximity does not make sense, and it surely wasn’t romantic. Especially after a third act revelation that would have been earth shattering, and yet it’s so quickly thrown away. The ending did work for me, but it was a little too late.
I’m sure this will work for some, just wasn’t for me.
I hate having a negative review, and I might actually have DNF’d (which I never really do) but Angry Robot supplied a copy—so let’s start with some positive. Some of the writing, especially the truly haunting scenes, were written quite well. I’d actually notice myself falling into the cadence and getting with the flow. There is one particular scene involving a turned over portrait that I actually stopped reading to reread the entire section. It was unique, paced really well, and chilling.
For the most part, the rest of my experience was not so good. For me, I said yes to an ARC based off the beautiful cover and title. I love a great cover and a haunting. But I actually think the style is a little misleading. The cover with its portraits to me looks dark fantasy-esque, with their almost anime style jawlines. And that is not the vibe of the book at all.
Now, as a writer, I have pulled the trigger on releasing an ARC too early…and early reviewers called me out on it. But I also self release, and I can only assume this was read through by 1 or more AR person. The book is almost rife with errors. Not just the tiny things, like a ‘t’ making the word ‘it’ instead of the correct ‘is’. The things you can ignore. There were sentences, paragraphs, even some pages that didn’t really make sense. Character reactions seemed out of place, and there was more than one spot that was just randomly in first person? The book is broken into sections to mark William’s week at Hanbury Manor, but the chapters run on, and in more than one spot there’s mentioning of sleep and morning, but the section break comes later…making the day sections not make sense. I don’t say this to drag it, because editing is hard, but this almost felt overly rushed, if not bordering careless.
For me, the real problem lies with William Thorn. He is grieving, suicidal, struggling through something unbelievably hard. And he was unimaginably insufferable. Every time he spoke, every choice he made—how he flip flopped—grated on me for hundreds of pages. The book’s blurb promises a split timeline, and I would say that it is not. The book opens in the past, but the rest of the book is present day, with William sometimes reading journal entries from the past. These entries are short, never quite deep enough, and don’t really offer much in the way of ‘the past’. The book, if you can believe it, also tries to function as a forced proximity romance, but the proximity does not make sense, and it surely wasn’t romantic. Especially after a third act revelation that would have been earth shattering, and yet it’s so quickly thrown away. The ending did work for me, but it was a little too late.
I’m sure this will work for some, just wasn’t for me.
October 5, 2025
A hauntingly good story about to men staying in a haunted house. Both going through different struggles at different times. I could not put this book down.
September 11, 2025
I literally got chills reading this. It was spooky, tragic, emotional and full of surprises. I loved the mystery of it all, figuring out the secrets of the past, unravelling a forbidden romance, and empathising with the grief and emotional trauma.
This brings closure to multiple souls, it was devastating but healing and the ending tore me to bits.
One to read if you want a gothic horror with queer romance, mystery, secrets, trauma and chills.
This brings closure to multiple souls, it was devastating but healing and the ending tore me to bits.
One to read if you want a gothic horror with queer romance, mystery, secrets, trauma and chills.
September 18, 2025
4.25 ⭐️
the ending definitely made the journey worth it imo. it was hauntingly romantic & at times i actually did feel like i was watching a scary movie.
this is not a spicy romance so don’t go into it thinking that- mostly saying this for people who know that’s what i primarily read lol.
it’s a gay romantic horror. the horror/mystery is definitely the main plot.
the ending definitely made the journey worth it imo. it was hauntingly romantic & at times i actually did feel like i was watching a scary movie.
this is not a spicy romance so don’t go into it thinking that- mostly saying this for people who know that’s what i primarily read lol.
it’s a gay romantic horror. the horror/mystery is definitely the main plot.
November 9, 2025
I'll start with the elephant in the room. This author desperately needs to work more in-depth with an editor.
I generally don't write negative reviews because I know how important every review is, especially for smaller authors. But, I paid 20 euros for a book which had 4 stars on Goodreads. That comes with some expectations.
I do think the premise has promise, but this execution lets it down. It takes whatever essence of a story there ever was and shoves it further down the basement with every error.
There are aspects of the story that are better. The backstory, the mansion itself, the layers of deceit and self loathing that certainly fit a gothic horror narrative. It's at time creepy and ghostly and certainly full of grief. The ending works surprisingly well.
Yet, a lot of the illusion of horror is broken as quickly as it was involved, by mistakes that should have been edited out.
The same goes for any romantic tension. It's clear that the characters do and say whatever fits the plot, instead of what fits them as characters. At times they argue about nothing, just for the sake of arguing, clearly because "this is a scene where they fight so that they can make up later." They are constantly quipping, even in scenes and contexts where it makes no sense to do so. They talk like they are the same person.
There is so much wine. Schrodinger's wine - maybe it's out, maybe it's not; you won't know until the characters are drinking it.
The mystery isn't setup and guided well. It's rather dropped on top of you at the very end, like some Jenga tower of clues which weren't properly foreshadowed.
I feel awkward to admit this, but I ended up reading much of the book with a pen, correcting and marking errors where I went. Not out of pettiness, but because the many incohesive sentences, typos, perspective shifts, confusing dialogue tags and whatnot made me feel as if I were slowly becoming insane while reading the book, as if I'd lost my ability to understand English.
I don't think that's the insanity the author was going for.
I generally don't write negative reviews because I know how important every review is, especially for smaller authors. But, I paid 20 euros for a book which had 4 stars on Goodreads. That comes with some expectations.
I do think the premise has promise, but this execution lets it down. It takes whatever essence of a story there ever was and shoves it further down the basement with every error.
There are aspects of the story that are better. The backstory, the mansion itself, the layers of deceit and self loathing that certainly fit a gothic horror narrative. It's at time creepy and ghostly and certainly full of grief. The ending works surprisingly well.
Yet, a lot of the illusion of horror is broken as quickly as it was involved, by mistakes that should have been edited out.
The same goes for any romantic tension. It's clear that the characters do and say whatever fits the plot, instead of what fits them as characters. At times they argue about nothing, just for the sake of arguing, clearly because "this is a scene where they fight so that they can make up later." They are constantly quipping, even in scenes and contexts where it makes no sense to do so. They talk like they are the same person.
There is so much wine. Schrodinger's wine - maybe it's out, maybe it's not; you won't know until the characters are drinking it.
The mystery isn't setup and guided well. It's rather dropped on top of you at the very end, like some Jenga tower of clues which weren't properly foreshadowed.
I feel awkward to admit this, but I ended up reading much of the book with a pen, correcting and marking errors where I went. Not out of pettiness, but because the many incohesive sentences, typos, perspective shifts, confusing dialogue tags and whatnot made me feel as if I were slowly becoming insane while reading the book, as if I'd lost my ability to understand English.
I don't think that's the insanity the author was going for.
December 7, 2025
A queer M/M take on the classic haunted mansion with a historical forbidden love premise, Ben Alderson’s
the Haunting of William Thorn
is a paranormal romance book that has a lot of great ideas and concepts. Featuring a gothic and eerie setting, a layered multi-generational mystery, and light horror elements that aren’t overly graphic, with its attractive cast of male characters and pining attraction, by all accounts this book should be an appealing and accessible read. Unfortunately, like its hallmark mansion, despite its good bones and a promising start, the execution leaves a lot to be desired across the board and despite giving it my best effort, I struggled to finish this book only to arrive at an eyebrow-raising ending. (on Goodreads 1.5 rounded down)
Set in a rural small-town village of Stonewall, the story follows William Thorn who has been gifted the decrepit Hanbury Manor by his late boyfriend Archie. Not long after arriving, what was meant to be a weeklong stay of isolation is intruded upon by an overly friendly man named Edward who has his own connection to the Hanbury Manor and its past. The book’s strongest element for me was the intrigue behind the manor’s history and presumed death of Robert Thomas in the 1920’s, the son of the Thomas family and original owners of the estate. Relieving Robert’s life and his love for manor’s gardener Teddy through his journal found at the manor, William and Archie work together to unravel the mystery of what happened to Robert and Teddy and why something about the manor feels amiss. The opening prologue chapter where the police discover Robert’s lifeless body and the subsequent events surrounding his death grabbed my attention, particularly the level of detail with inspector Callum Dean’s characterization and conflicted thoughts about the unusual circumstances.
And that is the last time Callum Dean is mentioned. While I had a lot of issues with this book, the most notable problem is that this book is excessively overwritten and way too long for the amount of narrative content it has. The prologue started off very promising and the last hundred pages are very narratively dense, but almost everything in between felt like unnecessary filler (so much detail on Callum Dean who is a one-off character), like repetitive wandering around and overly wordy conversations. Particularly the book’s dialogue feels like Alderson uses twice the number of sentences than necessary on top of William and Edward’s explorations of the manor and self-reflections going around in circles. In another world I could see this story being reworked to be an incredible novella, but as currently written, this book felt like it was over two hundred pages too long that either needed to be edited down or filled with more compelling content. The lost and directionless exploration also doesn’t make sense when all the clues to what happened in the past lay in Robert’s journal which they could read at any point in time. William repeatedly only reads one chapter dramatically per day but especially when bizarre paranormal occurrences happen and Edward wants to dig deeper into the mansion’s history, basic character logic would be to keep on reading instead of wasting time sitting around. This is not an oversight specific to this book and is in fact a common overlooked detail in many dual timeline stories featuring some form of written record, but is nonetheless a crucial detail that should’ve been accommodated for either through the reading being interrupted, the journal going missing, pages being omitted, something that makes sense.
While slow pacing and reflective character moments are usually points I appreciate and look for in a book, this one was unfortunately both very slow paced and lacking strong character writing to justify its length. The story has a recurring theme of grief, regret, and the what-could-have-been’s as William is haunted both by the tragic love story of Robert and Teddy as well as the loss of Archie. The problem is that I felt the self-reflection, introspection, and important character moments were quite lackluster and lacking in depth. The ideas and concepts are common plot or character elements I’ve read in other queer books executed in far more memorable and moving fashion, and throughout the book I constantly felt disappointed by the basic character development and lack of nuance, often finding dramatic moments unintentionally funny due to William often overreacting. Especially when it came to Robert’s journal entries and his entire devotion and love for Teddy, their struggles and relationship felt very typical and forgettable for queer historical fiction while also being surprisingly quite absent in the book. Not only were Robert’s entries few and far between, but they were also overwritten through unnecessary circling around and finding different ways to phrase the same sentiment over and over. Robert’s entries are also written in a second person perspective and addressed to “the reader” who reads his journal which is not how journals are used, a prime example being Robert foreshadowing his future death which he should have no knowledge of. Outside of the narrative content, I also found the prose to be generally fine yet too casual for the premise as well as occasionally feeling awkwardly stilted. There were numerous sentences that technically work as far as grammar is concerned, but are not written in the way I would’ve phrased them for flow and natural sounding dialogue. Ordinarily I probably wouldn’t have noticed these concerns if the story had snappier pacing, but with so little happening in the story, the writing quality stood out more noticeably. Judging from other reviews that had read an ARC edition, however, the grammar and writing are substantially better than in the final published version that I read, though they’re still not a high point of the book.
Another issue I had with this book is that I wasn’t quite sure what exactly it was trying to accomplish or what kind of tone it was shooting for. While it features light spooks and a few unsettling paranormal occurrences like sleepwalking, I didn’t feel like the story was particularly dark or horror-like, perhaps being more of a horror adjacent book. The slow pacing robs the story of any sort of tension or suspense, and while the derelict mansion setting is gothic by default, the book lacks a strong atmospheric tone and the storytelling style itself doesn’t feel gothic. The book is perhaps best taken as a paranormal romance with a historical fiction angle given Robert and Teddy’s romance, but they have far fewer appearances than you’d expect. While marketed as a dual narrative, split timeline story, there’s very little 1920’s content actually in the book. That just leaves William and Edward whose dynamics are that of a moody jumpy cat and an overly friendly and supportive golden retriever. Their chemistry is more or less fine, but fairly generic for the trope. Like the overall story, what drags down their romance is the repetitive, overwritten conversations that are far too long with mundane or unnecessary details that don’t connect or contribute anything of value. With so-so romance and other less remarkable elements, I’m left confused at what this book was supposed to be.
I’m a persistent and patient reader that stubbornly refuses to DNF most books with the hope that the ending will make up for the journey to get there, but in this case, it might’ve been a better call to graciously bow out early. While the vast majority of the book was slow and underwhelming to me, I found it inoffensive albeit uninspired. However, the last quarter of the book felt like it tried to hit the gas on the story and accidentally plowed off the road in the process. While the ending arc had a lot of big reveals that connect different characters, storylines, or hauntings together, they felt increasingly unhinged and random due to having little to no setup or development. In mystery and horror novels, it’s imperative that the author leaves enough breadcrumbs to guide the reader in the right direction through clues, tone, or context. In this book, the surprise reveals aren’t so much of plot twists, instead being plot coincidences or “I guess that that makes sense” and fills in the gaps of the story. The mysterious disappearance of Teddy and the presumed death of Robert are revealed to be connected to a plot element that had scarce foreshadowing or clues as well as what could be considered the villain in the present-day timeline. The additional disappearances in Stonewall, some of the local’s connection to the manor’s history, Archie’s hidden relation to William, the circumstances surrounding Archie’s death and betrayal, all these storylines individually had the potential to be exciting but the way their reveals are handled ruins the excitement. As I got to the book’s ending, I found myself more bemused by what was happening and even more confused by poor use of earlier pages and the uneven pacing.
However, all the seemingly random and questionable reveals pale in comparison to the biggest plot twist in the book’s ending involving William and the haunting in the manor. Due to the way spoilers are handled on Goodreads and other platforms, I will omit them here. Please read the full unedited review on my book blog TheBookGrind for the following spoiler section (it’s quite notable and lost what little credibility it had up to that point for me).
The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson Review on TheBookGrind
Despite having great ideas and a very promising premise, I unfortunately found the numerous problems too difficult to overlook. The general outline of the book’s story is great but something in the writing process felt like it went wrong with how off balanced its pacing is. Between its major plot twist that directly contradicts half of the book’s earlier events along with how overwritten it feels, there’s a general sense of roughness that I think heavier editing or beta reading should’ve caught and addressed, which is surprising given Alderson isn’t a new author and Angry Robot isn’t an obscure indie publisher (the book cover is beautiful and well-presented). That said, I would give another Alderson book a second chance since this one did have a lot of potential. While I can see a prospective readership of this book for those that are in the mood for a pleasant and horror/gothic adjacent story featuring gay characters that isn’t too intense to read, I cannot in good faith recommend this book to others with its all-around weak execution and baffling closing arc.
*For more reviews, book lists and reading updates, check out my blog TheBookGrind!
Set in a rural small-town village of Stonewall, the story follows William Thorn who has been gifted the decrepit Hanbury Manor by his late boyfriend Archie. Not long after arriving, what was meant to be a weeklong stay of isolation is intruded upon by an overly friendly man named Edward who has his own connection to the Hanbury Manor and its past. The book’s strongest element for me was the intrigue behind the manor’s history and presumed death of Robert Thomas in the 1920’s, the son of the Thomas family and original owners of the estate. Relieving Robert’s life and his love for manor’s gardener Teddy through his journal found at the manor, William and Archie work together to unravel the mystery of what happened to Robert and Teddy and why something about the manor feels amiss. The opening prologue chapter where the police discover Robert’s lifeless body and the subsequent events surrounding his death grabbed my attention, particularly the level of detail with inspector Callum Dean’s characterization and conflicted thoughts about the unusual circumstances.
And that is the last time Callum Dean is mentioned. While I had a lot of issues with this book, the most notable problem is that this book is excessively overwritten and way too long for the amount of narrative content it has. The prologue started off very promising and the last hundred pages are very narratively dense, but almost everything in between felt like unnecessary filler (so much detail on Callum Dean who is a one-off character), like repetitive wandering around and overly wordy conversations. Particularly the book’s dialogue feels like Alderson uses twice the number of sentences than necessary on top of William and Edward’s explorations of the manor and self-reflections going around in circles. In another world I could see this story being reworked to be an incredible novella, but as currently written, this book felt like it was over two hundred pages too long that either needed to be edited down or filled with more compelling content. The lost and directionless exploration also doesn’t make sense when all the clues to what happened in the past lay in Robert’s journal which they could read at any point in time. William repeatedly only reads one chapter dramatically per day but especially when bizarre paranormal occurrences happen and Edward wants to dig deeper into the mansion’s history, basic character logic would be to keep on reading instead of wasting time sitting around. This is not an oversight specific to this book and is in fact a common overlooked detail in many dual timeline stories featuring some form of written record, but is nonetheless a crucial detail that should’ve been accommodated for either through the reading being interrupted, the journal going missing, pages being omitted, something that makes sense.
While slow pacing and reflective character moments are usually points I appreciate and look for in a book, this one was unfortunately both very slow paced and lacking strong character writing to justify its length. The story has a recurring theme of grief, regret, and the what-could-have-been’s as William is haunted both by the tragic love story of Robert and Teddy as well as the loss of Archie. The problem is that I felt the self-reflection, introspection, and important character moments were quite lackluster and lacking in depth. The ideas and concepts are common plot or character elements I’ve read in other queer books executed in far more memorable and moving fashion, and throughout the book I constantly felt disappointed by the basic character development and lack of nuance, often finding dramatic moments unintentionally funny due to William often overreacting. Especially when it came to Robert’s journal entries and his entire devotion and love for Teddy, their struggles and relationship felt very typical and forgettable for queer historical fiction while also being surprisingly quite absent in the book. Not only were Robert’s entries few and far between, but they were also overwritten through unnecessary circling around and finding different ways to phrase the same sentiment over and over. Robert’s entries are also written in a second person perspective and addressed to “the reader” who reads his journal which is not how journals are used, a prime example being Robert foreshadowing his future death which he should have no knowledge of. Outside of the narrative content, I also found the prose to be generally fine yet too casual for the premise as well as occasionally feeling awkwardly stilted. There were numerous sentences that technically work as far as grammar is concerned, but are not written in the way I would’ve phrased them for flow and natural sounding dialogue. Ordinarily I probably wouldn’t have noticed these concerns if the story had snappier pacing, but with so little happening in the story, the writing quality stood out more noticeably. Judging from other reviews that had read an ARC edition, however, the grammar and writing are substantially better than in the final published version that I read, though they’re still not a high point of the book.
Another issue I had with this book is that I wasn’t quite sure what exactly it was trying to accomplish or what kind of tone it was shooting for. While it features light spooks and a few unsettling paranormal occurrences like sleepwalking, I didn’t feel like the story was particularly dark or horror-like, perhaps being more of a horror adjacent book. The slow pacing robs the story of any sort of tension or suspense, and while the derelict mansion setting is gothic by default, the book lacks a strong atmospheric tone and the storytelling style itself doesn’t feel gothic. The book is perhaps best taken as a paranormal romance with a historical fiction angle given Robert and Teddy’s romance, but they have far fewer appearances than you’d expect. While marketed as a dual narrative, split timeline story, there’s very little 1920’s content actually in the book. That just leaves William and Edward whose dynamics are that of a moody jumpy cat and an overly friendly and supportive golden retriever. Their chemistry is more or less fine, but fairly generic for the trope. Like the overall story, what drags down their romance is the repetitive, overwritten conversations that are far too long with mundane or unnecessary details that don’t connect or contribute anything of value. With so-so romance and other less remarkable elements, I’m left confused at what this book was supposed to be.
I’m a persistent and patient reader that stubbornly refuses to DNF most books with the hope that the ending will make up for the journey to get there, but in this case, it might’ve been a better call to graciously bow out early. While the vast majority of the book was slow and underwhelming to me, I found it inoffensive albeit uninspired. However, the last quarter of the book felt like it tried to hit the gas on the story and accidentally plowed off the road in the process. While the ending arc had a lot of big reveals that connect different characters, storylines, or hauntings together, they felt increasingly unhinged and random due to having little to no setup or development. In mystery and horror novels, it’s imperative that the author leaves enough breadcrumbs to guide the reader in the right direction through clues, tone, or context. In this book, the surprise reveals aren’t so much of plot twists, instead being plot coincidences or “I guess that that makes sense” and fills in the gaps of the story. The mysterious disappearance of Teddy and the presumed death of Robert are revealed to be connected to a plot element that had scarce foreshadowing or clues as well as what could be considered the villain in the present-day timeline. The additional disappearances in Stonewall, some of the local’s connection to the manor’s history, Archie’s hidden relation to William, the circumstances surrounding Archie’s death and betrayal, all these storylines individually had the potential to be exciting but the way their reveals are handled ruins the excitement. As I got to the book’s ending, I found myself more bemused by what was happening and even more confused by poor use of earlier pages and the uneven pacing.
However, all the seemingly random and questionable reveals pale in comparison to the biggest plot twist in the book’s ending involving William and the haunting in the manor. Due to the way spoilers are handled on Goodreads and other platforms, I will omit them here. Please read the full unedited review on my book blog TheBookGrind for the following spoiler section (it’s quite notable and lost what little credibility it had up to that point for me).
The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson Review on TheBookGrind
Despite having great ideas and a very promising premise, I unfortunately found the numerous problems too difficult to overlook. The general outline of the book’s story is great but something in the writing process felt like it went wrong with how off balanced its pacing is. Between its major plot twist that directly contradicts half of the book’s earlier events along with how overwritten it feels, there’s a general sense of roughness that I think heavier editing or beta reading should’ve caught and addressed, which is surprising given Alderson isn’t a new author and Angry Robot isn’t an obscure indie publisher (the book cover is beautiful and well-presented). That said, I would give another Alderson book a second chance since this one did have a lot of potential. While I can see a prospective readership of this book for those that are in the mood for a pleasant and horror/gothic adjacent story featuring gay characters that isn’t too intense to read, I cannot in good faith recommend this book to others with its all-around weak execution and baffling closing arc.
*For more reviews, book lists and reading updates, check out my blog TheBookGrind!
September 10, 2025
I received this book from NetGalley.
I love a good haunted house story and anything queer so this book was right up my alley. This had twists I didn’t see coming that had me genuinely gasping. There were so many moments that had my skin crawling it was so creepy but also heartwarming sweet moments as well. It had a really good balance of vibes. I especially enjoyed the moments that involved the ghosts! I highly recommend this one!
I love a good haunted house story and anything queer so this book was right up my alley. This had twists I didn’t see coming that had me genuinely gasping. There were so many moments that had my skin crawling it was so creepy but also heartwarming sweet moments as well. It had a really good balance of vibes. I especially enjoyed the moments that involved the ghosts! I highly recommend this one!
June 16, 2025
This has been... interesting. Although I don´t think this book is for everyone.
Perhaps it´s a me thing, because I wasn´t expecting a YA novel (it really needs the tag, just because characters are in their 20s, the narration reas very juvenile). The fact this is more YA than anything else shouldn´t be a problem if you enjoy the genre. In my case, I tend to avoid it, so take my review with a grain of salt.
This story is about William, who inherits a house in the Costwolds and that, surprise, it´s haunted! Not only that, but there´s Edward, a mysterious man who apparently lives over there (not sure where exactly). AND, a diary of a man who lived in this house and died there, after... Well, there will be flashbacks of a gay love story -more pining than anything- in regards to this.
Now, though. My problem with this story is that is full of clichés. You got:
- A mysterious attic
- People related to the dead ones/ghosts
- Tragic past
- Tragic Deaths
- A diary with some of the ghost´s story
- Nightmares related to the haunting
- A character who doesn´t believe in the paranormal
- Villagers who don´t accept the MC moved to this haunted house
- Mysterious aparitions and random noises
- A ouija board (and yes, it will be used)
My point is... This was like watching a classic haunted house Hollywood movie, but a bit more gay.
I enjoyed the narration (although I have to confess I found some repetitions and I think I could have done without some of the banter related to Now I believe in ghosts/Now I don´t believe), but it was good nevertheless.
What I didn´t like that much was the plot: It was very predictable and all characters behaved as if they were 15 years old. There is a nice twist near the ending, but that´s it. The villain also seemed cartoonish to me.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only if you truly enjoy YA and don´t mind seeing over and over again the same haunted house clichés
Perhaps it´s a me thing, because I wasn´t expecting a YA novel (it really needs the tag, just because characters are in their 20s, the narration reas very juvenile). The fact this is more YA than anything else shouldn´t be a problem if you enjoy the genre. In my case, I tend to avoid it, so take my review with a grain of salt.
This story is about William, who inherits a house in the Costwolds and that, surprise, it´s haunted! Not only that, but there´s Edward, a mysterious man who apparently lives over there (not sure where exactly). AND, a diary of a man who lived in this house and died there, after... Well, there will be flashbacks of a gay love story -more pining than anything- in regards to this.
Now, though. My problem with this story is that is full of clichés. You got:
- A mysterious attic
- People related to the dead ones/ghosts
- Tragic past
- Tragic Deaths
- A diary with some of the ghost´s story
- Nightmares related to the haunting
- A character who doesn´t believe in the paranormal
- Villagers who don´t accept the MC moved to this haunted house
- Mysterious aparitions and random noises
- A ouija board (and yes, it will be used)
My point is... This was like watching a classic haunted house Hollywood movie, but a bit more gay.
I enjoyed the narration (although I have to confess I found some repetitions and I think I could have done without some of the banter related to Now I believe in ghosts/Now I don´t believe), but it was good nevertheless.
What I didn´t like that much was the plot: It was very predictable and all characters behaved as if they were 15 years old. There is a nice twist near the ending, but that´s it. The villain also seemed cartoonish to me.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only if you truly enjoy YA and don´t mind seeing over and over again the same haunted house clichés
August 28, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
William Thorn’s life is in shambles. After discovering his fiancé Archie has cheated, Archie then dies in a sudden accident, and William is left heartbroken and guilt-ridden. Then he finds out Archie has left him a crumbling manor in the village of Stonewall. Hoping for a fresh start, William instead finds hostility from the locals, a house hiding dark secrets, and a restless spirit determined to drive him away. With only Edward, a mysterious villager, as an ally, William uncovers a tragic love story from 1939 and must confront both the haunting and his own grief if he’s to claim his new home - and survive.
That was one hell of a ride. We follow William, our sweary, alcohol dependent, grieving protagonist as he is haunted (both literally and metaphorically) by the past. Grappling with guilt and grief, William has come to Hanbury Manor to get away from it all, only to find his quest for peace is about to be disrupted by a haunting. William is a tangible and excellently flawed main character. He’s funny, he cries A LOT (which, as a crybaby myself, is rep I appreciate), he’s full of conflicting emotions, and has walls up with very good reason. I enjoyed his character arc as he tries to uncover the mystery of the manor and faces his own past. I really loved William Thorn and I hope he’s happy now.
Edward, on the other hand, was a bit more of a mystery. He didn’t get as much development but nonetheless he was a strong presence who complemented William’s journey.
Their relationship was a ride, and I really enjoyed the well of emotional conflict between them, and how the tangles of their stories resolved. The romance element was somewhat lacking in physical chemistry (but also how sexy can things be when there’s a literal haunting occurring?) but the emotional depth of the relationship more than made up for it.
The writing. Oh, I cannot tell you how I actually had to read most of this book in the day. I started it on a night shift and immediately had to put it down after two chapters. I’m not really a horror girly so maybe I’m just easily spooked, but this was CREEPY. Sickeningly well done, I felt shivers down my spine so many times. The tension and horror was crafted brilliantly and I was viscerally frightened at times. Yeah, I know, I’m a baby, but damn. Fortunately, I had the distraction of comedic relief from excellent dialogue (thank you William and Edward) and the fantastic diary entries from Robert Thomas (one of the men from 1939). Honestly, they were so good, I wanted more? Like, I could have read about him and Teddy all day long (probably because it was mostly just cute and fluffy… until it wasn’t). But yeah, I thought Robert had such a strong voice and presence, despite his journal entries being a smaller portion of the book.
As for the plot, we’re following William and Edward trying to solve the mystery from 1939 interspersed with the diary entries, all while William deals with his own grief and conflicting feelings for Edward, which was delicious and painful all at the same time. Much like the haunting, the plot builds over time; the first half was slower, but I enjoyed that. It gave time to build suspense and dread, before the second half (especially the last quarter) came for me and hit me over the head with a candlestick (iykyk). A few of the twists, I did guess - though not super early on - but the final twist. Nope. That one got me. Had to flick back on my Kindle to double, triple check that I hadn’t misread. Consider me shook. It’s not often a book blindsides me, but this got me good. For spoilers’ sake, I won’t say much else, but the ending was tragically perfect.
Overall, I had a good ol’ spooky time with this one. There’s a lot more emotional content than one might expect, with the subject of grief being significant given William’s circumstances. If you love tragic gays, haunted houses, and twists and turns, you will love this one!
4.25 ✨
William Thorn’s life is in shambles. After discovering his fiancé Archie has cheated, Archie then dies in a sudden accident, and William is left heartbroken and guilt-ridden. Then he finds out Archie has left him a crumbling manor in the village of Stonewall. Hoping for a fresh start, William instead finds hostility from the locals, a house hiding dark secrets, and a restless spirit determined to drive him away. With only Edward, a mysterious villager, as an ally, William uncovers a tragic love story from 1939 and must confront both the haunting and his own grief if he’s to claim his new home - and survive.
That was one hell of a ride. We follow William, our sweary, alcohol dependent, grieving protagonist as he is haunted (both literally and metaphorically) by the past. Grappling with guilt and grief, William has come to Hanbury Manor to get away from it all, only to find his quest for peace is about to be disrupted by a haunting. William is a tangible and excellently flawed main character. He’s funny, he cries A LOT (which, as a crybaby myself, is rep I appreciate), he’s full of conflicting emotions, and has walls up with very good reason. I enjoyed his character arc as he tries to uncover the mystery of the manor and faces his own past. I really loved William Thorn and I hope he’s happy now.
Edward, on the other hand, was a bit more of a mystery. He didn’t get as much development but nonetheless he was a strong presence who complemented William’s journey.
Their relationship was a ride, and I really enjoyed the well of emotional conflict between them, and how the tangles of their stories resolved. The romance element was somewhat lacking in physical chemistry (but also how sexy can things be when there’s a literal haunting occurring?) but the emotional depth of the relationship more than made up for it.
The writing. Oh, I cannot tell you how I actually had to read most of this book in the day. I started it on a night shift and immediately had to put it down after two chapters. I’m not really a horror girly so maybe I’m just easily spooked, but this was CREEPY. Sickeningly well done, I felt shivers down my spine so many times. The tension and horror was crafted brilliantly and I was viscerally frightened at times. Yeah, I know, I’m a baby, but damn. Fortunately, I had the distraction of comedic relief from excellent dialogue (thank you William and Edward) and the fantastic diary entries from Robert Thomas (one of the men from 1939). Honestly, they were so good, I wanted more? Like, I could have read about him and Teddy all day long (probably because it was mostly just cute and fluffy… until it wasn’t). But yeah, I thought Robert had such a strong voice and presence, despite his journal entries being a smaller portion of the book.
As for the plot, we’re following William and Edward trying to solve the mystery from 1939 interspersed with the diary entries, all while William deals with his own grief and conflicting feelings for Edward, which was delicious and painful all at the same time. Much like the haunting, the plot builds over time; the first half was slower, but I enjoyed that. It gave time to build suspense and dread, before the second half (especially the last quarter) came for me and hit me over the head with a candlestick (iykyk). A few of the twists, I did guess - though not super early on - but the final twist. Nope. That one got me. Had to flick back on my Kindle to double, triple check that I hadn’t misread. Consider me shook. It’s not often a book blindsides me, but this got me good. For spoilers’ sake, I won’t say much else, but the ending was tragically perfect.
Overall, I had a good ol’ spooky time with this one. There’s a lot more emotional content than one might expect, with the subject of grief being significant given William’s circumstances. If you love tragic gays, haunted houses, and twists and turns, you will love this one!
4.25 ✨
July 4, 2025
[♾️⭐️][ARC]
“If loving you is worthy of hell, I go there gladly,
knowing it accepts us together.”
Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC!
This story is about a man named William who has inherited a manor a year after his Fiancé passed away. This manor was supposed to be their home, their future. When William moves to this small town he’s told about how scary and haunted the house is, but William ever the sceptic did not care. But then he starts to hear noises. When another man comes and introduces himself as Edward the gardener. William tells him to go away. But a nasty storm comes and William allows Edward to stay for a day or two until the storm passes. William finds a journal, a journal that belongs to a man named Ronald dating back to 1939. As the story goes on we learn about the past of the manor, and also more about the characters William and Edward. Learning the truth from the lies because… no one is ever telling the full truth, right?
So usually I have way better review ideas when writing them… but I can’t think of any other words beyond perfect for this book. The story, the characters, the secrets, the plot, EVERYTHING was amazing. I shed so many tears reading this book. Teddy and Robert have my whole heart. Edward and Will as well. I fell in love with their love. Although this is not a romance book it didn’t stop me from SWOONING and screaming at these idiots to just kiss already!! All in all this is definitely one of the best books I’ve read I a LONG time. I’m so glad I was able to find this book. My brain chemistry has changed. I will be thinking about these characters every day for the next couple weeks. Preorderd the book already and I cannot WAIT to display it
“If loving you is worthy of hell, I go there gladly,
knowing it accepts us together.”
Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC!
This story is about a man named William who has inherited a manor a year after his Fiancé passed away. This manor was supposed to be their home, their future. When William moves to this small town he’s told about how scary and haunted the house is, but William ever the sceptic did not care. But then he starts to hear noises. When another man comes and introduces himself as Edward the gardener. William tells him to go away. But a nasty storm comes and William allows Edward to stay for a day or two until the storm passes. William finds a journal, a journal that belongs to a man named Ronald dating back to 1939. As the story goes on we learn about the past of the manor, and also more about the characters William and Edward. Learning the truth from the lies because… no one is ever telling the full truth, right?
So usually I have way better review ideas when writing them… but I can’t think of any other words beyond perfect for this book. The story, the characters, the secrets, the plot, EVERYTHING was amazing. I shed so many tears reading this book. Teddy and Robert have my whole heart. Edward and Will as well. I fell in love with their love. Although this is not a romance book it didn’t stop me from SWOONING and screaming at these idiots to just kiss already!! All in all this is definitely one of the best books I’ve read I a LONG time. I’m so glad I was able to find this book. My brain chemistry has changed. I will be thinking about these characters every day for the next couple weeks. Preorderd the book already and I cannot WAIT to display it
July 19, 2025
I cannot thank Angry Robot and Netgalley enough for this ARC! Btw, 5⭐️ is simply not enough here!
I just finished reading this book and I’m at a complete loss for words. Just… unbelievable. Everything about it was absolutely perfect from start to finish. The character development, the mystery elements, the love story, the attention to detail, the clues scattered throughout the story that allowed both the characters and us to slowly unravel the mystery of the manor. Just… ugh, amazing.
Alright, I’m basically writing an essay to process my feelings now, lol. Here are some of my favorite things:
•Everything unfolded so naturally and never felt rushed. At the same time, we were given subtle hints from the very beginning that immediately put us in detective mode, so there wasn't a boring or slow moment.
•The characters. Edward was a total sweetheart, and William’s character development was great. He started out carrying a lot of trauma, and it was nice to see him grow as a person throughout the book.
•I won’t spoil anything, but the romantic element was simply stunning. And the backstory of the manor (and the souls that haunted it) added so much more depth to the plot. It wasn’t just a mystery to solve; it had heart. It made you not only curious about what happened but emotionally invested, too.
•The atmosphere was everything! I had high expectations going in. First, because it’s Ben Alderson, and I’ve heard great things about his work. And second, because it gave off major The Haunting of Hill House vibes, which I love (both the book and the show). It did not disappoint. In fact, it completely exceeded my expectations. The book created the perfect sense of mystery and tension that the story needed to really work.
•The descriptions were perfect. It genuinely felt like you were right there in the manor with them. It wasn’t overdone or underdeveloped. I kept gasping, getting chills, and even wanting to scream at William to run 😂 I felt every single emotion he was feeling.
•The attention to detail. Every single thing mattered. The author clearly thought everything through. There were moments while reading when something didn’t quite make sense, and I’d think, “Hmm? But why...?” But by the end, looking back, I was like: “Oh my God, OF COURSE. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.” Everything clicked into place perfectly.
•The emotional roller coaster. I felt shock, anger, worry, happiness, heartbreak, fear, disbelief, hope, contempt... Ugh, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so many emotions so strongly in just one book.
•I’m usually pretty good at guessing plot twists or at least sensing when one is coming… but this one? I did not see it coming at all! I was so genuinely shocked. When THAT happened, I literally had to stop reading and take a moment to breathe. I was not okay, lol.
I've had some of Ben’s books on my TBR for a while, but after this one? They’re kicking every other book aside and jumping straight to the top lol He gave us everything we wanted and more.
I just finished reading this book and I’m at a complete loss for words. Just… unbelievable. Everything about it was absolutely perfect from start to finish. The character development, the mystery elements, the love story, the attention to detail, the clues scattered throughout the story that allowed both the characters and us to slowly unravel the mystery of the manor. Just… ugh, amazing.
Alright, I’m basically writing an essay to process my feelings now, lol. Here are some of my favorite things:
•Everything unfolded so naturally and never felt rushed. At the same time, we were given subtle hints from the very beginning that immediately put us in detective mode, so there wasn't a boring or slow moment.
•The characters. Edward was a total sweetheart, and William’s character development was great. He started out carrying a lot of trauma, and it was nice to see him grow as a person throughout the book.
•I won’t spoil anything, but the romantic element was simply stunning. And the backstory of the manor (and the souls that haunted it) added so much more depth to the plot. It wasn’t just a mystery to solve; it had heart. It made you not only curious about what happened but emotionally invested, too.
•The atmosphere was everything! I had high expectations going in. First, because it’s Ben Alderson, and I’ve heard great things about his work. And second, because it gave off major The Haunting of Hill House vibes, which I love (both the book and the show). It did not disappoint. In fact, it completely exceeded my expectations. The book created the perfect sense of mystery and tension that the story needed to really work.
•The descriptions were perfect. It genuinely felt like you were right there in the manor with them. It wasn’t overdone or underdeveloped. I kept gasping, getting chills, and even wanting to scream at William to run 😂 I felt every single emotion he was feeling.
•The attention to detail. Every single thing mattered. The author clearly thought everything through. There were moments while reading when something didn’t quite make sense, and I’d think, “Hmm? But why...?” But by the end, looking back, I was like: “Oh my God, OF COURSE. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.” Everything clicked into place perfectly.
•The emotional roller coaster. I felt shock, anger, worry, happiness, heartbreak, fear, disbelief, hope, contempt... Ugh, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so many emotions so strongly in just one book.
•I’m usually pretty good at guessing plot twists or at least sensing when one is coming… but this one? I did not see it coming at all! I was so genuinely shocked. When THAT happened, I literally had to stop reading and take a moment to breathe. I was not okay, lol.
I've had some of Ben’s books on my TBR for a while, but after this one? They’re kicking every other book aside and jumping straight to the top lol He gave us everything we wanted and more.
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