The Ada Witch

by Steven J. Eilers

*** 2025’s Best Seller in Horror Winner! ***

“I couldn’t put it down.. and didn’t want it to end!” - Brian, Michigan

“It will scare the sh*t out of you!” - Tim, Michigan

Matt and Steve, two brothers eager for a thrill, decide to summon the Ada Witch, a vengeful spirit from the haunted woods of Ada, Michigan. What begins as a reckless prank quickly spirals into a nightmare as they awaken an ancient evil with a thirst for vengeance. As the witch unleashes her wrath, the brothers are thrust into a terrifying world of cursed cemeteries, haunted bridges, and their own unraveling sanity. Can they find a way to survive and stop the Ada Witch, or will they fall victim to the darkness they’ve unleashed?The Ada Witch isn’t just another horror story—it’s inspired by a chilling personal experience with the legendary Ada Witch herself. This is a tale that will grip you, make you question what you believe, and keep you turning pages long after the lights go out.

Are you ready to uncover the dark secrets hiding in plain sight? Grab your copy today and step into a world where the lines between reality and the supernatural blur. You won’t regret it.

Genres: Horror

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 24, 2025

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 25% and I wanted out long before that.

I really don’t understand the horror awards. The writing is tedious and subpar. Good enough for handing in to the teacher in Sixth Grade. Maybe.

To each their own but nothing witchy about this tale.

[Meems · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 oof this was so cringe :/

[Elijah Heerema · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a fantastic way of capturing the legend of the Ada Witch from Michigan. This book was read so quick I was wanting there to be more and not have to be done with it. Steve Eilers killed this book. Such good energy, writing, timeline and factually being able to relate it an area that is familiar so the imagination of the image in my head was a movie.
Great read for people all around but anyone in the greater grand rapids area should read this book.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 30% of the book was really good! Then it went a bit downhill. I wouldn’t describe it as horror. I expected more paranormal, scary things and more secrets. But the ending, though!!! It got me intrigued 👀

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a really hard time connecting with the writing style and outside of language/character ages and situations, felt like it would have worked better as a juvenile book (sort of along the lines of the Michigan Chillers or Goosebumps). For me, this also started pretty slow and felt fairly repetitive at times. The story and history (both the true lore and the fictionalized bits) were interesting and kept me intrigued enough to keep going. I did find that a little over halfway through, things seemed to pick up a bit and the plot founds its footing more. I didn’t find the story scary at all and wouldn’t necessarily peg this as adult horror - more of a paranormal historical fiction with some mystery elements. I do think some additional editing could have been beneficial, but all in all, not a bad effort for a first self-published work.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh this book freaked me out. Small town drama, ouija board, cemetery, witch, ghosts, ahhhh. I read it in a day, couldn't put it down. Just couldn't wait to see how it ended. It was a fun/scary read.

So Steven Eilers, when is the next one?

[❀ Kylie-Ree ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book for my TBR Halloween Bingo card. This one is for the Urban Legend slot, which means I've got two down and three to go.

So I really enjoyed this book; it was a page turner, and it kept me guessing constantly.

But it was more sad than scary. There were freaky and unsettling parts, of course, but with every vision and the more the brothers learned about her, and the more I learned about her, the sadder I became.

The pacing was a bit all over the place, jumping from a rapid pace to stretching on and on, but it oddly worked for the story.

Despite the sadness that seemed to weave in and out of the pages, it honestly felt like a Goosebumps book. It wasn't scary, but it was spooky, and it had a lot of twists that fit well, but did leave a few plot holes.

And that ending, a total twist that took me out, and I really hope that the author comes through with a second book or something, because that cliffhanger is crazy!

With that being said, it being a ghost story and being set in the fall, it's a good book to read during the spooky season. I recommend giving it a shot.

[Bethann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this book. I read about 100 pages and it was just terrible!
I got the feeling a devout old white man who buys into the hoopla about Ouija boards wrote this book (I know nothing about Steven Eilers).

The book's main characters: two middle-aged brothers, find an old Ouija board and decide to drunkenly experiment with it like they did when they were kids. Only this time, they take it to a local cemetery in an attempt to summon a spirit. Now, everyone expresses extreme caution/fear around Ouija boards that I myself do not buy into in the slightest. They're no different from any other board game created by the Parker Bros in my opinion.

What happens to these characters while they play around in the cemetery is the extreme exaggeration of what people think could happen when you play with one - they open a fucking portal and a ghost crawls out. I mean...COME ON. I think I literally said out loud "you've got to be kidding me". No subtle creaks or knocks or other happenings only for the characters to go home with a subtle attachment that builds over time. NOPE they had to go home being perused by a spooky lady that crawled out of a god damn portal. The pacing was terrible, the dead woman's back story was boring (cheating on her husband, husband finds out, kills her, kills the lover) and the overall writing was amateur at best.

[Navis Medrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off…. That ending tho’… if you know you know!!!! Okay the book starts off with 2 brothers who go to this haunted graveyard where this legend of The Ada Witch takes place and messes with an ouija board… First off that’s a red flag and cause it’s guys like what dummy’s 🤦🏽‍♀️ something starts to mess with the 2 brothers Steve and Matt, the find out it’s Ada thru the book they are trying to figure out her history to stop the crazy things that are happening to the brothers and the town… this was honestly a very good book! Gives you vibes that they could have made this an episode on the show super natural!

[Valerie Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! This is what books about scary ghost legends should be like. I just saw this book in someone's TBR on Fable and loved the cover. When I read the summary I though sure, looks pretty interesting and I needed a break from my fantasy/romantasy. I was so pleasantly surprised. Kudos to Steven J. Eilers, this was a super fun and scary book. I love a good horror thriller and I'm really excited for more!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was super excited to read this…I’ve grown up knowing about the Ada Witch. While the premise was good, the delivery lacked. This book was written like it was meant for JR High kids. This book was very amateurish. The dialog was like a freshman creative writing C- effort. The book is to be continued, and I may read it to see if his writing improved. Hopefully he can have an editor take a look before publishing.

[Jennifer Christiansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

All I want to know is who the promoter for this book was! That person deserves an award!

Can't even begin to say all the things wrong with it from the formating (forgotten indentations, extra punctuation marks, etc...) to the writing (flat characters, bad dialogue, etc...)

I forced myself to skim it after trying the first chapters.

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

A spooky ghost story though I thought it unoriginal and derivative at times. The witch reminded me of Samara from The Ring. Two brothers get drunk and play around with a Ouija board at a cemetery and trouble ensues. The story started to improve toward the end and was getting exciting and then it ended with a cliffhanger.

[Laura Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, couldn't put it down! Whether you are familiar with the history of the Ada Witch or not, this book/story will not disappoint you!

[Danielle Short · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read! Had a hard time putting the book down and let me just say it was very creepy! 🐈‍⬛🧙🏻‍♀️

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. I liked that it was fast paced and not boring at all. This would make a good movie. Looking forward to part 2.

[Marissa Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank God we're still early into 2025 and we might sneak a better horror bestseller for the year.

[Michael Neeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fabulous! An awesome brotherly horror haunting. Read this!

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm kind of in between "It was okay" and "I liked it." I certainly was not scary.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to put down. I'm not sure how I haven't heard of this story, living in Michigan.

[Sophia Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excuse me while I scream internally about the cliffhanger ending because WHAT 😭🥴

Really great ghost story right before Halloween 👻

[Lynn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book flew by. Every chapter made me want to keep going, and those last 50 pages? So many twists I didn’t see coming. I won’t give anything away, but the ending blew me away. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author!

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 rounded up only because I know the area and I really wanted to like this book. Do not recommend.