Sweetside Motel

by E L Chen

Genres: Horror, Novella, Thriller

138 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweetside Motel by E.L. Chen has a nod to 'Psycho' that I absolutely ate up. This author has brought all the Pandemic era fears back to life here. Great atmospheric writing, suspense and a Chinese Canadian main character, Sarah, who is on the run from a mysterious past had me hooked. The racism Sarah faces set the paranoid and hostile small town setting perfectly. I definitely recommend this one. Check tws.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Prose: easy
Pacing: fast
Scary: mildly
Gore: some
Character Development: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[georgie⁎⁺˳✧༚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m giving this 5 stars because it took me on such an unexpected journey and I really couldn’t tell with each chapter where the story was going or what was going to happen.

I didn’t realise this was a Gothic story going in, I thought it was just a horror but this was definitely an American Gothic story from an Asian-American perspective set during the height of the Covid pandemic and lockdown in country town Canada. The cold, stark setting in the old home full of ghosts of the past and the consuming dark forest overshadowing it all made for the perfect setting to chill me to the bone.

Such an introspective look into the authors fears kept me riveted throughout and the writing carried me smoothly all the way to the end.

If you’re fan of the Gothic, I insist that you give this one a try.

[Ligia Moisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️
~
• fiction, psychological thriller, horror
• dark, mysterious, tense, fast-paced
~
TW: domestic abuse, racism, pandemic/ quarantine, xenophobia, racial slurs,
~
Happy release date, Sweetside Motel!!
Mulțumiri speciale netgalley și autoarei pentru ca mi-au oferit un e-Arc.

Prima mea întâlnire cu E.L. Chen a fost surprinzătoare încă de la prima pagină.

Avem o nuvelă scurtă, marketată ca horror dar care sinceră să fiu se simte mai mult ca un thriller psihologic extrem de bun cu câteva elemente horror.

Ea ne face cunoștință cu Sarah, an asian girlie care se află săraca fix în mijlocul pandemiei de Covid-19. Mașina ei se strică fix într-un orășel numit Sweetside care nu are absolut nimic “sweet” în el, iar aceasta este nevoită să se carantineze două săptămâni în oraș în “motelul sinucigașilor”. Foarte bună premisa asta!

Sunt foarte multe probleme pe care aceasta le întâmpină aici, fugind de trecutul ei, aflându-se într-un oraș în care locuitorii învinovățesc persoanele asiatice pentru virus și devin chiar agresive la adresa ei, femeia are parte de ajutor doar din partea fraților care dețin motelul.

Mi-a plăcut extrem de mult felul în care povestea a fost scrisă și modul în care m-a captivat de la prima pagină. Misterul din jurul lui Caleb și al lui Elijah a fost țesut cu atâta grijă încât așteptările mele tot creșteau odată ce înaintam în poveste.

Mi-a plăcut și felul în care povestea a reprezentat extrem de real abuzul domestic, felul în care trauma afectează fiecare personaj și cum alegerile greșite îi transformă pe fiecare.

Chiar și așa, am fost puțin dezamăgită de final. Cred că se putea face ceva mult mai macabru cu personajul lui Ben, și cu pădurea de lângă conacul fraților dar respect și apreciez alegerea autoarei.

De asemenea, pentru o carte care are “Motel” în titlu, mă așteptam ca acțiunea principală să fie acolo, în schimb aproximativ 80% din nuvela se petrece la conacul Sweetside.

Toate acestea fiind spuse, povestea mi-a plăcut chiar dacă nu a fost atât de horror pe cât mă așteptam. O recomand din tot sufletul oricui caută un thriller psihologic bun și scurt.

[rowan | gloomandgrimoire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a bizarre little book that had me guessing until the very end. I started reading it late at night, and as things started rapidly unfolding I found that I couldn't put it down and ended up finishing it in one sitting.

Sweetside Motel follows Sarah, a Chinese woman in Canada fleeing an abusive partner and trying to make it to her brother's house across the country, all while in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. When her car breaks down in the small, secluded town of Sweetside, she begins to fear for her safety, particularly in regards to her identity, as she also realizes there is more to the Sweetside Motel and its owners than it seems.

The pacing of this was absolutely gripping and tense, and the dialogue between Sarah and the two brothers, Caleb and Elijah, was peculiar and had me questioning everyone's motivations and perceptions of reality.

I enjoyed the folklore-ish elements of the woods surrounding Sweetside and the motel's reputation and history. There are elements of a ghost story here that mainly serve as an atmospheric backdrop to the much more pressing matter of Sarah's escape from her abusive ex, as well as the strange situation she's found herself suddenly caught up in with no way to leave.

For such a short read, it was very claustrophobic and panic-inducing, and the setting made me increasingly uneasy. Sarah's fear was palpable, especially regarding the townsfolk and how they view her and her race in correlation to the pandemic.

This was a very enjoyable read, and while it was more of a thriller than horror, I liked the elements at play in it and I would have even enjoyed a longer novel featuring more of Sweetside and its backstory, especially the brothers and their family.

Thank you to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for this ARC!! 💚

[Ingrid Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the run from what she thinks is a murder, Sarah is blindly driving through the isolated and closed off towns during the early days of the Covid Pandemic.  She breaks down in a town called Sweetside and is not met with a warm welcome by the locals. They are taking the lock down very seriously and would view anyone with suspicion,  but Sarah is Asian, and these people believe the Chinese purposely spread this plague.
Only the kindness of one local man, who is not highly thought of by the town either keeps her from getting shot on the spot.
And from there things just get worse for this woman and her saviors.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. It had all the elements of a great suspense novel and a spine chilling horror novel. There was and is nothing like being quarantined,  either alone or with someone, to make you see your true self for better or worse.
Highly recommended. Published March 02, 2026
Thanks to @netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press/Independent Book Publishers Association for opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Book To Nature · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley! This was such a fast paced novella. It was described as a horror but it definitely read more like a thriller with horror elements for me. I was on edge for Sarah and I think the representation of what domestic violence and abuse can look like was brilliant, just because Ben didn't hit her didn't mean she wasn't experience abuse.

The racist elements of the book were also very well done and routed in real life which made the book more tense to read as Sarah's threats were from all angles: racists, ghosts, consequences, and the very people keeping her 'safe'.

This is a really quick book to pick up if you have a few hours and you want to be hooked from the first page!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so torn about this book. I wanted more of the motel, but the house was creepy too. The ending wasn't a surprise and I was amazed that the FMC was surprised when it seemed so obvious to me. But there was a really good surprise about halfway through that had me gasp. The ending was very fitting, but I wanted to feel more about it than I did. I think that's how most novellas are, a little bit too short and also a little bit too long. I will keep thinking about these characters often and wondering how they are doing. I'm glad I read it even if I can't decide how I really feel.

[Helena Viljoen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for a chance to read this book.
This was a fast-paced and tense read that kept me hooked the whole way through.
The story takes place during the COVID pandemic. Sarah, a Chinese woman fleeing an abusive partner in Toronto, finds herself stranded when her car breaks down in a small town called Sweetside. Already vulnerable and desperate to stay hidden, she quickly realizes the town isn’t exactly welcoming to outsiders especially someone like her. The tension around her identity and the way the townspeople treat her adds an extra layer of unease to the story.
While quarantining at the Sweetside Motel, Sarah begins to suspect that the owners may not be what they seem. The motel itself has a disturbing reputation locals even call it the “Suicide Hotel.” As strange things start happening, Sarah begins questioning everything and everyone around her.
I really liked Elijah and Caleb as characters, but the story constantly had me second-guessing everyone’s motives. I never felt completely sure who could be trusted or what was really going on at the motel, which made the mystery even more engaging.
One of the things that worked really well for me was the sense of isolation. Being stuck in a hostile town, during a pandemic, with no clear way to leave created a really claustrophobic atmosphere. That feeling of being trapped kept me on edge throughout the book.
Overall, this was a quick, suspenseful read that I genuinely enjoyed. The pacing is strong, the tension builds nicely, and the setting makes the situation feel even more unsettling.
A fast-paced thriller with a great sense of isolation and suspense

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Spoilers Book Review

E.L. Chen’s Sweetside Motel just hit shelves on March 2, 2026, and at 138 pages, it’s a fast, unsettling little novella that wastes no time pulling you in.

At its core, Sweetside Motel is about a woman trying to escape one bad situation and landing in another. Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, the book blends small-town suspicion, outsider tension, and personal trauma into a setup that feels claustrophobic from the start. There’s an immediate sense that something is off, and that tension is what really drives the story forward.

What worked for me right away was how quickly the story pulls you into that situation. The opening wastes no time establishing that Sarah is in trouble and trying to get away from something in her past. I also appreciated the way the book handles her position as an outsider. Some comments get made early on that feel loaded before you fully understand why, and I actually liked that. It created that moment of pause where you’re thinking, wait, what exactly do they mean by that? When the context becomes clearer later, it adds another layer to how the town views her.

I also liked the core mystery a lot. The small-town hostility, the fear of outsiders, the racial tension, and the sense that something is very off there all made the story feel tense and compelling. Even when I had issues with parts of the execution, I was still fully into it the whole way through, and that says a lot.

Where it lost me a little was in the worldbuilding around the pandemic. Since we’re now several years removed from that period, some of it felt harder to buy in the exact way it was framed. I could absolutely believe a closed-off small town using a virus as an excuse to distrust outsiders. That part makes sense. But some of the social dynamics around it felt a little conflicting to me, and I found myself wishing the story had maybe used a fictional virus or pushed that angle into something even more unsettling. I think that might have made the setting feel stronger and more believable on its own terms.

I also thought the novella felt rushed in some of the relationship-building. Sarah’s connections with certain people escalate very quickly, and I had a hard time fully buying the level of trust and reliance that developed in such a short amount of time. At the same time, she can be very back-and-forth in her decisions, which made her frustrating in places. She’s written as someone coming from abuse, and I do think that part of the book adds something worthwhile. There’s an interesting thread here about how abuse changes people, and how survival can twist the way someone reacts to others. That part felt real. But as a character, Sarah was still hard for me to fully like, and that made the emotional side a little shakier than I wanted.

That said, I really do think this story could have been even stronger with a little more room to breathe. This is one of those books where I found myself wishing it dug deeper into its relationships, its setting, and some of the emotional beats. There’s enough here to support more development, and I honestly would have welcomed it.

Overall, Sweetside Motel is a quick, engaging horror novella with a strong hook, a compelling mystery, and an atmosphere of isolation and suspicion that kept me interested from start to finish. I didn’t love every choice, especially when it came to some of the worldbuilding and the speed of certain character dynamics, but I still found it to be a really solid read.

Rating: 4/5 stars

[Christine Yunn-Yu Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweetside Motel, by Canadian author EL Chen, is a mixture of psychological thriller and horror that packs a punch. The novella begins with Sarah desperately fleeing from Toronto, until her car breaks down in a small, remote country town named Sweetside.

Unfortunately, Sarah’s plea for help is rejected by the townsfolk. It is the early COVID years when the world is swamped by anxiety, suspicion, paranoia and fear. Any outsider is required to quarantine, especially those from big cities. She is thus assigned a room in a deteriorating roadside inn nicknamed “Suicide Motel”.

Worse, Sarah is ethnic Chinese and has endured racism and xenophobia all her life. When the windows of her motel room are smashed and the poisonous phrase “chink virus” smeared across her door, she is forced to stay with the motel’s owners, brothers Caleb and Elijah. They have her sleeping in their dead father’s old bedroom and constantly remind her to lock her door.

As Sarah’s sense of claustrophobia and entrapment grows, increasingly malicious shadows appear to be lurking around the house. Soon, Sarah’s past is catching up to her. The dark secrets behind Caleb’s and Elijah’s peculiar behaviours are also revealed...

To this reviewer, the major theme explored in this story is mask wearing. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, masks help limit the transmission of the Covid-19 virus. But they also conceal a person’s identity and facial expression, making it difficult to decipher their true intentions.

Meanwhile, being female and Asian, Sarah has to wear masks of a different kind. The social “norm” here is that Asian people are expected to be quiet, friendly and polite, always pleasant and cooperative, always “work hard and blend in”, not to draw any attention or cause any trouble.

Indeed, “being nice” is how Sarah survives in a society dominated by white males. “These are men who never have to think about how much space they take up because they’re used to people making room for them.” Just like her ex-boyfriend Ben: “The breadth of his shoulders, the unapologetic way he cuts through a space. The way his anger uses up all the air in the room so there’s none left for her to breathe.”

Yet, in this story, “being nice” is further linked to basic survival in abusive relationships. Particularly in cases of domestic violence, it is often the victims who need to “make nice, accept the apology, because otherwise, the storm will break again”.

Finally, for the victims in this story, “being nice” as a form of mask wearing has a third and most profound meaning. Focusing on how these victims work hard to act nice because they are afraid of becoming their abusers, the author alerts us of the notion that violence begets violence. Such is the deep trauma that long-term domestic abuse can cause.

In this sense, Sweetside Motel is a powerful story of social commentary. Highly recommended.

[Lys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Sweetside Motel tells the story of Sarah, a young woman on the run from her past who is stranded in the rural town of Sweetside in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Forced into quarantine with the town’s pair of outcast brothers while constantly paranoid about her safety in the midst of a town of people who blame Asians for the virus, she desperately needs to escape - and quickly.

This book was a quick read, which I found easy to dive into because of the beautiful writing and gripping plot. The character development was also on point, considering the short length of the story. I also really enjoyed the commentary on domestic abuse, particularly in the form of emotional abuse/neglect. I would file this book under the thriller category as opposed to strictly horror; but there are certainly horror elements here.

A few things that did not quite nail it for me: I thought it was an odd choice for this book to use 3rd person perspective in present tense. It caught me a bit off guard at the onset, but I was able to move on from it eventually.
Secondly, the title of the book is Sweetside Motel. However, the motel was the actual distant ghost here. 95% of the book takes place at the Sweetside Manor, which is technically on the grounds of the motel, but yeah. Maybe the title should have been Sweetside Manor instead.
Lastly, the book itself was short but it was such a slow burn to get to any action that moved the plot forward in a meaningful way.

If you’re looking for a compelling winter thriller, check this one out!

[Elyrria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rounded this rating up from a 3.8, but I still enjoyed the story overall, and I appreciated how it handled difficult topics like DV.

Sarah, a Chinese woman, becomes stranded in Sweetside during the pandemic and ends up staying with two brothers at their "Sweetside Motel." She is trying to run from her abusive ex and make it to her brother's house all the way across the country, but gets stuck partway through the journey in a small town outside of Toronto. She has no idea what she is bargaining for, though, since she finds it harder to leave than she ever imagined. As the brothers' secrets unravel, Sarah begins to wonder if there is something very wrong with the woods surrounding the motel.

I really enjoyed how creative this story was and how the author demonstrated that racism and the psychological aftermath of DV don't just go away simply because someone decides to leave and make a better life for themselves. Sometimes, the past follows you, and you have to figure out how to live with it. I appreciated that honest look at human life and recovery, while enjoying the horror embellishments that kept me turning the pages late into the night. The story is a little slow at times, but the book is an appropriate length, and the character development is worth the time investment.

Thank you to the publishers at NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for sending me an e-ARC! I love E.L. Chen's work, and I will read anything she writes. This book is approachable and digestible for someone who wants a quicker read, and its deeper social commentary helps it stand out among its bookish peers.

[Shakella "The Singing Bibliophile" Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella was small but mighty!

When you first meet Sarah, you know she is in trouble; you just aren't aware of the type, but your heart goes out to her. A woman on the road alone, frightened. She finds herself stranded in Sweetside, Canada, and receives a less-than-warm welcome from the locals. It is the height of the pandemic, and the quarantine law is heavily enforced in this little town. Sarah finds that there are worse things happening in this town than the things she was running from when she left Toronto.

There is so much that I can say, but I honestly am afraid that I will let go of a few spoilers. This book kept me on edge. I tried to figure out what Sarah did. What is the deal with Caleb and Elijah, and this creepy town? Will Sarah make it out of the town alive? Things just fell into place so seamlessly that I thought that I had figured out the ending. I DID NOT EXPECT THE ENDING AT ALL!

E.L Chen's writing was captivating; there was just enough given to pull you into the space. You can feel the cold in the air and smell the dankness of the hotel and the forest. You can see the intruder's shadow in the bedroom and the detail in the paintings. All of this helped make this a creepy psychological horror/thriller. The characters were well written, the heavy, dark world-building was intense, and the pacing was perfect!

Thank you to NetGalley, Interstellar Flight Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles, and E.L. Chen for the ARC of this bingable novella and for allowing me to share my honest reading experience.

[Milt Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Under the impression that this would be horror of some sort, I read it expecting that there would be something unusual, not necessarily supernatural, but at least, well, horrifying. Although it's short, it's quite dense. I got one murder, one scene of violence, a few mentions of bigotry, lots of trauma, plenty of domestic abuse and family drama, and so much romance! No way would I call that mix horror though. It might be psychological horror at best, though if judged on these terms it fails: the female main character acts as if she's riding a permanent high, and the twists are predictable and even obvious from very early on. I'd characterize the story as romantic thriller or, perhaps mainstream social drama, with a focus on trauma. Now on those terms, it's not bad at all: beautiful writing, an incredibly insightful depiction of the deep trauma of long-term domestic abuse, and a bizarre ending which somehow cancels or deletes any previous achievements in favor of literary ambiguity. There's still too much romance (focused on a nice attractive guy, who seemingly can't be resisted), but also a nice atmosphere of foreboding (leading nowhere), several scenes of emotional indecision, and masterful displays of women judging men (interminably). But no horror at all.

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lockdown has only just begun, and Sarah is already running.
Fleeing her ex, she’s trying to make it to her brother’s house when everything goes wrong- her car ends up in a ditch just outside a quiet, snow-covered town. The kind of place that looks harmless… until you realise the locals don’t take kindly to strangers. Especially not ones they see as the reason the world is falling apart.
And Sarah? She’s very, very unwelcome.

This was a quick read, but it absolutely clawed its way under my skin.
It’s got that eerie, snowed-in, middle-of-nowhere isolation where everything feels just slightly off. You know the vibe where no one is acting normal, but no one is explaining anything either? Yeah. That. I spent most of this book feeling like I’d been dropped into the story halfway through; confused, suspicious, and waiting for someone to slip up.
The cast is small, but every single one of them feels wrong in their own unique way. The town itself? Hostile. Claustrophobic. And the way Sarah is treated (especially as a Chinese woman during a pandemic) adds this extra layer of tension that makes everything feel even more uncomfortable and unpredictable.
And I still don’t know what the hell was going on with the brothers.
I thought I’d worked out the ending. But I hadn’t. Not even close.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set during the COVID pandemic and the awful period of xenophobia where Asian people in America were senselessly blamed for the virus by the ignorant population. On the run from an abusive ex and a crime, Sarah find herself stranded in the small, and mostly ignorant town of Sweetside. A racial slur is painted on her motel room door, so the brothers who own the motel take her into her home for her safety. Caleb and Elijah give her their father's old bedroom and constantly remind her to stay in her room and to keep her door locked, The so-called Suicide Forest is right outside her window. The brothers seem protective of her, but she also feels somewhat jailed in their home. She is attracted to, and fears, Caleb, she finds Elijah to be sweet and vulnerable. Vulnerable, like she felt with her abusive ex, Does have these young men figured out? Who can she trust? Who can Caleb and Elijah trust?
#SweetsideMotel is an interesting psychological thriller against the backdrop of suspicion, bigotry and how people are shaped by abusive relationships.
Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read and review #SweetsideMotel

[GJO AND PUPS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and the Author for this ARC.

Despite being under 200 pages, this book packs a serious punch from page one. Sarah is hightailing it out of Toronto and the sense of impending doom follows her. Add in a motel with full-on Psycho vibes and I knew I was in for a tense, unsettling ride.
.
With Sarah trapped in a house with two secretive brothers, whispers of the sinister motel they run, racist locals showing up at night, and the woods closing in, the tension never lets up. But it’s Sarah’s own secrets that begin to consume her faster than anything lurking outside.

The real horror here is the racism faced during the COVID pandemic and beyond. That element hit hardest and made me angrier than any dark or creepy moment in the story


Short, sharp, and deeply unsettling , the author really sets the pace and builds a beautifully dark world — this one really absorbs your attention like a snowy landscape.

[trop_de_livres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah is on the run. An Asian Canadian, living in Toronto, it is the height of the pandemic and she is in trouble. When her car breaks down outside of the town of Sweetside, she has no choice but to quarantine for two weeks. Fortunately, there is a motel and it's empty. Nothing creepy about that at all, right? What could go wrong?

I was hooked from the first page; this novella was so suspenseful I was tempted to read the end first, just to put myself out of my misery. The plot went places I couldn't predict, I was genuinely scared and shocked, and there were serious themes that kept me intrigued: xenophobia, the trauma of abuse, the ghosts of our past. The writing was excellent, above and beyond what I expected in an indie published horror novella. Absolutely five stars - E.L. Chen is a writer to watch.

Thanks to NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for letting me read this in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Niniane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5

I don't know what to think of it. It made me feel so many contrasting things at the same time. The ending was absolutely weird, unhinged, immoral and in a way, weirdly satisfying. It felt a bit like a twist on some cliché dark romance plot, except that here the woman is the most dangerous and deadly.

The construction was very clever. I enjoyed how different scenes echoed each other. The pandemic's masks echoed the family secrets. It was also an interesting depiction of cycles of abuse. The 'kill your abuser' moment was incredibly cathartic. The way Sarah's brother doesn't believe her was sadly a realistic portrayal of how abusers isolate their victims. Abuse can take many forms and psychological abuse is still abuse.

In the end, it was a story about what happens when you stop pretending and embrace your inner rage. It was certainly thought-provoking and I didn't see that conclusion coming.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sarah flees Toronto in search of a fresh start, but her car breaks down and she is forced to quarantine at the Sweetside Motel.

This one started out so strong. The description of Sarah driving out of the city was well written and immediately drew me in. The idea of families being boarded up while in quarantine was really compelling and could have really delved into something intensely sinister. Unfortunately, that storyline wasn't explored further. Instead, we get a romantic angle which was not believable. Sarah has been sequestered for less than two weeks and she already understands the inner characters of the Vass brothers, falls for one, and is ready to make a new life with him? Sorry, I'm just not buying it. Had they become a killing crew together maybe that would have worked, but the story ends without anything like that either. Disappointed that this didn't lean into the horror genre more.

[ravynsbf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this! The writing style was so beautiful, very atmospheric and succeeded in evoking fear and excitement in me. I really enjoyed how the creepiness was incorporated into the story, just enough to make me feel on the edge of me seat.

The plot was very good, paced quickly enough that I absolutely had to devour this book in one sitting. I loved Sarah and her inner voice, how unsure she was about who to trust (for good reason!) It being set during the pandemic also added its own twist of fear and anxiety, with the perspective of being Asian in an area full of people looking for someone to blame.

All in all, this novella was phenomenal! I definitely recommend this to people who enjoy thrillers with a twist of horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC! I look forward to reading more of Chen's work!

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC! All opinions expressed are my own.

—

I devoured this book in one sitting.

Sweetside Motel was far more intricate and captivating than I could’ve expected going in. I expected a story about the pandemic, set in the haunting woods, plus a sweet love triangle storyline. What I got was a fast-paced story that made my head spin with questions about love, generational trauma, isolation, and what it means to move on.

What a lovely piece of modern gothic fiction. It’s poetic in a scattered, mind-of-an-anxious-person way. Chen’s writing captures fears and thought spirals that I’m certain filled many of our heads during the pandemic. Also, for anyone who has lived with and broken up with an abusive partner during the pandemic, this will probably hit particularly close to home.

[Megan.Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweetside Motel follows Sarah, a young woman who flees her old life during the pandemic, only to get stranded in a small town and forced to quarantine at a rundown motel with two mysterious brothers.

This novella does a good job of building tension and keeping the reader guessing until the end, with a creepy and unsettling atmosphere. However, I found myself wishing for more answers, as some elements felt underdeveloped. The pacing also felt uneven at times. Some parts (particularly the romance and final act) felt rushed and lacked the buildup needed to make them fully convincing.

I would market this as a thriller rather than a horror, but it was an engaging and easy read.

Thanks to E.L. Chen, Interstellar Flight Press and NetGalley for a digital copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

[Norrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweetside Motel is the only place to stay in this small town where Sarah, running from her ex-boyfriend, gets stranded during lockdown. Things go from bad to worse when she’s told by the police she has to quarantine for two weeks, and locals try to break into her room. Caleb and Elijah, the brothers who own the motel take her in.

I loved the eerie, claustrophobic vibes and how I couldn’t trust anyone. Not for one moment. The whole thing was surreal and even the most innocent interaction made me question everything.

The tension, the dark and foreboding forest setting and the ever looming threat of violence left me on edge for the whole ride.

This book is the lockdown horror you didn’t know you needed.

I received the book from the publisher via Netgalley. Opinions are my own.

[Emma_bookaholic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set over Covid-19, Sarah gets caught up in the Sweetside Motel, she meets Caleb and Elijah, two brothers who both tell Sarah to watch out for the other one.

A snowstorm causes Sarah to retreat to the Sweetside Manor where the two men live and to hunker down with them. Caleb warns to lock the door to her room but who is she locking herself away from? Ben, her abusive boyfriend she ran away from, Caleb, Elijah or their dad who supposedly went missing but his presence is everywhere.

I can totally see this being a horror/thriller film at some point! A creepy motel, in the middle of nowhere, caught in a snowstorm, with two brothers that you're unsure who has your best interests at heart.

A good read if you want a quick horror/thriller fix.

[Chelsea Carr Kinnear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fast paced novella kept me guessing until the very end. I was intrigued from the first page and all of the twists and turns kept me on my toes.

This book was set during the pandemic which created the perfect oppressive atmosphere for a book rife with escalating threatening encounters for Sarah, the main character. I was able to relate to the environmental stress the characters were facing because of how uncertain and confined I felt during pandemic.

The events of the novella occur so quickly that it can be disorienting at times which contributes to the sense of tension.

I felt like the plot had familiar elements to other genre books I’ve read but the unique perspective and the setting kept me interested.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shocker novella about a stop at a roadside motel during the COVID quarantine that turns into a semi-horror experience.

Sarah is Asian and she’s escaping her abusive fiancé, Ben, when her car slides off the road in a snow storm. The Vass family, Caleb and Elijah, take her into her own after vandals from the nearby town break all the motel windows. The town knows an Asian is at the house and fear she’s a carrier of that terrible Asian flu. When Ben finds Sarah things get up the horror comes.

I think this novella has potential but would be better as a fully flushed out book. Elijah is very interesting and I’d like to what his connection with Sarah would spin off too.

While I read this book after its publication date, I’d still like to thank NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for allowing me access to its ARC.

[René Whitaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

😬😳🤯 What did I just read?!

This novella is described as a horror and psychological thriller, but it definitely leaned more thriller for me, and wow did it deliver. I had no idea who to trust, who to believe, or what anyone’s motivations were. The constant back-and-forth gave me total whiplash and had me on edge the entire time.

It’s completely unhinged in the best way, and honestly impossible to put down. I wanted to fly through it, but also didn’t want it to end, which says everything.

Small but mighty. Novellas can sometimes fall flat, but this one proves just how powerful the format can be, delivering a fully realized story and impactful character development in such a short space. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time!

[Marra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was short but tense novella with fast pacing and an uncomfortable setting. Written during the2020 pandemic lockdown, E.L. Chen did not shy away from the racial attacks on Asian people due to the misinformation spread about COVID. It's disturbingly accurate as depicted when, Sarah, our main character faces these racial prejudices once she enters the town of Sweetside. The vibe of this novella is classic horror in 'locked room' setting with characters your unsure you can trust. It feels both like the Bates Motel and a Taylor Adams novel. With background stories of domestic abuse and child abuse, this horror story steered into gothic horror as we quickly realize that sometimes finding our place and our identity is understanding the monster with in us all.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah is running from an abusive relationship. She is Asian, and when COVID hits, people wrongly blame others like her for the pandemic. No one wants to read about COVID or lockdowns anymore, but here it fits perfectly into the story.
When her car breaks down, she’s forced to stay on the outskirts of a mysterious, creepy town in an empty motel. The atmosphere is tense and unsettling. At times, it resembles the early works of Stephen King. The tension builds steadily and intensifies, but unfortunately it drops off and disappears at the end, which feels unsatisfying.
Still, it’s a good novella—a gripping page-turner.