The House

Mason Falls Mysteries

by Raelyn Drake

The old, abandoned house at the end of Grace's street is a local legend. All the neighbors say it's haunted, but every Halloween someone leaves candy on the front porch. Grace and her friends decide to investigate, hoping to find out once and for all if someone—or something—really is haunting the place. But what if there is more to the house than there seems?

Genres: Audiobook, Mystery, Young Adult, Horror, Middle Grade, Fiction, Short Stories

108 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 28, 2022

Reviews

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story 2 stars**
Audio 3 stars**
Narrator Intuitive

[HorrorBabe911 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story the ending was okay. Read more like a middle grade story.

3 kids venture to check out a haunted abandoned house, as a dare and discovers secrets about the witch that once lived there.

[Christina MacIntyre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick little audiobook from the library today. Definitely for a younger audience but it served its purpose on this windy day.

[Sandra Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The House" is an eerie, fast-moving thriller with a strong premise and plenty of atmospheric tension, but it doesn’t fully hit the mark for me. The setup is great: an unsettling house, strange occurrences, and a cast of characters who all seem to be hiding something.

However, the writing can feel uneven at times, with scenes that move too quickly or don’t build enough emotional depth. Some character motivations feel rushed or underdeveloped, which makes it harder to stay invested in their decisions. The plot has strong ideas, but a few twists come off more abrupt than surprising.

Overall, "The House" is a solid, enjoyable thriller with a spooky edge.

[Maymunah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lmao this was diet goosebumps

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is incredibly short, so there's not really a lot of room for nuance, but it was so literal and direct that it made me a little twitchy with the unnaturalness of the perfection of these kids. I mean in their behavior, not characterization. (There was very little of that. Every character in this story was interchangeable with each other, personality-wise.) These kids were so wholesome and goody-good that it almost read like parental well-behaved-teen wish-fulfillment.

This is supposed to be a haunted house story. Lest we forget.

This story makes Scooby-Doo mysteries seem like Saw III.

Bleh.

[Ruby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blind quick read from libby. Cute haunted house story, definitely for younger audiences.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute little Halloween book for younger audiences

[Readwithraisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the mystery about the house. The narrator was great and the ending was not at all what I predicted which is great! Loved it!

[Andrew “The Weirdling” Glos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent, by-the-numbers mystery written for middle grade readers. It centers on Grace and her friends. They are dared to spent an hour in the neighborhood's haunted house by their local high school seniors. They don't last the hour, but their experiences inspire them to discover what might actually be going on at the house. What ensues is some middle school sleuthing and a mystery that gets uncovered, with a nice little bow on the top. It's short. The characters are pretty two-dimensional. The mystery is not especially brilliant. That said, if your middle school reader is new to the genre, this will all be new and exciting to them. If they are already deep into this genre, then this probably will seem boring to them.

[✧ hayley (the sugar bowl) ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

➳ 3 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

even though i just found this book this month, i’m convinced i read this exact book in elementary school




୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and cute. Would be good to get your kid to read during October! Not scary and the characters are pretty decent!

It’s tagged on here as a lot of things but definitely not YA or Horror. More of a middle grade.

[*ੈ❀joanna (hiatus work) ₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁·ꕤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was okay for a 1 hour novella

[Brianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book series is the equivalent of Hallmark movies and as terrible as they are, it's so much to make fun of them.

[IvyInThePages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.57 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3/5
-Cover: 1/5
-Story: 2/5
-Writing: 5/5
Genre: Horror, MG, Mystery
-MG: 5/5
-Mystery: 2/5
-Horror: 0/5
Type: Book
Worth?: Meh

Hated|Disliked|Meh|It Was Okay|Liked|Really Liked|Loved

A very mediocre MG book. I feel like it was trying to be a Nancy Drew book and it missed that mark.

[Danique van Dijk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damian, Cat and Grace need to go into this house for a dare, a house of Cordelia Rose that was a medium and is supposedly haunted. This sounded pretty promising, but turned into more of a YA than horror related story. Someone set it up, the ghost sighting and everything. Meh that’s not really horror lol - the owner just wants to hide the fact that it’s not haunted so they won’t tear down the house. Hmm. Nice quick and easy story, but this shouldn’t fall under horror at all lol.

[JessIca Lunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the story was enjoyable and easy to follow. I probably should have looked further. It’s a step above Scooby Doo which I love but this was probably intended for a younger crowd. Which is more than okay. There was no real emotional draw to it or challange.

[Holly Lathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute short story worth the hour or so to give it a read or a listen

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute for kids

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t realize this was a kids book when I got it off Libby! Hard to rate as an adult, but it was Scooby Doo-esque and I can imagine liking this when I was younger.

[Nancyslibrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️
Another quick and fun audiobook

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not the target audience for this book and it’s listed as a YA book but I think it would be more suited to younger readers. I didn’t mind this book - it was a quick read - but I just think there are more engaging YA books.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun

[cherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars- ehhh.

It was bland, not memorable, and didn't provoke any strong emotions—so I don't hate it— but I definitely don't like it either.

I read this on audiobook and it wasn't hard to follow, which was one good thing. It was also a very quick read, which is another good thing. However, the characters were bland, and it wasn't engaging or unique. It's your very stock standard haunted house mystery, similar to something my younger self would've written for school.

Overall, I've got not strong emotions about this book, but wouldn't recommend it either.

[Sara Houser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a spoiler, I enjoyed and was disappointed in this book. The middle part of the story was the disappointment part. I love a good haunted house story but once I found out the the house had been rigged and not haunted at all I struggled to finish it but once I got to the end I had appreciated what the kids did for the house itself.

[Candida · Rating 3 out of 5]

This way short mystery ghost story turns out so similar to an episode of Scooby-Doo, minus Scooby-Doo. A group of high school kids are faced with the upper classman's challenge of staying in the local haunted house. The group accepts the challenge and use it as a chance to discover the truth about the house.

[Mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick fun read, I really enjoyed it :) I love middle grades! Especially spooky middle grade reads. Halloween in February mwahahaha!

[Alinnarossa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The House by Raelyn Drake is a thriller take place in a small town that revolvels around a group of friends who decide to explore an abandoned house rumored to be haunted. The book combines elements of mystery, suspense, and horror, eventhough the horror isn't so gripping since this IS a middle grade fiction.

Each characters have unique backstory and motivation for being involved in the adventure. The house itself has a dark history involving previous occupants who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The townspeople believe the house is cursed.

This book is basically a scooby doo episode. Very decent. I wouldn't say it was a horror story, it was merely a mystery tale written for teenagers.

[Tri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a novel for teens, but by the time they’re old enough to read this, they would’ve read plenty of other mystery/horror novels that deliver their stories 100x better. The ‘scares’ happen briefly and the kids quickly figured out the farce. Everything happens in such a sanitized, boring way that it feels like someone’s overprotective parents inked out all the good parts and left behind the scraps. I’m an adult, sure, but even Goosebumps or other middle-grade novels have some fun and intrigue to them. Some other reviewer said this story made ‘scooby doo look like saw III’…I agree.

There are hundreds of other creepy fun books that a teen could read that are far better and more fulfilling than this one.