A Night in Halloween House

by Elyse Willems, Adam McQuaig (Illustrator)

It's Halloween night, the spookiest night of the year. Billy and his friends are trick-or-treating without parents for the first time ever! But things take a turn for the frightful when a series of escalating events force the kids inside Bryerwood House, the rundown and ramshackle residence that locals claim to be haunted. Can this rag-tag group of misfits navigate bullies, the weird new girl at school, and survive A Night in Halloween House? Brimming with nostalgia, A Night in Halloween House harkens back to Halloweens of youth. A time before cell phones and the Internet, where candy ruled supreme, kids played outside until the streetlamps came on, and campfire ghost stories were accepted as fact.

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Halloween, Childrens

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2020

Reviews

[Peter Vecchio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful end to a wonderful halloween season, such a creative mind making me legitimately creeped out while also making me laugh

[Serpentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a spooky fun Halloween story! The characters are likable and have depth. I enjoyed the uplifting spirit of the book.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Elyse so I want to give this a 5 stars, but I have to be honest. It's a good book, but not a great book. I think it would really appeal to a parent my age (in their 30s) who wants to share it with their children. It's a nostalgic tale of a would be Halloween night from our youths. It feels a bit like a Goosebumps book mixed with the movie the Sandlot. A fun festive debut from Mrs. Willems and I hope she has more on the way.

[Alyssa White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Elyse Willems (she has no idea who I am, so this review isn’t biased) and when I discovered that she wrote a children’s Halloween book, I had to check it out. I was a scaredy-cat as a kid, so I was hoping that this novel would thrust me into the shoes of a brave youngster who adores everything spooky instead of cowering under the covers from it. Luckily, this gem of a novel did that for me and much more. I felt nostalgic, happy, and even emotional during my time spent in this past world.

The story takes place in the ’90’s and sees a group of friends named Germ, Billy, Phil, and Chuck having to enter a supposedly haunted home called the Bryerwood House on Halloween. Is it really inhabited by demons and ghosts, or is it all a local legend? The boys and the unusual new girl at school, Vanessa, soon discover the true nature of the property but also the most important thing: understand and compassion. I loved the creepy yet light-hearted nature of the fast-paced story, and will definitely be saving this in case I have a child in the future. Though this may be a tad too scary for younger children, I’d highly recommend it for middle-grade and up. A Night in Halloween House is utterly charming, with equal amounts of spooks and heart. I can’t recommend this highly enough.

VERDICT: 5/5
*Originally posted on my blog AlycatGeekery.com

[Buddysattva Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent…

…is a word that sort of comes up short to describe how absolutely enjoyable this trip was.

This book has a lovely, joyful and somewhat creepy reminder of all the things that make Halloween such a fun holiday.

Without reaching too far into horror tropes, Elyse Willems conjures all the elements of good scary story, while still making it approachable to younger readers.

The characters are fun and lighthearted, but rounded up nicely to still be relatable and the titular Halloween House, whilst not overtly cruel (as is my experience with haunted house stories), is still ominous and mysterious.

The book is a wonderful light read, reminiscent of some horror anthologies made for a younger audience, but still very enjoyable for adults (who more than likely grew up on those other books) which make this story all the more likeable.

[Wesley Machiela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and fun for all ages. I've been a fan of Elyse and the content that she created at Funhaus and was very happy to support this book by purchasing it.

The story is great with a lovable cast of kids to follow on this adventure exploring the haunted house we all had down the block growing up.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Elyse and think she is genuinely one of the funniest people I’ve ever seen.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The twists and turns were done well to keep you in suspense. I actually read this book all in one sitting, I couldn’t stop turning the next page.

I can’t wait to see what Elyse comes up with next!

[William Aughton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book feels like a children's book homage to 80's horror films. The writing is alright, especially given its their first book, and the story is okay, although rather short. If I was the target audience I would've enjoyed it more. My biggest gripe is the shortness of the chapters, and the lack of depth.

[CinnamonTea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because my stepfather absolutely adored it and recommended it to me. It was a fun read and a very cozy halloween book without too high of stakes. The only reason its four instead of five stars for me is because I felt the pacing was a bit fast and the ending wasn’t my favourite. All in all a fun read only took me about 2 hours.

[n [larrythelatypus] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elyse Willems is my queen, and this was a cute little Halloween story with all the good cheesy bits and moments that made me laugh, and it was actually pretty horrifying to picture some of the things, I pictured Fluffy as a Bloodborne creature which warmed my heart. also this is a sign to always befriend the weird girl

[Chloe DeHart · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nostalgic halloween read. nothing groundbreaking, but a fun romp that reminded me of some of my favorite childhood movies. there are a couple of pretty spooky scenes though that really upped my enjoyment, especially given the time of the year!

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute story, I loved the end! It is definitely for a younger audience. The main characters are in middle school, I think. It reminded me of the movie The Sandlot. I wanted a spooky read for Octobed (I was a bit late starting it), and this was a nice pick.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Sefton Revere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read! I love this book and I have been a fan of Elyse for years. I wish her all the best in the future for her writing career and whatever else she decides to do.

[Han · Rating 4 out of 5]

Congrats Elyse! This had me feeling all nostalgic for the goosebumps days.

[Tracie Simer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Took me back to the piles of Goosebumps and books I read in middle school.

[Danielle Vandehaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely delightful. I may make it a Halloween Tradition!

[Jasmine Acosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read for all ages! Had me thoroughly entertained and I loved all the characters and their comradery. Definitely passing this along to my little brother, so he can enjoy too.

[mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elyse Willems is a phenomenal person and what a great book as her authorial debut! It’s sweet and wholesome and all around a good (and spooky!) read!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

 Night in Halloween House is surely written for tweens.  Cute story, but very simplistic

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was so adorable i'm literally begging for more adventures of this gang

[Gavin Simkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The next big Animated Movie!!

[Lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, like reading a goosebumps book when I was a kid. My 12 year old self would definitely appreciate it.

[Dorian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute kids book written by a fun person :)

[Zackary · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a really fun book! :)

[Courtney Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Elyse Willlems because of Funhaus on YouTube, so I was interested to see how she fared in her first self-published novel. A Night in Halloween House is a fairly standard plot for a great Halloween middle-grade story. Our main character, Billy, and all his friends are finally allowed to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, and they’re beyond thrilled about it. Being young kids, they get up to hijinks and find themselves stuck inside the one house in town everyone thinks is haunted. The kids must work together to stay away from bullies and get through a night in the haunted house without succumbing to ghosts and the things that go bump in the night.

I like how this had a pretty standard “kids getting stuck in a haunted house” plot, but it didn’t at all feel contemporary. This might be the perfect book for parents who want something fun and different to read to their kids, as there is a ton of nostalgia for we Millenials/gen Xers. It has enough throwback references to a time and place we all enjoyed as kids but also has that bit of terror that younger kids love in stories like this.

This a fun new title to add to your holiday reading collection. I enjoyed this! There are a few nitpicks with grammar and such, but I will chalk all of that up to this title as a first-time self-published author, so those elements will improve if Elyse releases another book (which I hope she does)!
Blog / Twitter / Instagram

[ChelseaFace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of the author before reading this book from her work on youtube, just to make this review completely clear. I will try to review as honestly as possible!

The book has a couple of spelling errors in it. Also, the printing quality is not exactly amazing. I understand though, that it is self published, so I honestly do not care that much, I just wanted to point that out if you wanted to purchase a physical copy like I did.

Other than those things, I loved the story. It felt like a goosebumps book, but scarier, and the ending felt happy and wrapped up very nicely. Great for young kids I think. As long as they can handle a little scary story. Maybe one curse word, but nothing severe. Would recommend to kids and adults. I had such a fun time reading this, I honestly read it all in one sitting. Very cute, very nostalgic, and well written. I was honestly surprised at how well it was written, not to say that Elyse wouldn't be skilled at writing, but I figured a first book would be rougher around the edges, so well done! Very impressive!
Overall, I recommend! I think this book has a lot of potential and I hope that Ms Willems chooses to write another book someday, as I will definitely be purchasing it! Loved it! A really great time!

[Wyatt Grondin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I originally bought this book around release date, as I'm aware of content creator Elyse Willems and was curious. As I mentioned in an update recently, I wasn't a fan of the opening and just ended up shelving it since and it was mostly a purchase to support a YouTuber.

I gave it another go, starting from the beginning, and it picks up a lot after that opening. The opening has some strong character cliches and feels a bit too "80's kid's movie" for it's own good, but then it uses that as a foothold and once it gets it's footing it gives much more depth to the characters and even doesn't shy away from some ideas an adult picks up sooner than a kid would.

Now after a while it also becomes a fairly standard kid's book with good highlights. The scary stuff gets deservedly intense and the character development feels natural, this is the kind of book that an adult will quite enjoy and that a kid will latch onto, which is the more important at the end of it. I'll always remember liking it, but a kid may grow to love reading because of it.

There's legit scares and mild swearing, something I miss in kid's media but only when they are done right, and it's done right here. Not a 4 stars, but if Goodreads did half stars it'd likely get 3 and a half.

[Jerrod Smelker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice book. Well written and easily understood. Lots of nostalgia and fun characters.