I found this book really confusing. I also didn’t like the ending. I didn’t feel satisfied at the end of the book. It left me with many questions.

This book really wasn’t for me. I found it very slow and uninteresting. I had hoped it would pick up but sadly it really put me off

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

I enjoyed this book as an easy read. It didn’t blow me away but it wasn’t bad. Plot line was a bit unbelievable at times. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for a review.

Nell, Chris and his daughter Maude are in Whitby for a family party and holiday. Right away they notice some peculiar marks and an uneasy atmosphere in their rented cottage. Well I loved the description, cover and the house itself but not much else! It wasn’t chilling enough for my tastes. Also it was s l o w, disjointed and hard to follow. Different characters should have different fonts sometimes. Wasn’t keen on the family and most of the neighbours or the ending which it seems you have to decide for yourself, all very ambiguous! The idea was good so will read something else by this author.

I loved Amanda Mason's The Wayward Girls, so I was really excited to read her latest - and she has once again created a truly chilling story. The Hiding Place is a slow burn, but it's also gripping - to the extent that I found myself reading a bit too quickly as I was so eager to find out what was going on. I'd advise against that, if you can bear it. The plot is very intricate and it's easy to miss things or get confused if you don't pay close attention. The tension builds up in steady layers and the author creates a brilliant sense of dread throughout. A great spooky story,

Spine tingling spookiness, eerily creepy and incredibly dark but somehow really emotional and sad. I loved every second of the audiobook of The Hiding Place! The narration was impeccable!

After reading and enjoying Wayward Girls by the same author I was really looking forward to getting my hands on this one.

The story centres around Elder House and what happened when Chris, Nell and their daughter Maude move into this ghostly home which is steeped in history.

There are alot of ghostly references.. footsteps on stairs, things going missing/moving etc and there are also alot of references to witches and witchcraft. The coastal setting was perfect for this story.

Whilst atmospheric and an enjoyable read I felt like there was something missing. It most probably didnt help that the ARC I received was muddled up so not as easy to follow.

I didn't particularly like the characters in all honesty, their arguments felt petty and I dont know why they stayed!

2.5*

Thanks to netgalley and Bonnier Books for the ARC.

I'm a huge fan of Amanda Mason's first book The Wayward Girls and, while I didn't enjoy this one as much, I really loved the oppressive and chilling atmosphere that was created in this book, there are some genuinely frightening moments.

Between 3.5 and 4 stars ⭐️ I feel a little bit uncertain about my feelings for this book, but I am going to do my best to put them into words.

The Hiding Place follows Nell who has to return to her hometown with her Husband and stepdaughter. However, the house they are staying in seems strange, with unusual markings and objects dotted around. Are they safe?

I am going to start with what I loved. I loved the inspection of different types of motherhood in this novel. But as a warning, this book may be triggering for anyone struggling with fertility. I’ve also been saying for a while that I wanted a book that actually scared me, and this did exactly that. I made a mistake of reading it in the dead of night (I do not recommend this!). I found the story and the real life aspects it was based on really interesting, I didn’t want to put the book down…even when my heart was racing!

However, I really struggled with how this book was written. I personally loved the plot (although it won’t be for everyone) but the writing felt disjointed and was extremely hard to follow. Perspectives would change within the same chapter without any clear indication that this was happening or whose perspective it had changed to. I had to keep going back over what I had read to try and follow who it was. I love books with multiple points of view, but they MUST give some indication of whose perspective is being used for me to enjoy them. The way this was written just made the book harder to read than it needed to be. That being said, I am looking forward to delving into more of this authors work because I did enjoy this novel overall.

I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys a horror novel, it would be a great October read! However, please be aware that the writing style may not suit everyone. I want to thank Netgalley, Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre Books and Amanda Mason for allowing me to read this book and give my personal thoughts.

Nell and Maude have a strained relationship and Maude has an intense dislike for her stepmother. As an angsty pre-teen, this is a natural set of emotions to be dealing with. However, Maude read a lot older than 12 to me. I would not have been surprised if she’d been introduced as 16. I imagine that Mason decided that Maude was 12 in order to incorporate that ‘on the cusp of a new stage of life’ that often makes characters susceptible to the paranormal and spirituality.
Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

3,5* rounded to 4
There's a lot of potential in this story and there are some very spooky moments, it's a gothic novel with a paranormal undertones and a story that kept me reading.
I found it a bit slow at the beginning but the last part was gripping and I couldn't stop reading.
I didn't like the characters as I found them a bit too neurotic and Maud seemed older than a preteen.
I missed the sense of the place, the house is a character but somehow I couldn't visualize it.
I enjoyed it and think that the author is quite good at delivering spooky story.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Hiding Place by Amanda Mason ticks all the boxes for an atmospheric gothic thriller. Its location is creepy, desolate and the subject of local ghostlore so you know going in that this place is going to be bad news. I think that the setting and build up of tension worked really well to create those feelings of dread that, as a reader, you want to feel with a book like this.

Unfortunately, the characters let this down for me. I adored the two teens, Evie and Kym, so it was a shame that they were only side characters there to propel the story forward. (In fact, I think I would have preferred to see this story unfold through the eyes of Kym who had already lost so much to the creepy old house.) But the main characters; Nell, Chris, Maude and Carolyn were largely intolerable for me.

All in all, the creepy atmosphere and unsettling events made this more than worth the read and I do highly recommend it to anyone looking for a scary-but-not-too-scary haunted house story.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book as the synopsis made it sound both thriller and horror like! It was definitely a bit of both, perhaps more spooky that horror, but definitely thrilling and left you wanting to read more as you went along!

I loved that it was set in Scotland, being a Scottish lass myself, and I found that the author did a brilliant job of describing the setting! You could really imagine the house and all of its spooky, historical elements and it made me wish it was actually a real house that could be visited as it sounded fascinating.

I don’t want to give too much away in terms of the plot but there were occasions when I was reading it at night that I was left a bit spooked and debating if I should read more!

This would was such a page turner and very different from the thrillers I had read in the past. The ending was completely unexpected and I would never have guessed that was how it would finish.

An author I will look out for in the future as I really enjoyed The Hiding Place!

Okay this was creepy, I read this just after Halloween and I have to say it’s a scary book almost like a ghost story, haunted house sort of novel but it works so well!!!

Nell returns to her hometown of Whitby to attend a family party, bringing her husband and stepdaughter with her. They take up residence in a spooky holiday rental property but from the start the place unnerves Nell, and when her stepdaughter Maude discovers a child's shoe hidden in a panel in the wall, she becomes even more uneasy. Is the house haunted?

There is a lot going on in this novel, and sometimes it was all a little all over the place as it jumped between character perspectives from one paragraph to the next, which I found extremely confusing. Parts of the book are very eerie and tense, and I was on the edge of my seat, but I would have liked more explanation at the end of the book - I found the ending was bordering on silly.

For a spooky story where so much emphasis is placed on the house (to the point where a family come away on holiday together and then literally don't leave the house for days!) I would have liked a better description of the house and its surroundings. I found I couldn't really picture it, nor the yard it was on. It was only halfway through reading the book that I remembered that I'd been to Whitby and seen the entrance to the "yards" (including the notable Arguments Yard briefly mentioned in the book!) and they seem like they must have an unusual layout which would impact a lot on the setting, and I think perhaps it took something away from the story for me by not being able to envisage it the way the author intended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Ooh Dark, spooky and utterly thrilling, a real edge of your seat read. A perfect read for those cold winter nights.

The Hiding Place by Amanda Mason is a chilling page turner of a thriller that’s the perfect book to read this Halloween. A spine chilling and atmospheric read, this is a book that will stay with me.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the creepy cottage with the strange and eerie atmosphere that Nell and her family go to stay in. Nell grew up in the small coastal town and has mixed feelings about returning, especially when she’s recognised by a local woman who will stop at nothing to befriend her. The cottage has been empty for some time and Nell soon begins to feel that there is something not quite right within its walls…

However Maud, Nell’s twelve year old daughter, is spellbound by the cottage, becoming fascinated by the strange atmosphere and the weird markings in the roof beams above her bedroom. But as Nell becomes increasingly uneasy and the house begins to reveal its chilling secrets, the tension slowly ratchets up to almost breaking point as the story moves towards its spine tingling conclusion.

The Hiding Place is a well written, spooky read that I thoroughly enjoyed. The perfect read for when the nights draw in and the weather gets colder, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a chilling, atmospheric story to read this winter.

Nell, Chris and Maude are off on holiday, staying in a big house by the sea – the place where Nell grew up. There’s been so much going on at home recently, they felt the need for a break, and what could be better than a quiet little village? With things a little tense between Nell and Stepdaughter, Maude she hopes that the break will give them a chance to get back to the way they used to be…..

But then strange things start to happen in the house which leave Nell feeling on edge. Then they find something strange hidden in the walls…… Maude is enthralled by the house and she isn’t the only one. As some of the locals start to befriend the family, and then Chris is called away, things get even weirder. But what secrets will be revealed? Are the neighbours truly who they appear? And will everyone make it out unharmed?

Firstly, can we give some love to the cover! I really like it and would definitely pick this up if I saw it on a bookshelf! Now on to the story…….I was completely sucked into this and didn’t want to put it down. In all honesty I wasn’t completely sold on any of the characters but that helped to give the book a frosty feel to it. Nell has her own needs and desires, and her relationship with Maude is particularly fraught. Maude is testing and can behave like a brat but I did feel for her at times, and felt like Nell was being unfair. Chris wasn’t particularly good at managing either his wife or daughter, and then just leaves them to it!! Some of the locals will leave you suspicious and others you’ll find hard to figure out – all which builds on the intrigue of the story.

The setting is perfectly creepy. An old house, with things being found in the walls, markings scratched in wood, sinister footsteps and rumours of ghosts and funny noises! Even the surroundings of the house and the people in the story will leave you feeling slightly on edge…..

The story was also brilliant. With the story focussing quite a lot on motherhood and family relationships, it gives another aspect to the story, but one that builds on the characters needs and desires.

Overall, this is a brilliant, creepy and sometimes sinister novel perfect for this time of year. It will keep you hanging on and will suck you in until the very end. Most definitely recommended by me for a winter read – get your blanket and hot chocolate ready and settle down for a fantastic story.

This is a totally fitting read for the spooky season.

Unexplained noises, strange marks on the ceiling and creepy objects found in hidden wall panels characterise this unusual holiday house; I’m not sure I’d have been keen to stay there as long as this mother and step-daughter did! I found the strained dynamic between Nell and Maude kind of fascinating and, in fact, mother-daughter relationships form a central theme in the novel,

Particularly as the action ramps up towards the end the reader starts to question what is real and what is entirely imagined. Was there an unfortunate accident? Or were there darker or supernatural forces at play? How does it all connect with what we know about the property’s history? And what do the neighbours know that we don’t?

This is a book that encouraged a lot of pondering on my part, and therefore not one that I could rush through. It’s also not one I wanted to read just before I went to sleep! 😬😂

With thanks to Zaffre for gifting me a digital copy of the book to review