I was really looking forward to reading this book and overall I quite liked the writing and the story but it was very descriptive of feelings and emotions rather than action and drama led. It was quite repetitive in places and you have to suspend your reality about the relationship between husband and wife who are just moving into a new house to start afresh after her twin sister (who she still gets visitations from) was killed in a bike accident. To top it all the wife is pregnant and the husband is uncaring. There is a supernatural element that some may find unpalatable - so not a complete blockbuster, can’t put down book.

Not a particular exciting or interesting book for me. The main character, Fern keeps seeing her dead sister who died in a traffic accident and a mystery pregnant lady who showed her around the house she now lives in. I have given up half way through the book, sorry but it is not a book that draws me in to continue reading it.

When pregnant Fern moves house she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her deceased twin. In a new house strange things start to occur and Fern is plagued by a woman who used to live there, preoccupied, she can't connect with her family and new neighbours.
The writing style was compelling and really enjoyable to read.

I was looking forward to reading this from the synopsis alone.

The book was more of a supernatural/ ghost thriller than a psychological thriller but I enjoyed the story

Fern and Paul move into an old house to start afresh after Fern's sister passes away in an accident. When they move into the new house a whole lot of weird things start to happen. While Fern insists on something being amiss , Paul is sure she needs to go into therapy.

😊What i liked -

✔ Psychological Thriller/Murder Mystery.
✔ I liked the storyline and the plot.
✔ The buildup created was very well executed.
✔ I liked how Fern's mother in law plays Nancy Drew.
✔ A Few places in the book I truly got creeped out (I swear I heard weird noises after that).

🤔What could have been better -

✔ As I said it's a psychological thriller, I did not get the supernatural element in it . That could have been avoided or spun into something other than supernatural.


📚Who Should read :
👶 Beginner's
🕵Psychological Thriller lover
👮Murder Mystery lover


📈My Rating : 4/5

Thank you NetGalley, HQ Digital and Jennifer Moore for a copy.

I was expecting a psychological thriller but this was more a gothic ghost story. Fern is pregnant, mourning the death of her twin sister Linny. Her clod husband Paul decides a fresh start is just the thing for a pregnant woman and they move to a new house. Fern bonded during a house viewing with Marte, another pregnant woman, but seemingly no one knows who Marte is/was. Is Fern mentally ill? Is Marte real? Strange things are happening, or are they?

The woman before - Jennifer Moore

DNF was slow going but expired before I finished as I just couldn’t get into it.

This develops the concerning issues of pregnancy psychosis and other mental health issues into a very readable, if at times wordy, thriller. The main character is Fern, who is still grieving the loss of her twin sister, and who receives little emotional support from her husband Paul. A house move into a desirable but unfamiliar property further increases the stress Fern is under, and the ensuing chapters are sometimes hard to read. An addictive thriller in a predictable format. Occasionally, I would have appreciated more insinuations and ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ but on the whole, this was an engrossing thriller that I recommend to other lovers of the genre. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the complimentary ARC I received in return for this unbiased review.

Creepy but in a good way. Fern has lost her twin sister, Linny, in an accident and she is struggling to come to terms with her loss. She lives with her husband, Paul, in a flat and is pregnant. He is vey concerned that Fern is not doing very well and he decides that a change of house will be a good thing. Fern sees Linny everywhere she looks and finds it tough to realise that it is an illusion. Oh how wrong is he. They visit a house but Fern decides to go back for a second visit and Paul cannot make it. She meets the Estate Agent there. The Agent is asked to leave the premises to do another visit somewhere else but there is someone else in the house who offers to show Fern round and here is where the problems arise. They love the house and buy it. Fern has a bad feeling about the whole thing and decides to find out who the lady was who showed her round and this becomes a real problem. She keeps seeing Marta who showed her around the house in the house – but nobody knows who she is. Paul is very concerned about Fern’s mental state seeing her sister and now Marta in the house. He organises for his mom, Tina, to visit and stay with Fern for the foreseeable future. Fern is unhappy with this arrangement but Tina eventually is on Fern’s side and starts to help her find out what is going on in the area and the house. Tina realises that the problems are not all in Fern’s mind and sets about trying to help find out what is going on in the road. Fern is traumatized by the neighbourhood and things go from bad to worse over a period of time. Eventually things are settled and I really enjoyed how the book carried on and I did not realise until the end who was the “culprit” if that is the right word. As creepy stories go this was a really good one. I loved the characters although Paul could have had more of a backbone. I loved Tina as a mother in law she was ace.

I did enjoy reading this book even though it wasn’t quite what I thought it was going to be.
I’m not really a fan of supernatural story lines so was hoping as the story progressed that it evolve beyond this.
It was supernatural and it was neatly sorted out with a happy ever after ending.
Pleasant enough read but not Earth shattering.
Thanks to Netgalley for this one.

A great read. Full of drama and obsession. It is an unusual story that keeps your interest in the main. I did feel it flagged a little in the middle, as the obsession overtook the rest of her life.
I enjoyed it.

This was a new author for me, I really liked the sound of the book.
Fern is grief stricken from the death of her sister, pregnant with her first child and moving into a new home. In this beautiful new home Fern starts to have nightmares about the women who lived in the house before, along with the nightmares Fern feels like she is losing her mind as strange things keep happening music playing, messages in mirrors, which no-one else sees or hears. Fern is determined to get to the bottom of whatever is happening, with the help of her mother-in-law Fern starts asking questions, slowly the secrets from Crenellation Lane are discovered.
I think the characters were well written and well thought out, the relationship building between Fern and Tina I enjoyed. Tina was definitely my favourite character. I think the supernatural aspect of the story was good and gave an atmospheric vibe. The Author does a fantastic job of building suspense and tension throughout the book. I found the book to have a few good twists and turns and it kept me guessing.
Overall I found this one to be a clever psychological thriller entangled with elements of the supernatural. If you like books in this genre then I would definitely recommend it. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more books by Jennifer Moore Thank-you to Netgalley, HQ for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great debut and a very enjoyable read. It’s a super psychological thriller that screams to be made into a tv drama. There were plenty of twists throughout that kept me guessing until the end.
I’ll be looking out for more from this author in future.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. An exciting and different plot that does keep the reader in suspense; realising that something is amiss, but not quite being able to work out where the twist is.
An array of characters that are engaging and a believable story of a grieving twin, who is pregnant with a child and second guessing every situation that she finds herself in.

An excellent and at times scary novel showing just how many secrets lie in the most beautiful settings. A fresh start for a grieving couple expecting their first child proves to be a lot trickier that expected upon some new and mysterious friendships.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a good premise, although I found it a little slow in places. 3 stars.

When Fern and her husband move into their new home she is still struggling with the death of her twin sister and in the middle of her first pregnancy. As she tries to navigate life without her sister she starts to question her own mind when she is shown around the new house by someone no one seems to know. As things take a darker turn her life starts to fall apart but at least her mother in law seems to believe her and together they are determined to find out what the street doesn’t want them to know. This will make a great drama on tv.

I really enjoyed this mysterious supernatural tale that is based in love and loss. It was an intriguing read and had a number of twists and turns.

Fern is grieving the loss of her twin sister while being pregnant, she knows her baby is a girl because she just had to know but it's still a secret to her husband Paul. They decide to move to get a fresh start, losing her sister has been extremely hard on Fern, Paul, and their marriage and they both feel like if they move they can find a way to move on. Things are strange for Fern, sometimes she still sees her sister and now since the move to the new house she is seeing more strange things, like a heart in the fog of the mirror that Paul says he didn’t draw, and then there’s the mysterious woman, Marte who showed her around the house but that no one seems to know or know anything about. Where did this Marte woman go? Was Fern just imagining her and she’s not real? Something doesn’t feel right and Fern’s going to get to the bottom of it.

I’m glad Fern had a mother in law like Tina. At first, Fern doesn’t want to have Tina around so much, her mother in law can be quite a lot to handle but in the end, she’s an absolute blessing.

Then there’s Paul. When things get rough and too hard for him to handle or understand, he just dips out. Completely leaves his pregnant wife with someone she’s not entirely comfortable with (at the time her and Tina weren’t as close as they become in the end of the book) and just goes and stays with a friend, Simon, leaving his wife in a new house with things going on that scare her, all because he can’t or won’t deal with the fact that his wife might be seeing ghosts. I wish he would have had an open mind or at least toughed it out because I don’t think it was right for him to run away from his pregnant wife like that. He’s supposed to be there for his wife, especially when she’s pregnant, she got hurt and he was wallowing away in his own self pity because of his own actions and how horribly he handles terrible situations. I’m mad at Paul for Fern, she took him back so easily. I get it, he’s the father of her brand new baby girl, but still, I would have made him work pretty darn hard to get back in my good graces. I think he was forgiven way too easily. Simon’s place was perfectly fine with him for a while, that’s where he’d still be if I were Fern because I feel like Paul not being there for her made her situation a lot worse.

I loved seeing Marte get the peace she so rightfully deserved and I just wish she would have got away from that terrible person before it was too late. She seemed so nice, so excited to be a new mother.

I loved the paranormal aspect of this book, it’s been a while since I’ve read a ghost story and this one was fantastic. I absorbed this book, wanting to help poor Fern get to the bottom of the mystery and get her the happy ending she needed. Not everyone on Crenellation Lane is nice but there are some pretty fantastic, if not misunderstood people there that I wouldn’t mind having as neighbors.

A very good debut novel. A supernatural storyline which leaves you guessing until the end. Who’s to say what happens in the afterlife maybe spirits do leave messages, so maybe it’s not so far fetched. I enjoyed the read.