Dark, suspenseful, and deliciously eerie.
The Keeper of the Key delivers on gothic horror with all the right vibes, creeping dread, mysterious secrets, and a setting that feels like a character in itself. Nicole Willson builds tension beautifully, and I found myself holding my breath more than once. Suspenseful, dramatic, and haunting in all the best ways.

The Keeper of the Key by Nicole Willson is a gothic YA horror that gripped me with its eerie atmosphere and emotional depth. Sixteen-year-old Rachel is uprooted from her life and forced to move into Morgan House, a decaying mansion owned by her mother’s boyfriend, Geoff. The house is filled with strange occurrences, and Rachel is drawn to the forbidden basement, where she experiences haunting visions of a man she feels she knows. As tragedy strikes her family, the supernatural events intensify, and Rachel must uncover the house’s dark secrets before it’s too late.  

Willson masterfully blends supernatural horror with family drama, creating a tense and atmospheric narrative. The themes of trust, control, and the complexities of family dynamics are explored with nuance, making the horror elements even more impactful. Rachel’s journey is both terrifying and poignant, as she navigates the challenges of adolescence while confronting the malevolent forces in Morgan House.  

The pacing is steady, with the tension building gradually as Rachel uncovers the house’s secrets. The supernatural elements are chilling, and the twists keep the reader engaged until the very end. Willson’s writing is evocative, painting vivid images of the haunting setting and the emotional turmoil Rachel experiences.

Overall, The Keeper of the Key is a compelling read for fans of gothic horror and YA fiction. Willson has crafted a story that is both spooky and emotionally resonant, making it a standout in the genre.  

Getting started was hard for me with this one but once I was invested I flew through it in a day.

Fun if fairly predictable read that I would recommend

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Keeper of the Key in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
Nicole Willson crafts a gripping and atmospheric tale in The Keeper of the Key, a YA horror/paranormal novel that delivers exactly what I hoped for. From the first chapter, I felt pulled into a world full of eerie charm and unsettling secrets. The setting breathes with life—creepy without becoming cliché, vivid without overexplaining. Fans of haunted mansions and generational curses will find so much to enjoy here.


The Details
The story builds tension with a slow burn that never drags. Every twist hits at just the right moment, and the narrative stays focused from start to finish. Willson keeps the momentum steady, blending suspense with strong character development in a way that feels both natural and satisfying.



The paranormal elements work especially well. They don’t feel added in just to scare—they’re deeply tied to the emotional and psychological stakes. The protagonist stands out as a fully developed, emotionally grounded character. I cared about her journey, and that made the darker moments hit harder.


The Verdict
The Keeper of the Key delivers a well-paced, immersive, and genuinely eerie experience. It avoids cheap jump scares and leans into atmosphere and emotion instead. For readers who love Gothic fiction with a beating heart and real stakes, this one deserves a spot on your shelf.

We have a pretty basic horror story set-up here - the family that moves in with a guy with a lot of weird rules about his house and a basement you must never enter. Of course a basement is foul smelling, dark, and deeply haunted. While the book does subvert some expectations but the plot is kind of messy. The atmosphere is strong but inconsistent.

I remember reading this months ago it was disappointing to say the least. I would not recommend this was not a horror book.

Unfortunately, this book didn't quite connect with me as I had hoped. I’ve decided not to share any reviews on my social media profiles.

This book was good! I liked it but didn’t love it. I definitely see potential in it and look forward to seeing what else the author does.

Thank you to NetGalley and Parliament House Press for the ARC of this novel.

Horror is not my typical genre, but I enjoyed this story. I think the fact that it was YA helped keep it from being too scary - which was ideal for me. The story was captivating and I was eager to figure out what the mystery of the house was. It’s a very quick read and is interesting enough to keep me turning the pages and finish it in a day.

This was a VERY COOL world. The characters were intriguing to follow. They were easy to fall in love with just like the world. Simple magic system. Enjoyable read.

This was a fun, twisty, slightly creepy haunted house book. It was just the right amount of scary for me. It was fast-paced and kind of addicting to read. I guessed the twist pretty early on, but it was still fun to read. I liked the good characters, especially the grandmother. The Bluebeard connection was interesting and played out a little differently than I was expecting.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Loved this gothic contemporary thriller/horror story with a twist of magic great book for a teenager who has just started to read this genre

I read this a while back for a book tour group. I was thoroughly impressed with this one. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I went in, so I enjoyed this read a lot. The story was very engaging and very capsulizing. I feel honored to be able to read this as an arc

The typical teenager Rachel wants nothing more than to have an exciting summer with her friends. Her mother has other ideas. They move to be with Mom’s boyfriend Geoff. He owns a spooky mansion called Morgan House.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and to the publisher Parliament House Press.

Though I find myself drifting away from YA books, particularly those aimed at the lower end, this was a great introduction to the gothic novel structure for younger readers, including the use of a haunted house as its own character. It also sets load of examples of how not to behave, which is important! A quick read that I'll be recommending to younger YA readers.

We start out with the basic tropes of these gothic YAs: a teenager (Rachel-- or 'Rach' as everyone calls her) loses one parent and the other parent meets someone who is kind of an ass. There's a power struggle. You're not my parent! The stepparent also lives in a creepy house. In another town. Far away from the teen's high school and all her friends. The power struggle continues. But then the basement starts calling to Rachel? In her sleep?

Oh, and there's a boy she meets at the local bookstore. He's mysterious. He smolders. He's different.

2.75 stars. It's a quick read, and I tend to find these overly trope-y YA gothic horror nuggets to be cozy. I still enjoyed it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend.

No. Just no.
It's not a horror book, more of a family drama. The bikkering between our main character Rachel and her mothers boyfriend overshadowed every horrory scene. And there were not that much of those creepe episodes in the book to begin with. Every ghostly encounter were the same and got boring towards the end of the book.
Characters were annoying to say the least. Rachel especially was like a spoiled brat from the beginning to the end of the book. It urked me to no ends how she judged her mother for rushing into new relationship, when she herself gave her virginity to the guy she met few days ago. She declared that she loves him even thow she didn't even know his age, where he lived, what was his surname and so on.
The story itself was too long, just a perfect snore-fest.

I really loved Rachel's character. She felt like a very authentic teen and made me cringe a bit at the memory of all the times I was probably just like her. I loved how certain key themes in a female teen's life were handled. I was rooting for her and had to resist flipping to the end to find out what would happen. It is a horror story after all... I am glad I did NOT peek and let the ending unfold!

One thing about me is that I love any story embedded within a gothic setting - bonus points for haunted houses. And additional bonus points for the gothic house-as-a-character trope. Ticks all the boxes.

Heed the Dead or Join Them, said the warning on the cover, and I braced myself for a good read.

When 16-year-old Rachel Morley’s mother, Tara, decides to accept boyfriend Geoff’s invitation to move into his mansion, Morgan House, in St Mary’s, Rachel feels uprooted. When they get to Morgan House, Rachel gets the creeps. She can’t help feeling that someone is watching her. Soon strange things begin to happen. She feels a strange presence in the house and hears odd noises.

Her mother, eager to build a future with Geoff, hopes Rachel will settle. But that won’t be easy as Geoff has lots of rules, the strangest of which is that Rachel is never to go into the basement.

Luckily what makes her new town bearable is the presence of Nick Alexander, a good-looking guy who takes Rachel to the cemetery on their first date. Suddenly, the town of St Mary doesn’t feel so unbearable. The only trouble is that Morgan House seems more dangerous than ever. Each night she has horrible dreams about something evil in the basement, and a strangely familiar man whose face she can’t see, then wakes up to find herself in the basement, even though she doesn’t remember having gone there.

The book is written in the 1st person present tense PoV of Rachel. The author creates a sense of dread. The eerie atmosphere weighs us down. The writing evokes the right imagery. The pace is good. Even though I guessed the source of the mystery, I still continued reading.



Geoff is a pain from the beginning, at least to Rachel. But he comes across as one-dimensional. Initially, there is nothing to redeem him in Rachel’s eyes.

The mother’s character could have been a little stronger. She doesn’t seem to have any agency of her own. She tells Rachel to give Morgan House a shot, and that if she doesn’t like it, they will leave. But then when Rachel expresses her misgivings, she still won’t move.

Another time, she tells Rachel that if she is not happy with Geoff’s proposal, she will decline. But then, she accepts the proposal. In both instances, Rachel settles down and makes peace with her decision. Which is a letdown, given her fierce desire to leave.

They don’t decide to leave until the very end. They should have at least made an attempt to leave.

Overall, I felt that there should have been more scenes with Rachel and her mother together, without Geoff around. We don’t get to see the mother-daughter dynamic enough. Also, Rachel mentions her father initially, but then halfway through the book, she comes to know something about her dad that she hadn’t known and that detail seemed forced. Having come to know of that fact, Rachel stops stressing over it, and doesn’t mention it again. This is strange, given that relationships play a huge part in this book.

There were some things that weren’t clear.

Why was Rachel targeted? Just because she lived in the house?

What was the deal about the key in the title? Why does that key show up so late?

Rachel talks about another kind of ghost, when friendships fizzle out. I found this very sad. She knows that best friend, Elena, will soon forget her. On the other hand, Rachel herself forgets about Elena, once she meets Nick.