The premise of this was promising but it didn’t live up to the expectations I had of it. I didn’t really feel like any of the characters had any redeeming qualities and I guess that is the whole point of Mortimers hatred of them but I felt like the endgame was pretty much expected and there was no real sense of shock by the end of the book.

I wanted to love it. I feel like it could have been such a neat horror with a few tweaks. It just felt a bit dragged out.

Thank you for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I saw a horror blogger raving about out this one on social media, so I was keen to read it - thankfully I was granted access to a review copy. Here we follow a group of seemingly unconnected authors, who are invited to the reading of famed horror author, Montgomery Queen’s last will. Cue a creepy house, an unsettling atmosphere, guests with questionable morals and motives, and dodgy staff.

I did struggle to get into this one as the guests arrive at the manor - but at the 20% make, the story started to get going properly, and it had me hooked. There are some gruesome bits in here, and it’s the kind of read where you need to suspend reality and just accept what’s happening in the story as the dwindling guests figure out why they’re all at the house, and what they have in common. Whilst it had a killer of premise, it didn’t really deliver fully for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the team at Sourcebooks, and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy.

The beginning of this book felt similar to many other books of this type; a group of people called to a will reading with seemingly no reason as to why they would be chosen.

But then this devolved into more of an escape room style thriller with high stakes and riddles to solve with deadly consequences for failure.

The characters are all pretty despicable. Though I did have a bit of a soft spot for Buck and his small town Texan Wiles.

Everyone has a reason for being chosen to face this house of horrors, and I loved that everyone was unreliable in the roles they played, and the book makes you question each and every one of them at every turn.

Overall, I enjoyed this different take on the haunted house genre.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read a copy of this book via Netgalley

A group of writers are invited to the reading of the will of legendary horror author Mortimer Queen. Queen passed away recently & the group find themselves assembling at his eerie manor house. Each of the guests were linked to Queen in some way & are a beneficiary in his will, but first they have to play a game. Each room in the house contains a riddle, & the group must solve the riddle, before progressing onto the next room. If they fail to solve the riddle in time, one of them will pay the price until there is only one left.

This had an intriguing macabre & creepy feel to it with a cast made up of a veritable motley crew of characters hiding terrible secrets. As the 'game' progresses each one starts to wonder just how far they can trust their fellow players. Not just a straightforward horror, it also has a supernatural aspect to it & the ending is very Edgar Allan Poe! Gruesomely entertaining. 3.75 stars (rounded up)

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Sourcebooks UK/Poisoned Pen Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book it’s twisty and cool and really keeps you guessing! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

Unfortunately, I came away disappointed from 'How To Survive a Horror Story'. The story felt overwritten and too long for the limited depth of its characters and plot. Despite the intriguing premise, it just didn’t grab me the way I’d hoped.

It’s a classic setup: a locked-room, closed-circle mystery in an isolated setting - essentially And Then There Were None with a horror twist, but it didn’t quite deliver on that promise.

It reminded me of Ande Pliego’s You Are Fatally Invited - a similar premisebut crime mystery rather than horror. Like that book, this one lacked the oomph, character depth, and a compelling narrative voice needed to make it truly shine.

I seem to be in the minority, judging by other reviews, and I genuinely wish I had loved it as much as I hoped, based on the premise.

The premise on this one was so interesting, I went into this one wanting so badly to love it and be thoroughly spooked and creeped out.

However the execution of this left a lot to be desired, I found the ending coming from the first chapter so I wasn’t surprised by the ‘Twist’
Also I found the multiple POVs too much. 7 just got confusing while the author did a okay job of giving them all their own voice I just feel like it was too many to get my head around and was kind of overwhelming.


Book gave Saw meets Pretty Little Liars (especially the season where they were kept in the Dolls House)

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3

’Monsters deserve to die the way they were born: unredeemable’

How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold is a haunted house horror meets Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, following seven horror authors as they visit the manor of esteemed, mysterious, and recently deceased fellow author Mortimer Queen to receive the ‘gifts’ he has left them in his will.

I went into this with such high hopes, as I am a massive fan of whodunnits of any kind, and particularly liked that this one followed horror authors, as I of course adore the genre. Unfortunately, while How to Survive a Horror Story had some good moments, I found the overall story to be very lacklustre, made worse by an incredibly disappointing and nonsensical ending.

While the writing was good, particularly for a debut, I found the characters to be a little too cliche and one-dimensional for my liking, which made it hard to root for them in this escape-room-esque situation. The characters that did standout to me, Buck and Crystal, had the most personality and depth out of all of them, but even they were pretty vapid overall. The multiple POV’s helped keep the plot moving forward, but often times too quickly, meaning the horrors the characters were facing in each room of the house fell flat. There was nothing that really distinguished each rooms theme, and they ended up all blending together in my mind which made for quite boring reading.

I did enjoy the unique character deaths, which were mostly memorable and quite gory, with some really creative moments here and there reminiscent of the Saw franchise.

The biggest let down for me was the ending, which nearly killed my entire experience reading the book. The way in which one of the characters did a completely 180 on their personality and sided with Mortimer, a clearly terrible human being, made no sense whatsoever in terms of the characters personality, nor the story and what they had learnt about Mortimer throughout the plot. I understand having a ‘twist ending’ (and I say this very loosely), but that twist needs to not only make sense, but have had some clear lead-up throughout the book. This was not one of those twists, and left me feeling irritated and frustrated.

Overall, How to Survive a Horror Story gets 3/5 stars. Not a bad debut, but I still felt disappointed after finishing it.

This reminded me of a Knives Out, Saltburn, Ready or Not kind of story and that really intrigued me initially.

Each character was interesting and engaging in their own way.

However...

Melanie was an interesting one though. I felt that each of the other characters had a proper reason to be their and had a thorough character arc that was seen through. Melanie was very much a 'why are you even here' type of character. I understand that this may have been the main draw for her and as a reader we are supposed to be asking that question but I'm still asking it after finishing the book. And then on top of that, she takes a turn and her character and morals change completely, with little to know explanation, and it doesn't feel worth what she gets in the end.

I would have liked this to play out a little differently.

I thought the writing was good enough for me to keep reading but it was the other characters like Scott, Buck, Crystal, and Winnie.

The manor was an intrigued but it would have been nice to understand it better.

BTW, I liked Buck and I wanted them to be together.

This book was a spine-tingling thrill ride, hands down the best “monster house” mystery I’ve ever read. Mortimer Queen doesn’t just haunt the pages, he owns them, right down to the jaw dropping final gotcha that left me reeling.

From the very first page, I was hooked. Seven strangers summoned to a will reading… but this is no inheritance tale, it’s a trap. Each character’s POV offers eerie glimpses into their past, their guilt, their secrets, and the reasons they might’ve been chosen. And let me tell you, Mortimer had his reasons, cold, calculated, and utterly brilliant.

Mallory Arnold masterfully weaves tension, dread, and mystery into every chapter. You feel the fear creeping up your spine, the unease tightening in your chest, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, bam. You're wrong.

This isn’t a one and done read. It's the kind of book you’ll return to again, chasing missed clues and second guessing everything you thought you knew. With multi-POV narration that never feels overwhelming, each thread leads you deeper into Mortimer’s twisted game.

A chilling, clever, and completely addictive read. Highly, highly recommended, especially if you like your mysteries dark, your mansions cursed, and your villains just a little too smart.

Seven authors are invited to the reading of the legendary Mortimer Queen. But when they arrive, they discover that they are actually part of deadly game, full of riddles and a hungry house.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and a change to the usual horror troupe of a haunted house. Initially the characters were all pretty much unlikeable but as time went on I was questioning who was the most unlikeable…the authors or Mortimer Queen. The story was told through multiple POV with the insertion of short stories told by Queen. While reading, it was hard to know who was telling the truth.
I loved the fact that the house was its own character. It led to some eerily tense and sometimes gory scenes. The riddles in each room and how the house might deliver any consequences kept me intrigued.
However, I did feel at times the story was a little drawn out and the ending fell a bit flat because I don’t think it was nearly tied up.

I really tried with this. Honestly I did. But, frankly, it sucked. Horrible characters and some quite terrible writing, mixed with dozens of inconsistencies and sloppy editing. A shame, because the premise was fun, but I just hated it.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the review copy!

I had seen this book floating around on socials and thought I would give it a go. While the idea is great the execution of it is less so which was disappointing. I wanted to love it but it just didn’t do anything for me.

#Netgalley

How To Survive A Horror Story is out on the 8th of July. I can’t resist a good horror so I got stuck into this one early.

Seven authors arrive to stay at a creepy old mansion for the reading of a will. Mortimer Queen; a legendary horror writer has died and supposedly has left his fortune to his rivals, having no children of his own. Each of the seven have their own backstory with Queen and none of it is positive, so when it turns out the will reading is a giant trap, no one should be surprised but somehow they all are.
In order to survive the night, they have to work together to solve the riddle hidden in each room. If they fail to work it out in time, one of them dies per room.

I wanted to love this, I really did. Locked door mysteries, riddles, horror tropes come alive in the very authors writing said tropes?!

Sign me up!

Except it just doesn’t work here; it never really comes together.
We don’t get to know any of the characters on more than a surface level and we’re acutely aware they’re probably going to die anyway.
There’s a very obvious “final girl” from the beginning so there’s not a huge amount of tension in that regard either.
The scares were ok, but I never felt properly chilled to the bone, which I expect from a good horror.

It’s also much slower paced than you would expect from a book with this much action in it, as we’re constantly pulled out of the main storyline to go down memory lane with one of the characters.

Overall this was a disappointing read for me. The premise is great and the set up of the house was really promising, but the overall story dragged a bit and didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

You can’t win ‘em all!

With thanks to the publishers for my early copy. All opinions are my own, as always.

Delicious! 😋 🏚️👹🩸🕯️📚

This was an entertaining, light horror, definitely in the ‘marmite’ love it or hate it camp. I loved it and a great twist to a locked escape room trope.

The story starts off as a slow burn, following 7 authors, most of which were unlikeable. They were all invited as beneficiaries to the will reading of Mortimer Queen, horror writer extraordinaire. Once they arrive, their luggage is quickly removed, and they are ushered in for drinks and food before the will reading commences. At this point, they are advised that the will invites them to participate in the game and the winner gets to survive! In each room they must find and answer a riddle, for example:

“Every man has his word, but it’s hard to keep. It can be broken, to buy it isn’t cheap. This man stole mine and tarnished his in turn. I invited him here tonight so hopefully he would learn. Can you tell me who is lying through their teeth? Think hard, my dear friends and reveal the thief.”

I genuinely really enjoyed this fun and quirky read with a few horror aspects thrown in. Nothing too graphic or shocking and with fantasy/paranormal elements included. Loved this line from the novel and if you know, you know:

“Scott, on the other hand resembles Carrie after a bucket of pig guts gets dumped on her at the prom.”

This book with suit those that like a bit of light hearted horror (is cozy horror such a thing?), action and/or fantasy. It takes a little bit to get into the characters, but short stories are interspersed to give back stories which builds the story.

If there was to be a sequel(s), I would look forward to reading it or them for a few hours of escapism. There is more scope to move within this plotline and feel that the author can add more depth and substance to any that should be added. There is much potential here and hope this is not the last we hear from the house or Mortimer Queen.

I would recommend this book. Such fun!

Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks UK, Poisoned Pen Press and Mallory Arnold for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Due to be published on 8 July 2025.

How To Survive a Horror Story invites seven authors into the eerie estate of horror legend Mortimer Queen. But this isn’t just a will reading…it’s a deadly game.

With each chapter told from a different character’s perspective, I loved slowly peeling back the layers of their secrets and seeing how their stories intertwine.

The structure, told through short story style chapters with an overarching mystery, was fresh and engaging, and I found myself eager to uncover the truth behind the house and its haunting hunger.

While the horror itself felt a little tame, the atmosphere, tension, and character dynamics more than made up for it.

If you enjoy locked-room mysteries, haunted manors, and a playful yet chilling take on storytelling, this one’s worth a read.

I felt like this was the horror version of the fantasy book "Apprentice to the villain" - a tongue in cheek portrayal of key horror tropes, which as long as you appreciate going in, is an enjoyable read. It's a locked room styled story featuring a mansion and deaths where people are being punished for their transgressions that we learn about as the story progresses. It's quite a popcorn read, and I didn't find myself scared or chilled at any points, but I was encouraged to keep flicking the pages, wondering if the characters would escape. There was a twist at the end that to me ended it nicely; yes it was expected, but I felt like the whole novel was satisfying in the way that it followed the typical tropes.
Perhaps not the read for me, but by no means not an amazing read for someone else - I can see how this novel could gain a lot of attention and I think it will deserve the hype. (3.5 rounded up because my 3 could easily be someone else's 4/5)

There's always something that makes me a little nervous about reading a horror - whether its too far fetched or the characters are too dramatic but this book, however, has none of the quirks that would put me off!

I freaking loved this. I love the multi-pov, the twists, how the house itself is its own character and I weirdly loved how the deaths were done? Is that creepy? One of my favourite movies at Halloween is Monster House so this had me sold straight away with the Monster House-esque feel mixed with Clue and Murder by Death (two of my favourite movies).

And that ending!? I ADORED it. It was an ending that you wanted to satisfyingly sink your teeth into. Just epic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks UK for an early copy of this book! My opinions are my own.

I’m a little mixed about my feelings toward this book now I’ve had a day to sit and reflect on it. I enjoyed reading it, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve read other horror stories before and I think this one was missing that scariness that makes it a really good horror.

The main enemy being the house itself was extremely cool however, it made it feel almost impossible to fight and the idea of being inside your own fears was a very fun concept.

But I think the main issue was the stakes starting so high with characters I wasn’t sure I cared about yet- it was nice to have a chapter in other people’s head than Melanie to give them a bit of life but for me it wasn’t quite enough to make me care about if they made it out of the house or not. Hence I wasn’t super scared about their fate.

Melanie was probably the most developed out of everyone, and so the one I cared about the most. She has real character growth throughout the book and I could see why she was doing everything along the way which made her feel very real to me.

Although, the twist ending, which is classic in horror, I didn’t see coming which was very clever - I always appreciate that. When I see a twist ending a mile off I get quite bored with a book and just want them to reveal the damn thing, or I wish that this was their plan all along and there’s ANOTHER twist that blows my socks off! (Rare but occasionally happens)

I mean, overall I enjoyed reading it and I did want to reach for this book at night - not just to finish it. So I think I’d still recommend it to my friends, maybe the ones that are new to horror so need something to not scare them off too much.

When legendary horror writer Mortimer Queen dies, seven authors are invited to his manor for the will reading. However, this is no conventional reading; it’s an escape room quest.

As the authors move from room to room they are compelled to confess their sins to solve the clues or risk dying one by one.

Will anyone make it to the finale?

A gripping and clever gothic horror full if twists and turns.