#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.

I had a great time with this tense and strange horror novel. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

Seven (mostly) horror authors visit a secluded mansion for the reading on a will of a renowned author. All of them are connected with him in different ways, except for one girl who isn’t really sure why she’s there. The guests are expecting the author’s enormous wealth to be bestowed upon them but get a bit of a shock when they’re told they will have to participate in a macabre and dangerous game. There’s no way out, and their participation is mandatory.

The book really leans into the concept of horror authors and the bizarre and gratuitous ways they treat their characters. Aside from the main character who is quite bewildered, most of the cast are self-centred and driven by their own egos. I thought the way this was explored was really interesting. I’ve seen some reviews that didn’t enjoy the shock horror value of some of the scenes in this book, but I thought it was commentary on certain types of horror writing overall and pertinent to that discussion. I say that as someone who doesn’t enjoy gratuitous violence, I thought what this book did was pretty clever.

I enjoyed the game playing, the puzzle solving littered throughout the book and how it held a mirror up to the characters. I also found the conflicting narratives clever. It’s hard to know who to trust in this book. Were presented with different statements on the same events and knowing explicitly which one is correct is challenging. The sense of unreliability from the speakers was done very well.

The book is so fast-paced, so tense and danger is lurking around every corner. Yes some of it is predictable and it uses known tropes, but this was part of what made it so enjoyable because of how it was framed as a discussion on horror writing. I think the author has done something really fascinating here and the writing is sharp and keeps up the suspense throughout.

I really did enjoy this, I’ll be looking out for more from this author.

✨3.75-4 stars✨

This was a fast-paced and engaging read following seven writers who are invited to the late Mortimer Queen’s manor for a will reading. Once there, secrets are revealed and we discover that there’s more to the characters, and the manor itself, then it first seems.

All of the characters are unlikeable and have done terrible things and yet once I started I found that I couldn’t put the book down. I finished this book in two sittings!

I would have like more information about Mortimer and the manor itself as quite a few incidents few cartoonish - you definitely have to suspend your disbelief for some of the things that happen in the book.

Overall, I found this book to be easy to read and once I began I found myself hooked.

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Haunting from start to finish, this book follows a collective of horror authors who are invited to the will reading of the genres reigning ruler, Mortimer Queen. This book will keep you captive from start to finish in more ways than one, with dark secrets revealed and lies unravelled.

Set in Queen's personal house of horror, it focuses on revealing how theres a lot more to each person that originally meets the eye. A true embodiment of vengeance, it is a journey of finding out who wronged him and how, and oh melanie is there too.

Incredibly well written I was kept guessing right up until the very end. Mallory is a master of creating villains and almost even better at shrouding them until the time is right for a reveal. Dark truths revealed, careers both ended and started, Queen's legacy truly lives on.

A locked room mystery that had chilling moments. I enjoyed the mix of the genre of thriller/mystery/horror definitely a fun take on a classic trope

This is a mix of mystery and escape room.

The thing that let's this down is that it was extremely predictable for a mystery. I also felt the "punishment" didn't fit the crime. It had the potential to be a fantastic book, but felt a little too fluffy at times.

If you want an easy read, with haunted house vibes, this wouldn't be too hard to get into.

The concept of this book had so much promise - And Then There Were None but make it horror, but sadly it didn't live up to that promise. How to Survive a Silly Story would be a more accurate title because the whole thing was far too silly to be scary. Buck probably had the most chilling end but honestly did anybody still care by that point? The suspense, the creeping sense of dread, all completely absent and sorely missed.

This is a really fun and fast-paced debut novel revolving around 7 people's secrets and a hungry haunted house. It really reminded me of the film House on Haunted Hill (I could not stop picturing Queen as Geoffrey Rush from the film 🤣).

Although it was spooky in places, which I did love, my favourite parts were the short stories about each of the characters throughout the book as they added background but you weren't sure if it was true.

Would recommend this to anyone that is a fan of locked room mysteries or haunted houses.

This was locked room thriller with a horror twist and I loved every minute of it. Part high stakes competition, part study of human nature, this is a thrill ride not to be missed.

Enjoyable locked room mystery with some interesting characters, and well written. I enjoyed this, my first book my this author. I love horror fiction and there's just not enough new stuff coming out these days. Thanks for the ARC.