Before I get to the contents, I want to go over the cover of this book! It is so pretty! I love the color scheme, and I love the portraits. This was a beautiful little haunted novel, and the story was really lovely.

Like all good ghost stories I need to warn you this book is not for the faint of heart, the emotional turmoil I have felt over this story has left me struggling for words. Sometimes I thought I knew where the story was going or I thought I had worked out a clue, I was surprised again and again. This is a truly power book about loss and what drives people to madness. The view on the past was so special and heartbreaking that the present time felt creeper and stark.

William is such a strong willed character with such scattered memories that you really don't get the full picture till the end. I know this book will follow me for a while, even now I'm not sure of my true emotions over the stroy as a whole. I feel like it will have lasting impact on how I view ghosts and death.

I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have received an advanced copy of The Haunting Of William Thorn from the author, NetGalley, and Angry Robot! 🫶

The Haunting Of William Thorn is perfection! 🥹💕 It has consumed my heart and soul and it gave me goosebumps all over my body! 🫶 This story tore my heart into a million pieces and had me crying my eyes out so many times! 😭💔

This book is basically a spider web because the layers of the world building and complexity all tying itself together is unreal with how good it is! 🕷️🕸️ Ben Anderson should offer a class of how to include multiple storylines in a story because this incredible. It was so seamless how the journal entry storyline tied in with the main storyline. It had me on my toes the whole time and I was wanting more and more from both of them! 🤭

If you love horror, mystery, secrets, journal entries, ghosts and hauntings 👻, gothic setting, and a book that will forever remain in my heart then this is the book for you! 🫶

First of all the writing of this book was sublime. Ben Alderson writing style is just so pleasing.

But this book. This book has me feeling all the emotions. Everytime you think , yeah this is gonna happen, YOUR WRONG. So many amazing plottwist. It’s exciting and thrilling. And as soon as the investigation happens. You want to keep reading and reading. The character of William is so amazing. He went through some bad things. And in the beginning it seems it made him a little bitt grumpy. But he’s just actually a sweetheart. I would die for William.

This book is defintly a must read for people who like the horror / murder mystery

By the end of this book I had slightly mixed feelings that sway to the positive side. Let me start off by saying I really enjoy Ben’s writing! As I always do. I love how he brought William and Edward to life on the pages. It was very clear that both carried a lot of pain from the past. I also loved the way they were connected to the ghosts and the manor. Somewhere between the 60-80% mark I felt like it dragged on a little bit, with some predictable discoveries and twists. And then some big discoveries had me very intrigued again. I like a happy ending and while it doesn’t have that, it is fitting for a book about a haunted mansion. All in all: I definitely enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.

I couldn't put this down.

We had a mystery, ghosts, an old manor house and hostile villagers. As well as a lovely romance between William and Edward, which was very gentle with no spice.

I can't generally cope with horror, but managed the scary bits OK.

The blurb calls this “split timeline”. However it was mostly focussed on the present day story, with the historic elements told via journal entries.

I did find the writing a bit clunky and repetitive in some places. However it didn't detract from a rollicking good story.

This was a great ghost story. LGBTQIA themes. I loved the formatting of this book and it was written in a way that I was never confused. Would be great for teens learning about genre conventions.

The Haunting of William Thorn sees our protagonist, William Thorn, take up residence in a mysterious manor he inherited from his late (cheating) partner. It's got all the right gothic tale elements: while at Hanbury, William nurses his pain, discovers a historical journal about a doomed loved story, and meets the handsome Edward, a gardener with family ties to the manor. I discovered my mother's Victoria Holt novels as a tween, and so I'm a bit of sucker for gothic novels.

There's certainly an evocative atmosphere that Alderson conjures up and I like the frame narrative and interplay between the past and present. Two things kept this from being a higher-rated read: 1) I found William and Edward's connection a bit flat and 2) there are also a number of grammar errors and typos, to the point where I found myself pulled out of the narrative at multiple points.

3.5 stars

Add me to the list😭

It was so good, I cried 3x I had to take a break at one point to stare at a blank wall with my jaw to the floor & gather my thoughts before finishing it

I really thought I could guess what was going to happen. Like everything I predicted was almost right, but adjacent. You think you know what’s going on and then BAM you’re wrong. Not in a confusing way. It definitely kept me engaged 100% of the time

I love when books read like a movie, I can see it all happening🖤

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to Angry Robot Books for this advanced copy and granting my wish. I absolutely flew through this book, it had me hooked from the beginning. The suspense and horror was super spooky to read in the evenings and the plot was suspenseful enough to keep me guessing whilst still moving at a pretty fast pace to keep me interested. Even though I had kind of guessed the twist the details around it still had me surprised and I really warmed to both of the dysfunctional main characters. I'm so excited to read more by this author.

4,5 thinking about rounding up.

After losing his fiancé William is grieving. He decides to spend time in the house that was left for him in the Will. The house is old and run down, its history unclear. No one has lived there for at least a decade. He doesn’t know why but neither the house or the people in the neighboring town seem to want him there. All but a man visiting, claiming he is a gardener. A thunderstorm keeps them both stuck in the house and the mysteries start to unravel.

This story absolutely broke my heart. It blends the story of the people who used to live there with Willams life, and in ways they intertwine. Sometimes it gives you hope, and then you will find your heart crushed again. It’s a mix of horror story, mystery and love story. Filled with drama, passion and heartbreaking fates. The twists and turns in the end of the book created more questions and I don’t think all were answered, that’s like the only thing that I got hung up on. I realise that my description makes it sound more of a drama, but a warning, it is also creepy as hell. This is without a doubt Ben Aldersons best book so far.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I've read some fantasy books by Ben Alderson before and I enjoyed them, so I was intrigued in what he would do with horror. The story follows William, who inherits a haunted house from his deceased fiancé. He doesn't believe in ghosts, but when he arrives at Hanbury manor the hauntings begin. The story follows William, and Edward over the course of a week inside the manor.

I really enjoyed this book, as far is horror goes it's not particularly scary in my opinion but I did feel the tension throughout the book. While reading you start to piece together what has happend in the manor, so the "clue" about what happened to the previous inhabitants didn't come too much as a surprise to me. I do think in the final chapters there was so much going on. When looking at the storylines of Robert and Teddy and the Archie storyline. In my opinion the Archie storyline and the "clue" of that was the weakest and didn't add that much to the book I think.

I do love an author who does not shy away from a classic happy ending. So overall I really enjoyed this book, I think more than the previous fantasy books I've read from this author.

Thank you to Netgally and the author for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This has been... interesting. Although I don´t think this book is for everyone.

Perhaps it´s a me thing, because I wasn´t expecting a YA novel (it really needs the tag, just because characters are in their 20s, the narration reas very juvenile). The fact this is more YA than anything else shouldn´t be a problem if you enjoy the genre. In my case, I tend to avoid it, so take my review with a grain of salt.

This story is about William, who inherits a house in the Costwolds and that, surprise, it´s haunted! Not only that, but there´s Edward, a mysterious man who apparently lives over there (not sure where exactly). AND, a diary of a man who lived in this house and died there, after... Well, there will be flashbacks of a gay love story -more pining than anything- in regards to this.

Now, though. My problem with this story is that is full of clichés. You got:

- A mysterious attic
- People related to the dead ones/ghosts
- Tragic past
- Tragic Deaths
- A diary with some of the ghost´s story
- Nightmares related to the haunting
- A character who doesn´t believe in the paranormal
- Villagers who don´t accept the MC moved to this haunted house
- Mysterious aparitions and random noises
- A ouija board (and yes, it will be used)

My point is... This was like watching a classic haunted house Hollywood movie, but a bit more gay.
I enjoyed the narration (although I have to confess I found some repetitions and I think I could have done without some of the banter related to Now I believe in ghosts/Now I don´t believe), but it was good nevertheless.
What I didn´t like that much was the plot: It was very predictable and all characters behaved as if they were 15 years old. There is a nice twist near the ending, but that´s it. The villain also seemed cartoonish to me.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only if you truly enjoy YA and don´t mind seeing over and over again the same haunted house clichés.

This is a hard book for me to rate. While I think the book is a 5 star in terms of writing and story, I don't personally like sad stories at all so for me and my personally preferences this is a 2 or 3 star, however giving this lower than 4 stars seems like an injustice. So, if you want a book that will have you crying but it is one of the beautifully written stories you'll read this year, this is for you. However, if you want a happy story this may not be for you.

I am not sure I am ready to talk about this yet. I finished this book at 2am and could not stop weeping.
This story will haunt my very soul for years to come.

The Haunting of William Thorn is a ghost story. A ghost story set in a Haunted house in the picturesque cotswolds. It follows William a young author who has inherited a manor house from his deceased partner, and Edward who is drawn to the house in search of answers over the death of his great uncle. But there are more than just ghosts in this house, secrets, lies and guilt are at the very foundations.

I absolutely adored both William and Edward, the way Alderson manages to weave such human emotions and depth is a skill so many authors today lack. The unknown shared guilt and trauma that brings these two together is masterful. I constantly thought I knew what was going to happen but every time I was completely wrong. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see the last one coming until I was so invested I allowed the story to break me.
This is not a happy story, but it is a beautiful one.

5 absolutely beautiful, devastating stars for this one. No further words needed, just trust me… read this one, give it your full attention even thru the slow parts - don’t give up, feel every emotion. It will leave your heart shattered on the floor but in the best possible way. 🖤

Thank you so much for the ebook in exchange for a review. I am so thankful. Will absolutely be ordering a copy upon release.

I was highly anticipating this release, but I really struggled with the writing - there were quite a few grammatical/typographical errors that I caught, even early on into the book (one of them, as I can recall, was the usage of "society's" instead of "societies" for the pluralization of society). That aside, I loved the story itself. It delivered on exactly what it promised to, and I found the comps to be fairly accurate. But unfortunately, those errors did take me out of the storytelling.

Omg this book was fabulous! I loved all the characters. The way the storey was interwoven between each character was fantastic. The amount of plot twists and reveals had me on the edge of my seat!

Also the ending 😭😭 just tears.

This was my first intro to Ben but I will defo be reading more!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and Ben Alderson for allowing me to review this book.
4.25⭐️

I DNF this book at 40%. There were a lot of grammatical errors that pulled me out of the story. I really liked the concept, but this definitely needs to undergo additional editing.

This book surprised me in the most beautiful way possible. It's everything you could wish from a book. It's heartbreaking, romantic, spooky and mysterious and it has soo many plot twists. If there's one thing I would change about this book is the ending, but at the same time, it made perfect sense to have such a beautiful and heartbreaking ending. I. LOVED. EVERY. SECOND. OF. THIS. BOOK. 100% one of the best reads of 2025 and the perfect read for pride month.