"How to Sell a Haunted House meets The Haunting of Hill House in this split timeline queer romance, set against the backdrop of a haunted English manor from #1 bestselling author Ben Alderson.

William Thorn had his life all planned out...until he discovered his long-term boyfriend Archie in bed with another man. Distraught, William kicks him out of their home, where tragedy strikes when Archie is killed instantly in a car accident.

Riddled with guilt, William is shocked to learn that he's inherited a manor in the quaint village of Stonewall, left to him in Archie's will. He leaves the city with plans to make a new start for himself, but is surprised by the rundown state of the manor, and the unwelcoming villagers who want him gone. His only ally is Edward, a seemingly friendly local with secrets of his own...

However, it's not only the villagers who are adverse to his presence. A malevolent spirit roams the manor, one that seeks to drive William out for good. But when he uncovers the heartbreaking tale of two men in love in the 1920's, William strives to find peace for the spirit, ending the haunting once and for all.

But what dark secrets lie hidden in the manor walls? And will William be able to put aside his own grief to save his new home...and his life?

An evocative tale from #1 bestselling author Ben Alderson, exploring grief, trauma and the bones of the past, The Haunting of William Thorn is the perfect read for fans of the gothic."

It might be awkward if Archie starts haunting the house too...

Wow. I knew this was going to pull at my heartstrings, but...I wasn't expecting to have to pick my jaw up off the floor, too.

Do yourself a favor and cancel *everything* else you had planned once you reach chapter 27. You won't even want to blink, or pour another glass of wine. (Okay, you'll want to, but you won't want to look away long enough to do it.)

Ben Alderson's writing reads like having a conversation with a friend over drinks. It draws you in, paints vivid images, and doesn't let go.

There's so much heart in this, woven in with the horror and suspense. Yes, there's blood and gore and scary things, but it's not all scary for its own sake. It's so much more than that.

And damn...the ending got me. Totally, unequivocally had me screaming.

It was sweet and scary and suspenseful and I'm already planning on reading it again.

Ten stars, really. Absolute masterpiece.

thank you to the publisher for kindly giving me an e-arc :)

i devoured this in like two sittings !!! very addicting and kept me on my toes. the ending was so unexpected and i was so moved by it. overall a great book ! if you liked the haunting of hill house (the netflix show) or bly manor you will love this as well.

it had some slight pacing issues in my opinion and that is why i could not give it a full five stars.

Broooo, I was a little bit annoyed as the story went on, but that ending?! I'm both impressed and shaken. Shookth! Because what the heck?!

I requested an ARC of the book solely because of the cover. I don't really like scary books, but it's such a beautiful and intriguing cover!

The beginning of the novel was a bit confusing, and I feel like that part never really got resolved/explained. I also wasn't sure about the MCs at first, but I grew to like them. The one thing that I genuinely disliked, though, was the third act "wanna be break up". I'm really not sure of what exactly it added to the story. It felt like the author just wanted to add more trauma on top of trauma. Because what do you mean these two were actually connected in such a way?

I also felt like things dragged towards the end, and the scenes started to repeat themselves. I would've loved to read more about the pro-castle people as well.

Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable read, and once I got into it, I was flipping through those pages like crazy. Aaah the ending!!!!

<i>Disclaimer: I received this ARC in exchange of an honest review</i>

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for an E-ARC of this story in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own 🖤

This story follows William, who’s grieving the loss of his fiancé, Archie. After Archie’s death, William learns he’s inherited a house - one with a haunted history. He heads out to check out his unexpected inheritance, fully convinced all the ghost stories are nonsense. You think you know how these stories go: ghosts appear, doors creak open on their own... but do you? The final twist might just catch you off guard.

This book had one of my favorite horror settings in a long time. It was eerie and deeply atmospheric, the kind of haunted house you can see and feel while reading. I could picture the vine-covered windows and the peeling wallpaper. I could feel the crunch of dead leaves underfoot and sense the presence of the house itself. It was creepy in the best way. I love a good haunted house story, and this one absolutely delivered on that front. My heart was pounding during several scenes, and a few moments genuinely spooked me. At times Williams’s adventures leaned more into thriller territory than straight horror, but I didn’t mind that at all. I didn’t even see the final twist coming, which was a pleasant treat for me.

There were a few things that didn’t quite work for me. William’s character was honestly kind of insufferable, but I was still invested enough to keep going. The romantic subplot felt flat to me - I could tell the author wanted there to be chemistry, but I didn’t feel it. Anytime the story leaned that way in present day, I felt a bit disinterested. There were also a few plot holes I wish had been handled more cleanly. In horror, I expect not everything to be explained, but in this case, I think those missing pieces could’ve added to the tension instead of feeling like loose ends.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It’s a slow burn, and I liked that pacing. I think it would make a perfect spooky season read, and I definitely think it’s worth picking up if you’re a fan of haunted house stories with a twist!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of The Haunting of William Thorn.

I was really excited about this arc, so I'm sad to say that I'm DNFing it after making three attempts to read it.

The concept of this book is amazing: a spooky haunted house and a split timeline featuring a historical queer romance and a modern-day story of emotional healing.

However, I'm afraid I couldn't get past the writing. Sometimes, you just need to give a book some space and come back to it with a different mindset to enjoy it, but even after doing that twice, I found the reading experience too frustrating.

At times, I couldn't work out if this book was meant to be a horror story (as it's categorised on NetGalley) or black comedy. The writing is so over-the-top, cliched, illogical, and full of plot holes that parts of it read to me as a parody, while others felt awkwardly written but sincere. Because of this confusion, I struggled to lose myself in the book.

I never felt scared, but I never laughed either. On the other hand, I did feel sad for some of the characters, but the writing felt as if it wanted me to laugh at some of them instead. This is especially true of the prologue, when <spoiler>the parents cry after discovering their son's body after he killed himself and the description is tastelessly mocking</spoiler>).

The book deals with some challenging, trigger-warning topics: <spoiler>suicide, grief over the death of a partner, alcoholism, historical repressed homosexuality, etc.</spoiler> But unfortunately, the writing is either at its worst or at its most parodic in the moments that would otherwise be the most emotional or spooky.

And then there are the issues with the violent modern-day protagonist who keeps brandishing a poker at his gardener.

Even when I DNF a book, I normally try to suggest who the book might be a better fit for. However, on this occasion, I don't feel able to do so.

utterly fascinating concept for a book, did not expect the ending and as a self-proclaimed expert on ghost books- this definitely tippy-topped to being a favourite. Ben if you ever want to dive into the paranormal/haunted English manor concept again…just know there’s a reader at the ready to fall in love with your carefully curated characters who love, grieve and leave a lasting impression

Ben Alderson was an author I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I love his focus on queer stories and you only need one glance at his social media to know he’s a funny and genuine guy. But I’m afraid it was a bad choice of me to start with this book, because it didn’t live up to my (possibly too high) expectations.

The Haunting of William Thorn has a lot of exciting elements: an old mansion in a small village, ghosts that roam this house, a queer romance and a dual timeline. However, the character work in this book wasn’t intriguing enough to make all these elements work together. I DNF’ed this book after 20% because William and Edward, two of the main characters, couldn’t stop behaving juvenile despite being in their twenties. Their banter wasn’t my kind of humor, making them more annoying then entertaining.

I think this could be a great book for someone looking for a fun and quick read. It’s the perfect Saturday night book to binge with a bucket of popcorn to raise the entertainment value. Me? I’m going to give one of the more fantasy-oriented books by Ben Alderson a try in the future.

4.5⭐ rounded up
William Thorn is running from the death of his significant other, who left Hanbury Manor to him in his will. Upon arriving at Hanbury he discovers the locals wanted it torn down and it is allegedly haunted. William finds a journal from the fireplace, which turns out to be Robert Thomas's, son of previous owners; the journal details his affections for Teddy, a visitor to the manor in 1939. After his first eventful night, Edward, claiming to me the estate's groundskeeper shows up and gets caught at the manor in a heavy storm. The longer William stays, the stranger the happenings at the manor.

Ok, so this is billed as a queer horror romance. It has all of these elements, but I think horror deserves a capital H here. Having read one of Ben's queer fantasy romance books, I think I thought romance would play a bigger part. The comparisons to The Haunting of Hill House and I would add The Haunting of Bly Manor (Mike Flanagan shows) are apt, particularly Bly Manor for what you can expect on the romance front. There are some very heavy themes here, mind the content warnings. It was tough to put down, particularly at the end.

Thank you to Angry Robot Books for an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will be published on 9/9/25. I'll be posting on Instagram closer to publication

What begins as a skillfully crafted modern gothic novel soon unleashes a plot twist I never saw coming. Then another! The emotional ending had me in tears, making it a must-read for fans of haunted houses.

I really loved this book. I don’t normally read this genre but I’m so happy I got a chance. I loved the characters and storylines. I was hooked from the first few pages.

I always said that haunted house stories, are all the same and that I wanted to find something that was different, that I hadn't read before and boy way this, that.

William Thorn inherits a house after a traumatic life event and this house comes with all the usual questions one would find with a haunted house but it also comes with a heartbreaking story attached to it. A story that William has to find the answers to, answers that could potentially cost him everything.
I devoured this book and it left me haunted in every single sense of the word

Oh man I really enjoyed this.

I don't usually read horror, but I'd been seeing this pop up on my radar and I was so glad I got a chance to read it. This was the first book I've read by Ben Alderson.

William discovers he inherits a manor from his late boyfriend, (who he had discovered had cheated on him and died in an accident after William kicked him out, leaving Will riddled with guilt). He decides to move there, but finds the house is in disrepair, and the local townspeople aren't thrilled that he is the new owner of the house. Oh, and the house seems to be haunted. He finds out there were two men who were lovers on the property decades prior, and sets out to uncover what exactly happened to them.

The first half, while interesting, started a bit slowly to me, but then felt a bit rushed in the introduction of Edward. His relationship with William grew pretty quickly, almost in an insta-love kind of way and threw me off a bit. William was still grieving Archie pretty badly and so that just kinda jarred me. Then I hit the latter half of the book and man! I couldn't put it down. So much happened and I just needed to find out what happened to Teddy and Robert, and then what exactly was happening to them in present day...dots were connected and everything came together so well.

I loved the spooky vibes. I could easily "see" where we were, and the house and the land, and how it felt being there. When William would see things pop up in his line of sight, or feel that something was in the room with him reminded me of the series adaption of The Haunting of Hill House, and The Haunting of Bly Manor. When I finished this book, I cried and just kinda sat thinking about it. Will definitely be reading it again after it's release day!


Big thanks to Netgalley and Angry Robot for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

very well done, vaguely horrific book with some awesome vibes and some very great setting details. the characters are also very good, as well! 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Wow. This book hit me hard. William Thorn inherited a big, old manor after his fiancé passed away, and the house was supposed to be their future home. At first, William didn’t believe the house was haunted, but strange things started happening. Then Edward, the gardener, showed up and their first meeting already gave me strong shipping vibes. William struggled a lot with his feelings, and Edward helped him face the past. I really felt the sadness and pain of the characters. This book was emotional, surprising, and sometimes scary, but in a good way. The romance was subtle, more about connection and healing. The writing was clear and easy to follow, and I couldn’t stop reading. I gave it 5 stars and really recommend it to anyone who likes emotional stories with a spooky touch. Thank you so much to the author, Angry Robot and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read the book in advance, I received this for free and I'm leaving a honest review

Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was initially drawn to request this book because the premise sounded cool and interesting. I loved the idea of a big haunted house, and a secret diary. I wanted the horror and the scary house. The cover art also drew me in!

I really liked the alternating timelines as we switch from modern day POV to 1939 via a diary. I found this to be interesting, and it helped tie the two different timelines together quite seamlessly. It also helped lend to the atmosphere, and kept pushing us to think about what could potentially be going on at the house, and what could've happened.

The atmosphere was both a hit and a miss personally. The diary helped build the atmosphere for the modern day POV, but I felt the modern day POV didn't do anything with the atmosphere. The modern day characters felt terror and horror but it seemed there was a disconnect between the characters and me as I didn't feel those emotions when reading. I wanted to be afraid! I wanted it to be ominous and eerie but I didn't feel any of that.

I think in terms of the characters, there is a good depiction of grief and there is some good development there. However, this is not a slow burn, the whole story takes place over a short period of time so there is no space for slow burn here! However, I think the author did really well with the short period of time and accurately portrayed grief and guilt which is so prominent in haunted house stories.

The biggest issue I had with this book is it was very reptitive with the classic "I don't believe in ghosts" and "Now I believe in ghosts". It kept going back and forth a lot, and I started to get annoyed by it. The characters also felt very juvenile, almost as though I was reading about sixteen year olds rather than adults. The book also has a lot of the stereotypical haunted house clichés, however I still had a good time reading this book.

I do recommend picking this book up if you like a good haunted house story, It's a good supernatural mystery with queer characters, and I really enjoyed the final 100 pages!

Context:

A heartbroken William Thorne looks to escape the toils of his city life and explore the recently inherited Hanbury Manor. What waits there are secrets that cry to be discovered in a small village with a haunted past. When Edward arrives at Hanbury Manor, William has many questions - Who is he? Why is he here? And why can I not trust him?

Is Hanbury Manor actually haunted?

Review:

Wow. This is one of those books that took me a while to recover from reading. To begin with, I found the main character unlikeable but the more I read, the more I found that it was deliberate. I don't think I've ever disliked a main character but rooted so hard for them. Throughout the book, I fell in love with William and realised he was coming from a place of hurt and all consuming grief.

The relationship development between William and Edward felt mostly natural and I enjoyed how it became a story of discovery of new opportunities.

I was at first disappointed when I got to the twist. That was until I realised that it wasn't the twist at all and a much more shocking revelation was yet to come. What I thought was going to be a predictable ending was nothing of the sort. The revelations keep coming and keep you guessing as the novel progresses. It is refreshing that every shock adds to the story and acts as a puzzle piece into unlocking the mystery that surrounds Hanbury Hall rather than a 'lets see what sticks' approach.

I was utterly heartbroken by the end of the book but in the best way possible.

I don't often buy ARCs when they're released but this is one that I need to have on my bookshelf, to come back to time and time again.

5⭐/5⭐

The first chapter sucked me right into the story. It was sad, suspenseful, and atmospheric creating the right sort of tone for the gothic novel that I was hoping for. When the narrative jumped back to the present, I was startled at first, but eager to discover how the pieces of the story fit together. This time jump added to the mystery of the novel and served to strengthen my investment in the story overall, but I kept being drawn to the past. Haunted, if you will, by Robert and Teddy. Their backstory and the way it is unraveled throughout the narrative was my favorite element of the story and I think Alderson did a thoughtful job in crafting it.

The Haunting of William Thorn is very much a haunting-by-grief story with devastation lurking around every corner. The novel’s gothic tone was well continued in the present as William finds himself isolated in the creepy old house with only his sadness and a suspicious stranger for company. I have to say this: William is much braver than me. I would’ve run for the hills the very first night. There were moments when I found myself craving a reprieve from the gloom, which Alderson does provide through the blossoming friendship between William and Edward. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept the story fresh, although sometimes the twists felt a touch too convoluted for my taste. I enjoyed this book, although I found it more emotionally taxing than I could have ever imagined.

I really enjoyed this gothic, haunted-mansion story. It is creepy and sometimes whimsical without being actually horrifying, which is my kind of horror. When I read the blurb about this book, I expect it to be more romance than horror, and I was delightfully wrong. This book hints at romance, but it is not a romance book at all.

I think this is an excellent read for spooky season!

When William Thorn's ex-boyfriend Archie Thomas tragically dies in an accident, he inherits Hanbury Manor, the Thomas family estate. William justifies moving into the manor as a "fresh start", when in reality he is running from his insurmountable grief and secrets. Soon after he arrives, a man named Edward claims his family had been tending to the manor for years and is interested in continuing the tradition. William harshly makes it clear Edward is not welcome. After discovering a journal from Robert Thomas from 1939, mysterious things begin happening around the manor. William runs to his only ally Edward, and begs him to stay. The pair begin to unravel the tragic past surrounding Robert as a hostile spirit worms its way into haunting the guests. Will the pair seek the truth before they succumb to the spirits?

The Haunting of William Thorn is devastatingly beautiful. This story touches heavily upon grief and the process of overcoming it, but with a haunting twist. I felt emotionally drawn to William right away with his tragic backstory of losing his loved one - I felt his pain and anger as if it were my own. Throughout William's time at Hanbury, he is able to release the pain and anger starting by using Edward and the haunted mystery of Robert as a distraction. While his grieving process might be unconventional, I loved how raw and honest this story approached it.

This book is written with parallel love stories - one happening in the present (William and Edward), and one told through journal entries dating back to 1939 (Robert and Teddy). I enjoyed how Robert and Teddy's love story was told from a first person journal perspective as if they were telling their story to an eager listener. Their love story was beyond tragic from start to finish as in that time period, their love was forbidden. The pair did everything to circumvent their reality, until it led them to their untimely demise. My heart bled for them, just as mine also bleeds for William and Edward. Their slow burn romance illustrates the importance of support in times of need and how you can never truly judge a book by its cover. The ending lines absolutely rocked me to my core and I ugly cried in public.

Typically, I am good at discovering plot twists but this book I fell for every red herring. There were lots of plot twists and eerie details that made the hair on my arms stand up, so I was incredibly engaged throughout the entire book.

This book is perfect for those that enjoy books with:
✨ LGBTQ+ characters
✨ supernatural elements
✨ tragic but beautiful love stories
✨ unconventional happy endings
✨ overcoming grief
✨ eerie suspense and plot twists

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!