The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

Synopsis: Everyone knows about Ashburn House. They whisper its old owner went mad, and restless ghosts still walk the halls. They say it’s the dwelling place of something cruel and sinister. But when Adrienne―desperate and in need of a place to stay―inherits the crumbling old mansion, she only sees it as a lifeline… until darkness falls. Strange messages are etched into the walls. Furniture moves when she leaves the room. There’s something here―something powerful, angry, and hell-bent on shaking things up. Worse, a grave hidden in the depths of the forest hints at a terrible, unforgivable secret. Eventually Adrienne can’t ignore that a twisted thing lives in the house, its hungry eyes ever-watchful. Chasing the threads of a decades-old mystery, it isn’t long before she realizes she’s become prey to something deeply unnatural and intensely resentful. She has no idea how to escape. She has no idea how to survive. Only one thing is Ashburn’s dead are not at rest.

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Overall, this was a good book – and the plot was interesting. I’m not sure I would call it a haunting, but I guess that just depends on your definition of ‘ghost’.

This book was slow to start – I’ve read books that are a slow start and genuinely I do not mind them – when done properly it can really build a the world in which the story resides. ‘The Haunting of Ashburn House’ was so slow, I was bored until a little over halfway through. The main character, Adrienne, didn’t help to make the novel a page turner. Like half the book she was boring and repetitive. Set in the 21st century it was remarkably mind-blowing just how low-tech Ashburn House is, and how in the world Adrienne could own a laptop but no cell phone? And Ashburn didn’t even have a landline? These two sticking points kept me from enjoying the book. While I can understand not having a vehicle, it was just improbable to not have anyway to communicate with the rest of the world. Obviously it was to set up the events that would come up in the meat of the book, but it just seemed like a way to get through things – without actually world building. There could have been no cell service at Ashburn House, or since the power kept getting shut off – no power to charge a cell phone. Whatever the case it just lent to the choppiness of the plot.

No spoilers, but genuinely liked the slight plot-twist – it was different then what I was expecting but a good different.

I was so sure I would be obsessed with this book, but unfortunately reality didn’t live up to the hype in my head. The main character, supporting characters and the whole story just left me feeling ‘blah’ by the end. And I was ready to put it down and go to the next book. Which isn’t generally the way I like to feel about books. I want to be pulled in, obsess over the plot and the characters. So I will keep this fairly short, as while I don’t have any glowing positive reviews to give – I can’t say the book was terrible. The author definitely redeemed the book as we drew close to the end. And though I could read the writing on the wall about as clearly as the creepy paintings in Ashburn House, it was still a worthwhile ‘spooky’ read.

If you scare easily, this book should be totally fine, very tame. There’s a few bloody/gory portions but its all rather mild. Which makes it easy if you aren’t into reading books that delve too deeply into that stuff.

P.S. I almost forgot probably the most interesting character was the cat Wolfgang. He was worth continuing on with reading, if only to ensure his survival. (spoiler alert: nothing happens to the cat, but all things ghostly learned not to mess with cats)

You can view and buy the book on Amazon here.

Overall Rating: 6/10

Re-readability Rating: 2/10

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