I was very excited to have been approved for this ARC. I think I went into it with high expectations, having read a lot of thriller, slasher/horror books in the past. I felt like the book was too focused on the romance between the protagonist and her love interest. The murders at first just happened sporadically then towards the ending of the book the killings were happening one after the other. The killings were so gruesome. How did Stephanie come up with this stuff, especially the second killing it was so horrific.
The book kept me guessing 'who done it' I couldn't figure out who the murderer was. Every time I thought I had it figured out I was wrong. I would never have guessed right, not even if I re read the book would I be able to see signs that it was said person. The romance in the book was sweet but unnecessary.
Unlike any of Stephanie's other works. This hour/slasher book reminded me a lot of the 'Scream' movies.

I was so excited to read this book. I had heard so many great things about it so when Netgalley sent me an email saying it was available to read now I jumped on it.


Then I became disappointed. The story itself had promise. The way the author told it had me feeling disconnected from some of the characters and left me with more questions than answers. I wanted to love this book so much but instead I found myself putting the book down and not missing it so much.

What I did love about it was that it did leave me wondering about who the killer was. I loved the relationship between Ollie and Makani. It held my interest enough that I didn't DNF it.


This book is basically about someone killing teenagers. We are introduced to the main character, Makani, which the majority of the story is told from. She has a secret of her own and we don't learn about that until a little over half way the the book. I found myself intrigued with her despite the story not holding my interest at times.


I wish the ending was different and the motive of the killer was changed. Other than the things listed above I did enjoy it. I've never read this author before and from what I read this is her first suspense/mystery/thriller book. You definitely can tell as it's not scary for me but I'm a huge horror buff too so it takes a lot to scare me.

Don't go by my words alone. Judge this book for yourself. It just wasn't for me.

I would love to say that this book at least matched my expectations, but I can't say so. I wanted to like this book, I wanted to love it. It felt... flat. There was no suspense, there was barely any build up or even a big reveal. It felt like a romance novel with murder in the background, but not even the "romance" pulled me in.

I have to give this book some credit because I was pleasantly surprised!

For the first 100 pages or so I really thought that this book wasn't living up to its' "thriller" status. At that point, it read to me as a novel similar to Pretty Little Liars and seemed to have more of a teenage romance focus instead of murder mystery.

However, I think the change from something light to dark happened around the time of the second death. The first death seemed almost tame in comparison. Be warned, this book can get graphic with the murder details but that shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility with this type of novel. In all honesty, after the first 100 pages that read all light and fluffy, it was almost a relief to realize that this murder mystery was actually how it was promoted.

Also, I find with these types of novels sometimes it can be predictable who the murderer is. But nope, not with this one. I had about three characters that I was suspecting and it turned out to be none of them.

Finally, the ending. I was not sure how this novel was going to go and how it would conclude. That makes me happy because again, I like to stray from predictability. This ending had me sitting in suspense. Seriously, it seemed like everybody was dropping like flies! Definitely, satisfied with the ending.

Overall, I have to really praise and applaud Stephanie Perkins because she really took the leap from her typical genre of novels and she did it well!

**Thank you to NetGalley as well as the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

That was terrifying. I was expecting creepy, but that was really scary. Just the sheer...*meanness* of moving things around, frightening people before killing them. Really not nice.
I loved the characters. Well, apart from Makani's parents, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't meant to like them. What an awful mother! But everyone else was great, especially Grandma.
I will definitely look out for more titles by this author. Thank you for allowing me to read.

TW for hazing, blood, mentions of drugs/suicide

I was looking for a fast-paced thriller that would keep me on my toes, and this didn't fulfill that itch of mine. I was dissatisfied with lots of the things that were going on with the climax and the way that the characters were introduced. The premise is basically your classic teen serial killer in a small town who’s running around in the town on the loose and is terrifying everyone who lives there.

The way that the killer was revealed was extremely anticlimactic, which was a really big disappointment to me because I had high hopes whence the plot was building up bit by bit. At the point where it feel flat, it stopped feeling entertaining to me and instead started to get repetitive. One murder after the other, the next one getting more gruesome as they come, and nothing was really happening on the law enforcement side it seemed (which was one unrealistic aspect of this whole thriller.)

Also, could we please talk about how most of this book is focused on the romance, the making out and sex scenes, instead of being that nail biting thriller that I was expecting. I understand that Perkins has previous experiences that solely focus on contemporary romance, but this isn’t the place to make that this main thing. It just rubbed me the wrong way, because it felt like the plot of the murders was put on the back burner while our MC was having drama and trying to figure out her relationship problems. It got boring really quick, really fast, and not only that but it took away from the actual “slasher scary” part itself.

All of the victims that were in this weren’t introduced early enough for us to give time to care about them. How this was written was we would learn of the existence of this person, and on the next page they would be slashed and dead. I would have loved for the author to rather develop their personalities and interests, etc. before she pulled them away because that just felt like lazy work.

Another thing that I absolutely had zero interest in was Makani’s secret. The whole book there is some foreshadowing and lead up to this big mysterious event, but even once the story spilled out I just thought that it wasn’t worth the on-page time of constantly talking about it. In all, it didn’t even make a centimeter of difference on the page or in my viewing of her as a character. One pro that we could be talking about is that our main character is half-Native Hawaiian and half African-American, which is something that I could always appreciate.

There are 0 scary moments where I actually felt scared, even though I tried reading this whole thing in the dark. I honestly don’t even know why the publisher would market it as “horror” because that seems like it’s setting the book up for a failure of false expectations.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

I feel like I should start this review by saying I'm a huge fan of slasher films. I don't think they're scary, far from it, but they have something intriguing about them. So the first time I heard about this book I knew that I had to read it. Unfortunately the book didn't turn out to be what I'd hoped.



What I Liked

Oh boy, this will be a short section. So I liked most of the main characters and I liked the diversity. I liked that the killer blended in but had been prone to violence for a long time. All that made it fairly realistic. As well as that some of Ollie and Makani's banter was honestly enjoyable and they seemed to work well together. I just didn't particularly care for them or the murders surrounding them.

Also some of the scenes kinda reminded me of Persona 4 and that made me incredibly happy. Unfortunately, there weren't many scenes like that to keep me going.

What I Didn't Like

I'd like to say that this isn't a horror book. Not really. It's a YA romance with slightly bloody murders thrown in. The description of the murders wasn't up to much compared to other scenes I've read in YA books and there wasn't much tension. The killer's reasoning didn't make much sense either. I can maybe guess at his trigger but you don't get enough of a clue. And that's a frustrating thing that a lot of authors seem to forget and that even the killers who kill for pleasure have some sort of trigger. I'll add a most of the time in case someone has evidence that says otherwise but it still makes sense to see why the killer does it. I'll give Perkins a break as she's a YA romance author and horror is such a different genre. I can even say the sex is fitting because horror films are filled with it but the book was too lovey-dovey.

If you're looking for the bloody slasher novel promised then you won't get it but if you're after a romance novel with a difference, one that makes you think and gasp then this is a great book for you.

I have no doubt this book will do well, I just think that maybe it's not what a lot of us were hoping for.

I stopped reading this at 30% which is a shame as it had an extremely promising start, I felt as though this book had not only a forced romance but it was as if the author had a diversity checklist she was going through. It just wasn't believable for me at all.

I wanted to love this but it didn't grip me 100%
Probably great for an easy Halloween horror read as it's certainly full of squirm-inducing details.

That was scarier than I was expecting, to be honest, but the scariest parts were when nothing at all was happening; when everyone was waiting for the other shoe to fall. The tension was almost unbearable. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I was sneaking reads in work this afternoon, desperate to find out what was going to happen to everyone.
Chris surprised me. I suppose I've read too many novels where small town police are jerks and bullies at best and actively criminal at worst, but Chris was helpful and friendly at all times.
This book deserves to do well. Just make sure your lights are on and your doors locked...

Not for me I'm afraid. Too much blood and gore and violence for violence sake. A teen slasher fest which I just didn't get.

I was very excited to read this. Then when I saw the reviews, I was terrified to read this, thinking it was just going to be awful. I am super picky and I usually end up agreeing with the harsher reviews (not biased, but because I agree).

But when I saw that Netgalley was doing a "read now" instead of requesting, I jumped at the chanced to read this book that I have been dying to read but maybe hate.

And in the end, it wasn't a "bite your nails, I feel my heart racing at every moment" horror novel, but for a first horror ya novel, it was pretty good! It was definitely Scream inspired but with a lot of romance. I think that was what turned me off a lot, because I'm not a huge romance novel reader. Especially in horror. I don't want cheesy 80s/90s horror movie with makeouts and sex where "they all die because they can't control their hormones while someone is murdering their peers" in my horror.

So in the end, it was definitely a good first YA Horror novel for Stephanie Perkins and I hope she continues writing and practicing her horror skills!

Makani lives with her grandmother after her parents passed away, where she should be settled happily at home and school however, they're not at all. Her old best friend Jasmine, has been in touch for a start but that's not all.

A new relationship with Ollie that's fast paced but happy, things get weird when students at school start to die, from murder. Then she starts to question everyone.

She gets attacked and injured in her home and becomes paranoid of shadows around her luckily Ollie looks out for her despite his cop brother acting off...

Suspenseful and chaotic with tension in every second of the pursuit with brutality used in all the murders it makes for a tense read!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

What happens when an author of cute, fluffy romances writes a gory slasher novel? I'll tell you: You get possibly the most romance-heavy, make out-focused slasher novel you will ever read.

Pretty much everything went wrong with this book. If you want to read a story where most of the minor (i.e. we don't give a damn about them) characters die gory deaths in between repetitive make out/sex sessions, this is for you. I think it is supposed to be scary, but it isn't scary at all. Bloody does not equal scary. There is no suspense, no nail-biting tension. Attempts to ratchet up the tension in certain scenes lead to comical moments like this with an egg timer:
She placed the timer back on the countertop. The timer was smooth and white. Innocuous. Haley couldn't pinpoint why, exactly, but the damn thing unsettled her.

Yikes. It's an egg timer. This is at the very beginning of the book and I wanted to giggle, not hide behind a cushion. Of course, in the next chapter after this scene, the school gossip reveals that Haley has been brutally murdered and mutilated.

I really had high hopes for the terror and/or suspense in There's Someone Inside Your House. The slasher genre may just be a series of death and gore, but it can produce some very scary work. There are some truly terrifying moments in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street ("One, two, Freddy's coming for you" *shudders*). But that just doesn't happen here.

It's low in psychological thrills and tension, high in yuck and slapstick horror. Between murders, Perkins develops a boring romance between Makani and Ollie. Half–African-American and half–Native Hawaiian Makani is a somewhat interesting character that could have been developed more, but bright pink hair and piercings couldn’t stir my interest in Ollie. I got so tired of them making out and having sex.

The three main questions being asked are all handled unsuccessfully, making for a dull read. They are:
• Who is the killer? The answer here is unsatisfying because it is someone we’ve barely heard of and literally don’t care about at all. Plus, we find out who it is at just over halfway through the book.
• What is Makani’s secret? The problem was I never cared about her secret past. There’s someone going around slashing people open so the nefarious deeds you did in your past kind of don’t matter.
• Why is the killer killing? The reasoning was pretty lame, IMO. Pamela Voorhees killed because her son died on someone else's watch; Freddy Krueger was raised by an abusive alcoholic; Michael Myers was severely mentally ill; Norman Bates was emotionally-abused by his mother. The reasons here seem, if not unbelievable, stupid and boring.

Also, as I briefly mentioned above, the victims are not people we care about. In most slashers, the killer picks off the family and/or friends of the protagonist one by one. Here, though, it’s a bunch of random students we don’t give a damn about. All of the main characters feel safe.

I'd like to tell you that it's just me, that I only picked this up because I like the author's cute romances so I set myself up for disappointment. But, in truth, my tastes are much more suited to a brutal horror novel than a cutesy love story. This one, however, bored me to tears, and even reading it late at night couldn't generate any terror.

Ok so many reviewers have papped on about this being so unlike Stephanie's other work. I've never read anything by her before so this was a first for me and I had no expectations. Authors are allowed to step out of their comfort zones... Although sometimes its not always great idea.

I love a good slasher. I was bought up on 80's slashers and its still my favourite genre. Add to that this book is set in school with kids and a killer on the loose picking off students and killing them with a knife?! Well it had my interest.

I read this book in 1 sitting. There are some interesting characters in it, but I will add that's probably the only thing that held my attention. I didn't care very much for Makani. I can't really say why. She just was a bit (Dare I say boring?). Nothing stood out for me as exciting bar her heritage but as she was so hell bent on not actually talking about that as its rude to ask, you must be told. I dunno, I just didn't like her that much, or was indifferent. Oh don't forget that big secret about her moving her away from home and living with her grandma because she had too <eye rolls>. Ollie was a bit more fun. I liked the pink hair, the loner side of him and the dramatic past. That all worked. Sounds like the set up of a romance doesn't it? Well this book basically is a romantic slasher. I won't tell you who the killer is, I don't do spoilers. Just read to 56% and you will find out. Yes thats right, 56%! <shakes head>. Also unlike many horror books or even suspense when I like to try and work out who did it, I don't feel we really are told much to work it out. Its a bit disappointing and when I did find out I was like, 'Erm, ok. Motive?' So I read the whole book to just find out the motive as I didn't really care too much about anything else. And the motive? Well, it was a motive I guess but it wasn't anything eye opening either.

The story has ok pace. There's a murder in the 1st chapter so that's exciting. But it wasn't enough. In fact there is a high body count and some cool murders in this book, just no real story for me. I know this is YA, but I expected more.

Now I hate dissing an authors work. So much is put into a book, I don't feel I could do it. I could tell a better story, but write one? Probably not. This one however didn't tick any boxes for me I'm afraid and it barely got 3 stars. It was probably closer to 2 stars but I did like the friendship groups although a bit cliche maybe in this day and age. Doesn't feel right if there's not something for the LGBTQ peeps. Sorry, this one really wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgally, and to Pan Macmillan, for sending me and advanced readers copy.

Since, at the time of writing this, this book has over a month to its release date, with that in mind I’ve tried my best to convey my thoughts on this book, of its tone, characters and plot without giving anything away. I knew little about this book going into it, and even structural details and discovering the methods Perkins was using to tell and portray this story added to my enjoyment, so I apologise in advance if I sound vague in favour of giving effective information without impairing someone else’s enjoyment of this book.

Picking this up I was expecting creepy houses and murders with Perkins style from her previous books- which is what I got, and I was happy for it. This is a genre I’ve never read before, so I was both excited and nervous to jump in, and was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed this! I think we were all surprised to hear Perkins next book wasn’t going to be like her fluffy summer contemporaries, but instead a fall horror. She writes well to season. I did read There’s Someone Inside Your House in summer, but that suited me perfectly. However, if they’re cliché’s in this to do with the genre, I may have missed them, but I personally had a great experience with this one, so if you’re not used to the genre I’d say this is a good place to start- or even as a curious one-off.

I may not be familiar with this genre, or even of the movies of this ilk, but from what I know I was worried the characters would be bland, but I actually really enjoyed reading about them all, and by the end found myself actually worrying and caring for them. I liked the love interest, Ollie, and that he wasn’t the stereotypical ripped brooding bad boy who treats his girl like dirt. He felt tangible, and almost real, a sad teenager without being a brat, and being a nice boy without being golden. I thought his little relationship with Makani’s grandmother was adorable. Makani’s, the main character’s, friends were likable and weren’t bland background characters, and had their own depth to them even if it wasn’t delved into extensively, but portrayed effectively throughout the story.

There were cliques in this book, and it was aware of that as part of the set up, and school groups do exist in real life to a certain extent, and the way it was portrayed wasn’t totally unbelievable. However, what I really liked was that despite the fact that the main characters friend group (and love interest) wasn’t in the “popular” crowd, people in those groups weren’t demonised. The main character was not bitter to the other groups, and through various storytelling methods, we were able to get insights to even the smaller characters.

This is in a small-town setting, with the knowledge that most people have a connection, even if it is small, to one another. This was shown throughout the novel in a natural and easy way that made each connection feel like a revelation. Even the smallest side relationships were touched upon later without ever feeling forced.

There is a mystery element to this book, but I was happy the book didn’t solely rely on that to set the pace. It was able to build tension through small foreshadowing’s that often made sense to the reader before the on page character (and not because the character’s stupid, just because we as readers have more information than the character), and therefore see what’s coming, and want to see if anyone can come away alive. With this genre, there’s a high possibility that there could be no survivors, and this made you fear for the characters more than in another genre (at least from my limited knowledge). This book is short- just around the 300-page mark, and though fast paced, never felt rushed, each step of the novel feeling right for this book. There were a few storytelling tricks that didn’t work on me, but because the story didn’t solely rely on them, the story was still really enjoyable and kept me engaged all the way to the end.

The writing style (if I remember right, as it’s been a while since I read Perkins earlier works) has kept its easy, consumable charm from her other works without being boring and simple. The format and structure of this book is creative, used to create tension, and fits this story really well, as well as giving needed insights on characters we may not have been able to understand fully, therefore not empathise with, if Perkins had she gone with a more typical structure. This tactic worked better as the book went on.

Overall, this was exactly what I wanted from this book. It combined Perkins familiar style that builds upon character with the tension and eeriness of the genre. Creative, well-thought-out storytelling that keeps the book intriguing and engaging even if you can spot a few tricks ahead of time. Perfect fall read if you’re looking for something quick, something with murder, and something that’s been thought-out with good characters. I read this in the summer, and I loved reading it now as something you can gobble up within a day or two, and as an alternative to contemporaries, as it still had that feel but with a horror twist. It wasn’t a heavy, intense read, but something easy to consume.

THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is the perfect mix of romance and terror and it's exactly what I needed today. 👫🔪🏠☠

I didn't really know what to expect when I started this - Perkins is a very talented romance writer, and this sounds like a full-on horror that is completely different. However, it's more like someone took Anna and the French kiss and added a serial killer in at the school - but Anna is still more interested in being French kissed and only slightly pays attention to it.

That's literally it, to a sometimes ridiculously romance-focused degree. Like, they carry on going to school and discussing boys when literally the same day someone got murdered in the locker rooms! whose parents would agree to that?!

I was invested until the climax of the book, when it got a bit too ridiculous - at that point something like 10 people had been killed - all students, all in public places including crowds - and the entire town turns up for a football match on Halloween!

but it's okay, because costumes were banned. so obviously they were safe.....

that seemed crazy to me, and I couldn't suspend my disbelief after that.

I really loved the romance though - Perkins genuinely is the queen of this - and I would happily have read a book just about that. the victims' points of views littered throughout were also excellent - she has an uncanny ability to make you care very deeply about a character within 500 words, which makes it all the worse when they are then immediately killed in the next 500.

I'd read another horror by Perkins, happily, right now, please and thank you.
Some really nice trans rep in there too.