This book was a pretty good ghost story and the main storyline was interesting and well thought out. I liked the main characters and some of the spooky scenes were truly terrifying. However, there was a lot of added subplot that wasn’t needed and there were things that didn’t make complete sense or were too over exaggerated that took away from the creepier, more subtle ghostly vibes. Sometimes less is more.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

A great thriller - I would recommend it!

Dark and creepy - an addictive haunted house tale with a few different twists. Tortured past? check! Eerie happenings? check! Dark woods? check! Psychic that really does release something evil? hmmm - shouldn't check that one!

DNF - I struggled to engage with the writing of this. I don't know how best to describe it other than I just felt like I was reading someone's detailed explanation of what they saw in a movie or something - just very surface level and not like I was actually there. I just ended up not caring and didn't see any point in continuing on

A frightening reminder to be careful who you seek help from!

Paul and Christy buy a new house, hoping for a new start after a time of trauma and pain. But this house is not playing along. Soon, they reach out to a psychic for help. Should have gone a different route.

Beautifully written, with plot twists and scares aplenty, I highly recommend this one to any haunted house fans.

Lingering by Chris Coppel is a haunting and atmospheric novel that explores the theme of grief and loss. The story revolves around a young woman named Grace, who returns to her childhood home after the sudden death of her mother. As she begins to uncover the secrets of her family's past, she realizes that her mother's death may not have been an accident, and that her family is hiding something from her. The writing style is lyrical and evocative, capturing the emotions of grief and longing that pervade the story. The characters are well-drawn and relatable, with Grace being a strong and determined protagonist who is determined to uncover the truth about her mother's death. The setting is also well-done, with the small town atmosphere adding to the eerie and suspenseful tone of the book. Overall, Lingering is a beautiful and haunting novel that is sure to linger in the reader's mind long after the final page.

3.5 Stars. Married couple Paul and Christy buy the Croft House (along with their dog). Before moving in, Christy’s abusive father is dying and needs to help take care of him for a bit. While Christy takes on her dark past, Paul and the dog do all the work and move in to their new house. Weird things happen and when Christy finally moves into their new house, they agree it might be haunted. They ask an old psychic friend to clean the house and weirder things start to happen.
Okay so the writing style wasn’t really for me. It was too simplistic? I guess. It also seemed like two books in one (which I would gladly read both separately). You have this whole *trigger warning* past life of Christy and nothing from Paul. You do get half a chapter on how he got his normal, boring job (surprise, it’s a normal, boring reason). I found their marriage a weird relationship where Paul did everything and Christy treated him like a child. Maybe his need to lie for no reason is why he’s treated as such.
The haunted parts would have been great with more of the house’s background and more of the haunted parts. That I would have read all day because the author’s descriptions of that was picturesque and well done. I felt like I was there during those chapters. I think the author would do great just focusing on horror.
The one thing I could not get past was the Covid thrown in. If you could remove that before publishing, it would make a world of a difference. We’re still living through this virus and the last thing I know I want is to read about when I’m reading to escape reality is that. I mean anytime there was two people meeting the author had to discuss, gloves, social distancing, or hand sanitizer. Just unnecessary filler that did not add to the book. The ending was completely rushed and did not tie it together nicely. It just seemed spewed out quickly and not where I wanted it to go. It was a good book. I do not want to seem like I was full of complaints with it, it just needs some tidying up.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview Lingering.
Supernatural and surreal. I got lost a few times but this is a ghost story and that’s happens sometimes
Interesting novel and somewhat wordy. 3 stars

Lingering by Chris Coppel was an interesting ghost story that was exactly what this reader needed at the time.
Oddly I remember reviewing this book before but the review seems to have vanished...
I removed thinking this book had a certain creeping dread and atmosphere to it and want to thank #NetGalley, #CranthorpeMilner, and Chris Coppel for the ARC of #Lingering.

I usually love a good haunted house story, and while Chris Coppel did a good job setting up the characters and creating atmosphere, this book ultimately wasn't for me. It often felt like Coppel was telling two different stories, and I ended up being more interested in one (Christy's past) than the other (the present happenings at the house). The ending left me feeling dissatisfied. There are customers I know who will absolutely love this book, it just wasn't my type of horror.

Loved this book. It kept you on the edge of your chair. It was haunting. But thrilling. You definitely get pulled in. Once you begin you cannot put this one down

First Impressions

This one it's pretty interesting at the beginning, I liked that it's so in these times in a way, totally will done without the explanation about the times, but nicely done.

The first time we have all the situation or more of the situation down, it was a little unnerving and intriguing really, I mean there were things that I wouldn't have done but to each their own, it kept me pretty on edge and guessing what else would come of the story.

Characters

Christy was complex to say the the least, I think she had a lot of growth from the beginning to the end, that was nice, she suffered so much so I liked to see that she was able to get past that at her own pace and in her own terms.

Paul was pretty interesting too, he was the anchor in the relationship in a way, even when he wasn't perfect in any way, but who is really, that resonated with me a lot since well relationships are hard and we have to try and work them out and sometimes just give the space the other person needs.

Final Thoughts

By the end the house and it's macabre story was so cool a little predictable maybe from the background and all the clues, but it was nice nonetheless.

I think suspense and horror readers will enjoy it a lot

DNF - There is something to be said for this style of very cheesy, surface-level, writing that feels like it would play out better in a visual format - one that most certainly would come in the form of a low-budget horror film. However, I do not enjoy this style of writing & it was ultimately what made me not finish this book. I can certainly appreciate pointed or even simplistic writing, but this gave me nothing & it immediately felt like pandering to an absurd scenario. In any case, this was not for me.

I feel like this book reads more like a surreal, psychedelic trip than an actual ghost story. A lot of the imagery featured in it felt like low-grade horror material, and alongside that I felt that there was a lot of stuff included in the story for Christy, but none at all for Paul. Overall, the story did not seem very fleshed out.

We get this deep background for Christy, referencing past trauma that is supposed to build her character. Only this trauma didn't feel as if it transferred to her present self. We got a heavy glimpse of it in the beginning, but I don't think it was particularly necessary at the level it was presented since it didn't feel carried out throughout the story. It honestly felt as if we had three stories in one book. <spoiler> The first story would be Christy dealing with her father, the second would be the ghost story, and the third would be Christy going to find her mother. They were not combined in a good, well thought out manner in my opinion. </spoiler>

Alongside this, we get nothing meaningful with Paul, who I thought was going to be the main person in the story for a while since we were in his perspective quite a bit in the beginning. In truth, the relationship between him and Christy felt negative at times and neutral at others, but never entirely positive. His reasonings also made no sense to me and it felt as if he was made to be a dumb character more so than a sophisticated individual.

The climax and ending were also rather lackluster. Christy, who I felt had hardly experienced anything, all of a sudden knew everything and had the perfect way to resolve the issues, when she hadn't been there for half of them. There was no depth or detail given to her actions, just a few short sentences that said she had already done something. If we can include all of her trauma in the beginning, we damn well could have gotten a scene showing her conducting research and figuring out what was going on instead of her just all of a sudden knowing. I also feel like a lot was left out relating to one of the side characters <spoiler> Why did Daniel not pass on? Why is he mowing lawns? </spoiler>.

All in all, the story had promise, but lacked depth in the most important places.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cranthorpe Millner Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm a sucker for a good spooky house book, which is why I picked this one up in the first place. While the storyline isn't necessarily groundbreaking, it is fresh enough to keep you intrigued.

The writing was very cinematic, with detailed visual descriptions that I couldn't help imagining how it would play out on the big screen.

My only complaint is that the book starts off a bit slow, but the pacing improves greatly in the second half.

Also, the book contains descriptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is set in roughly present day (which I know not everyone loves to read about, so I wanted to include that in my review).

The book also describes childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence, so TW for that content.

Overall a pretty solid haunted house book. If haunted houses are in your wheelhouse, you should give this one a chance!

Crossposted to Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4802866928

A great horror story with good character development. I was creeped out through entire book. First read by author but hopefully not my last!

Lingering was my first book by this author but it won’t be my last! I thought this was a solid haunted house read. I enjoyed the characters, the imagery, and thought the ending was pretty strong. I’d recommend this to fans of haunted house stories!

I love a good haunted house story and this is one of them! Some truly creepy scenes that made me take a breather or five.

Croft House sits waiting for Paul and Christy to move in. Croft House isn’t empty, and the one that waits with the house has been so lonely.
Paul meets her first and grows fond of her friendly, and helpful, antics. Christy has had to tend to the abusive father she hates due to his severe stroke, so she misses the moving in and unpacking. Maggie the adorable black lab also meets, and enjoys, the invisible lady. Croft House is a haunted, but good house. Unfortunately Christy is uncomfortable having a ghost, even a friendly one, and she convinces Paul to have the house cleansed. They should’ve left things alone as they soon discover the cleansing backfired and now they must contend with a malicious and malignant spirit.
I enjoyed “The Lingering” quite a bit. There is a delightful love story hidden within the story that made me smile. Paul, Christy and Maggie are a likable little unit and you really root for them. Christy’s period with her father is well played out. She speaks one spur of the moment sentence to him and in that moment she empowers herself, as an adult and for the child she once was. In his face she sees that he knows he no longer has any power to scare or control her. This is a powerful moment..
There may be triggers for victims of childhood sexual abuse. For the dog lovers out there……Maggie the dog makes it through the story just fine, Thank you Chris Coppel for not hurting the dog!
Thank you #netgalley for the opportunity to read and review #Lingering

*trigger warning for child sexual abuse/rape should have been included for this book*
Paul and Christy are a happily married couple, looking forward to moving into their new home. Cue the ominous warning from a stranger that they need to be sure about this house because once they move in it will be too late.
Follow that up with a presale home inspection that shows the inside dimensions of the house don't match up to the outside. Top it off with a way too thick wall in the loft and you have your makings for a typical haunted house story. Gosh I wonder what's behind there? You may be surprised but I was not.

Weirdly, Christy decides she has to go to her childhood home to care for her dying father after his stroke. I say weirdly because she has had nothing to do with him for decades, ever since she escaped his abuse when she was 16. It seemed an odd choice or at least a choice most people wouldn't make under such circumstances. So for this reason she is not there for her husband to help him with packing or moving into their new home.

Paul moves in by himself unless you count his wife's dog. The strange happenings begin right away, frightening the cable tv installer when he wanted to break through that unusually thick wall, although the ghost seems quite mild and even helpful. When Christy arrives she demands they have the house cleansed of this spirit immediately. Paul for some reason has this done by a woman who outright tells him she does not want to do it, that she doesn't do it anymore, that she has had something traumatic happen when she tried to cleanse a house of something more powerful than she is strong enough to deal with. Sure she sounds like the right woman for the job. He convinces her that this is a mere friendly ghost so against her better judgment she attempts this cleansing. It's not long before she is also frightened away, telling Paul that yes she got rid of the friendly ghost but there is something else in the house.

Up to this point, nothing really scary has happened unless you count dreams and hallucinations which just don't do it for me.
I enjoyed the parts of the story that were about Christy and what her life was like before she met Paul. It was almost like I was reading two different books, one a domestic drama and the other a haunted house story.

There were a few spooky parts near the end but after the big climax, I didn't care for the way Paul and Christy treated the woman who they practically forced to attempt a cleansing that she did not want to do. I had liked them until then. To me, it's ridiculous to blame someone for not being able to do something they told you they couldn't do. The ending itself was not to my liking either. It's too Casper the friendly ghost or Beetlejuice for my taste. You may enjoy it more than I did, lots of people have loved it.