Gaslight by J.E. Rowney.
Who can you trust when you can't trust yourself?
When Ella hears of her father's death, the last thing she wants is to return to the childhood home where he subjected her to years of trauma. But motivated by revenge, she and partner Dan do just that.
At first, the memories of her past overwhelm her, but the move to Bittersweet Acres is more dangerous than Ella could ever have imagined.
Strange notes start to appear, Ella's behaviour becomes erratic, and she's sure that Dan is responsible for the bizarre events that threaten her mental and physical health.
I really enjoyed this book. Twisty and eerie. I was convinced I knew who it was. I didn't expect that. 5*.

Gaslight by JE Rowney
January 27, 2023 Publish Date
BooksGoSocial
Fiction/Thriller/Mystery

After the death of her father, Ella returns to Bittersweet Acres, her secluded childhood home. Hoping to start fresh with her boyfriend Dan, she makes plans to renovate and relocate there. Once settled in, however, she begins to experience strange noises, time lapses and handwritten notes.

Is she going crazy? Are the ghosts of her parents haunting the halls? Or is it her boyfriend, trying to control and take over her inheritance?

I enjoyed this quick read. It kept me guessing the entire time. As soon as I was convinced the story was going in one direction, I was quickly proven wrong.

Warning: Book discusses domestic violence and mental abuse.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @BooksGoSocial and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Ella is just in the beginnings of a relationship with Dan, when she gets a call about her dad. He’s dead. She’s glad. There’s no love lost there. She also inherits the family home, an isolated property called Bittersweet Acres. Originally, she just wants to get rid of the property but Dan convinces her to move in to the house with him, and they’d fix it up together.

Once they move in, Ella starts hearing noises. Eventually mysterious notes start popping up. Things happen that she can’t explain. Is it Dan? Is he trying to make her go crazy? Is he doing this to get the house?

Overall, the premise for a novel was good. However, the book simply didn’t resonate with me. It felt a little rushed and I really wasn’t keen on the twist/reveal and the ending. Unfortunately it just didn’t quite hit the spot for me.

This is a fairly short book so a quick read. I was drawn by the title and cover, which I loved but somehow it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The tension was there, the setting was great but the ending? I didn't really understand it or how it linked to the title.

I absolutely devoured this! I’ve never read any of J.E. Rowney’s books before, but I certainly will now. I loved it. I was gripped from the beginning, and each chapter left me wanting more. For a book that has very few characters or settings, it certainly packs a punch. It left me guessing right until the very end, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Would definitely recommend.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for advance e-copy of this book to read and review.

I quite enjoyed this. I had that strong feeling of dread and unease throughout the book. The protag, although she does say, think and do some silly things, I still found her quite likeable and enjoyed her narration. A nice quick read!

When Elle inherits her childhood home after her father dies, she has a lot of trepidation about returning. Finally, she and her boyfriend Dan, decide to fix it up. It doesn’t take long before Elle starts to think she is losing her mind. Is Dan not who he seems to be, or is there something darker at work?
Keep turning the pages of this thriller to see what happens next!

wow! this book surprised me a lot, after seeing a few average/ slightly negative reviews on goodreads i didnt expect to love this book as much as i did!!
this was a super fast read, i flew through it in about an hour. partly because its quite short, but mostly because i couldnt get enough of it!! i loved the plot twist, however i DID see it coming from a mile away! i dont think its obvious at all tho, just a theory that popped into my head that ended up being correct!
i absolutely love the way it was written, the vocabulary and sentence structure and everything! its hard to explain but it feels like it was written by me, LOL. this is exactly how i wouldve written this story!
easy 5 stars! i hope this book does well when its officially published!

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy!
Ella inherits a house that holds very bad family memories for her, she moves in with her boyfriend and strange things begin to happen……it’s that down to Dan or is something sinister happening?!
I was completely hooked when I first started this book, but unfortunately around half way through it lost its way and seemed a bit rushed by the end. I felt with a bit more depth, and character detail, I personally would have found it more enjoyable. It did take me a while to understand the title but now I understand the reference to “gaslighting”, it makes sense. Ella’s character I found really quite annoying and the things she did irritated me, but maybe that was the authors intention.
I really wanted to like this book, a brilliant concept but sadly it just didn’t work for me.

A great, thrilling read, which will keep you entertained throughout. A good one sitting read, get the nibbles ready, close the door, and read!

Amazing book! I absolutely loved it! Exciting pàge after page it kept you guessing! Very fast read as I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book!

While this book wasn't for me, I read advanced copies to find what our customers would enjoy the best. This has a strong start and it's something that's easy to recommend but it loses momentum fairly quick. The twist didn't live up to my expectations and was unfortunately predictable.

That being said, I think there is an audience for this and with the popularity of "gaslighting" in social media over the last few years, I think this will be an easy one to recommend to our customers. For me, it's a solid 3/5. I think this will be hovering around a 4/5 for my customers.

I don’t usually read mystery/thrillers, but this was unputdownable!

I literally finished it in one sitting - I did not see anything coming, to be honest.

The storyline was utterly captivating and the chatacters were dimensional. The suspense was through the roof. I highly recommend this if you’re after a quick read that will keep you engaged all the way through.

Finished this book in one sitting - just couldn’t put it down!! Lots of twists and turns and the ending wasn’t what I thought it was going to be!! Was absolutely adamant the title was a clue as to who the culprit was!

If I had to sun this book up in one word it would be: crazy.

Elle and Dan are barely in a committed relationship when she learns that her estranged father has passed away and left her their family home.

The couple decided to move into the remote estate together to repair the house. But the house holds a lot of bad memories for Elle. And mysterious things keep happening.

This story was a quick read. It kept me interested to the end but I thought it ended a bit abruptly.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book.

Great easy read for between heavier titles and I managed to read this one in a day

Captivating storyline and storytelling but with basic characters and setting descriptions. Written from the POV of Ella who returns with her new partner to her childhood home after the death of her abusive father. In just a matter of days her mental health starts to rapidly decline and she feels trapped. Is her new boyfriend to blame or is the house trying to get rid of her for the second time?

Contained plenty of suspense and just enough confusion to keep me guessing right until the end. The explanation was convincing but the last chapter had another twist for me

*Trigger Warning Themes - Mental Health, Domestic Violence and Emotional Abuse*

HOWEVER…all is not what it seems

2.5/5. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, but it fell very flat to me. I couldn’t get invested in the characters or what was happening. The final twist was predictable, and predictable is fine for me as long as I enjoy the journey the book takes to get there. Here, however, I felt like I got a lot of things thrown at me for two characters who I didn’t really care much for. I think it would have been nice to delve into their relationship before they moved maybe, or more about what Ella was experiencing while in the house, her emotions, etc. I just would have loved a lot more depth than this book actually provided.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

The first book of 2023! It was a rather quick read and the book itself was quite short as well. Its Gaslight by JE Rowney which I received from BooksGoSocial via Netgalley. It will be published on the 27th of January.

We follow Ella who inherits Bittersweet Acres from her father. She had a horrible childhood caused by her father. That's why she is not keen on returning. Once she returns with her rather new boyfriend, she feels trapped and she quickly deteriorates mentally. Is het boyfriend Dan the cause, or is it the house? Who can she trust?

This was a quick read. A bit rushed at times but still a decent story. The characters weren't that well worked as the book was too short to actually create some depth. However, the story itself was quite nice. Especially the explanation at the end, and the very last chapter. You still don't know it for sure!

3/5⭐

Ella is estranged from her father, but when he dies, he leaves her the family farm, Bittersweet.
She wants to sell it, as the house holds nothing but bad memories for her, but her boyfriend, Dan, convinces her to keep it, and they will live there.

A week after moving, Ella is hearing footsteps during the night, and other strange things are happening. Food going missing, strange little threatening notes left for her to find. And then the headaches start, along with memory loss.

Either the house is trying to kill her, or Dan is.

Creepy novel, not really my type, but I am sure that many people will like it.
I felt the bad vibes that plagued Ella, but didn't guess the reason for her uneasiness and illness.
I don't want to give anything away, but I can say that it was the house. :-)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.