I have been so excited to receive this ARC and it didn't disappoint, but then I expect nothing less from Christina Henry!

A brilliantly told story about a single mother, Harry, who goes to work for reclusive Horror film director Javier Castillo cleaning his movie props. Told from Harry's perspective, with parts of the narrative giving us sections of both Harry's and Javier"s pasts. I really enjoyed the way these different timeliness were meshed together because it felt like flashbacks in a movie.

To be honest, the whole book read like a movie and was so creepy! I had more than one jumpscare, which I didn't think possible when reading!! And that costume!!!! Omg! The stuff of nightmares.

Absolutely brilliant book and I will be buying a physical copy to keep as a trophy on my shelf alongside the other Christina Henrys I own.

I'm so sorry and I'm absolutely gutted because I've loved all of Christina's other books that I've read but I was so bored with this one and had to DNF 😭

How disappointing is this book? Held such promise and the blurb really led me to believe it was one I would enjoy. Sadly, the story was uninteresting and drawn out, a very slow burn.

The writing was atmospheric but lacked direction. As for Harry, what a whiny woman! How many times did she say she had to get another job/look for another apartment? Boring character with little substance.

Not scary, not evil, not good, Henry is usually so much better.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books

I was quite disappointed with this. I normally really enjoy Christina Henry's books but this didn't feel up to her normal standard. It the ending felt rushed and the writing didn't feel very clear.

I have loved every single book Christina Henry has released, however, this one wasn’t for me. The plot just wasn’t interesting and it felt flat right the way through. However, ad always, the writing was atmospheric and beautiful, it was just unfortunate I didn’t like anything else.

I was really excited to read this as I'm a fan of Henry's work and have enjoyed the books I've read. Unfortunately not this one.
I DNF about 50%, nothing was happening for me. I had no connection with the characters, the storyline was not interesting for me and I found myself disinterested with the read and not caring for the ending. I think maybe the storyline wasn't what I expected and it just didn't work. Thumbs down from me.

Book review 📚
The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry - 3/5 ⭐

It breaks my heart to give such a poor rating but after having read a few of Henry's previous work, I was not overly impressed with this one.

It had all the normal, amazing aspects of characters and world building but it was all just happening to fast and came to such an abrupt end! I was expecting so much more with so many questions still left unanswered.

Henry is a great writer and I've always enjoyed her reads but this one is one I won't be reading again at any point.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 rounded to 4.

I really enjoyed the author's last book, Good Girls Don't Die, so I was very excited to get my hands on this one. And while overall it was an enjoyable thriller read, it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

What I loved:

- The FMC was great. I really admired the way she tried to keep things positive for her son and worked hard to provide for them. She was tough and resilient.
- The creepy setting of Bright Horses, complete with all the weird movie props. The way Sten was described was genuinely really creepy.
- The overall story arc and plot was fun and engaging.

What I didn't love:

- The very slow pace and build up - nothing much really happened, nothing openly scary anyway, for a large portion of the book.
- I wanted more of a comeuppance at the end for the 'villain' - everything was left so open ended that I felt I was left without a satisfying wrap up. I would have loved a little epilogue!
- Some of the big twists I predicted very early on - but this may be more of a me problem than the book itself.

If you're looking for a thriller with some spooky elements to it, and you enjoy the ins and outs of horror movie making, then you'll likely have a good time reading this! I think I just expected to be more scared while reading it.

I received the ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. And all I can say is that I really enjoyed all of the characters, but the story was short. It needs to be fleshed out. I want more details about Harry. Mr Castillo was too convenient. The horror was never scary. In fact, it was predictable. We need a twist! It gave me strong Goosebumps vibes
.

I really enjoyed this. My only criticism was that it ended too abruptly. There was so much build up and then the end happened in a few short pages. I want to know what happened to survivors!

I’ve loved many of Christina Henry’s previous books so I had pretty high expectations for The House that Horror Built and it didn’t quite live up to them. I really liked the setup of the story—Javier Castillo and his house had a vaguely creepy air about them and Harry and her son Gabe were easy to root for. I also found this to be a pretty quick read thanks to Henry's digestible writing style.

However, it felt like nothing much was happening for the majority of the story. There weren’t enough scares for me and it did start to drag. Then when the ending finally happened it all wrapped up way too fast. I would’ve loved for Harry to have had more agency and drive in figuring out what was going on in this creepy house. Although this book didn’t quite hit the mark for me, I look forward to whatever Henry writes next!

This is an author who i usually really love but this missed the mark for me.
It was too slow and boring in places and didn’t have much of a horror element to it, I didn’t even find it eerie
This seemed more along the lines of a fun story which it was but not her best work overall
Maybe I just expected something darker!