4/5⭐️

If there’s one thing that I kept screaming over and over in my head it was “Sam, what the hell did you get you and your daughter into?”

This gothic horror has an eerie abandoned house, paranormal activity and strange neighbors that would have had me running for the hills.

This is told from two POVs, Sam (mom) and her teenage daughter, Emma. Sam always questions if she’s been a good mom and she’s been working hard in her own to raise Emma. She feels she never catches a break and if she does then she wonders if the other shoe will drop.

Sam eventually meets Ben, a handsome charming intelligent man who comes from generational wealth. They’re married and Sam is whisked away to Italy for their honeymoon. But, the show semi drops. Ben’s mom falls into a coma and they have to cut short the honeymoon.

They decide to stay with Ben’s mom for the summer to help her heal and Emma, Becca (Sam’s sister), her son Jax and Emma’s best friend Hannah join. As everyone is enjoying the island, strange things happen in the abandoned house next door and the residents of the island seem a little off.

And if there’s a warning that needs to really be heeded, it’s “stay away from the pie”.

I enjoyed this read and look forward to more of Monica’s work.

Thank you netgalley, Action Rising Publishing and Monique Asher for the opportunity to read this book.