Guest post written by A Heart So Haunted author Hollie Nelson
Hollie Nelson loves gothic horror almost as much as she loves coffee. When she’s not talking to the monsters in her closet, you can usually find her writing or at the gym. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband and their clowder of cats.
About A Heart So Haunted: In this evocative and stunning debut, secrets in the very bones of Harthwait House are disturbed when a new tenant moves in, for fans of Ashley Poston and A House with Good Bones. PLUS you can read an excerpt at the end of the interview!
You like a bit of a genre-bend, you say? Some spooky, gothic, family drama mixed in, perhaps? Well, buckle up, because the list below will leave you debating whether the heart flutters are coming from anticipation or dread.
My new novel, A Heart So Haunted, falls within this category, so if you like a bit of swoon to cleanse your horror-filled senses, it releases on October 21st! It follows a young woman, named Landry, who inherits her late aunt’s estate and stumbles upon a monster within the walls that desperately wants to get out. When the two grow closer, Landry must decide if the creature is truly the most beastly thing after all.
If you’re a fan of Ashley Poston or A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, A Heart So Haunted will be perfect to add to your spooky TBR.
Now, onto a few novels that would also be delicious to read in front of a fire—or on a dark and stormy night by candlelight.
Spit Back the Bones by Teagan Olivia King
Mila has avoided home for years—especially after her brother went missing. It doesn’t help that the old, humid bog calls to her in voices like a lure. Now she has to return for her sister’s graduation, except upon arrival, the town’s reverend informs Mila that Agatha is missing and the only advantage Mila feels she has is the voices from the bog. Because if no one else will find Agatha, Mila will.
A fly-ridden, crawling tale, Spit Back the Bones is perfect for those who enjoy their horror lined with romance and a southern drawl to rival the ages.
House of Shadows by Darcy Coates
In a desperate attempt to save her family from ruin, Sophie agrees to marry Mr. Argenton: a wealthy stranger who lives so far from town, travel takes hours to reach the manor. When doors begin to open and close and strange figures are seen within the halls, Sophie knows she’s stepped into more than she’s bargained for.
With questions and creatures in abundance, House of Shadows scratches the itch of endearingly gothic—and a dash of sinister.
The September House by Carissa Orlando
Margaret and Hal bought her dream house—at an amazing price. The only issue is the month of September. The walls drip blood and plenty of ghosts still live in the home. While Margaret could care less, Hal has had enough. He vanishes abruptly, leaving Margaret and their daughter, Katherine, in the throes of September, each haunt and terror becoming more harrowing than the last.
The September House explores the value of family, where you call home, and which friends you wish to bring along for the ride.
Gothictown by Emily Carpenter
For $100, you can have the house you’ve always dreamed of.
That’s the email that finds Billie and her husband at just the right time. The young couple upend their life, move their daughter to the small, picturesque town of Juliana, Georgia, and decide to start over. This is what they—Billie—have always wanted, after all. A true home. But Juliana was built on a southern hospitality that Billie has never experienced before. With a strained marriage, nightmares that plague her husband, and unanswered questions, Billie isn’t so sure she made the right choice. Did she?
Gothictown curls you into its clutches—and doesn’t let go.
Hopefully these wonderful reads will satiate your hunger for the haunted. If you’re like me, spooky isn’t just a season, it’s a year-round hankering that you can’t quite get rid of. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to sleep with the lights off—and if you can’t, you can always pick up A Heart So Haunted and start a new journey until daylight breaks.
EXCERPT
“Emma!” I called. “Are you hungry?”
Silence met me.
I poked my head into the living room. The sink light still spilled yellow over the sink; the refrigerator hummed in tandem with the AC unit. The TV, on mute, flickered over the walls, the ceiling, the ornate rugs. The grandfather clock tick-tick-ticked as I turned the foyer light on.
“Em?” I stepped back and shut the front door.
The house just felt so—big. I was used to an apartment. Not two floors of empty rooms. With furniture that I’d never use. I circled, glancing at the stairwell.
When no answer came, I took a peek in the office, left of the front door. A tiny book nook light glowed amber. That particular book nook resembled an alleyway in Italy: cobblestone streets, sand-colored buildings with moss latched to their clay-tiled roofs. It stood no taller than a dictionary. A dime-sized motion sensor blinked at the bottom—if I were to walk in front of it, it’d flicker the alleyway to life, before falling dark after a few moments.
Had it turned on when Aunt Cadence fell from her heart attack? Had it been during the day, or sometime at night? Why was it on now, though?
A buzz caught my attention. Back at the foyer table, I dug through my purse. Hadn’t I turned my phone off? Sure enough, three text messages, all within the last eight minutes.
EMMA: Dinner? I can get pizza. None of those casseroles looked
appetizing.
EMMA: Or pasta.
EMMA: Carbs are good, just let me know before I leave the grocery store. You had no ravioli which is blasphemy so I’m at the store.
I leaned back against the handrail. It bit in between my shoulder blades, along all the knobs of my spine, as I typed back, Can you get some greens so I can make my smoothies.
Tick
I paused. Glanced up.
Then, it came again.
Tick
My heart started to flutter. My mouth watered with adrenaline. I stared at the very spot I’d stood in the foyer earlier today, except Sayer had been leaning where I was right now. I stared at the grandfather clock, waiting, just as the sound came again.
Tick
But the grandfather clock sang tick-tick-tick. Even, expected ticks.
This sounded like a bug hitting a window, or—Then I noticed it. Through the open office door, a warm, almost burnt color light clicked on. Two seconds passed, then it turned off.
Then it turned back on.
My breaths turned to shallow, reedy strands. I took a single step forward. The motion light had turned on, sure, but I was too far from the doorway for it to catch me. Even my reflection couldn’t be seen in any of the windows—the curtain in the office was pulled tight.
Tick. On.
Tick. Off again.
My heart thundered, the foyer tightening, my nerves firing to run, to leave, to back away. Because something was triggering the light.
And it wasn’t me.
