It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest
Publication Date: July 22, 2025
Summary from NetGalley:
Ronnie doesn’t know it yet, but her fate rests in the hands of the dead.
Silent film star Venita Rost’s malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that’s claimed countless unlucky souls. And she’s not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan—her eternal nemesis—watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita’s unrelenting wrath.
Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it’s Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house’s blood-soaked history. But her arrival has stirred up more than just dust and decay. In the shadows, unseen eyes watch. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a thinly veiled jealousy, as well as a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence.
Venita’s fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds.
Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie’s skepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn’t as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita’s house, survival might be just an illusion.
ARC provided by Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I really enjoyed this soft spoken and engaging story about loss and grief. It isn’t what you would normally think of as horror, there is no gore or slasher type monsters jumping out at you. What you do get is a very atmospheric and ghost filled house and an older heroine who is just trying to restore it.
The story is told through three perspectives. Ronnie is an older woman who has just bought a very old mansion that needs a lot of work for her to live in it. I really liked Ronnie, she felt very realistic and was totally relatable. When ghostly things start to happen, she isn’t a silly heroine who goes screaming into the night, but meets these challenges head on, just like she is dealing with the house.
The other two perspectives are from the ghosts. Bartholomew is the investigator that owned the house for a very short time, but died there. He is a weak ghost, but he relates some of the history of the house. He also feels protective of Ronnie and tries to help her. Venita is the ghost of the woman who originally owned the house. We get her story through a diary that Ronnie finds. I felt sorry for Venita, but she was a bit crazy. She also helps Ronnie out when she needs it most.
I don’t want to say too much about the story, because the less you know the better off you are going into it. The writing is superb though and the slow build of tension is perfect. The author does a great job bringing that psychological edge to the haunted house trope and then adds in a real world threat that somehow brings everything all together. The pacing got a little slow in the middle, but it was otherwise perfect.
Another great story from this author, that if you are a fan of, you will really like. If you don’t like horror, then this is a book that you might want to give a chance. It is very horror light but is very atmospheric and yet contains enough tension to make you nervous.
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