The Woman of the House Book Review

Hi everyone and welcome back to the blog! Keeping with the haunted house/spooky season theme, I received an arc of The Woman of the House by Kate Mooney from NetGalley, so let’s get into it!

In The Woman of the House, we meet Rose Crawley, a woman who finally has the perfect life—a loving husband and a beautiful house by the lake. But strange things begin happening inside the home, including mysterious scratches, unexplained footsteps, and disturbing reflections.

When Rose discovers that the previous woman who lived there, Angela, disappeared under suspicious circumstances, she becomes determined to uncover the truth. As she digs deeper, Rose begins to wonder whether the house is haunted—and whether she could be its next victim.

I’m always down for a spooky haunted house read especially during spooky season; however, this one fell really flat for me. Spoilers ahead.

There was way too much going on. We had Rose’s mommy issues, Rose’s new and weird friend Frances who seems off and suspicious, and Rose’s husband who gives off the vibe that he knows more than he lets on. All of these elements felt like the author was trying to combine three different storylines, and it didn’t work for me.

Rose’s mother was the most common and repetitive thread throughout the book, and I think more could’ve been done with that. It should’ve been clearer that this is one of the main reasons Rose was hesitant to have children. Why did she feel the need to lie to Brian about the fact that her mother was dead? Was her mother haunting her from the grave? The storyline wasn’t well planned out.

Then we have Rose’s new friend, Francis, who definitely gives off a weird vibe. For a second, I thought she was a ghost because she would never go in public with Rose, but that was not the case. Francis was a real person who was just weird and had a strange obsession with the house and those who live in it.

As for the husband, Brian, I definitely feel like there should’ve been more to his character. His role was so small. The beginning of the story builds up their relationship to be more than it really is. Turns out Rose just stalked him for weeks. I feel like it would’ve been better to have Brian be exactly like her. Have him lying, sneaking around, or even have him somehow connected to Angela.

All of these elements felt separate from each other and the ending didn’t tie them together in a perfect, pretty bow.

I did like Rose as the main character though. I liked that she was always untrustworthy to the point where she didn’t even know if she could trust herself. Her slow decline into madness was done well.

Overall, I would give this 2/5 stars. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

Alright folks, that is all I have for this week! Come back next Wednesday for another blog post. As always, thank you for reading:)