Angel Manor

I love a good haunted house story. Shirley Jackson‘s The Haunting of Hill House remains one of my favorite novels and one of my favorite films (the original, of course). I was thrilled to finally read The Shining recently. It’s a classic for a reason and one of King’s best (and better than the film, in my opinion). And then there are the sillier haunted house films that I love, especially House on Haunted Hill (again, the original).

So, I was somewhat excited to receive a free copy of Chantal Noordeloos’ debut novel Angel Manor through LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewer program. Haunted house plus scary nuns? Sounds good to me.

And the general plot is decent. Our protagonist Freya inherits a large, old house from her aunt and goes to show more check it out with her best friends Bam and Oliver. They have plans to turn it into a hotel (it’s that big). But Freya is skeptical. Her aunt was disturbed, living here her whole life, and the house drove Freya’s mother away, terrified of it. Should they move in and rehab the place?

Not if you’ve read the prologue. All kinds of demony business has happened in this house over the years, and now that there’s fresh blood on the property (literally), it’s ready to do more.

With a set-up like that, and a pretty decent beginning, I was really disappointed that the book didn’t follow through. Noordeloos’s writing starts fairly strong, and for the first half of the book, the story’s compelling, but it lacks a mature voice and suffers what seems to be common with first novels, in that the writing loses its punch as things go along.

The story’s also an odd mix of soap opera and grotesque horror set pieces and it has trouble maintaining a balance between these elements. Part of the problem I had was that Noordeloos’s main characters feel more like teenagers than adults in their twenties, and I grew impatient with them, eventually caring more about what happens to the crew of workers (mostly real teenagers) who come in to work on the house. Maintaining suspense and horror is challenging, even more so when the reader doesn’t care about what happens to the main characters (doubly so, when the writer kills off the best one)

Another problem I had with Angel Manor was that the grotesqueness done to the female characters is much more gruesome (and this is a gruesome book) than what happens to the men. That’s a stereotype I’m tired of.

And then the ending just wouldn’t end. The final chapter finishes and the reader is faced with an epilogue and the reminder that this is the first book in a series. Endings are hard, but there should be one. show less

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

The horror portion of the thriller genre is one into which I don't often venture. Not due to a distaste but rather simply a preference for other genres and subgenres. I did, however, find this to be an enjoyable (to the extent that violent scenes can be enjoyable) read. I came to care about the characters and, like any good thriller, kept trying to guess what might happen next. While there were some things that didn't surprise (not many works can surprise throughout, some of the staples of the genre need to be retained) there were enough surprises to keep my interest. Even the parts that I anticipated were handled well so that I didn't want to skip through anything because it was too show more formulaic.

I would recommend this to a fan of horror, but perhaps not to those who prefer more thriller and less horror. For those like myself who might fall into that second category but also isn't put off by gore I would suggest giving the book a chance. show less

I love a good haunted house story. Shirley Jackson‘s The Haunting of Hill House remains one of my favorite novels and one of my favorite films (the original, of course). I was thrilled to finally read The Shining recently. It’s a classic for a reason and one of King’s best (and better than the film, in my opinion). And then there are the sillier haunted house films that I love, especially House on Haunted Hill (again, the original).

So, I was somewhat excited to receive a free copy of Chantal Noordeloos’ debut novel Angel Manor through LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewer program. Haunted house plus scary nuns? Sounds good to me.

And the general plot is decent. Our protagonist Freya inherits a large, old house from her aunt and goes to show more check it out with her best friends Bam and Oliver. They have plans to turn it into a hotel (it’s that big). But Freya is skeptical. Her aunt was disturbed, living here her whole life, and the house drove Freya’s mother away, terrified of it. Should they move in and rehab the place?

Not if you’ve read the prologue. All kinds of demony business has happened in this house over the years, and now that there’s fresh blood on the property (literally), it’s ready to do more.

With a set-up like that, and a pretty decent beginning, I was really disappointed that the book didn’t follow through. Noordeloos’s writing starts fairly strong, and for the first half of the book, the story’s compelling, but it lacks a mature voice and suffers what seems to be common with first novels, in that the writing loses its punch as things go along.

The story’s also an odd mix of soap opera and grotesque horror set pieces and it has trouble maintaining a balance between these elements. Part of the problem I had was that Noordeloos’s main characters feel more like teenagers than adults in their twenties, and I grew impatient with them, eventually caring more about what happens to the crew of workers (mostly real teenagers) who come in to work on the house. Maintaining suspense and horror is challenging, even more so when the reader doesn’t care about what happens to the main characters (doubly so, when the writer kills off the best one)

Another problem I had with Angel Manor was that the grotesqueness done to the female characters is much more gruesome (and this is a gruesome book) than what happens to the men. That’s a stereotype I’m tired of.

And then the ending just wouldn’t end. The final chapter finishes and the reader is faced with an epilogue and the reminder that this is the first book in a series. Endings are hard, but there should be one. show less

This was a good creepy read! It escalated for me to the point I was staying up late at night to get through it!

It is about some friends that buy a house to turn it into a bed and breakfast. Little do they know that the house was once a convent and it is haunted. They begin to wish that they had not embarked on this endeavor as things start happening in the house.



This was a pretty scary read and it is like a train barreling down the tracks! You want to stop the train but then you don't as you want to see what happens next! New horror author for me and I am giving it a five star read for keeping me spooked!

I absolutely love picking up a book by someone I've never read before, finding a story which exceeds my expectations, and then discovering it's the writer's first full-length novel. This is exactly what happened with Angel Manor (Lucifer Falls Book 1) by Chantal Noordeloos.

I kept seeing this book pop up in my Facebook News Feed with great reviews and recommendations and decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Let's see if this gets past the Amazon censors. "The blood trickled over the sagging breasts of the Mother Superior, staining her white skin crimson. The limp body of a five-year old boy hung slack in her arms." What a kick-ass way to start a horror novel.

Freya Formynder has inherited Angel Manor, a property big enough to be a show more hotel and that's exactly the plan, to turn the place into a money making proposition with the help of her two besties, Oliver Jardin and Bambi Green.

Lucifer Falls is a beautiful location for Angel Manor. Although, local legend has it that when Lucifer fell from Heaven, this is where he landed.

The facility has potential, but it's also got some unwanted guests. Add a group of young construction workers from the "Second Chance" project and a psychic with her team of ghost hunters, and Angel Manor has all the makings of a wildly imaginative haunted house story.

The author goes all out, no character is safe, and some of the scenes are truly disturbing. I really enjoyed what Chantal Noordeloos has done here and look forward to book two in the Lucifer Falls series.

Angel Manor, published by Horrific Tales Publishing, is available in paperback and for the Kindle through Amazon.com and if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this one at no additional charge.

Highly recommended. show less

Freya inherits her mother's childhood home on the Isle of Skye is Scotland near Lucifer Falls; the home is a sprawling mansion which has mostly fallen into disrepair while her aunt lived there. Freya hopes to turn the mansion into a hotel with the help of her friends Bambi and Oliver. From the moment they arrive, something feels off with the house. Freya begins to think more of her aunt's strange directions about the house and her mother's extreme dislike of her childhood home. When a team of contractors begins to work on the house, two of the boys quickly go missing. Freya and her friends begin to feel tied to the house, getting severe headaches when the try to leave. In their heads they know that the house demands sacrifice. When show more Freya hires a psychic to come see the house, she thinks all of her horrors have been solved...

From the prologue, I knew that this was going to be a gritty horror read. Digging into the past when Angel Manor was a convent, I was introduced to naked, murderous nuns sacrificing children on the equinox and I knew this was going to be good. Fast forward to present day, Freya and her friends keep seeing ghosts and some force is keeping the ghosts in Angel Manor. There was a great feeling of suspense the entire way through the book since the force in the house was not revealed to the very end and it wasn't quite evident if the psychic helped clear the house or caused more damage. Freya, Oliver, Bam along with the construction crew offered a good cast of characters,each with different reactions to the house. I really enjoyed the pace of the book, the mix of the gore, suspense, mystery and classic horror. It also reminded me a bit of American Horror Story Murder House which was a plus for me.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

The book is about a trio of friends, one of whom inherited a house on the Isle of Skye in Great Britain, which is steeped in lurid legend. They want to convert the house into a hotel, and live out their dreams in this picturesque and relatively isolated locale.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did because I enjoy reading books from the horror genre. Firstly, there were elements that were very trite and poorly researched. Secondly, I kept looking for succor and reprieve from the sheer sadistic depravity. You are plummeted into the depths of human depravity from the very first chapter and you feel like you are treading water for a mere gasp of air and some sort of reprieve thoughout the whole book. The book ends on a note of show more false cheerfulness, knowing full well that the horror which masquerades as "killing in the name of the greater good" is lurking in the shadows. show less