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The House on Linden Way
While passing through her hometown a decade after she left, Amber Blake impulsively revisits her old house on Linden Way. She only means to stay a moment, to show her three-year-old daughter Bee the place where she grew up. But when the kindly new owners invite them inside, Amber cannot resist.
Soon Bee is missing, the owners have disappeared, and Amber finds herself in a houseful of ghosts. Time takes on new meaning as she loses herself in living memories and a past that does not wish to be forgotten.
As Amber fights the powerful lure of a childhood she’d long left behind, her tenuous hold on the real world slips further from her grasp. Is it merely nostalgia she’s battling, or something far more menacing? Who haunts the house on Linden Way, and where are they hiding her child?
Soon Bee is missing, the owners have disappeared, and Amber finds herself in a houseful of ghosts. Time takes on new meaning as she loses herself in living memories and a past that does not wish to be forgotten.
As Amber fights the powerful lure of a childhood she’d long left behind, her tenuous hold on the real world slips further from her grasp. Is it merely nostalgia she’s battling, or something far more menacing? Who haunts the house on Linden Way, and where are they hiding her child?
- GenresFictionParanormalFantasy
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 19, 2022
About the author
Elizabeth Maria Naranjo
3 books207 followersElizabeth Maria Naranjo is the author of The Fourth Wall and The House on Linden Way. She lives in Tempe, Arizona, with her husband and two children.
Elizabeth's short stories and creative nonfiction have been published in Brevity Magazine, Superstition Review, Fractured Lit, Hunger Mountain, The Portland Review, Hospital Drive, Literary Mama, Motherwell, Reservoir Road, and a few other places. Her work has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, Best American Essay, and Best of the Net.
Elizabeth's short stories and creative nonfiction have been published in Brevity Magazine, Superstition Review, Fractured Lit, Hunger Mountain, The Portland Review, Hospital Drive, Literary Mama, Motherwell, Reservoir Road, and a few other places. Her work has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, Best American Essay, and Best of the Net.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 29, 2022
It's nightmarish enough to realize your three-year-old has vanished, but what happens when you start forgetting she even exists?
If you want an idea of how captivating Amber's story is, consider this: I'd just pulled the book out of the shipping envelope and set it on my dining room table when a house guest casually picked it up and began reading. She sat down at the table and did not get up until she finished the whole thing. Then it was my turn and, like my guest, I was enthralled from page one.
Amber Blake believes she's gotten over her difficult childhood, but her childhood has never gotten over her. There are debts to be paid and The House on Linden Way is determined to collect. As the tale unfolds, the house seems to float independently of the laws of time and space, cause and effect. Past and present slip, slide, grind against one another. Memory is what matters in the House on Linden Way. Memory is Amber's nemesis. It pulls her away from the present, away from her missing daughter. But Memory is also Amber's saving grace. Bee becomes a specter that haunts Amber's buried past, never allowing her to get fully, fatally lost. It's so so weird. But the author is great about keeping the reader grounded in Amber's point of view and adding just enough humor and warmth at just the right moment to keep the dark atmosphere from overwhelming you.
The House on Linden Way is a fabulously surreal reading experience. Highly recommended!
If you want an idea of how captivating Amber's story is, consider this: I'd just pulled the book out of the shipping envelope and set it on my dining room table when a house guest casually picked it up and began reading. She sat down at the table and did not get up until she finished the whole thing. Then it was my turn and, like my guest, I was enthralled from page one.
Amber Blake believes she's gotten over her difficult childhood, but her childhood has never gotten over her. There are debts to be paid and The House on Linden Way is determined to collect. As the tale unfolds, the house seems to float independently of the laws of time and space, cause and effect. Past and present slip, slide, grind against one another. Memory is what matters in the House on Linden Way. Memory is Amber's nemesis. It pulls her away from the present, away from her missing daughter. But Memory is also Amber's saving grace. Bee becomes a specter that haunts Amber's buried past, never allowing her to get fully, fatally lost. It's so so weird. But the author is great about keeping the reader grounded in Amber's point of view and adding just enough humor and warmth at just the right moment to keep the dark atmosphere from overwhelming you.
The House on Linden Way is a fabulously surreal reading experience. Highly recommended!
October 16, 2022
You ever feel like you lost track of time, and have no idea what happened or where you were? Maybe you feel asleep for a few minutes, spaced off into a day dream, or something unexplainable… This is exactly that novel, a good creepy read for October!
Amber is passing through her hometown, and as nostalgic as we all get at times, she decides to stop at the house she grew up in to show her daughter. Just a quick photo or two in front of the house and they will be on their way. Something at work, has decided a differently for Amber and before she knows it, they are invited into the house and it is like déjà vu or is it? Her past, her brother and now her daughter are all pieces in this labyrinth that Amber has to figure out how to get out of. This is definitely a careful what you wish for novel and great creepy read for this month.
Thank you to WOW! Women on Writing for the invite and the author for sending me a free novel. I enjoyed that this was a quick, short read and kept your attention from the very first page.
Amber is passing through her hometown, and as nostalgic as we all get at times, she decides to stop at the house she grew up in to show her daughter. Just a quick photo or two in front of the house and they will be on their way. Something at work, has decided a differently for Amber and before she knows it, they are invited into the house and it is like déjà vu or is it? Her past, her brother and now her daughter are all pieces in this labyrinth that Amber has to figure out how to get out of. This is definitely a careful what you wish for novel and great creepy read for this month.
Thank you to WOW! Women on Writing for the invite and the author for sending me a free novel. I enjoyed that this was a quick, short read and kept your attention from the very first page.
July 22, 2022
This book was like experiencing a nightmare. Of course I mean that in the best of ways. It was so immersive and the writing so fluid and beautiful that I felt I had lost my child and needed to find her, that I was stuck in one of those dreams where I want to run but my legs won't listen. It's one of those books I finished and wanted to turn right back to page one and start all over again.
December 6, 2022
If you want to know how to create a book that unsettles and unnerves the reader, pick up The House on Linden Way by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo. I’ll admit – when I volunteered for this blog tour, I was uncertain about the wisdom of my choice. I am not a huge horror fan and while this book didn’t seem to be guts and gore, it has that old school, horror vibe. It is all about creating a spooky, unsettling atmosphere and so often authors who strive to do this resort to gore.
I’m not going to say the book is blood free but what was there was essential and not extreme. This wasn’t about grossing out the reader.
Amber and her three-year-old daughter Bee are traveling cross country. Because they are in the area where Amber grew up, she decides to swing by the house so Bee can see it. Now, honestly? I’m not buying what she’s selling. This visit was for Amber’s benefit although she used her daughter as her excuse. Parents do this kind of thing all the time. I have a stack of art supplies and a disinterested son to prove that point.
Anyway, Amber knocks on the door to talk to the current owners who are an incredibly kind older couple. They welcome her and Bee in so that Amber can see the whom and prepare a snack for the pair. While the snack is in the works, Bee disappears.
I’m not going to discuss much more of the actual plot than that because the reader needs to experience the plot as it unfolds in the book. If I reveal too much, it will tamper with that experience.
Naranjo uses multiple elements to create an unsettling, unnerving story.
The disappearance of Bee. Anyone who has ever had a child slip away unnoticed is going to know how gut wrenching this experience is. To have it go one for days? That takes it to a whole new level.
Bee doesn’t just disappear. Amber is stuck in her own memories and initially has no idea how to release herself.
Amber has memories that she has banished. This is a great way to create an unreliable narrator. Because she won’t let herself think about them, they are not immediately in her mind even when she returns to her own past. This makes her surprise when things are revealed believable while also making the whole experience eerily unsettling.
The story is linear in that we experience things in the order that Amber experiences them in the present. She arrives at the house. She loses Bee. She experiences a jumble of memories. But those memories are not in chronological order. It is like someone shuffled the scene cards and it is an unsettling experience.
These are the elements that Naranjo employs instead of the blood and guts of your typical horror novel. Instead she presents the reader with an atmospheric, creepy experience that makes them question everything.
This is definitely a read I would recommend.
–SueBE
I’m not going to say the book is blood free but what was there was essential and not extreme. This wasn’t about grossing out the reader.
Amber and her three-year-old daughter Bee are traveling cross country. Because they are in the area where Amber grew up, she decides to swing by the house so Bee can see it. Now, honestly? I’m not buying what she’s selling. This visit was for Amber’s benefit although she used her daughter as her excuse. Parents do this kind of thing all the time. I have a stack of art supplies and a disinterested son to prove that point.
Anyway, Amber knocks on the door to talk to the current owners who are an incredibly kind older couple. They welcome her and Bee in so that Amber can see the whom and prepare a snack for the pair. While the snack is in the works, Bee disappears.
I’m not going to discuss much more of the actual plot than that because the reader needs to experience the plot as it unfolds in the book. If I reveal too much, it will tamper with that experience.
Naranjo uses multiple elements to create an unsettling, unnerving story.
The disappearance of Bee. Anyone who has ever had a child slip away unnoticed is going to know how gut wrenching this experience is. To have it go one for days? That takes it to a whole new level.
Bee doesn’t just disappear. Amber is stuck in her own memories and initially has no idea how to release herself.
Amber has memories that she has banished. This is a great way to create an unreliable narrator. Because she won’t let herself think about them, they are not immediately in her mind even when she returns to her own past. This makes her surprise when things are revealed believable while also making the whole experience eerily unsettling.
The story is linear in that we experience things in the order that Amber experiences them in the present. She arrives at the house. She loses Bee. She experiences a jumble of memories. But those memories are not in chronological order. It is like someone shuffled the scene cards and it is an unsettling experience.
These are the elements that Naranjo employs instead of the blood and guts of your typical horror novel. Instead she presents the reader with an atmospheric, creepy experience that makes them question everything.
This is definitely a read I would recommend.
–SueBE
October 19, 2022
The Review
The author did an incredible job of bringing a pleasant and harmonious balance between the classic haunted house/horror themes and an intimate, detailed character-driven narrative. The imagery and tone the author infused into the story made the chilling atmosphere come alive on the page.
Yet for me, the combination of the horror/metaphysical aspect of the haunting story with the heartfelt and compelling character development made this a breathtaking novel. The protagonist’s struggle to find her daughter and deal with the memories of her past, all of which come to haunt her literally, keeps the reader invested in this narrative as the emotions and weight of her plight take a toll. The scares and thrills that the horror aspect brings add more depth to the journey.
The Verdict
Haunting, gripping, and entertaining, author Elizabeth Maria Naranjo’s “The House on Linden Way” is a must-read horror novel this fall season. The iconic haunted house motif and the rich character development made this story shine, and the breathtaking atmosphere the author creates made this one story that readers will be hard-pressed to put down.
The author did an incredible job of bringing a pleasant and harmonious balance between the classic haunted house/horror themes and an intimate, detailed character-driven narrative. The imagery and tone the author infused into the story made the chilling atmosphere come alive on the page.
Yet for me, the combination of the horror/metaphysical aspect of the haunting story with the heartfelt and compelling character development made this a breathtaking novel. The protagonist’s struggle to find her daughter and deal with the memories of her past, all of which come to haunt her literally, keeps the reader invested in this narrative as the emotions and weight of her plight take a toll. The scares and thrills that the horror aspect brings add more depth to the journey.
The Verdict
Haunting, gripping, and entertaining, author Elizabeth Maria Naranjo’s “The House on Linden Way” is a must-read horror novel this fall season. The iconic haunted house motif and the rich character development made this story shine, and the breathtaking atmosphere the author creates made this one story that readers will be hard-pressed to put down.
November 9, 2022
As much as this hinted at being a ghost story, it struck me more as being a walk through someone’s past. When Amber loses her daughter in the house where she grew up, she is held in place by her own memories, the loss of her brother, and guilt she’s never been able to release. What becomes just as important as finding her daughter is learning how to let go of the past that brought her to the house at all. Otherwise, she’d never be free from it.
Amber is a rich, complex character who runs into all sides of herself, including her own destructive side, throughout her journey in her own mind. I loved the pushes and pulls of memories that feel so achingly real to her but impossible to change.
It is an absolutely exciting book that kept me captivated the entire time. A great read for an October night!
Amber is a rich, complex character who runs into all sides of herself, including her own destructive side, throughout her journey in her own mind. I loved the pushes and pulls of memories that feel so achingly real to her but impossible to change.
It is an absolutely exciting book that kept me captivated the entire time. A great read for an October night!
July 22, 2022
I enjoyed this suspenseful, haunting story. This is a new author for me which I look forward to seeing what is next for them. I enjoyed being pulled into the story from the beginning. I found them to be engaging, strong characters that bring the story to life. They are connectable and had me coming back for more. The author's use of details made the story realistic as if I was right there with them. This is a fast paced, haunting story that is hard to put down. You dont want to miss what happens in this story. Is Amber missing the childhood she left behind and what happened to her daughter? This is a really great story and I highly recommend it.
September 15, 2022
I was intrigued by this story as Amber follows along in what becomes a "living" nightmare when she and her daughter go "home" and then her daughter disappears. The best relationship here is Amber's interactions and remembrances with her brother, but it seems odd that at times that her daughter is completely forgotten and out of the picture. The problem, for me, was the "nightmare" went on too long. The story offers a big build-up to an abrupt ending that I thought could've been presented much stronger though I did like the family relationships.
July 21, 2022
The story is lost into the past and is lost in the memories of the present. The story was all over the pasts and I read all but just couldn't provide excitement. The characters are realistic, but numbers are very limited. The style made it easy to read but had little to add.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews