#BookReview The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne @panmacmillan

The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in East London. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and becomes convinced it is making her ill. Whilst Richard remains preoccupied with Zoe, their mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, Eleanor becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the house’s previous owners – including Emily, whose name is written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room.

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I think my high expectation contributed a bit to my disappointment with this book. Also, I thought that this would be a modern ghost story, but it turned out to be a relationship drama with a hint of a ghost story. Now the book isn't badly written, but it was not what I was after. If I wanted to read about problems in a relationship or finding the right man to love would have chosen a book that dealt with that. I wanted a creepy ghost story. This book is neither creepy nor chilling.

Most of the books "haunting" are about Eleanor thinking the house making her sick. She tries to spend most of her time away from the house while trying to make Richard, her husband, believe her. But, he's busy sneaking down into the basement when their lodger Zoe isn't there. I kept on reading the book wanting for something to happen. But, it never did. There was a scene towards the end when I finally thought "this is it, now the story will get more intense," but it was just a false alarm.

The Upstairs Room is a ghost story for people that can't handle a book that really deals with ghosts. It showed promise in the beginning, but in the end, it was a letdown. I mean there was a moment in the book when Eleanor was thinking back to when Richard proposed to her in Venice and all I could think of is this all the book is about, recollections of the past?

I was not the right reader for this book. However, if this feels like a book for you go ahead, but don't expect to be frighted.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!