The September House (by Carissa Orlando)
Periodically, I had been seeing favorable reviews for Carissa Orlando's The September House. I love a good haunted house story, especially one with an old, beautiful Victorian house at its center. I finally placed my library hold when a friend read the book and highly recommended it.
The September House, a psychological horror novel, follows Margaret, a woman who refuses to leave her dream home despite it transforming into a haunted nightmare. After purchasing a large Victorian house at an unusually low price with her husband Hal, they encounter unsettling occurrences every September. The walls drip blood, ghostly apparitions of former residents appear, and a terrifying presence lurks in the basement. While most would flee, Margaret remains steadfast. However, after four years, Hal disappears, leaving Katherine, their adult daughter, to search for him. Unaware of the hauntings, Katherine’s arrival triggers the house’s horrors, causing long-buried family secrets to resurface.
This is a solid haunted house story filled with creepy ghosts, objects moving on their own, and blood dripping from the walls. The only thing that would have made my experience better is reading it during Halloween season. Orlando puts an interesting spin on the classic haunted house trope. The September House wasn’t what I expected—in a good way. The husband’s disappearance becomes a central focus from the beginning, and the story’s momentum kept whiplashing my brain. Just when I thought I understood what was happening, the narrative shifted and pulled me in a new direction.
Another pleasant surprise was how deeply the novel explores mental health, addiction, and domestic violence. These are topics I relate to from my former professional work and have long enjoyed reading about, which made the book an especially good fit for me.
I was intrigued by the author’s background and discovered that she holds a doctorate in clinical-community psychology. Her specialization lies in working with children and adolescents, and she is dedicated to enhancing the quality and accessibility of mental health care for children and their families.
My only minor complaint about the story is that I didn’t like the daughter, Katherine. She was relentlessly high-strung and reactive throughout. She was incredibly explosive in her reactions and rarely showed any signs of calmness or rationality. While it’s understandable that she’s upset about her experiences with her mom while searching for her dad, her character ultimately exhausted me.
Overall, The September House is a fresh, twisty take on the haunted house genre, and Katherine's over-the-top personality wasn't enough to dampen my enjoyment. If you love a good ghost story with real emotional depth underneath the scares, this one is worth the read — Halloween season or not.
I borrowed the audiobook of The September House through Libby. Kimberly Farr’s narration was fair.
I'm so proud of this second season with my gladiolus. I painstakingly dug up the bulbs in the fall, carefully stored them in our garage over the winter, and successfully replanted them this past spring. These Black Sea gladiolus have such a deep, rich color.
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