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The Upstairs Room
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
11 posts | 9 read | 34 to read
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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review
Rachiiebookdragon
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
Mehso-so

This book was ok but I kind of expected more from it, way semi bored through most of it, more thriller less drama was needed.. 3/5

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JennyM
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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These two #ThrillerThursday debuts are my last & current 🎧 - both female authors & ~10 hours.

The Room Upstairs is a 👻 thriller, focused on a family who move into a house that appears haunted. More sex than ghosts 🤔 and probably best as an audio, but entertaining while commuting and cleaning.

The Other Wife is a psychological thriller about a bride-to-be and a mother-in-law from hell...so-far-so good.

#readingresolutions @Jess7

48 likes1 stack add
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JennyM
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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Sunday nights are for picking next week‘s audiobooks.

Cathythoughts Looks interesting... look forward to your thoughts 6y
Crazeedi Waiting to see what you think! Looks intriguing 6y
39 likes2 comments
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Lizpixie
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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#SpookyOctober #day1 #OctoberTBR Every time I make a monthly TBR I end up reading maybe two off the pile,max.Hopefully October will be different,I have a good selection of Aussie crime(Force Of Nature, And Fire Came Down), English mysteries(TroubleWithGoats&Sheep,YearOfTheLadybirds), a retelling of a Greek myth(SongOfAchilles)fantasy(Godsgrave)western(TheSistersBrothers)& spooky books(TheUpstairsRoom,LadyAudleysSecret,SkeletonCrew)HappySpooktober!

Bklover Can‘t wait to read Force of Nature! 7y
mjdowens All of these look great👏. I cannot wait to start Godsgrave 7y
Nat_Reads I want all of these!! Love the variety!! 7y
Angelala007 I haven't read The Sisters Brothers but I recommend Under Majordomo. It was amazing 7y
73 likes4 comments
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Lizpixie
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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My current bedside stack of books. I've started both The Girls & Her Royal Spyness but just wasn't feeling them at the time. Which one of these should I read next? The Upstairs Room is a ghost story, The Girls is a thriller, Carry On Jeeves is golden age crime, Two For Sorrow is historical crime & Her Royal Spyness is cozy crime. I'll link them in the comments, I need help my fellow Littens! When you have such a huge TBR, you can get overwhelmed😳

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tpixie Go for the thriller. It may help you have to keep turning pages! 7y
Debiw781 I always pick the thriller or ghost story 7y
Sarah83 Wodehouse 😍😍😍 7y
Eyelit Carry on Jeeves 7y
DivineDiana I too vote for Jeeves! 😀 7y
TrishB I loved the creepy bits in 7y
erzascarletbookgasm A thriller to help you lose track of time 7y
Bklover Two for Sorrow sounds amazing! 7y
78 likes1 stack add12 comments
review
TrishB
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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Pickpick

This was an inbetween a pick and a so-so for me.
The writing is great. The creepy ghost story bits are brilliant. The relationship parts got on my nerves a bit - they seemed to take away from the central haunted house story.
The author has potential though and I will look out for her next book.

Andrew65 Like the cover! 7y
LeahBergen I have this one stacked 👍🏻 7y
TrishB @Andrew65 the cover is great - reflects the story well! 7y
TrishB @LeahBergen Will be interested to see what you think 😀 7y
126 likes5 stack adds4 comments
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Lizpixie
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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#HelpMeChoose🤷🏻‍♀️ I still can't sleep & I'm getting a headache from fatigue. I can't think about what to read next so help me out please? My fellow Littens? Should I read
A Darker Shade Of Magic
Two For Sorrow
Nevernight
Wimmera or
The Upstairs Room?
#abundanceofriches #allreadandnosleepmakelizacrazycrazylady

Missusb Always YA so that's why I vote for A Darker Shade of Magic. 7y
josie281 Nevernight is one of my top reads!! 7y
elkeOriginal @Missusb Darker Shade is adult, FYI! You can tell by the higher price - I love that YA is so much cheaper. 7y
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elkeOriginal Nevernight is on my TBR! 7y
LeahBergen The Upstairs Room! I already had it stacked from another post. It sounds good! 👍🏻 7y
Missusb @elkeo hmm, I have read it and believe it's marketed for YA. Admittedly also fantasy so there cross over and the MC is probably older teen, but I had it in one of my school libraries... maybe it's a hardback? They are often more expensive. 7y
elkeOriginal @Missusb I have read it/the series too and I agree it can be YA, but it is priced as adult. $25.99 vs. $17.99. Noticeable! That is why it stuck in my memory. 7y
TrishB Brought The Upstairs Room on holiday last week - haven't read yet though! 7y
MrsMalaprop Oooh, I'd selfishly like to see your review of Wimmera. Saw it in the bookstore on the weekend & am intrigued 😊. 7y
49 likes9 comments
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Lizpixie
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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Today's #BookMail is two pre-orders & a back order. Wimmera was sold out so I had to wait 2weeks for a restock, Deadfall is the new Alex Cooper novel from Linda Fairstein(a former SVU prosecutor in Manhattan) & The Upstairs Room is a new ghost story by a debut author about a house in London & a family that believes the room upstairs is haunted.

54 likes1 stack add
review
AmyLarge
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
Pickpick

Dark and disturbing. A selection of emotionally isolated individuals, all trying to navigate their dissatisfaction with life. Unhappy with work, their relationships, their place in the world. And a presence in their home that clearly doesn't want them there. Eleanor goes through the biggest change, finally standing up for her health, her sanity and her family. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for creepy lines of pebbles for a good few weeks....

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Moray_Reads
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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Pickpick

This was definitely a cover pick for me. Scary stories are not my thing, if I'd read the blurb more carefully I never would have picked it up. I found the creepy goings-on genuinely unsettling, leave-the-lights-on unsettling (NB. I am a complete coward!) and Murray-Browne uses even well-established ideas to chilling effect. Where she comes into her own is the clever way she enhances these with the real concerns and anxieties of her characters 👇

Moray_Reads Their worries and neuroses about their relationships, their careers, their families and their life choices added something really fresh and interesting. Combining these realistic troubles with the possibility of the supernatural so that each fed of the other created believable, complex characters and a palpable, multilayered atmosphere of tension and unease 7y
saresmoore Well, yours is a great review, but I think I will steer clear of this book! 7y
Moray_Reads @saresmoore "Enjoy" would be too strong a word for something so out of my comfort zone but it was very good, extremely effective and a lot more complex than I was expecting, she has some talent for character and atmosphere. To be honest, I haven't had a "lights-on" reading experience like that since House of Leaves ? 7y
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saresmoore It's times like these that I'm grateful not to live alone! 7y
Moray_Reads @saresmoore About a third of the way into HoL I realised that it might not have been the best idea to rest it while my flatmates were away but by then it was impossible to extricate myself 7y
saresmoore That's exactly how I'm feeling! I'll get frustrated with something or other, but then I just get drawn back in...just like Navidson. 😱 Ha! I really want to finish it! 7y
LeahBergen This sounds like something I'd like. 7y
DeborahSmall Sounds good! Definitely be picking this up. The only supernatural I do is John Connolly and I wasn't expecting it when I picked his first thriller up , but love his books. They leave you with that uneasy feeling... like waking after a bad dream. But I do love an author that can have such powerful emotional impact on you. 7y
Moray_Reads @DeborahSmall she uses a lot of traditional "ghost-story" aspects but it still felt fresh and original, and very creepy! 7y
RohitSawant Terrific review! Look forward to checking this out! 7y
Moray_Reads @rohit-sawant it's out in July in the UK and then early August elsewhere. Definitely worth looking out for 7y
53 likes7 stack adds11 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Upstairs Room | KATE. MURRAY-BROWNE
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I've experienced sleep paralysis as long as I can remember, usually during times of stress or if my sleep pattern has been disturbed for other reasons (thank you, changing seasons!) so it's not particularly fun to read a character experiencing it, especially alongside lots of other creepy goings-on!

LeahBergen Yikes!!! That sounds scary (and so does this book). 7y
Moray_Reads @LeahBergen I'm such a pro at it now that it can happen several times in one night, I end up feeling like I'm in some kind of Inception-like dream where I don't know if I'm asleep or awake! I'm a real wimp when it comes to scary books so I may have to put this one down before it gets dark... 7y
Notafraidofwords I experience this once a month on average. It's relatively new for me. And it's scary ! 7y
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Moray_Reads @Notafraidofwords it really is. And tiring too! 7y
saresmoore 😳 7y
tricours Sounds creepy! 7y
Leniverse I suffered from that during my teens, but fortunately not since then! I can still remember how it felt. 7y
TheWordJar This book sounds so good. Sleep paralysis sounds so not good. Sympathies to those who go through it. 7y
RohitSawant I have sleep paralysis, too, and it tends to act up during stress or when my sleep cycle is disrupted likewise. It‘s been happening for years, and as used to it as I am, it‘s never not disturbing when you have a fresh episode. 7y
Moray_Reads @Notafraidofwords @Leniverse @rohit-sawant I've never spoken to anyone else who experiences it. Yet another sign (if a less pleasant one) that I've found my people on Litsy 😊 7y
35 likes3 stack adds10 comments