V. E. Schwab has the power to build and create worlds and characters that enclose you in a way that you never want to leave. Gallant yet again placed me in one of those worlds. I felt the ghouls lurking, saw every shadow cast, and felt the bones and dust fall to the earth.

Gallant tells the story of Olivia prior who grew up in a school for girls. She has no real connection to a home or a family—just a journal that once belonged to her mother. One day a letter arrives to her school inviting Olivia back home to Gallant, to her shock no one was expecting her. Olivia feels alienated by her cousin who asked for her departure upon arrival. Olivia knows that both her cousin and the house are hiding truths within and she sets out to find them out.

This was the perfect book to read in the fall. I partially listens to the audiobook as I fell asleep and read the physical book during the day. The audiobook was CREEPY! The added sound effects while the narrator reads Olivia’s mother, Grace’s, journal did scare me awake more than once. The scenes of approaching ghouls once the house hit dark truly made my skin crawl. This book is so much more than just a haunted house with secrets. I would classify it was a horror, a supernatural thriller would be more like it. I don’t know how Schwab does it, I never cared for fantasy until being introduced to her and now I have either read or want to read her entire bibliography.

Also note to Schwab, why do you write such hot villains asking for a friend thank you!