SHADED GROVE Book Review

Shaded Grove by Oliver C. Seneca, eBook, 214 pgs

Synopsis from Goodreads: Someone's calling from the other side. On their rainy drive home from a haunted house tour in a small Pennsylvania town, sisters Megan and Dianne Willis come across a drenched, confused old woman walking alone in the middle of the road. Concerned about her well-being, the sisters attempt to take the mysterious lady to the nearest hospital to get checked out. However, their plan is quickly flipped upside down as the woman’s suddenly violent behavior causes Megan to lose control of the car.

After surviving the crash and waking up in the middle of the woods with the woman nowhere in sight, Megan and Dianne traverse the dark, hoping to find help. But help won’t come easy as the sisters soon discover they’re isolated on the property of Shaded Grove Mental Hospital, where abandoned spirits roam, and all is not what it seems. It’s up to Megan and Dianne to work with the ghosts of the past and the ever-changing environment before Shaded Grove traps them inside forever. 

BOOK REVIEW: I completely dropped the ball when it came to picking my book club's October book so I was completely ecstatic when I saw this book was next on my list of Author Requests! This has every bit of spooky season written all over it. Rainy night, weird old lady in the road, car accident, and an abandoned mental hospital. We get ghosts, creepy sounds, and a crumbling building. I loved everything about this book and I wish there was an audiobook.

I loved the journey the sisters had. We get bits and pieces throughout the story of their ghost tour earlier in the evening and it does shed some light on how the sisters each handle being in the hospital. Everything that the girls go through was written so vividely that I could see everything. I'm struggling to think of what to say without giving anything away and it's so freakin hard!

Clearly this is a 5 star read. The author does an absolutely fantastic job with this story. He paints the scenes and the smells (I'm looking at you toilet in room 222) with words that make the whole thing play out like a movie in my head. I could feel the grime, smell the grounds, hear the patients. This was such a great book. Definitely a great read any time of the year but if you like to read these during October and spooky season, definitely add this to your list! It's a easy and quick read. The book is temporarily out of print as the author looks for a new publisher but there were a few copies on Amazon last I looked.

5/5 Stars

2026 Reading Challenge: 49/55 complete