Sometimes when authors write really lovely lyrical descriptive sentences it kicks me out of the story as I stop to marvel at their writing. This is part of why I can't seem to really enjoy Lauren Groff. Letitia manages to write these brilliant sentences while keeping you engaged in the plot (although I will admit their were a few times I stopped to reread particularly beautiful passages). Part of what I really liked is that the sentences felt beautiful even when describing ugly things.
Most of the horror in this novel comes from the idea of being trapped or falling in to a life that others expect of you but isn't what you want. Yes, it's a ghost story, but it's as much about the ghost of the past and what might have been as about the actual ghost. It was sort of like a Stephen King book, where the supernatural aspect is never quite as terrifying as the real-life elements, but they provide a food story and way to talk about the other things.
Reading horror usually reassures me in a weird way because it makes me realize I'm not the only one with dark thoughts. For example, I hate going to cemeteries because I can't stop thinking about the bodies decaying in graphic detail. There was a line in the book about that. There was also a description of someone wondering what it would feel like to burn alive and how gruesome that would be.