The Witches of Bone Hill

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Synopsis

Cordelia Bone’s meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts.

When her older, carefree sister, Eustace—a cannabis grower in Boulder, calls to inform her the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.

But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt’s aging attorney who insists they inhabit the house and retain it but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.

As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that’s been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill.

Synopsis source: Goodreads

Review

Genre(s): Fantasy, Horror-ish, Paranormal
HB&W Rating: 4.5
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Releases September 26, 2023

Wow, I really liked this book! Magic, mystery, suspense, romance, and a dark and spooky atmosphere, this book has all the hallmarks of a great mood read, and it’s absolutely fitting that it is due to release at the end of September.

I will admit that the main character, Cordelia, could be a bit irritating a couple of times and her poor luck and dire circumstances at the beginning of the book seemed incredibly contrived and over the top (mafia boss, really?), but honestly, those were minor hiccups for me. The rest of the story and the magical world the author created was just so imaginative. I loved the way the sisters reconnected and interacted with each other. I loved the Norse influence, the house that had ways of making its will known, the ghosts of family members past, all of it!

I wish there’d been a little more effort in developing the relationship between Cordelia and Gordon, which felt, if not like insta-love, then at least insta-love adjacent. Again, that’s only a minor complaint. This story was just such a fun and transporting read, I was compulsively tapping those eBook pages until the end. If you’re looking for a great Halloween mood read this year, look no farther!

Trigger Warning: some gore described in moderate detail, which is why in my genre listing above I said it was horror-ISH.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Until next time, enjoy getting lost in a good book!

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