Caroline McAlister, college professor and life-long skeptic, is reeling from the loss of her father and her marriage. Her once promising career has come to a standstill. When her father bequeaths the family cabin to her, it comes with a ghost who haunted her childhood. When she discovers a century-old journal in the attic, she awakens the voice of Carson Quinn. The journal reveals Carson’s love for the same hollow that enthralled Caroline growing up. A little sleuthing uncovers rumors that the kind, curious boy in the journal grew up to murder his brother. Caroline plunges into the project of exonerating Carson, only to find herself in the throes of a personal past she’s spent her life trying to avoid.
Hemlock Hollow is about how we forever haunt the places we love and how they haunt us in return.
HEMLOCK HOLLOW by Culley Holderfield is a lyrical and moody southern fiction novel with intertwining murder mystery and family history storylines from the past and present set in the Northern Carolina mountains. This book is more literary than genre style of writing that I usually prefer and yet it pulled me in to every aspect of the beautiful story and place.
Professor Caroline McAlister is shocked to discover the family’s cabin in Hemlock Hollow has been left to her on the death of her father. Not only is she morning the loss of her father, but the end of her marriage which all together has left her adrift personally and professionally. She decides to return to Hemlock Hollow and have the old cabin renovated. When a tin box is discovered in the attic, Caroline discovers the century old journal of the young Carson Quinn. Carson is an inquisitive young boy who loves Hemlock Hollow but then grows into a recluse that the others in the hollow believe killed his older brother.
Caroline dives into Carson’s journal and the oral and written history of the hollow to discover if the young, intelligent and nature loving boy of the journal could grow into the killer many believed him to be and discovers many truths about herself in the process.
This is a bewitching story that mixes past and present in a deeply moving depiction of southern life. Once I started reading this book, I could not stop. The characters are fully drawn, complex and memorable. The writing took me to Hemlock Hollow in both timelines in a way that made me feel as though I was present and involved in both. The ending had me tearing up as the tragedy from the past led to the emotional discoveries in the present.
I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this author!
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About the Author
Culley Holderfield learned to love storytelling on the porch of a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he ventured to South America, Africa, and Europe. When not writing or working in community development finance, he spends his time hiking, paddling, and wandering the outdoors. His short stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications. Hemlock Hollow is his debut novel. He lives in Durham, NC.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power.
Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section and the book’s purchase link. Enjoy!
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About the Book
Trust no one. Especially your neighbors.
Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there.
She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby. Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer. And then, her best friend shows up to investigate her murder.
Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature teens age 16+
Trigger warnings: Violent deaths, ghosts, domestic violence, brief reference to severe self harm by a child; pet death.
Formats available for the Tour: all standard electronic formats (sorry, no paperbacks)
Amazon Rating: 5 stars
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power is a superb paranormal thriller and debut book from this new-to-me author. I could not put it down!
Rachel Drake is her pseudonym as she lives in the security building her policewoman friend found for her as hides from the man she believes killed her husband. She works from home and discourages any neighborly overtures. But one night, she receives a call that sends her running straight into the man who kills her in her apartment building’s elevator.
She is now a ghost, tethered to the elevator she was murdered in. She is able to enter the apartments surrounding the elevator, but only to a point. As she rides the elevator, she begins to discover many of her fellow Thorwald Place residents are hiding terrible secrets and she is not the only ghost on the premises.
Rachel is now drawn to the neighbors she ignored while she was alive and wonders what she needs to do to or who she needs to help so that she can move on and possibly uncover her killer.
This paranormal thriller is perfectly plotted to continually keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The thriller plotline is full of surprising twists and misdirection that just keep coming and the paranormal plotline keeps the creepy factor at its height. I was captivated by all the neighbors lives and secrets and it makes you wonder how many secrets go on behind apartment doors in nonfictional buildings. I do not believe I have read another thriller like this. This is a clever paranormal thriller read with a great cast of fully developed characters and a perfectly paced plot.
I highly recommend this unique read!
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About the Author
Helen Power is an academic librarian living in Saskatoon, Canada. In her spare time, she haunts deserted cemeteries, loses her heart to dashing thieves, and cracks tough cases, all from the comfort of her writing nook. She has several short story publications, including ones in Suspense Magazine, Hinnom Magazine, and Dark Helix Press’s Canada 150 anthology, “Futuristic Canada”. Her stories range from comedy to horror, with just a hint of dystopia in between. The Ghosts of Thorwald Place is her first novel.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A LULLABY FOR WITCHES by Hester Fox on the HTP Winter 2022 Historical Fiction Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Augusta Podos has just landed her dream job, working in collections at a local museum, Harlowe House, located in the charming seaside town of Tynemouth, Massachussetts. Determined to tell the stories of the local community, she throws herself into her work–and finds an oblique mention of a mysterious woman, Margaret, who may have been part of the Harlowe family, but is reduced to a footnote. Fascinated by this strange omission, Augusta becomes obsessed with discovering who Margaret was, what happened to her, and why her family scrubbed her from historical records. But as she does, strange incidents begin plaguing Harlowe House and Augusta herself. Are they connected with Margaret, and what do they mean?
Tynemouth, 1872. Margaret Harlowe is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy shipping family, and she should have many prospects–but her fascination with herbs and spellwork has made her a pariah, with whispers of “witch” dogging her steps. Increasingly drawn to the darker, forbidden practices of her craft, Margaret finds herself caught up with a local man, Jack Pryce, and the temptation of these darker ways threatens to pull her under completely.
As the incidents in the present day escalate, Augusta finds herself drawn more and more deeply into Margaret’s world, and a shocking revelation sheds further light on Margaret and Augusta’s shared past. And as Margaret’s sinister purpose becomes clear, Augusta must uncover the secret of Margaret’s fate–before the woman who calls to her across the centuries claims Augusta’s own life.
A LULLABY FOR WITCHES by Hester Fox is an atmospheric gothic novel with romance and supernatural elements.
Augusta Podos has landed her dream job in a historic home turned museum, the Harlow House in Tynemouth, MA. The home was owned by a wealthy New England family for centuries. As Augusta researches the family, she is drawn to a mystery. A daughter of the Harlowe family from over a century ago has almost been completely expunged from the family history.
Margaret Harlowe is always drawn to the wilderness of the forest and coast by her family’s home. The women in town come to her for potions and aid in the dark, but never by day. The people whisper “witch”. When Margaret learns some buried truths, her power takes a darker turn.
As Augusta digs deeper, can she resist the power that Margaret unfurls between the two across the lines of blood and time to save and keep her own life?
This story pulled me in with both women and both timelines. The author is great at setting a sinister atmosphere with plenty of twists and surprises. The two intertwining timelines with alternating perspectives come together at the climax with a twist that is foreshadowed and though easily resolved, it was still entertaining. Augusta and Margaret are great characters, but there are trigger issues with an eating disorder and abuse. I would have liked a little more from the secondary characters, who for me, seemed two dimensional. I did enjoy all the family research and felt the historical information was very accurate.
Overall, an entertaining atmospheric gothic read.
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Excerpt
Prologue
Margaret
I was beautiful in the summer of 1876. The rocky Tynemouth coast was an easy place to be beautiful, though, with a fresh salt breeze that brought roses to my cheeks and sun that warmed my long hair, shooting the chestnut brown through with rich veins of copper. It was enough to make me forget—or at least, not care—that I was an outsider, a curiosity who left whispers in my wake when I walked through the muddy streets of our coastal town.
Do I miss being beautiful? Of course. But it’s the being found beautiful by others that I miss the most. It was the ambrosia that made an otherwise solitary life bearable. And it was being found beautiful by one man in particular, Jack Pryce, that I miss the most.
He would come to find me out behind my family’s house as I helped our maid hang the laundry on the lines or weeded my rocky garden. He always brought me a little gift, whether it was a toffee wrapped in wax paper from his parents’ shop, or just a little green flower he had plucked because it reminded him of my eyes. Something that told me I was special, that those stories around town of him stepping out with the Clerkenwell girl weren’t true.
“There she is,” he would say, coming up with his hands in his pockets and crooked grin on his full lips. “My lovely wildflower.” He called me this, he said, on account of my insistence on going without shoes on warm days when the grass was soft and lush. Whatever little chore I was doing would soon be forgotten as I led him out of sight of the house. With my back against a tree and his hands traveling under and up my skirts, we found euphoria in a panting tangle of limbs and hoarsely whispered promises. Heavy sea mists mingling with sweat in hair (his), the taste of berry-sweet lips (mine), the gut-deep knowing that he must love me. He must. He must. He must.
But like all things, summer came to an end, and autumn swept in with her cruel winds and killing frosts. Jack came less and less often, claiming first that it was work at the shop, then that he could no longer be seen with the girl who was rumored to practice witchcraft and worship at the altar of the moon on clear nights. Finally, on a day where the rain fell in icy sheets and even the screeching cries of the gulls could not compete with the howling wind, I realized he was not coming back.
Time moves differently now. Then, it was measured in church bells and birthdays, clock strokes and town harvest dances. It was measured in the monthly flow of my courses, until they stopped coming and my belly grew distended and full. Now—or perhaps it is better to say “here”—time is a fluid thing, like water that flows in all directions, finding and filling every crack and empty place, like my womb and my heart.
I did not want to give the babe up, though I knew it could only bring heartache and pain to my family. A mother’s heart is a stubborn thing, and no sooner had I felt the first stirrings of life within me, than I knew I would do anything in the world to protect my little one.
It was folly, I know that now. A woman like me could never hope to bring a child into this cruel world, could never hope that the honey-sweet words of a man like Jack Pryce carried any weight. What irony that I should not realize such simple truths until it was too late. Should not realize them until my blood ran icy in my veins and my broken heart stopped beating. Until the man I thought had loved me stood over my body, staring down as the life ran out of me like a streambed running dry. Until I was dead and cold and no longer so very beautiful.
1
Augusta
“Hello?” Augusta threw her keys on the table and slung her bag onto one of the kitchen chairs. As usual, a precarious stack of plates had taken over the sink, and the remnants of a Chinese food dinner sat out on the table. Sighing, she covered the leftovers with plastic wrap, stuck them in the fridge and followed the sounds of video games to the living room.
“I’m home,” she said tersely to the two guys hunched over their gaming consoles.
Doug barely glanced up, but her boyfriend, Chris, threw her a quick glance over his shoulder.
“Hey, we’re just finishing up.” Turning back, he continued mashing keys on the game controller, shaking his dark fringe from his eyes and muttering colorful insults at his opponent.
Chris and Doug weren’t the best housemates. Sure, they paid their share of the rent on time, but the house was constantly a mess, and video games took priority over household chores. She supposed that’s what she got for living with her boyfriend and allowing his unemployed brother to move in with them.
“Well, I guess I’ll be in my room if you need me,” Augusta said, too exhausted to pick a fight about the mess in the kitchen.
“You can stay and watch,” Chris said without turning back around.
She’d had a long, hard day. Between the air-conditioning being broken at work and discovering she only had ninety-eight dollars in her bank account after paying her cell phone bill, she wasn’t in the mood to watch Chris and Doug massacre each other with bazookas. She grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and went back to the room she shared with Chris, closing the door against the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Outside, the occasional car passed by in a sweep of headlights and somewhere down the street a dog barked. Loneliness curled around her as she sat at her laptop and began cycling through her bookmarked job listing sites.
Her job giving tours at the Old City Jail in Salem was all right; she got to work in a historic building, it was close enough that she could walk to work, and the polyester uniform was only a slightly nauseating shade of green. But it wasn’t challenging, and she wasn’t using her degree in museum studies for which she’d worked so hard. Not to mention the student debt she was still paying off. The worst was dealing with the public, though. Some of the people that showed up on her tours were engaged in her talks, but mostly the jail attracted cruise tourists who hadn’t realized that it was a guided tour and were more interested in snapping a quick picture for Instagram than learning about the history. The other day she’d really had to remind a full-grown man that he couldn’t bring an ice cream cone into the house, and then had to clean up said ice cream cone when he’d smuggled it inside anyway and dropped it. And the witches! Just because they were in Salem, everyone who came through the door assumed that there would be history about the witches, never mind that the jail didn’t even date from the same century as the witch trials. Most days she came home tired, irritable and unfulfilled.
From the other room came an excited shout as Chris blew up Doug’s home base. Augusta turned her music up. Most of the listings on the museum job sites were for fundraising or grant writing, the sliver of the museum world where all the money was. She knew she shouldn’t be choosy, the millennial voice of reason in her head telling her that she was lucky to have a job at all. But Chris, with his computer engineering degree, actually had companies courting him, and his job at a Boston tech firm came with a yearly salary and benefits.
She was just about to close her laptop when a new listing popped up. Harlowe House in Tynemouth was looking for a collections manager to work alongside their curator. As she scanned the listing, her heart started to beat faster. She wasn’t familiar with the property, but a quick search showed that it was part of a trust dedicated to the history and legacy of a seafaring family from the nineteenth century. She ticked off the qualifications in her head—an advanced degree in art history, museum studies or anthropology, and at least five years of experience. She would have to fudge the years, but other than that, it was made for her. She bookmarked the listing, making a mental note to update her CV in the morning.
The door swung open and Chris came in, plopping himself on the bed beside her. Tall, with an athletic build and dark hair that was perpetually in need of a trim, he was wearing a faded band shirt and gym shorts. “We’re going to order subs. What do you want?”
“Didn’t you just get Chinese food?” she asked.
“That was lunch.”
Augusta did a quick inventory in her head of what she’d eaten that day, how many calories she was up to, and how much money she could afford. After she’d fished ten dollars out of her purse, Chris wandered back out to the living room, leaving her alone. She picked up a book, but it didn’t hold her interest, and soon she was lost scrolling through her phone and playing some stupid game where you had to match up jewels to clear the board. A thrilling Saturday night if there ever was one.
In both college and grad school, Augusta had had a vibrant, tight-knit group of friends. She’d always been a homebody, so there weren’t lots of wild nights out at clubs, but they’d still had fairly regular get-togethers. Lunches and trips to museums, stuff like that. So what had happened in the last few years?
Her mind knew what had happened, but her heart refused to face the truth. Chris had happened.
She had been with him ever since her dad died. She’d run into Chris, her old high school boyfriend, at the memorial. He’d been a familiar face, and she’d clung to him like a life raft amid the turmoil of putting her life back together without her father. It had been clear early on that beyond some shared history, they didn’t have much in common, but he was steady, and Augusta had craved steady. A year passed, then two, then three, and four. She had invested so much time in the relationship, sacrificed so many friends, that at some point it felt like admitting defeat to break up. For his part, Chris seemed content with the status quo, and so five years later, here they were.
That night, after Chris had rolled over and was lightly snoring, Augusta lay awake, thinking of the job listing. The words Harlowe House, Harlowe House, Harlowe House ran through her mind like the beat of a drum. A signal of hope, a promise of something better.
Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historical archaeology. A native New-Englander, she now lives in rural Virginia with her husband and their son.
HIS MAGIC TOUCH by Debby Grahl is a contemporary paranormal
romance featuring witches and ghosts set in NOLA. Ms. Grahl’s world-building
effortlessly pulls you into the conflict between good and evil and the
generational curse which is the suspense element of the story. The lore and
setting of New Orleans adds to the story’s impact.
Jared Dupre is a powerful witch. He met his soulmate, Kendra
O’Connel several years ago at a coven meeting.
Now, on the eve of their wedding, Jared discovers his brother has been kidnapped by Adam Montief, a powerful dark witch. If Jared does not follow, Adam has sworn to kill his brother and threatens to kill Kendra as well. Jared refuses to tell Kendra where he is so that she remains safe in New Orleans. Adam believes he is The Chosen One and has to kill Jared to settle a centuries old family vendetta.
A swordfight between the two sends Adam wounded and over the
side of a cliff and leaves Jared severely wounded. As Jared heals in Connecticut,
Kendra believes he has left her for another woman.
When Jared returns to New Orleans, he finds that Kendra does
not want to hear the truth of what happened and Adam is alive and dating
Kendra. Jared must now find a way to protect and win back Kendra as he
investigates the reason for the vendetta between the Montief’s and the Dupre’s
which will only end with the death of one of heirs.
I absolutely loved the setting and world-building in this
book. The witches and ghosts of NOLA interacting with the human population was
believable and interesting. The twisting suspense plot in the past and present
kept me turning the pages. I did have a problem with the romance subplot. Kendra’s
reactions on her own and with her two best friends, I felt were very immature.
I dislike when a lack of communication or misunderstandings are the main reasons
for a couple not being together for a large portion of the book especially when
they are supposedly soulmates.
I really enjoyed the suspense and world-building in this
book, but not the romance. I would read more books in this witchy world hoping
for a more mature relationship in the next book.
BETTER DEAD (A B&B Spirits Mystery #1) by Pamela Kopfler is the first book in a new cozy mystery series set in a Louisiana B&B. The spirit in this book adds a touch of the paranormal and I can only assume that since this series is called a B&B Spirits Mystery there will be others in future books.
Holly Davis owns Holly Grove plantation turned B&B. It has been in her family for several generations and she especially needs to make it a success and profitable now that her cheating husband is dead. Killed in a plane wreck before Holly could divorce him, Burl nearly bankrupt the B&B and was involved with drug smuggling on the property.
As Holly drinks to celebrate her untimely freedom, Burl shows up as a spirit with unfinished business. Burl needs Holly’s help to move on. Holly needs Burl’s help to make Holly Grove a truly haunted plantation that will draw in guests to pay the bills.
Jake McCann, Holly’s former high school sweetheart, returns to town to help with the town’s paper while the owner is on vacation. He works out an agreement with Holly to stay at the B&B, but is that the only reason he has returned?
This was a fast read and had some laugh out loud scenes especially when you read about Gold Member and some of Holly’s disasters. The interaction between Holly, her ex’s spirit and Jake was also well written.
I was disappointed that Holly made so many bad decisions that placed her in jeopardy. One or two is fine, but I prefer a smarter heroine. I am not sure if it was done for screwball comedy sake, but it was just too many times. For me, Holly’s long-time housekeeper and cook was more of a caricature than I was comfortable with. I also would have preferred Jake to become more romantically involved further into future books. It felt rushed at the end of this book.
Overall, this is an entertaining cozy, but not sure if I will continue with the series.
TO CATCH A SPIRIT by Carrie Pulkinen is a paranormal contemporary romance that pairs two unique characters in an emotionally charged romance and ghost story.
Allison Gray is a psychic who works to help heal people, cleanse antiques of trapped spiritual essence and is afraid of ghosts after a failed ghost-busting assignment. While attending a party with her best friend, Tina, Allison is immediately struck with emotions of loneliness and despair emanating from their host. She wants nothing to do with the new playboy billionaire in town. Instead, she goes to console a crying woman sitting on the stairs only to have her disappear right before her eyes.
Logan Mitchell is the playboy billionaire throwing the charity party. Logan has moved to Detroit to start out on his own and away from his controlling father. Underneath the shell, Logan is hiding being an empath who has no control over his gift, which has led to attacks of OCD symptoms and other problems. When he sees Allison, he knows she is different and he can’t stay away even with a frightening recurring dream, which is the reason he doesn’t do more than one night stands. Before he gets the chance to introduce himself, she runs out the door.
I loved Allison and Logan. Their relationship was immediate, but it was believable because of their gifts. The author wrote about OCD, fears and suicide with great empathy. The H/h were sympathetic and not just caricatures. The sex scenes were hot and steamy, but never overdone. Both of their best friends were also realistic and fully fleshed out. There were a few times that the story slowed down and was a little repetitive, but overall it was well written. The plotline is predictable, but with the handling of the H/h’s gifts, it is still very entertaining and well worth reading.
Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.com.
