Oh wow! This book was twisted, sickening at times and I couldn’t put it down! Such an intense psychological horror!

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher. After reading this book, give me more from this author! This was fantastic!

This book felt reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events but with ghosts. We have orphans going to live with a greedy, unscrupulous and inappropriate relative. We have the familiar yet not quite placeable location, we have the odd names of motels, we have the weird and specific food choices (boiled egg and melon balls everyday). This took what I loved from the series but built out to be something more horrifying, more troublesome.


The triumph of this book is Aunt Clara’s back story and her brutal honesty when describing it. She is quite monstrous and yet we can so clearly see the misfortunes in her life that have driven her to be this way. This was so well done and it made it hard to purely despise her even where her actions were reprehensible.

I loved how the powers of the two girls were presented and the growth they show as they seek to understand this further. This was so fascinating and I really felt for Violet as she sought to soothe the ghosts asking for help and the consequences she suffers as a result.

This book was dark, clever, fascinating and one that was hard to put down!

I thought I would try something different, but unfortunately it didn't work for me .I feel that as this is not my usual genre ,and I seem to not be enjoying horror books anymore ,I am not sure I can give a fair review. I would suggest that if you enjoy this genre than give it a go for yourself.

This was a nice creepy gothic read perfect for winter time. I found the pacing was good while the characters were realistic and the atmosphere was dark and eerie. The story was really interesting and mysterious with elements of the paranormal
This was quite a page turner and I would definitely recommend this

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Well this was terrifying. As a lover of horror books this really hit the spot. This gave me the chills and I’m here for it

Fairytale tropes being employed and subverted, a wicked woman seeking her orphaned nieces' inheritance, past evil deeds coming back to haunt her, ghosts, poisoning, animal familiars and all told through 3 distinctive female voices. Dark, playful, extremely enjoyable. I raced through this.