Thanks to @amazonpublishing and @netgalley
For this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review..

This book is out November 1st, 2020. Which, is perfect to keep the Halloween vibes going!

This was a great thriller. It was original and intriguing. Especially after the half-way point I did not want to point it down!

It has some supernatural vibes but it is mostly a crime thriller. I did have some of it figured out but a lot of it remind a mystery.

And the twist at the ending like WHAT!?! Definitely didn't see that coming.

And then the ending ending!!

Ugh! Thrillers are so hard to review. But if you are looking for one to restore your faith in thrillers then pick this one up.

I'm torn because there's a lot to love about this book, but its over reliance on the tired mystery trope of memory loss/sleepwalking detracts from the wonderful atmosphere of the novel. Suspense can be built in ways outside of an unreliable narrator.

**I received this advanced reader's copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

3 stars

I got so into the beginning of this novel. The opening catalyst, the relationship between Hannah/Huck (fiance)/Rink (rad dog), and the travels back to this childhood/potentially gothic setting were ideal for setting the mysterious mood.

While the beginning seemed promising, I found myself struggling to get invested in Hannah's success and even welfare. She is a challenging character to engage with, and while that seems like a product of her difficult past, there's more to it than that...she's just not great. Similarly, the ancillary characters seem like they'll be pretty engaging...and then they fall a bit flat in every case. The most disappointing missed opportunity from my perspective is this amazing setting, which is just not as much a part of the story as it should be.

There are a lot of good possibilities here, but they just did not culminate in a fulfilling mystery, resolution, or even lesson for me. At times, the language and situations felt a little too "Zoinks, Scoob!" in the face of what could have been a cool gothic/ghost story/women's empowerment mystery turned butt kicking reveal. I'd read more from this author, but I'd also hope for a different outcome.

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti is a highly recommended Gothic thriller wrapped around an old mystery.

When Hannah Maloney’s Aunt Fae dies in a car accident she must return to Fae's home in the Catskills, the castle on Brackenhill. Her Uncle Stuart is bedridden and dying from cancer and there are no other living relatives. Hannah and her older sister Julia spent several summers growing up at Brackenhill. All of that changed the summer her older sister Julia disappeared. Her sister's death was never proven and Hannah believes Julia ran away. She hasn't seen her aunt for seventeen years - not since Julia disappeared.
Hannah and her fiancé Huck travel to the castle where they learn that Fae has died from her injuries. Now Hannah must plan a memorial, find some placement for Stuart, but most of all she must face the events from seventeen years ago. When their dog digs up a bone that is human, it must be determined if it belonged to Julia or to another girl who disappeared. This brings Hannah's first boyfriend back into her life, police officer Wyatt McCarran.

There is a spooky, haunted atmosphere to this Gothic thriller, along with ties to the supernatural. As Hannah recalls past events, she begins looking into people and the past, trying to come to some realization of what happened. At the same time, she is starting to experience disturbing dreams and episodes of sleepwalking, things that haven't plagued her since she was last at Brackenhill. This, naturally, raises the spookiness factor, along with her memories of basement rooms that move and noises in the night.

Hannah is really the main character and the only, truly well-developed one, but she also becomes more unreliable as the story progresses and you will begin to have a hint that she may not be telling us the whole story or she may not be remembering things correctly. What you will realize is that she is becoming obsessed with events from her past.

Moretti uses Hannah's flashback and memories to effectively heighten the tension and ratchet up the suspense. Is something evil lurking or is it all imagination or perhaps a person involved? There are plenty of questions and potential suspects along the way. And when Stuart, who is basically uncommunicative, mutters a few words, it sets Hannah on a quest to uncover the truth about the past and to try and figure out who her aunt really was and what happened to Julia.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer.
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on Nov 1st, 2020

Girls of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti, I believe this was my first book read by this author. Overall I found it to be a very well written book, it had plenty of twists and turns and kept you wondering what the final outcome of the book was going to be. I love psychological thrillers and this one fits the bill, I would certainly recommend it to others that enjoy this genre.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Thomas & Mercer and was under no obligation to leave a favorable review, all opinions expressed here are my own.

This was a creepy thriller with a bit of a ghost reference. I loved the setting of a 200 year old castle. The story showcases a history of missing girls. The only lone family member of the castle returns after her Aunt passes away to relive her last summer staying as a child where her sister disappears and her teenage crush is still in town. The castle atmosphere puts tremendous stress and anxiety oh Hannah as she tries to unravels some of the drama.

I was overjoyed when I was approved for this title. A spooky story about a castle and some missing girls? I’m all in!

And it started off exactly the way I expected. Super creepy things happening in the castle with the sisters who live there during the summer.

Unfortunately, the story just kept going downhill from there. I have so many unanswered questions about the story... ones I would love to share, but I’m afraid it would spoil things, so I won’t.

So much of the story was unnecessary, in my opinion. And the part that was necessary was just completely wasted on that ending.

The ending felt very different than the rest of the book, and I just couldn’t buy into it.

Other than the spooky and supernatural vibes, I am pretty disappointed with this one. I had high hopes.

Spooky... i loved it! I have a soft spot for these kind of books. If you are looking for a book that's captivating, spooky and full of secrets this i your kind of book. The writing is verry well done. A perfect autum read.

When I began this book, I immediately was captivated by the story and felt I had just found a treasure. The premise was fabulous and the characters had the potential to be interesting. However as I continued to read, I found the story monotonous and the characters downright boring and underdeveloped. For example, Julia tells Hannah they are not safe at the castle with their aunt and uncle anymore. This scene is repeated many times, but she never explains to Hannah what she knows and how she knows it. The reader never gets to know Julia at all! The entire story is from Hannah's point of view and her memory of the events is extremely distorted.

How did Julia know Ellie was killed by her aunt and uncle?' Did Julia actually communicate with Ellie's ghost? If she was so disturbed by being at the castle, why was she wasting time hooking up with Hannah's boyfriend and hanging out with friends? Was the entire dilemma concocted by Hannah's psyche to justify what she did to Julia? Did she lock up Julia to keep her away from Warren and to get her revenge?

I pressed on with my reading thinking I was going to get all of the answers on the very last page. Instead, Hannah got Wyatt and Wyatt's daughter began a friendship with the ghost of Elle. By then I didn't care at all what happened to any of them, I was just glad this journey was over! I do still wonder if Julia is really dead!!! Maybe there will be a sequel on the way. If there is, I won't be reading it!

This was my first novel by Kate Moretti and won’t be my last! The characters were well developed and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. High up in Brackenhill castle readers will get lost in the woods, float in a mysterious red swimming pool , and scour several sheds and guardhouses as part of the search for missing girls and bodies. Two sisters spend summers at Brackenhill with their aunt and uncle. One sister disappears and seventeen years later the case is reopened and the search continues. This is not the typical genre of choice but I wanted to branch out into mysteries. Kate Moretti’s The Girls of Brackenhill was an excellent choice.

I really like this book. I was very disappointed in myself for holding on to it for so long. It was a completely different story than I had expected from reading the info about it. Hannah’s reaction to her child hood trauma was heart breaking but there was still a very super natural element to the book. I was expecting it to be wrapped all up by explaining everything that happened to her, but by bringing Nina in, and never finding the body it kept it very suspenseful. I really enjoyed it!

Girls of Brackenhill is a roller coaster of thrills, mysteries, emotions, family secrets and ghosts! Set in an eerie castle with locked doors, surrounded by dark forests, this taut thriller is twisty and dark, changing as swiftly as the shifting halls and rooms of the basement. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, holding my breath, pulse-pounding, heart-racing. I lost track of how many times author Kate Moretti was able to shock and surprise me—every time I turned the page I was astounded to uncover one more revelation, another piece of the puzzle, another layer added to the mystifying story of the girls of Brackenhill.

I wanted to love this book...castle, lost sister, some "magic", but I just could not get into it... the storytelling switching from now to then was distracting. Thank you for giving me the chance. I won't be offering a review either way on this book.
I wanted to love this book...castle, lost sister, some "magic", but I just could not get into it... the storytelling switching from now to then was distracting. Thank you for giving me the chance. I won't be offering a review either way on this book.
I wanted to love this book...castle, lost sister, some "magic", but I just could not get into it... the storytelling switching from now to then was distracting. Thank you for giving me the chance. I won't be offering a review either way on this book.

You know a book is going to be good when the premise is filled with eerie, atmospheric Gothic mansions. and bold family secrets. Honestly, this book is everything a thriller reader could want and more.

Girls of Brackenhill is a book that has me torn. This unique mystery had me glued to my kindle one minute and then wondering where the story was going another minute. The ending was a bit off for me too, I was like whattttttttttttt and not in the best way. And as I sit here writing this review I would love to include all my questions to the things left unanswered.

* Thanks to the author & publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC. All opinions & thoughts are my own *

I really enjoyed this book by Kate Moretti. It’s so full of suspense, I didn’t want to put it down! Several mysteries come together over the course of more than a decade, with a little twist at the end. The great cast of characters & dialogue will sweep you away to the drafty castle at Brackenhill.
A perfect fall read!

I always like Kate Moretti’s books and I love that she has written a play on a haunted house book. The book was definitely creepy, so the atmosphere was perfect. I do think it started very slowly. It felt like nothing much really happened during the first hundred or so pages. It definitely did pick up and the last half flew by. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Girls of Brackenhill
“Haunted by her sister’s disappearance, a troubled woman becomes consumed by past secrets in this gripping thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year.”

First off, thank you to Thomas and Mercer with @amazonpublishing and @netgalley for this opportunity to read and review this CRAZY ROLLERCOASTER of a book!

This book was giving me some serious Haunting of Hill House vibes! This is my second book in the last month with supernatural ties to it, and I’m digging it. This book also had a major plot twist that I was totally not expecting. I had some ideas of what could of happened, but no way did I expect that twist.

This story follows Hannah and her journey back to the castle she spent her teen summers at with her sister and aunt and uncle. A lot of weird and disturbing things happened there when she was a child, but she chalked it up to being young. Then her sister Julia disappears never to be seen again. The town blames the Aunt and Hannah takes off for home hoping to never return. Seventeen years later she gets the late night phone call that her Aunt has been in a terrible accident. Hannah has to pack up her life and bring her and her fiancé to the castle and relive all those demons she thought she left behind.

This was a wonderfully written scary story. This was my first @katemoretti1 book and will not be my last. If you enjoy suspense, thriller, supernatural and scary then this book is for you! Grab a copy when it releases on November 1, 2020!

I like a bit of otherworldly with my murder mysteries.

I also enjoy stories set in old houses and alternating narrative. This checked a lot of boxes for me.

This was a edge of your seat thriller! Chills and thrills throughout the entire book! It definitely made you trying to guess the ending right up to the last chapter. Highly recommended!