This one was middling for me. the setting and atmosphere were great but for some reason a lot of the story just wasn’t clicking for me.

I enjoyed this book. Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I had high hopes for this novel but it was a DNF for me. The first 100 pages were slow and I was getting antsy to get to the meat of the story. A friend who read it before me said that I had just gotten to the point where things start getting good only to discover the character makes a decision that made me lose all interest in finishing it.

A book that has its place amongst the popular fiction of post-war era, mildly supernatural women's fiction. Seems a bit like a bridge book for converting YA readers, just from the character structure. A fun read, but a hard one to get into. Thank you to both Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with this title.

Set in post-WWI, Ivy Radcliffe unexpectedly inherits an estate from a distant relative, catapulting her to peerage. She soon learns this mysterious library holds many secrets. I’ve enjoyed previous Hester Fox’s books, but missed some of that same magic from those here.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I started this book, but gothic tale about a woman who inherits a mysterious library had me hooked. Ivy Radcliffe is left nearly alone in the world after she loses most of her family to WWI. She inherits an estate from a mysterious relative she never heard of and travels to the countryside where she struggles to deal with her new title, foreboding home, and aloof servants. She takes comfort in the library but mysterious happenings soon take over and she begins to question her reality. It’s an extremely entertaining book, and I couldn’t put it down. It contained all the Gothic tropes a heart could desire, which is expected from a book where the protagonist shares a surname with the queen of Gothic fiction. I really wanted the book to be longer because there are so many areas that could be fleshed out in more detail, especially the romantic relationships. But I understand that this would have slowed down the riveting plot, so I didn’t mind it. Overall I highly recommend, and I can’t wait to read more from Hester Fox.

I will say first that the prose in this book read a lot like it was meant for a younger audience rather than general fiction. It was a pretty easy to breeze through read, but that doesn't mean that I disliked it! I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, but I feel like genaral adult audiences might pick up this book and find it lacking. The twists and turns throughout the story were fun to discover and I loved the way we as readers were left in the dark about missing memories and mysteries right alongside the main character, Ivy. This feels like a great casual read for a vacation or a cozy rainy day at home and thats exactly how I will be recomending it in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this book!

I think it’s time to just say that this author isn’t for me unfortunately.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Ivy Radcliffe. She has recently lost all of her family and is now the new owner of an estate with the title Lady. It comes as a shock but since she doesn’t have much going for her, she takes the opportunity.

I will say that I wasn’t a fan of her character. She was rather annoying and never took anyone’s advice even when it was solid advice. I also felt she was rather one dimensional, but also so was the other characters as well. There is a bit of romance but because of the weird timeline (loss of memory for main character) it felt rushed and honestly didn’t make sense from the reader perspective. The timeline really messed with a lot of the plot for me. It’s a cool concept to want to do it based on the main character but it was just hard to keep up with.

There is some spooky vibes and part of it has to do with a library. I’m all for libraries! I thought that this was the best part of the plot. I do wish it had been flushed out more because nothing pops off with it until you are already halfway through the book and the beginning just feels slow.

Overall, this was okay but just ended up not being for me.

I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have read all of the author’s other books so I was excited to read this one but unfortunately it fell flat for me. While I enjoyed the story line, it took me longer to really get into it basically until the last few chapters. With that being said, I still am looking forward to see what she comes up with next.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great combination of a mystery and historical fiction combined with a rags to riches trope. Ivy Radcliffe inherits Blackwood Abbey, a huge home which contains a magnificent library. As she begins spending time the library strange things start to happen and locals drop cryptic hints about the library’s past. The book is perfectly atmospheric,

I did think that the pacing of the first half of the book was fairly slow, but once secrets started to be revealed in the second half I could not put the book down.

3.75/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC of this book.

This was my second Hester Fox novel, although I didn't realize that at first. It turns out I read A Lullaby for Witches in January of last year, drawn in again by a blurb that held great promise. Unfortunately, that one didn't work for me either - although for very different reasons. I went into this one having utterly missed that fact somehow (to be fair to myself, I read rather a lot) and with no aspartame knowledge about the author or her writing beyond the blurb, which caught my eye because - hello - who wouldn't want to inherit a library? The previous book felt overly light to me, given the subject matter. This one, too heavily drawn. I'm starting to feel like Goldilocks...

I don't know if this is an issue with the author's writing style generally or just with this story, but I felt like this book was exceptionally flowery in prose and I found it distracting rather then engaging. The writing style and language just never grabbed or held my attention. Nor did the characters. The concept, while interesting, was not strong enough to carry the entire book on its shoulders without any connection to characters, writing style, or pacing (which felt slow and drawn out, even for historical fiction).

Unfortunately, this one also just wasn't for me.

It’s always exciting when Hester Fox gives us another mystery to unravel! And this one is a really good one!

The first world war is over. Young Ivy Radcliffe has, with the stroke of a pen, inherited a manor. And a title. From people, she is sure she has never heard of. Unfortunately, Ivy has lost a lot recently. Her parents and then her brother in the war and is still grieving and feeling quite alone in the world.

All that has changed and now Ivy may get a family of some type. Headed at once to the home, she finds it still in a bit of a shambles after the war and use as an infirmary for the soldiers. The place is enormous and the people are odd.

The people in the village talk about the abbey. People don’t want to stay there. It is supposedly haunted by a crazy monk who was into the occult. And it is a very unnerving place.

As Ivy explores she finds a library behind locked doors. Doors no one wants her to open. But oh my the library! A book-lovers dream come true. So many books. But odd things begin to happen to her inside the library. Headaches, loss of time and memory.

As the servants try to keep her out of there, Ivy smells a mystery and goes exploring. People talk about a mysterious manuscript the monk created and left somewhere in the library. There are people who want that book and will use it to do wicked things!

So many really evil people here. Motives are less than honorable. There were enough red herrings to send me all over the map, and I love that. This was almost a gothic story and I already want the next one.

NetGalley/April 4th, 2023 by Graydon House

The cover of this book is what caught my eye at first. The Last Heir to Blackwood Library was a good read with lots of mystery and a strong, feminist heroine (YES!!!!!!!). The author does a wonderful job of setting the atmosphere and allowing the landscape and seasonal gloom to add to the sense of foreboding. The supernatural elements were well done. I liked the heroine - she was strong-willed, intelligent, and determined
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc

“Miserable rainy days were meant for curling up inside with a cup of hot tea and a good book, not tramping across the city with only one’s thin coat for protection.”


A single woman living in England just after World War I, Ivy has never lived an extravagant life. That is, until she discovers that she is the heiress of an abbey with a mysterious library. Ivy is excited to start her new life, but quickly realizes something strange is going on at the abbey. The servants treat her oddly, she begins to forget recent events/conversations, and someone or something seems to be following her unseen through the manor. At the center of everything lies the library.

Depending on who she decides to trust, Ivy will either escape before it is too late, or fall prey to the curse that seems to surround the abbey.

Ivy is alone in the world. Her brother, a casualty of of WWI, her parents passed soon after. She boards in London with a friends, barely making ends meet. Until, she received a letter from a solicitor informing her that she is the heir to Blackwood Abbey. With few other choices, she heads of to Yorkshire to to claim her inheritance, which comes with the curious requirement that she live n the property.
Met by a unwelcoming housekeeper, a closed off house and of secrets, Ivy is still determined to make the best of her situation. After all, the food is better than what she is used to and being a Lady may just take some getting used to, right? Things seem to pick up when she meets a neighboring Lord at a local bookstore and he expresses interest in Blackwood's extensive library.

But there is more to Blackwood that the solicitor initially explained. Mysterious ghosts, memory loss, a dark history, a curse, a huge library (where the books seems to have some unusual properties), and secrets..

Overall, a good, spooky gothic read. The ending seemed a little quick and I felt there was a lack of explanation as to how to monk corrupted the nun's original book though. Given that that is the reason for everything horrible that happened to Ivy (and those who came before her) I would have like to see a little more about his part. There was a nice prologue about the nun and her part, and her motivations... but no real story behind HOW the monk got his hands on her writings and ruined them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

This book sounded amazing, the writing was good but it ultimately ended up falling a bit flat for me....

Historical and gothic! It was incredibly immersive and I got swept away into the novel! Really good and I'm hoping to read it for a book club this year.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
Magical, mystery filled story with old books, an old house and mysterious goings on.

I received a temporary digital advanced copy of The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox from NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Ivy Radcliffe inherits Blackwood Abbey and in turn is requested to reside in the abbey permanently. Despite not understanding what she has inherited, she tries to acclimate herself to this new life as Lady Hayworth and in doing so uncovers a wonderful library at the Abbey. Ivy is thrilled as she was brought up in libraries and loves books. Little by little Ivy begins to forget moments and conversations and soon she is almost unable to function. Can she figure out what is creating these aliments before evil forces and a secret society kill her?

I requested The Last Heir to Blackwood Library as I was drawn to the premise--impoverished girl without a family inherits an abbey with an amazing library. Unfortunately, this book is slow moving in the beginning and then the ending was incredibly rushed, which is so disappointing. The author's want to tie everything into a perfect bow so quickly created more questions and was so anticlimactic. This novel reminded me a lot of Mexican Gothic so if you were a fan of that, you will probably very much enjoy this. I enjoyed neither.

* SPOILERS *

If your child had a traumatic experience and did not remember you, you would absolutely tell them you were their mom/dad. This detail, along with many others (like how to stop the library from "feeding,") made no sense at all.

This was a fun, creepy read about the power of knowledge, books, history and, ultimately, love - and definitely a warning for anyone who finds themselves with a sudden inheritance that seems too good to be true!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.