This was an interesting book and you could feel the suspense and tension. I would hate to be Cecily and have to be alone until she is sure that the wraith is truly gone from her! I will certainly be looking for more books by this author.

The pace in the book had little to no consistency. There were parts in the book that are fast-paced and then long periods where the scenes just went on and on. Then suddenly pick up. The plot was okay but felt generic. The lack of character growth throughout the book was dishearting for me. It took me forever to finish this book because it was just not my cup of tea. 

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Southbound for accepting my request to read and review Wraith.  

Published:  09/26/22

This could have been so much more.  As it stands, it felt like a student's final draft of a creative writing paper.  A teacher would have pointed out holes, inconsistent pacing, and asked who was the targeted audience.  

The book reads childishly, and there were places I thought middle grade.  However, there were other times I thought the subject matter was for adults, not kids.  

I wanted the ending to come, and longed for it.  I did want to see how things were wrapped up or explained.  I was disappointed.  It was as if a timer went off and the writing stopped.

The narration was okay.  The story was too convoluted and I think that played a part in her performance.

The synopsis tells you what you should expect, I'm not repeating it.  I've left what I received.

I struggled with the narrator of this audiobook. Because of that, I did not finish it. I was unable to follow the story line. I’d like to give this novel a go in print because I think the description sounds really good, which is why I chose to request this audiobook.

The pace in the book was a bit confusing and had no consistency. There were parts in the book that were fast paced and then long periods of time where the scenes just went on and on at snail pace, then suddenly pick up, and on and on it went. I wasn’t sure if this was to add suspense or give the book a specific feel but the non-emotional rollercoaster created just didn’t work.

The author failed a little with combining different genres that usually work well together but they didn’t glue together that great in this book.

The plot had a pretty generic baseline plot with family curses and finding more mysteries than answers. The book actually left me with more questions than what I started with and the ending didn’t bring closure to the story.

There was very little character growth throughout the book and the secondary character proved to be more interesting than the main one, with more entertainment value. The showdown with the villain was just over the top without any real suspense or creepiness.

I couldn’t find the point to the epilogue with what the author was trying to achieve. More mystery? Possible sequel? What???

Thanks again to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

Holy freaking crap. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish. 

You know those books that make you stay up past your bedtime? That was this for me. I have a habit of finishing an audiobook in bed and then starting the next, as in listening though the credits and such so it’s good to go the next day. This one though snuck past me and next thing I know I’m 50% in and it’s 3am!

The psychology behind the happenings in this book was absolutely fantastic. It’s creepy and psychological and I am here for it. It had just enough suspense to keep you interested but not enough that it slowed the pace. It was very fast paced and again, I absolutely loved it. 

My one complaint is the ending. While it was fast paced, it seemed to end abruptly. It wrapped everything up just fine with a bow but it did it so quickly that I was actually taken aback when it ended. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated! I always really enjoy multi-cultural thrillers, for I embark on a journey through a land unknown to me, while still getting spooked.

I DNF this novel. I tried many times to try to get into this novel but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. Please do make sure you read all other reviews as many have enjoyed this novel. Do give this one a try for yourself.

Trigger warnings: death, suicide, violence, blood and gore, antisemitism, depressing, family death, possessions, anxiety, panic attacks

When the main character Cecily LeClercq is a young child she witnesses the death of her mother. Years later she is approached by a stranger saying one of her relatives is dying and wishes to see her. When she arrives at France she learns that the family is being followed by a curse, killing everyone in her family line. 

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. It was creepy in sections but underwhelming in others. The wraith that is following her around the book is genuinely terrifying in parts. She’s an unsettling character and I liked her. I kind of wished she had shown up less though. I very much liked the character of the Countess. Many parts were violent and bloody but the were all written and handled my well in my opinion. The main character suffers from extreme anxiety being around people and I very much liked how that was handled over the course of the book.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was very well done. I liked the narrator. The story was very well read and I liked the accent work. The parts with the wraith were deeply unsettling to listen to.

I’m not that big of a fan of how the curse was implemented and the things that happened plot wise around said curse. The entire idea behind it is that family members that are targeted by this wraith are being driven to suicide by her. The member of the family that sees her is the next to die. The wraith is not going to kill the family member outright but they will attack people that are important to the person that is being targeted until the target kills themselves. First, all of the people that the wraith targets to get at Cecily are people that she barely knows. She had just met them a couple of days ago but the wraith thinks they are important enough to be targets? Second, people that the wraith has been possessing directly attack Cecily at multiple points in the book. Making Cecily get into a violent car crash that could very much have killed her doesn’t seem like the mode of attack of something that is only supposed to drive you to suicide. She’s also almost drowned at one point. That seems to contradict her methods too. 

The amount of times people tried to convince her that she was imagining everything annoyed me as well. Even people that were directly involved with the family. Also not that big of a fan of how the book ended tbh. I wish we had more resolution. I hope that this gets a sequel so we can get more answers.

Overall I do think I recommend this for fans of horror of the appropriate age. Some of the violence can be intense but I liked this overall.

Wraith follows Cecily, who is riddled with childhood trauma from seeing her mom die at a young age. She chooses to live a reclusive life, similar to how her mom lived hers. People scare her, and she's much more comfortable amongst plants.

Once she gets sent to see her grandmother who is on her deathbed, her life takes an unexpected turn. She finds out the horrifying truth of her ancestry and must try and solve the mystery before anyone else around her is harmed. 

I really enjoyed the mystery behind this one. Having it slowly unravel was fun, and I really enjoyed the setting in France. I enjoyed seeing Cecily find out that her grandmother was as into plants as she was, and I liked how it played a part in the mystery. I will say that I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. It didn't feel like anything was really resolved, which was an interesting way to end it.

This was an OK read, but I have read better, quite hard to follow with the chosen narrator, it was good, but not great

Wraith by Mark Wheaton was an interesting book. Cecily Tragically loses her mother and finds herself in a different country with relatives she was unaware that she had. Not to long does she find herself wrapped up in a family curse.

I would give this book a solid 4 stars, the story line was well thought out and had back stories that made you enjoy the characters. The ending was not abrupt and had a fun twist.  I would recommend reading this book in the fall time to help with those spooky reads.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* wouldn't mind rereading this for sure, pretty creepy but wish it would have been scarier

I agree with another reviewer. I tried reading this book several times, but I just couldn’t get into it. I really hate to give bad reviews. I read constantly, and this is the first book I wasn’t able to finish. Please read the other reviews and make your decision from there.

DNF I wish I was able to finish this one but it just didn't catch my attention right off the batt and no matter how many times I tried to pick it up again I just couldn't do it.

I enjoyed the audiobook! This is my first ever horror, thriller audiobook that I got from NetGalley. I was expecting for a very scary story that would keep the light on in my bedroom overnight but it wasn’t that scary. However, I did enjoy the setting and the plot. The vivid descriptions of the places and the exciting events plus the beautiful voice of the actor who read the book made the book memorable. Thank you Mark Wheaton and NetGalley for the chance to experience the complicated life of Cecile.

The Curse

A story of the LeClercq family and the curse which was told to follow before the death of a LeClercq. It was the story told of a terrifying wraith with sharp fingernails and long black hair that emerged from the forest to claim her victim.

Cecily LeClercq is a young lady that secludes herself from the public studying flowers in the wetlands of Carolina. After she witnesses the death of her mother she becomes a semi recluse.
One day a strange man appears and tells her a remote relative in France wishes to meet her in person. She at first resists but then she is interested in what the relative can tell her and she goes to France . There she meets her strange and reclusive relative and encounters some horrifying situations.

The book is very descriptive of the places and events. It is also a bit confusing at times and I really did have a hard time keeping straight who was a relative and who was not. I never actually totally figured out the curse even while listening to the complete audio book.

The narration in the audio book was very good and pleasant to listen to.

All in all it was a pretty good story, and if you like stories about ancient curses and wraiths you will like this one.

Thanks to Mark Wheaton for writing the story and the great narration of it, to Southbound for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to listen to and review.

I struggled a little bit to get into this audiobook. The book started off with a young girl hiding with her mother from an unknown creature that brought terror to her mother. Her mother disappears and is killed - presumably by this creature that they refer to as the Wraith. Then, the story begins to follow Cecily in the North Carolina woods. She suddenly receives an in-person request from a French man, Renee, who insists that she has a dying wealthy relative in France who is demanding she visit. Supposedly, this relative leaves behind a large estate, including numerous paintings. 

When Cecily arrives in France with Renee, very strange things begin to happen. She questions whether she is hallucinating this creature, who takes over the bodies of people when Cecily feels anxious or scared, or at random times. She learns that her family bloodline carries with it a curse - the Wraith appears to the women who are about to die, or who have a loved one who is about to die. The women then must choose whether to save their loved ones by sacrificing themselves, or try to ride out the curse.

The first 30-35% of the story is slow, and it felt a bit choppy, as if the book wasn't sure if it was trying to be a thriller or a story about a family's history. Then it picks up from about 35%-70% and definitely had some wonderful action-packed scenes and some humor mixed in. After 70% the story became slightly hard to follow. Much of this may be due to the pervasive French accents in the audio version of this book. It was a little hard to focus and understand the conversations and who is who.

Overall, I would say this book is "soft horror" and those who like creepy and bizarre tales with possession and murder will enjoy.

Trigger warnings include suicide, murder, blood.

As a book/audiobook, I would classify this as a paranormal thriller, not horror. If it were a movie, I could definitely see how it would be considered horror. 

I liked the main character okay, and there were some side characters I really enjoyed. I felt like they were all well thought-out. 

Throughout the story, you're basically asking yourself if the "wraith" is just a mental illness surfacing in those who witness its appearance. And just when you think the story's ending is "happy" (as it can be), it's not over, yet. 

I don't want to give too much away and think it's best to go in fairly blind!

Wow, this was spooky story!
Cecily LeClerq leads a reclusive life when she learns that she has distant relatives in Paris. So despite some concerns she decides to go to France where she ends up in an old chateau deep in the woods Cecily finds out that her family is cursed somehow. And this is where all the spooky horror-ish things start to happen. 
Thanks #NetGalley #Southbound for the audio version of this book