"Ava Morgyn's The Witches of Bone Hill is a spellbinding, romantic novel about family secrets and two young women who discover they're Nordic witches.

Cordelia Bone's meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts. When her older, carefree sister, Eustace - a cannabis grower in Boulder - calls to inform her that the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.

But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt's aging attorney, who insists they retain and inhabit the house but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.

As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that's been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill."

I'd totally take a large Victorian mansion, cursed or not.

The Witches of Bone Hill was the perfect witchy book to get me thinking about my autumn reading list. When I think of autumn reading I think of books like this with a spooky, fog shrouded estate, ghosts, witches, magic, and a couple sisters who discover they're so much more than they ever knew.

This was a fantasy story that did a great job walking the line between cozy and dark. The mystery was engrossing enough to hold my attention and there's most definitely some grim elements to the story, but there was also such a warm, comforting vibe to the relationship between Cordelia and Eustace that I truly adored.

Overall, this book strikes a nice balance of fantasy, romance, and a touch of horror. I pulled out the pumpkin spice coffee and apple scented candles a little early for this read, and I have zero regrets. The Witches Of Bone Hill is a must read for those who love stories about magic, witches, and the bonds of sisterhood.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for providing a copy for me to read and review.

I am going to start my review with the caveat that this wasn't what I expected, and it wound up being a bit too spooky for me.

Cordelia Bone is having a rough time. The life she meticulously put together is falling apart. So, when her sister Eustace calls to inform her that their Great Aunt died and that they inherited the house, she sees an opportunity to make some money that will help put her life back together. But, when they get to the house, everything is not what it seems.

Like I mentioned, this wasn't really what I was expecting and wasn't exactly my cup of tea. The book was a little bit too spooky (so many creepy ghosts and scary things!) and I didn't necessarily enjoy the romance enough to make up for that fact. However, I will note that Ava Morgyn is a phenomenal writer, so if you don't mind borderline horror novels, then I would highly recommend picking up this book. However, if you are easily scared and avoid horror novels like the plague like me, then I wouldn't really suggest this book.

Great fall read! If you enjoy creepy witchy reads, then you don't want to miss out on this one! I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

In this variation on the "people inherit a spooky house, now spooky things happen" trope, there's just a little too much going on. Not the spooky stuff--it's fine if a little overbaked (White lady witches strike again) and reused from other books--but some of the rest has got to go. The divorce was bad enough, because there's a lot of what feels very forced writing on it, but to have a mafia subplot? Why? It's totally unnecessary and in fact takes the reader out of the spooky atmosphere Morgyn is trying to create all the rest of the time. It's just a mess. Someone go edit this before it gets out into the wild.

Cordelia and her sister Eustace find out that they have inherited the estate of their late Great aunt. They head to Connecticut to collect. They end up finding out more then they bargained for about the family legacy. Good book

What a fun and cozy witchy read! If you love easy to dive into books with fun juicy family drama, that will also make your heart melt…. This is it!

•The Witches of Bone Hill 🦴•

📚Genre: paranormal thriller (?)
🤔Rating: 🍺🍺(2/5)
#️⃣ of pages: 416
👯‍♀️ read if you like: witches, gothic tales, urban fantasy
⚠️TW: lots of gore, borderline horror
🗓️Publishing Date: September 26, 2023

👍🏼:
•a great jumpstart to spooky season
•picked up and had an action packed ending

👎🏼:
•had a hard time connecting with any of the characters
•lots of plot holes left open for me
•not at all what I expected

Overall…
This book was not what I expected in the slightest. What I thought would be a Hocus Pocus type mystery was really borderline horror with some dark humor and a touch of mystery? I will say, I think reading this around Halloween would be more appropriate & I definitely wasn’t in the spooky fall mood, currently living in 100 degree heat. There were some major unanswered things & some plot lines that just made me 🤨. I was really planning on 1 star until it really picked up the last 15% for an action packed ending

Thanks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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The Witches of Bone Hill delivers creepy vibes with a touch of horror and a great, complicated dynamic between the estranged Bone sisters, Cordelia and Eustace. It definitely pulled me in right from the start and kept my interest with a steady rhythm of twists and revelations. Poignant and uplifting in turn; the story literally broke my heart and then mended it back. I loved the personalities behind each character and the way their individual traits
manifested their magic. It’s a great read that touches on nearly every emotion as the sisters navigate their lives from a place of messiness, illness, fear, and loss to one of power, health, hope, and love.

From the synopsis I thought I would enjoy this book, but I was so wrong. It seemed to be an entire book was just adjectives. I DNF'd at chapter 4. It may have gotten better, but I could not get through overly descriptive adjectives.

Two estranged sisters inherit a house. Cordelia is in the middle of a divorce and her sister Eustace is dealing with health problems. Neither of them know much about their family history which involve witches. They will soon find out. This is a really intriguing meld of genres. Horror, paranormal, romance.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, the first thing I thought I’d was the tv show Charmed, which I grew up watching (and loved!). Well I definitely wasn’t wrong in thinking it gave off those vibes, but it also delivered so, so much more.

Cordelia is a woman with a life that’s falling apart. Her husband cheated on her, stole her identity, and racked up bills/loans in her name, all while traveling cross country with his mistress. So, when she gets a call from her estranged sister Eustace who tells her that their Aunt has died and left an entire estate in their name, she up and goes to Connecticut to check it out and maybe make a quick buck selling the house. In the end though, Cordelia gets more than she bargained for, when mysterious and eerily haunted things begin happening.

This was such an intriguing book to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery/thrill that it offered!

The Witches Of Bone Hill By: Ava Morgyn

5 Stars

In the pages of this book, I believed I'd find a book about witches, and I did, but this book was so much more. It was magic and sisterhood. It was danger and redemption. It was awesome to read. Cordelia and Eustace Bone go to Bone Hill after a family death leads them home. Once there, they begin a journey that will change them forever and reading this may just change you.

I absolutely loved this story. The characters were real and relatable. Bone Hill was a place of mystery and magic, and with each page, I could feel that. This wasn't just a witch story. It was a story of two sisters fighting to survive. Around every corner, with every turn of the page, more action came. Yet, I never knew what to expect. I loved Bone Hill. If you want to fall into pages full of mystery and magic this is the book for you. One of the best books I have read in a while.

I'd like to thank the author and Netgalley for this Arc in return for an honest review. I am honored.

Stormi Ellis

Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin for the copy of this book!

Don’t let the cutesy cartoon cover fool you - The Witches of Bone Hill gets dark! Think crypts, haunted houses, blood magic, and gore. While it does start off more in the women’s fiction genre, it definitely ends on a more horror genre note.

I loved the concept of a line of witches connected to a house involving sister heirs to the house at Bone Hill. I also fell for the “brooding, tattooed groundskeeper” mentioned in the synopsis. However, the romance was definitely more minor with an interesting trope choice. I think this book was quite a bit too long - and it might feel that way because it’s told in third person, and the takes a while for dialogue to appear on the page. When there is dialogue, some of the characters sound like they’re from the 1800s even though this is a modern-day book.

Overall, I kept reading because I liked the general storyline - think of it like a darker, more modern Practical Magic - but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

I liked the spooky aspects and magical dramatics of this book. Tying in Norse mythology was done very well with multiple pieces used but not overly so. The family history was balanced great with Eustace's and Cordelia's own personal problems and learning how to be witches with their newly discovered magic. Bone Hill manor is an intricate Gothic estate that I could easily see ghosts inhabiting and locals avoiding warily. The vibes would be great for reading during chilly fall weather.

While I enjoyed the story, the writing style does not fully work for me. The book felt a bit heavy on descriptions, and considering the length of the novel, I expected more to happen. I found myself skimming over chunks to get to more action or more secrets revealed or more magical understanding for the sisters. Gordon was a good supporting character, but he felt like an accessory to Bone Hill. He would have been better as a more fleshed out character, even with some scenes from his pov. I also wish some parts of the book weren't so predictable, but the author may have intended that with subtle clues being dropped that Cordelia and Eustace didn't pick up on due to their newness to magic.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for a chance to read an arc of this book!

I picked this up off of Net Galley because it sounded interesting. After a very slow start (I almost tagged it as DNF) things picked up and it got better.

Cordelia and Eustace are estranged sisters with a ton of individual baggage when they get the call to return to the family ancestral home they didn’t know existed - and that’s just the beginning of the oddities that occur.

From a plot perspective, I would give this a 3.5 stars. The mystery of the Bone family estate is woven into the story for the sisters to discover. The reader is figuring things out along side the characters and there are twists and turns that keep you on your toes.

For characters, this is a 3 star read. It’s not that I didn’t like characters, but I never felt like I understood them enough to become invested who they were as people.

The last 40% of this book is what saved the story. The author gave the Bone family a very complicated back story, but then made it difficult for the sisters to figure it out. I get that some of that was on purpose, but it made it hard to become interested in who the latter family was and what would happen next. Add in significant events that don’t seem to be fully resolved and this is a very average book for me.

Why I loved this story

-Excellent character development and interactions.
-family secrets/secret history vibes

What I didn't like as much

-There were some horror elements present in this story that I would not have quite expected from the initial book description

who I recommend this novel for
Fans of stories like practical magic looking for a darker thriller vibe in a story that still holds that magical atmosphere will love The Witches of Bone hill

It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Practical Magic and The Witches of Bone Hill was darker than I think the cover led me to believe. That’s a good thing. I really enjoyed the gruesome thriller aspects. Everything worked out the way I hoped and I had fun reading the journey to get there.

A wonderful book to read - perhaps in the fall/Halloween. Estranged sisters come together to learn about their past and about themselves. Thanks for the chance to meet a new to me author.

This review is made possible through an ARC via NetGalley.

Witches of Bone Hill has something that I love to see and always want to see more of: sisters with a shared past who stopped telling each other things but you can still tell that they love each other. Cordelia and Eustace have a believable dynamic and the way they communicate felt very real.

I was a big fan of Cordelia and Gordon almost from the moment they met. The small town/big city-ish dynamic plus Gordon knowing more about Cordelia's family than Cordelia made for a good romance as well as being a solid base for the romance arc.

I would have liked to have seen more from the magic system and I'm still a bit confused as to how the powers tie into what kind of magic it is. The novel also featured more horror elements than I was expecting, but I think Ava Morgyn wove them in quite well.

It's hard not to go into my favorite parts without going into spoilers because I thought the second half was stronger than the first despite quite liking the dynamics of Cordelia and Gordon and Cordelia and Eustace from the beginning. I'd love to see more out of Ava Morgyn in the future and look forward to her future projects. This is the first book I've read from her and it left an impression on me that she is someone who can do platonic female relationships, complications and all, in a way that really works for me.