This book is a great example of what Gothic Literature is and should be - for the most part. The plot and characters are well-crafted and the atmosphere was terrific. The pacing was a bit off, and the POV switch was jarring, though.

3.5/5

There is a mystery at the center of this creative-yet-clichèd novel that kept pulling me back in. I liked the author’s ability to bend genres and cleverly borrow from already established tropes to write something wholly unique but even at just over 300 pages it felt long. Still a high recommendation form yours truly.

I love a good gothic mystery and this one took the prize. Plenty of twists to keep me flipping the pages well into the night and an ending that had my jaw on the floor. Really, go grab yourself one on release day!

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc copy of this book for an honest review.

The daughters of block island was an interesting read. I enjoyed the plot, and story telling. The writing was very much YA and my younger self would definitely have enjoyed this book more. My current self was hoping for something a little more, but that's a personal preference. Overall great read.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. While the premise was interesting I didn’t connect with the characters or the story in a meaningful manner. Some books just aren’t for us, and that’s okay!

After arriving on Block Island to find her birth mother, Blake Bronson becomes convinced she’s the heroine of a gothic novel―the kind that allowed her intermittent escape from a traumatic childhood. How else to explain the torrential rain, the salt-worn mansion known as White Hall, and the restless ghost purported to haunt its halls?

The ending was definitely hold-your-breath drama, and I loved how the author tied up all the loose ends very neatly. I highly recommend the book to fans of gothic novels and anyone looking for an exhilarating emotional ride filled with suspense.



Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this in exchange for the review

I’d like to start this review by thanking Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the very beginning of the book I was captivated by the gothic horror feeling of the book. There is something so novel about a story with an old house, ghosts, a murder mystery, and a rainy secluded backdrop. Christa Carmen weaves a twisting wicked story with grace and wonder.

I thought that beginning the book from Blake’s POV and slowly learning more and more about her affliction and why she was in recovery helped add an element of urgency and maddness to her narrative. It makes her story feel as though she’s hanging on by a thread and if only she could solve this mystery, she might be able to find solid ground. Her character creates this haunted affect that impacts everything she touches. It’s almost as if even when she’s gone, her ghost pushes the story forward.

Thalia is almost the mirror opposite of her sister. Where Blake was impulsive and rash, Thalia was level headed, and rational. She managed to solve the mystery and avenge her sister. Thalia has the benefit of knowing where she came from, knowing Block Island and knowing the characters in play where Blake came in blind and scrambling. I could argue that this is the reoccurring theme in both of their lives, whether Thalia knew this before coming back to Block Island or not.

The whole ensemble of characters worked so well together to create a story of intrigue and mystery like something I might find in a Nancy Drew game. Overall I very much enjoyed this book and found myself saying “what rhe f*ck” on several occasions.

As someone who has spent summers on Block Island since before I could walk, and who has found endless inspiration in the windswept rocky beaches and towering clay cliffs, I was thrilled to discover a novel in one of my favorite genres taking place on my favorite island! Those who have only summered on the Block will be hard pressed to envision it as the empty gothic wasteland Carmen invokes, but the howling wind and driving rain outside my window as I write this in my house on the south of the island beg to differ. It was endlessly fun to see some of my most well-known and well loved locations crop up (the Island Free Library and the Block Island Times are very real places) yet I didn’t quite feel that the prose and descriptions of the island overall built adequate atmosphere. The descriptions often come across as a rough sketch rather than an immersive experience, arguably a component more key to gothic fiction than blighted manors or ominous bachelors.

Still, I appreciated this novel as a modern homage to classics such as Jane Eyre and The Haunting of Hill House. The story is chock full of tongue and cheek references to titans of the genre, to a point that is fun but occasionally strays into the overdone, especially given the heaviness of some of the other subject matter (TW for sexual assault, addiction, overdose, and extreme physical violence). The story is an interesting mix of originality and clichés — I loved seeing a queer protagonist in the genre, for example, and appreciated the acknowledgement of the island’s homogeneity and history of racism. However, the villain of the novel is disappointingly transparent from the get-go and lacks complex motivations: the character incentives in general seem underbaked. I also think the story could have done without two character perspectives: without giving spoilers, the POV shift a quarter of the way in feels unnecessary and the story could have easily survived with just the later 3/4s intact.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing a review copy.
This is a twisty, rain-soaked, atmospheric take of two sets of sisters and how their lives intertwine. This book takes the classic gothic tropes and fashions them into a murder mystery entangled in family secrets. I really enjoyed this book, although I felt it was a little long. I loved Christa Carmen's short story collection and I think she is absolutely one to watch in the horror genre. 4.5 stars, rounded up.

Two sisters, strangers since birth yet bound by family secrets, are caught up in a century-old mystery on an isolated island.

Unfortunately, this one seemed a little arduous for me to get through. Slow burn mystery/paranormal. I was distracted often (which is not at all typical when my head is in a book) and I found myself struggling to turn pages. Idk, I just felt.....indifferent...
But it may have very well been just me and my current mood, lol...not sure.
Regardless, I've no doubt other readers will enjoy this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: 10.10.23.

"Daughters of Block Island" by Christa Carmen
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Many thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC of this book. All opinions contained below are my own.

Daughters of Block Island is the perfect story to curl up with during spooky season! The perfectly described gothic setting made me feel as if I was in a crisp October day rather than the sweltering June heat when I was reading.
The story opens with a letter penned from a young lady, Blake, who we quickly learn is now dead to Thalia, whom she claims is her sister. This instantly sucked me in, wondering who this mysterious woman is and how Thalia will respond with this bombshell being dropped on her.

The first half of the story is told from the perspective of Blake Bronson, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who sets out to learn more about her family after discovering a copy of her birth certificate naming her biological mother. Tossed about the foster system Blake has had a rough life, surviving through reading, particularly classic gothic novels. And when she arrives on Block Island, she quickly feels like she is thrust into a real-life gothic setting. Constant rain, spooky old mansion that may or may not be haunted, and secret underground passages. Blake ultimately meets her death on Block Island, mere moments after a final effort to contact her sister, Thalia, through a letter.

Thalia is the narrator through the second half of the story. After receiving a letter from the sister she never knew existed and is now dead, she sets out to her hometown of Block Island to learn more about the circumstances surrounding her sisters death. With the support of long-time bff, Sarah, the two confront Thalia's mother, Maureen, who continues to deny the existence of another daughter. With no answers from Maureen, the two girls set off to solve the mystery of Blake's death with clues from other residents...from the kooky librarian, the mysterious B & B owner, the powerful town-selectsman, and the woman accused of killing Blake.


**Overall, this was a fun, fast-paced read and I would highly recommend. At first I was nervous due to how many times the novel seemed to hit on various tropes of the gothic novel, it felt a little 'campy'. But after Blake begins to craft her rules and it becomes more obvious that the author knows what she is doing and clearly using this as a plot device it did not bother me.

Absolutely loved this one! So utterly mesmerisingly atmospheric. A stunning, unique storyline and top quality characterisation. 5 stars 👏

Told from Blake Bronson and Thalia Mills’ perspectives, these two women will never meet.
Blake arrives on Block Island, hoping to meet her birth mother. She hasn’t had an easy life, growing up in one foster care home after another. But, she has reached a point where she might just be the heroine in her own Gothic novel. White Hall, the place where she is staying is just like a page torn from one of those novels she has always read. But before she can maybe find peace (and at least the sister she never knew she had);she is murdered. What she might’ve been dies with her in a clawfoot tub.
Thalia hasn’t been back to Block Island in years. A letter from the sister she didn’t know about, and Blake’s murder brings her home. She wants answers from her mother, but her lips as always are tightly sealed. As Thalia tries to unravel the mysteries from her mother’s past, and find Blake’s killer, she has no idea that her questions may lead to her demise.
The first part of the book tells Blake story, and she was my favorite character. She had such a hard life and her search for answers leads to her death. If I believed in ghosts, Blake would be the one I would want to run into.
Many of Thalia’s decisions, baffled me. I mean she knew that Blake was murdered, but she just forged ahead, making some very questionable choices and decisions.
I enjoyed The Daughters of Block Island and trying to figure out whether White Hall was actually haunted kept me flipping the pages. Everything wrapped up well, though I’m still sad that Blake could not outrun the ghosts from the past.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

I've been trying to get into more gothic literature in the last while and this one came available for me. It seems there is an abundance of them. Although I'm not sure this particular one was for me. It was very short and I didn't always love the switch between narrators. It took me out of the story at times. I also felt like the story was rushed and short. The premise was an interesting idea but maybe if it had a better execution.

This book follows around some of the Love on the Island series’ characters, so I was a bit lost at first (and it’s slightly a romance book, which isn’t really my thing).

The characters are realistic, well thought. But there are way too many characters to be honest. And sometimes it’s a bit hard to understand and make your own opinion on the characters.

The ending was a bit underwhelming for me but I’m sure for fans of Carmen it would be a hold-your-breath kind of drama.

4 stars

In this gothic horror navel, and eerie island pulls in 2 sisters to this mysterious mansion. While at the mansion there and secrets, murder, and romance. Blake is brought to the island when she uncovers who her birth mother is and searches to get some answers. As soon as Blake settles into the mansion she begins to feel like she the main character of her own gothic novel, but before she can figure out the ending she is found dead. Thalia, Blakes sister, received a letter from Blake where she learns she has a sister. Thalia decided to get back to her home, the mysterious island to meet her long lost sister. Once her arrives she learns of Blake’s death. Thalia jumps in to figure out the pieces of the mysterious murder as well as other scandals on the island in hope to figure out the truth behind her sisters death

Gothic novels are not my go to genre but his book pulled me in and hand he hook from the start. It was spooky and eerie in all the right places! I enjoyed the change in POV between the 2 sisters and I felt like I was right there next to Thalia needing to find the answers to all the questions. The setting of this story was beautifully written and I felt like I was right there on the island. I thought the back story with the mom was a little unfinished and didn’t really tie into the main story until the very end.

Overall, I thought this was a fantastic gothic horror with a murder mystery twist! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

I would give this a solid 3.5 stars. There were many things that I enjoyed. I loved the atmosphere and the nods to classic gothic tales and classics, but the story did drag a bit for me. It wasn't a book I was rushing to finish.

"As silent and expressionless as a ghost who's lost the ability to haunt the living"
Many thanks to Netgalley and Christa Carmen for giving me the opportunity to read this well written book.
Blake and Thalia are two sisters whome each one doesn't know that the other exists. Till one day Blake who has been raised in Foster homes decided to find her birth mother who lives in Block Island. She arrives at Block Island during winter to find answers, but instead, she faced the biggest mystery in her life. Thalia the older daughter has received a letter from her sister that she has no clue about her existence, and discovered that Blake wrote her this letter the same night she was found dead. So Thalia returned back to her home land to seek answers.
This book is about hidden secrets, crimes, haunted mansion and ghosts from the past. The book is very well written, I really enjoyed the beautiful phrases that described different feelings as fear, mother's love, anger and true friendship.
But to be fair I got a little bored during the last three chapters as I've got the feeling that the author was padding a little in some parts to add more pages to the book. I can't also deny that I was expecting a real gothic story but I found a mysterious crime one instead.
I think this book will be perfect for any one who loves the dark winter mysterious realm or suffers from a reading,slump. But if you're searching for horror goosebumps story, this book won't be your cup of tea.

When I read, I want to be engaged. I want characters I can relate to, people I can care about. And I want a story that makes me eager to turn the page, to find out what happens next. Once I’m invested in the characters of a story, and they find themselves in peril, I expect to be on the edge of my seat, turning each page with both fear and anticipation. The Daughters of Block Island checked each of these boxes for me.

I prefer a good mystery over almost anything else. Whether it’s Conan Doyle, Daphne Du Maurier, Michael Connelly, Philip Kerr, or Cara Black — just a few of my favorites — I need to be intrigued. I need to wonder, “What’s really going on here?” And Christa Carmen leads off with a puzzle that only grows more complicated as the story progresses. And like the very best stories, the intrigue doesn’t just engage your brain, it touches your heart as well.

Any time I tell my wife about a new book I’m reading, her first question is, “Is it well written?” She knows I’ll put up with less talented writers if the book has a storyline that intrigues me or falls into a genre I’m obsessed with. With Christa Carmen, my answer was an unqualified yes. The Daughters of Block Island delivers on all levels.