I speed through this book!!! I really enjoyed how descriptive it was and the author made you feel like you were there at White Hall. I enjoy atmospheric books, and this has a lot of it. There were many twists and turns that kept me engaged and wanting to read just one more page. Anyone who enjoys a good gothic novel would enjoy this book. I would highly recommend this book once it is published. Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to the ARC.

This book made me feel like I stepped off boat and was staying in White Hall. This story transports you to Block Island in a creepy- spooky house, with twists and turns that will leave you at the edge of your seat

Blake travels to White Hall searching for the mother who gave her up for adoption. She’s struggling with sobriety and is involved in a criminal trial for an accident she caused while under the influence. She learns she has a sister, Thalia, and attempts to uncover the mystery around her birth, who her father is and where she belongs.
Thalia returns to the island shortly after Blake’s death to confront her mother and uncover the truth behind what really happened to her sister.

This book contained many features I’m a fan of: creepy setting, descriptive writing, complex characters, strong females, possible ghosts and mystery. The story unfolds in a way that leaves you guessing, but doesn’t get too complex or predicable. I enjoyed that the author tied in comparisons and connections to other gothic novels and the “rules.” This element adds to the reasoning behind the actions of both Blake and Thalia.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC. I enjoyed how fast paced the story was and was eager to find out who was behind Blake’s murder. I preferred Thalia’s POV to Blake’s. I struggled with the overt references to other gothic novels - I understand the author was influenced by her love for those stories but felt the references could have been more subtle and not as frequent. Overall, I believe readers will enjoy this novel.

Blake is trying to find out where she came from after growing up in foster care, an alcoholic and drug addict she has made mistakes, one that could land her in jail even. She finds her original birth certificate and heads to Block Island to meet her mother and things go wrong, very wrong.

Thalia hasn’t been home to Block Island in 10 years, a successful lawyer. She receives a mysterious letter and decides now is the time to return home.

Told from two different points of view this is an un-putdownable dark mystery that I enjoyed very much. I am very likely to suggest this book to people who like the same type of story.

Could not put this one down! It checks all the boxes for a creepy, spooky vibe. The author was going for a gothic vibe(think Rebecca or The Haunting of Hill House) and she NAILED it!

Old mansion that may or may not be haunted✅
Murder✅
Island only accessible by ferry so you can't leave if the weather is bad(spoiler: the weather is always bad⛈️)✅
Suspicious characters✅
Past and present ties together✅
Unreliable narrator (I cannot thank the author enough for having a character who is struggling with sobriety but is written in such a respectful way)✅
Secrets galore✅

Fast pacing and fantastic writing helped me fly through this one! I absolutely recommend.

Thank you @netgalley and Thomas & Mercer @amazonpublishing for the ARC

Let’s just say I slept with the lights on while reading this..and after. It’s creepy for sure, but oh so intriguing. While I was afraid to turn the page, I was also unable to put it down. This is a MUST read for Halloween!

Gothic, creepy, atmospheric. Great read for people who are into gothic, murder and solving mysteries.

A great gothic read. I loved the twists and turns throughout the story. This book definitely gives all the best spooky and eerie vibes.

This was such a good Gothic novel, it had what I was looking for from the description. It had what I was looking for in this type of book and from the description. The characters worked well overall in this world and I enjoyed the concept that they faced. Christa Carmen wrote this well and I was hooked from the first page. It had a great suspenseful feel to it and I couldn't wait to figure out what was going on.

"A bespectacled woman with a loosely pinned bun, burgundy leather flats, and a mustard-colored blouse tucked into an ankle-length skirt pokes her head out from between metal shelving units. Blake would laugh at how utterly this woman embodies librarian if she didn’t look so frightened by their presence. One would think the woman had forgotten that the point of a library is for people to visit it. “Hello, Ethel,” Martin says, and places his hands on Blake’s shoulders. This time, Blake manages not to flinch."

This is a gothic murder mystery set on--surprise--Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. The setting of Block Island in the winter is a character in itself--isolated, beaten by the rain, and filled with secrets. In a nutshell, Thalia returns to the island where she grew up after receiving a letter from a woman, Blake, who claim she is Thalia's sister. When Thalia learns of a mystery at a historic home on Block Island, she seeks to find the answers at the spooky house. There's a lot going on in this book, and the author does a great job with descriptions of the gothic mansion and of all the suspects Thalia encounters. The character of Thalia is very well drawn, and how she deals with the murder as well as with her own feelings about returning to Block Island makes for a very compelling story. This book is very creepy--probably a bit too creepy for me, even though I like a good gothic story--but if you have a high creepy tolerance this book could be a good fit for you!

Thalia Mills returns to Block Island after receiving a letter from the sister she didn’t know she had, shortly before the woman was found murdered. Blake is not the first person to die on the island under mysterious circumstances and Thalia is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Blake, she learns had come to the island looking for her birth mother and found herself caught up in the gothic glamour of White Hall, the old mansion filled with ghosts and secrets. Had she come too close to uncovering those secrets, and is Thalia going to follow in her footsteps, right into the grave?

This was eerie and unsettling and atmospheric. I love a good gothic read and this was immersive. I loved the pacing and the writing style and I finished this in a couple of sittings.