I wanted to like The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish so much. I mean, this should be absolute catnip for me as a reader: Victorian era, ghosts, books, magic, spunky heroines!

And yet it was not. I have liked Brackston's work in the past, but much about this book did not work for me. As other reviewers have noted, the pace is glacially slow, and the prose trudges along. Bursts of action happen, and I thought the pace would pick up, but then those brief respites of excitement just as quickly slid back into the murky, dull writing and narration. For such an accomplished author, Brackston's writing felt immature here--so much tell, rather than show....and showing when she could tell. Characters, additionally, felt very two-dimensional, and never fully fledged, meaning this lead character, who could be interesting, instead flouders through a cardboard cutout sea.

So while I soldiered on through the book hoping--praying--it would get better and suck me in, it never did and I left feeling disappointed and defeated. I don't know what I'm reading that editors and others apparently enjoyed, but this one was absolutely not for me.

The ebook ARC was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are mine alone.

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is a captivating and fun story which begins a new series in which Hecate, the daughter of an esteemed archeologist, begins her job in England, 1881 at Hereford Cathedral as assistant librarian. The library houses unique items such as a medieval map and enticing chained volumes, as well as the spirits of ghosts who have been protecting the cathedral for centuries. Hecate begins to understand her mission as the human helper for her namesake, Hecate the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic. She starts to unravel the ancient mysteries and seeks to protect those she cares for from an evil force that she is only beginning to understand. As always, Paula Brackston creates strong and endearingly brave heroines, twisty, exciting plot lines and vivid settings. Can't wait for the continuing adventure!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a pre-release edition of The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Paula Brackston for the ARC!! Now into the review, I LOVE Hecate!! The story was amazing and well written, the only detail I’d wish for is a longer ending. It felt a little rushed and like we needed more info to truly wrap up the story. Was a fantastic read though!!

I was thoroughly enthralled by the Witch's Daughter and eagerly anticipated Paula Brackston's newest literary endeavor. It encompassed all of my expectations and showcased the same exceptional writing style that I had previously relished. The characters seamlessly inhabited the story's world, compelling me to persistently immerse myself in its pages. I usually go darker, but this was an enjoyable change.

I’ve read almost every Paula Brackston book and loved them all. She does an amazing job of mixing historical fiction with magic.

She’s done it again with this one. I immediately felt connected to Hecate and her world. Even though some bad things happen in the book I still felt cozy while reading it.

I will definitely read more of the series. If you like this book I highly recommend checking out Darcy Coates’ Gravekeeper series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Paula Brackston and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish. I have written this review voluntarily.

Brackston’s latest appears to be the first in what promises to be an exciting series, I’ve seen some reviewers complain about the end being unsatisfying. I found it quite the opposite - for me the end is a sort of gentle cliffhanger. No, the singular villain has not been revealed but that only serves to make me anticipate the future adventures of Miss Cavendish. And that definitely doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of a satisfying climax - in fact there are two very compelling scenes that lead to the end.

My previous reading of Brackston’s books led me to expect a slow burn of a story, and that’s what I experienced here. The story moves along at a gentle pace as Hecate navigates her new position as Assistant Librarian along with her mother’s ambition that she conform to society’s expectations of a young woman. Once the action starts, though, watch out. You’ll be turning pages as fast as you can read.

As a librarian, I connected right away with Hecate’s love of her new work. I enjoyed reading about her work and reveled in her discoveries. Additionally, I was delighted to find that the Hereford Mappa Mundi really exists and spent an enjoyable hour or so reading about it and exploring its images online.

This reader is definitely looking forward to more Hecate Cavendish.

I've read some other reviews and it seems the common "complaint" is the ending. Here are my thoughts on this. As I was reading the last few chapters, I questioned if there were enough pages for the story to resolve. To me, there is much more of this story to be told and I am excited, if there will indeed be more, to read whatever comes next. I guess this COULD be a standalone but I would be sorely disappointed if that was the case.
I love a book where you fall in love with the characters and I absolutely adore Hecate. This is the type of book that I want to devour every word and that's exactly what I did. The world that was built and the lore in the story was exquisite. I could vividly picture what the author must have been imagining as she put pen to paper.
I will say that I will experience extreme disappointment if this doesn't continue on to be a series. There just has to be more! Even if the ending would've completely tied up the story in a perfect little bow, I would still want more.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction with a dash of paranormal, thriller, and mystery.
I hope to read more of Hecate's story in the near future.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Here I am, once again straddling the middle ground.

I liked Hecate’s character. She’s smart, opinionated, and headstrong, at a time when women weren’t supposed to be any of those things.

I loved the magic concept, the atmosphere, and the setting.

Pacing is uneven, with lots of oh so slow movement. Like the kind of slow that had me falling asleep with my Kindle in my hand. The kind of slow that you could skim endlessly without missing anything important. Then we’d get to a fun or interesting part, and bam, it’s over, and we’re back to meandering.

In the final quarter, we’re suddenly tossed into a whirlwind of activity. Unfortunately, for me, what was meant to be a terrifying, extended scene came off almost comical. Because the whole tone of the story up until then was a slow, cozy mystery, the “horror” aspect just didn’t work.

Then we go back to meandering.

Then that ending! And, no, not in a good way. The story just, well, ended. Not a cliffhanger, leaving us in anticipation for what’s to come. Not a powerful explosion, full stop. Nope. Just a little poof, a quiet sigh.

Maybe that was me sighing.

I do think this story has tons of potential, but…

This book overall is slow and sometimes hard to follow. At a quarter of the way through the book, the premise of the book was not revealed nor was it making sense what the plot was. It’s pages and pages of going back and forth between home life and trying to discover souls or ghosts in a library. I love ghost and horror stories but this just was not it. It was very hard book to get into and stay into.

This was my first book by a Paula. I was extremely invested the characters. I loved her world building and the relationship she had with her dad, that he didn’t try to shove her in a box, even in this historical fiction world. The atmosphere was perfect. This was the perfect combination of period peice and magic. I cannot wait to finish this series!!

Hecates enthusiasm for books holds a special place for me.
Thank you St. Martins Press and NetGalley for sending this to me.

This is more like a 3.5 star. It would've been a four or 4.5 if I had liked the ending but I was not a fan of it. Everything else I enjoyed. The characters were amazing; they were charming and all had their own personalities and quirks. I loved seeing a supportive dad in a Victorian-era setting. I have so rarely seen that and it was so refreshing. The writing style was just beautiful and worked so well for me. I now want to pick up more books by this author. I loved the ghosts in the story and the paranormal aspects of it. Honestly, I wanted them to lean more into the magic side of things because the aspects we got of that were great.

The author's exquisite attention to detail beautifully brings the characters and era of the story to life. As I delved deeper into the book, I found myself increasingly engrossed in the narrative. However, I must admit that the initial 14 chapters proved to be quite a challenging read. Typically, I breeze through a book of this size within a day or two, but I found myself only managing to read 15-25 pages before needing a break. It took me a week to reach a point where the story truly began to captivate me. Despite the slow start, the tale itself is compelling and definitely worth persevering through the detailed beginning. I eagerly anticipate the next installment in this enthralling story.

4.5 stars
STRONG recommend

This was a fascinating book that I would classify as a gothic mystery set in Victorian England. It is centered around the Hereford Cathedral where Hecate Cavendish works as an assistant librarian. Once she arrives, all sorts of unusual paranormal and mysterious events occur. What is happening and the mysteries need to be solved!?!

Hecate is a fascinating character and I cannot wait to read more about her adventures in this series!!

This is the first book that I have read by Paula Brackston. I love how she wove such a mystical and fascinating storyline!

Meh. I liked other books from Paula Brackston, but this one was too slow for me to really enjoy, and I didn't care for the characters at all. I was not invested.

For me The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish was just the right combination of strong heroine and continuing adventure. I loved the secondary characters and the overall world unfolding. I devoured this book and will definitely read other books from this author.

Thank you to Net Galley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I really loved the main character, Hecate in this book, especially her voice! She is so delightful. It was a bit slow to my taste to start, but as I got into it, I couldn't put it down. The ending was a bit of a cliff hanger so I can't wait to read the next one. Noting that part of this story is about an African people who are portrayed negatively, and while I understand that this group was made up and not real, parts of it still bothered me.

First off thank you Net Galley and St. Martin’s press for this ARC.

Set in the late 1800’s London, Hecate Cavendish has just gotten her dream job as a library assistant at the cathedral library. In a society where women should be worrying about finding a suitable husband, Hecate prefers to spend her time with books. It’s here at like library that Hecate learns she can communicate with ghosts! Thus setting her on a journey she never expected.

I love the premise of this book. The idea of communicating with ghosts and solving a murder was so interesting to me. However, the book was a little too slow for me. There were parts that dragged and I just felt like nothing was really happening. I really liked Hecate as a main character, but the other characters felt a little one note to me and there wasn’t a whole lot of development.

The magical aspects of the story were great and definitely stretched my imagination. I love the time period the book was set. There was so many things I really wanted to love more, but overall it just left me wanting more. Thank you again NetGalley and the publishers for this book.

So when I decided to read The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish, I didn't know that it was the first in a series. Quite frankly, the book seemed to go on forever, so getting to the end of it and not feeling like much of anything was resolved made me feel exhausted, and not so interested in reading the next book. The story tends to go into mundane details that don't contribute to the overall story. The story also seems to oscillate between almost cozy mystery like, where a young woman discovers she has the ability to see and speak with ghosts (souls if you please) and that map in the library where she works comes to life with all kinds of fun little critters, including a griffin she's particularly fond of. But it also tends to parts that read more like out and out horror, with evil spirits, possessions, exorcisms and malevolence. They don't really work well together - nor with a woman being courted by two different men as an additional storyline. Also, and this is strictly a personal opinion, I'm ready to move past stories where the Christian church is the "good guy" and the evil is coming from a culture interpreted as savage by the church. It may make sense with the time in which the story is taking place, and while I appreciate the fact that Brackston made Hecate a strong female character, I don't love how she positions good versus evil, and there's things that Hecate herself does that seem particularly dismissive of the people around her in pursuit of pursuing her ability to commune with ghosts. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to be impressed with this story.

It checked all my boxes as far as what I most look for in a story.

it fell short somewhere in the middle for me and never seemed to recover.

3 generous stars.

This was my first Paula Brackston novel; she's been on my book radar for years, as I'd read several reviews comparing her writing to that of one of my favourite authors, [author:Alice Hoffman|3502]. So I was very excited to read an eARC of this book through NetGalley.

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is the first book in a series that seems more targeted at YA audiences. It is a Gothic mystery set in a small town in 1881.

The namesake heroine is excited to have a new job at the local cathedral assisting the persnickety librarian in maintaining a catalogue of rare books, most of which are kept on chained shelves.

Hecate is the daughter of an archaeologist and loves history. This is her dream job, but she is working against her mother's wishes and societal expectation, with her father's support, which causes tension in the family. She has a sickly younger brother, Charlie. She is determined to be an independent woman and dearly loves her new-fangled bicycle but is highly conscious of her family obligations.

Hecate is especially fascinated by the library's old map, The Mappa Mundi, full of exotic figures and mythical beasts. When she dares to touch it, it comes alive for her - and a ghostly griffin emerges!

Suddenly she can see other friendly spirits at the cathedral, including a monk in the library, a lovelorn lady, a former soldier, and a very fastidious cleaner. Soon secrets about her bloodline come to light - she is an avatar for the goddess Hekate, and as such has a duty to fight an old necromantic evil that is once again rising.

Brackston mentions extensive research into cathedrals in the Afterword, and it shows in the writing. The cathedral is lovingly and realistically rendered, from the cloisters to the pipe organ. She excels at maintaining a tone of gloomy, oppressive foreshadowing dread right up until the rather abrupt and cliffhanger-ish ending.

My problem lies in the pacing. Although the details of the atmosphere are so well evoked, I didn't feel much connection to Hecate as the main character, or indeed any of the others. The romance was not affecting or particularly believable. The major plot twists were easy to see coming. There is a distance to the writing. Like other reviews have mentioned, the slow and steady pace really drags and has a curious lulling effect. So much so that I considered not finishing it several times; but I did love the little griffin and mythological references, so I kept on reading. By the time things finally come together and begin to get interesting, the book is over.

It also doesn't know quite what it wants to be. It is an odd melding of historical adventure (through Hecate's father's work), cozy English village mystery, Jane Austen style marriage concerns, traditional ghost story and supernatural horror, with an unconvincing romantic triangle thrown in.

Although I think the story has potential, I likely won't be following the series.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC and chance to review. Publication date is July 23rd, 2024.</i>