Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

A myriad of things are haunted in this gothic horror novel: our protagonist Meg, her old friends' family estate Wren Hall and even the water that surrounds it. Drowning in her sorrows after being suspended from an elite art school—one she can only attend via scholarship—Meg jumps at the chance to reconnect with the Wren twins in the hopes of once again landing in their good graces. She needs them if she wants to return to the school she loves. She needs them if she wants to feel like <i>herself</i> again.

One weekend at Wren Hall to celebrate Halloween, and things could possibly go back to the way they used to be. Expecting a lush estate, Meg is surprised by the dilapidated state the manor is in and the eerie lake beside it. Things are definitely not as they appear, and many more secrets than just what happened at the ball last term will come to light... some of them screaming.

The water remembers.

This book wants to be beautiful and full of lush, evocative prose, yet for me it didn't hit the mark. A handful of pretty words could be strewn together in a sentence, but oftentimes left me feeling hollow rather than enraptured. Detailed, winding descriptions are a staple of gothic lit so the inclusion isn't a poor one... I just feel like another round of edits could really make these passages <i>sing</i>.

This is a decent enough first forray into gothic horror, for the younger crowd looking to dip their toes into a new subgenre. Readers who enjoy dark acadamia will likely enjoy themselves as well, seeing as many common tropes and motifs from that subgenre are also present. I loved the messy relationships and all the bean sí or banshee lore in this novel!!

I think that I'm a bit too old for the story this novel wanted to tell, but that hardly means it's unsuccessful. The cast of British teenagers all act and sound like modern teens, which may put off any potentially older readers but ultimately the YA tag isn't really <i>for</i> us. I know I would've eaten this up back when I was in high school!!

I enjoyed this book, the ending totally surprised me. I did think this book was going to be a lot more spooky based on the cover and blurb, but the flash backs to things in the past with all the drama really kept it a "safe" level of spooky. Its YA though so like--I get it. I had lingered on a 4.5-5 star rating but man if I wasn't salty about hearing about Seb constantly but getting the ending we got. Like did girlie just not spend the whole book talking about how much she wants this man. (Granted, I think he's trash anyways, but still. Girlie wanted this red flag man let her have her mistakes. Shes young 😂)

A very gothic, spooky, isolated setting was top notch for this book. It is set in Ireland, in an abandoned (not completely) estate, where a group of friends gather to mend their friendships and air everything that has gone wrong that one faithful night. Of course, ghosts are involved, Irish folk lore, scared look and whispers from the locals and a bunch of friends that keep their secrets and feeling close to their heart till they explode.

I appreciated this story of revenge, and murder and unreliable narrator. It had enough creep for horror light.

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and Random House children for my gifted copy to review.

Meg’s attempt to make with her former group of friends takes a sinister turn during a weekend gateway at ancestral Irish estate where something lurks in the lake near by. The past and present collide.
This book was for sure not something I would have normally read. And I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. I found myself getting annoyed with the poor girl trying to belong with a bunch of rich monsters. Even tho I could understand the age groups need to belong. Mix in this mysterious lake with something lurking in its depths and I was interested but not really into the writing style. It just wasn’t for me to be honest. I had to force myself to finish this book.
Like I always tell people, don’t let my review you deter you from reading this book. If the synopsis interests you, read it. Everyone has different opinions and you may like it more than I did.
I liked the cover of this book and it’s what drew me to it. Gothic and beautiful.
Rating: 3 stars

Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for a copy of this book. My review is honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

How much do you trust your friends?

School can be such a tumultuous time mentally with all the different social hierarchies and trying to fit in while also being true to one’s self.

This book was an eerie, slow building unraveling. It made you think about what you were doing at that age, but maybe not to this extreme. It was a non-linear tale that wove together past and present to put the pieces back together at the same time as the protagonist was uncovering things.

Very visual and descriptive that I could sense the foreboding feelings as well as the chill from the rain. It was the perfect story to read during a cloudy/rainy day to add even more ambience.

A creepy tale to make you question your own loyalties and how far you would go to get what you want.

Thank you so much to the author, Amy Goldsmith, Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this eARC of Our Wicked Histories!

Being the new kid can be tough, but being the scholarship kid makes it even harder. Meg longs to fit in with her old friends and find acceptance, but can she truly be embraced after the choices she made last year? *Our Wicked Histories* intertwines paranormal events with local folklore, yet the way these two themes clash at a haunted house leaves much to be desired. Goldsmith struggles to meld them seamlessly, relying instead on high school drama as the bridge. Unfortunately, due to the lack of character development, this connection falls flat. Sadly, most characters are quite unlikable, leaving readers wishing for their downfall.

I loved Amy's debut novel and thought this one was just as creepy and windy. I love her writing and find her stories so atmospheric.

This was a great spooky season read! It felt a little predictable in some places but that didn’t take away from the story for me! A good read

The setting and atmosphere were interesting but the main character and her friends were harder to digest, particularly Seb and his manipulating ways. Overall, fans of gothic novels and unreliable narrators will like this one but the setting shines more than the characters.

In theory, this ticked all of my boxes. Dark, gothic, probably unreliable narration ... I'm usually here for it. But this was executed so dully that reading felt like swimming through mud. I didn't care about any of the characters or their problems, and the spooky aspects of the story took their sweet time showing up. Lots of other dark academia-with-gothic-undertones books out there to choose from.

I loved this atmospheric gothic story of Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith. Gobbled this up!

Synopsis:
A teen girl’s attempt to make amends with her former friend group takes a sinister turn during a weekend getaway at an ancestral Irish estate in this atmospheric, literary horror from the author of Those We Drown.

It's a YA book but I'd say an older YA. Which doesn't matter because it was still a good and creepy dark academia book.

In Our Wicked Histories Meg is the poor girl who has been kicked out of a high class school after an altercation with one of the members of her rich, preppy group of friends. Trying to get back in their good graces, she attends a Halloween party in a run down house in Ireland that is supposedly cursed and haunted by a banshee.

First, what I liked about the book. The atmosphere was fantastic. A creepy old house, a lake with half submerged statues and an overabundance of choking green weeds, a paranoid small town nearby, and lashing thunderstorms. The storyline itself sucked you in; you wanted to see what happened next and what the big event was that caused the falling out with the others. The characters COULDN'T leave - they weren't just staying in a place where people were dying because they were being dumb.

What I didn't like:
The main character was incredibly selfish and made some poor choices. The other characters were shallow, annoying, and felt pretty similar to the characters in Those We Drown... in fact, we even copy/pasted the poor girl surrounded by rich jerks trope.

The drinking! Is that what high school kids do these days? There was not a night (and sometimes day) that went by where they weren't getting drunk and stupid.

The two-possibly two and a half-story lines. Honestly, in the end I didn't know if some of the events really happened or if they were just dreamed up/hallucinated. This was one time that I wish the villain had monologued MORE because I didn't understand why some of the things in the book even needed to be in the book.

WHY ARE GIRLS SO STUPID OVER CUTE BOYS??? A little self confidence would have gone a long way.

In the end, the book was good enough to finish, but not enough for me to rave about it to my friends.

It was a not-for-me-right-now gothic horror novel. I'd read her first one and enjoyed it so I thought I'd fall right in but I think I was a little distracted from the start. And the setting, in Ireland, definitely shifts the atmosphere and the fact that everyone's carrying secrets at Wren Hall and there's an ominous lake nearby- I wonder what deaths will occur and what secrets will and won't be spilled?

... that's how I felt because I've just read a few too many of these thrillers that I need a break because they're all blending together. Again, not that it's not a good one, just that I've been immersed in them and have a bit of overload.

Excellent ghost story.

I loved everything about this story from beginning to end.

I am looking forward to picking up "Those We Drown." It's great books like this that make me want to read an author's backlist. Amy Goldsmith will definitely be on my favorite authors list.

This story had me from the beginning. I love a book that makes me think things are going one way but then has me second guessing myself and everything and everyone.
Characters (while I didn’t particularly like any of them) felt fleshed out and developed in a way that made still sort of care what happened to them and gave everything a nice flow.
My only real complaint was how things were revealed as being suddenly remembered at the end, too much. If they had just been given to us along when learning about the event in the beginning, I don’t think it would have made the book any less interesting or riveting and maybe made it feel more seamless.

This was an interesting read, with some very intruiging characters.

Overall, very decent. It took me a bit to get into this book, but one I did, I did not want to put it down. A perfect weekend read!

Thought this one was okay. I was hoping for more of a punch to the storyline. The more I read about Meg the more I kind of didn’t like her, which led me to become a bit disengaged on what was happening.

The ending wasn’t surprising. It was also a bit ridiculous in one aspect. Ultimately, it wasn’t memorable. I hope others like it more.

Goldsmith’s visceral descriptions never failed to give me chills. I enjoyed the way the story built up, and couldn’t put the book down for the last 100 pages! The perfect mystery read.

A delightfully atmospheric and chilling gothic horror, OUR WICKED HISTORIES is the story of a girl outcasted from her friend group who’s just trying to get back in their good graces. When they decide to meet for the weekend at Wren Hall, the country estate of the Wren girls and their family, it’s the perfect time for Meg to beg their forgiveness. The only trouble is, there’s something off about the estate, but especially the lake that surrounds it, and it soon becomes apparent that something sinister is lurking in the shadows of Wren Hall. ⁣
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What a way to kick off my end-of-summer spooky tbr! I adored this book. It’s atmospheric, it’s eerie, there are secrets and lies and plenty of things that go bump in the night. The story switches between past and present as we slowly learn the secrets that Wren Hall keeps, and it also sheds some light on the Wren family itself. The characters were all delightfully shrouded in mystery, particularly the Wren twins, and it’s quickly realized that each character, Meg included, are hiding secrets of their own. ⁣
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Bottom line — this was an immersive and sinister-feeling tale that’s perfect for spooky season. Definitely pick this one up if you’re a fan of:⁣
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🪦Gothic horror⁣
🪦Secrets and mystery⁣
🪦Rambling country estates⁣
🪦Dark academia ⁣
🪦Untrustworthy characters ⁣
🪦An overall feeling that something is lurking in the shadows waiting to get you.

Wickedly suspenseful and atmospheric, this is a story for the lover of gothic settings and dark twisty plots.

Friendships come and go, but Meg also lost her scholarship. When Meg’s once best friend, Lottie invites her to spend Halloween weekend with her and her lost friend group, she see’s this as a chance to make things right.

This is where the author introduces us to the ‘secrets and hurt run deep’ scenario and the weekend away at Wren Hall will prove to be a challenge for Meg. There’s a legend of skulking evil, a host of awkward vibes and a murder!

This is my second book by Goldsmith and with each one, I become a bigger fan. Can’t wait to see what she writes next!