Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!

A mix of murder mystery, magic, religion, and witch crafts.

I was a bit confused up until chapter 5, which, in my opinion, is when I felt the book started picking up. The book finally went in depth and I finally understood what it meant about the FMC, Weatherly, can only talk death out once and not twice. If I didn't read the synopsis, I would have been super confused about Adaire's role also. I wished the book had opened up by explaining their powers so that way it's more clear to the readers. The writing style was hard for me to grasp. I couldn't connect to Weatherly or any of the characters. It was hard at first to understand why Weatherly was so broken over Adaire. I didn't feel a strong connection with them in the beginning at all.

Now to the good parts....

Ok, how did I not see that coming until Weatherly found evidence? I didn't even suspect who the murderer was. Then, the next twist had my nose deep into the book. I was shocked to discover the truth. And don't even get me started on the epilogue. The epilogue itself makes me want to dig deeper! I really want to know what's next!!! Somehow, I found the epilogue was better and more interesting than the whole book. That alone caught my attention!!

Gritty, gothic and paranormal.

The plot and pacing are top tier! It was hard to put down, I had to figure out what was going on in this Appalachian community. The authors description of the backwoods was so good you couldn't help but visualize everything, even the characters.

I loved the way that folklore was used and the way Dana combined mystery, paranormal and a bit of romance, it kept everything moving and the story interesting.

Trigger warnings for mental illness, child abandonment/abuse and death.

3.8. An interesting read. A little hard to get into but then it went a bit quicker. A good debut novel with a tinge of Where the Crawdads Sing mixed with Practical Magic. On the other hand. A little too gothic for me. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased and honest review

This was a different kind of read. It has the feel of Where the Crawdads Sing. I've grown up in Appalachia and the author really gives you the feeling of the south. As far as the things going on and the time, it's more like back in the 1930s. The gifts handed down to the opposite sex is a real thing. Not sure about the death talker but removing warts and other stuff and bible verses really work if you can find a person who does it. I loved this book. I was surprised about the touch of fantasy. To me, that was my favorite part. Wish a book would be written about that part and the two characters. It's hard to reviews this because it's such a different read. The first part sort of made me cringe and then it took off totally different but if you stick with it, it all comes together and in the very end you find out about the prologue and what really happens and why. I loved the characters except granny. Think I'd have to give her the pillow test at night while sleeping lol.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for my copy

I didn't expect this book to be so engrossing from the outset. The plot is dark, the prose is gritty, and the reading experience visceral. Although, the horror elements were perhaps a bit gratuitous. The author really brings the story's Southern setting to life and fully immerses the reader in the content. It was all interesting enough to keep me reading. Unfortunately, it just wasn't my kind of fantasy in the end. While I enjoy magical realism, I need to be in the mood for it. Not to mention, witches and witch-crafty books. And I wasn't this time around. But that's on me and does not take away from what I believe is a hard-to-put-down tale about an Appalachian girl with a long family legacy to live up to. That is, a strong propensity for folk magic (death-talking) and getting into all sorts of small-town trouble. I also really loved the unique names for the characters (Weatherly, Rook, Bone Layer). I would recommend this story to anyone with a gothic-leaning taste, who is also into family dramas, murder mysteries, and true grit. Slight warning: this book isn't for the faint of heart. You'll know from the stomach-turning prologue if it's a good fit.

**Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Appalachia, people can have some rather strange and unique beliefs. Living there is a unique family like Weatherly Opal Wilder who is a Death Talker. What is a Death Talker, it is a person who whispers to Death and stops the person from dying. There is a magical crow called Rook, who can become human and speaks to Weatherly. The matriarch is Weatherly’s Grandmama Agnes who uses herbs to cure the locals ailments and the Sin Eater Oil, the mucus spat up by Weatherly to produce wicked potions. Weatherly’s cousin Adaire is killed and Stone Rutledge is accused of killing her. However, when the case is dismissed, Weatherly is determined to find out what really happened.

I enjoyed this magical tale of strange beliefs, family and the loyalty one has to them, and how a town can be divided between the haves and the haven nots. This was an enjoyable read, I liked the friendship among Weatherly and her friends, the family angst, on one hand being the local outcasts and yet being visited by those wishing to end their ails with a potion. The author does a wonderful job of letting the reader feel the tension between family members, between the wealthy and the outcasts, between Weatherly and her gift. Good story, good characters, enjoy the mystical elements of this story.

I was super lost the entire way through. Like things happened and they weren’t explained (the prologue) and the writing just wasn’t the right fit for me. The concept was super interesting but I just couldn’t follow through. It was a hard book to get through, since I was confused the entire way.

**Features:**
- Explores themes of loss, grief, prejudice, family secrets and justice
- Magic and mystery based in Appalachian folklore
- Creepy atmosphere

This haunting book is a phenomenal small town mystery with a heavy dose of folklore and magic. Dark and atmospheric, this story quickly draws you in. It is definitely the kind of story that throws you right in and though you might start off feeling a little lost in the woods, things quickly come together and get more interesting the deeper you go. Many of the characters are slow to develop and a lot is left unknown, but it feels very intentional and each feels authentic and unique. While I definitely see why this book is compared to Where the Crawdads Sing and Practical Magic (the book), I think some readers will be caught off guard by the magical elements of this book. Even though it is folklore based and fits into a very realistic setting, this book firmly crosses into the fantasy/paranormal realm rather than leaving us questioning whether or not magic is truly at play. Overall, if you are interested in a dark, magic infused mystery, this one is definitely worth picking up!

**Pro: Secret keepers**

Unlike many in the small town of Black Fern, Georgia, the Wilder family have not forgotten the old ways. In addition to passing down an extensive knowledge of herbs and remedies over generations, the family also passes its magical abilities. Whether or not others in town believe in the family’s magic, they all consider the Wilders a strange and backwards bunch. It is no wonder that the Wilders keep their secrets close. However, Weatherly Wilder will learn just how much they are keeping even from each other and how dangerous those secrets can be.

One of the things that I really applaud this book for is how it lets the reader sit with these unanswered questions about the Wilders, their magic, and their history. It does not try to over explain itself nor does it try to fill this uncomfortable space with unnecessary cliches such as inner dialogue where the character states there is a secret they can’t tell without actually revealing anything of consequence. Elmendorf makes phenomenal use of their characters and events to clearly convey that there is more going on than meets the eye and creates an understanding of how or why some of these secrets are kept hidden. There is just enough information to make sure the reader doesn’t get lost and to create a desire to discover more.

Overall, I think this masterful handling of how information is developed and revealed throughout the book makes this an intriguing reading experience. This is definitely not a book for people who like everything explained right away and/or who want everything to tie up nicely in the end. This book is content to leave some things unresolved and/or not fully explained. However, I think this approach really worked for a story like this and loved every second of it.

**The Breakdown: Wandering**

In some ways, this book’s strengths are sometimes its weaknesses. In the effort to create the sense of mystique as the mystery unfolds, there are a lot of elements introduced but some are left unresolved. Where this largely works for this story, it can also be a little frustrating when one of these side elements interests you but then seems to be forgotten and/or unimportant to the overall plot. Though I understand why it is not in this story, I personally was left wanting to know more about Rook and his role.

My only other nitpick would be that Weatherly does not consistently use an accent or colloquialisms that would be appropriate for the region and her cultural background. It comes out more strongly on some occasions, but will then be largely absent. It is not extremely noticeable or jarring, but there were a couple of times it stood out to me.

Had a slow start but as the story progressed, the pace picked up as well. On the surface, this is a story about a very poor young girl, Weatherly, growing into a young adult, who has the ability to 'talk the death out of people', a gift given to her by her Papaw. Her cousin and best friend, Adaire, dies under questionable circumstances but her death is considered an accident; Weatherly does not believe this and is determined to find her killer. A mystery is introduced when she can't save a local boy who happens to be the son of a wealthy, influential man, who also dies and who she also can't save. A lot of unanswered questions as well - who exactly is the man named 'Bone Layer'? And I'd like to know what made the Grandmama so bitter. Weatherly is almost a victim of her own powers but she keeps them in check, doesn't abuse them. A small girl, she holds life and death in her fragile hands. And then there's Rook - an intriguing character and I'm still not certain what to make of him. This is a fascinating story that held my interest to the end.

This ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. I really was looking forward to this book after reading the synopsis but it didn't hold up to what I was expecting. The random formatting was very distracting. There was a lot of potential for this book it just fell a bit short.

“Folklore is stronger than science in Appalachia.”

3.5 stars……I requested an ARC of In The Hour of Crows because I love stories with “some” magical realism and stories that take place in Appalachia. This story had both. I loved the storyline, I loved Weatherly, Bone Layer , Adaire and Davis, I despised grandmama. If I’m going to be honest this story had a little too much magical realism for me.

5 stars for the underlying story, 2 stars for the magical realism giving this book 3.5 stars.

For anyone who likes this genre I highly recommend this book. I will definitely try another book by Dana Elmendorf. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

NO SPOILERS In the Hour of Crows was a mystical magical novel set in Appalachia, an area full of mystery and superstition. The hour isn't exactly happy hour as it covers a lot of incidents related to death and rebirth in a rather unappealing manner. The main character Weatherly has what is referred to as a gift or a curse in that she seems to be able to connect with people who are almost dead, and bring them back to life by her inhaling a black fluid from their lungs into her own, and teasing death away from them. The ability was given to her by her grandfather, and can only be transferred from mail to female to mail in order to be effective. Her grandmother is a sometimes witch also, an evil and manipulative woman who uses her gifts in a more personal way choosing whom to punish, and instructing her granddaughter whom to save.
Weatherly grew up with absentee parents, not finding out who her father is until the end of the novel. The death of her cousin Adaire, with whom she was extremely close, starts the domino effect as Weatherly assumes the death was no accident, but murder, and she sets out to discover w'ho done it'. We are introduced to the usual menu of alcoholics and crazy relatives as she proceeds with her investigations which taker to the brink of sanity on occasion. As a child, she became fascinated with black crow feathers, and the young man named Rook, who seems to appear at the most unlikely times along with a flock of crows, often to save her from herself and her erratic behavior. As she ages, she meets Rook at different stages of his life as well, but he always seems to practice a disappearing act. At times, Weatherly is not sure if he is real or a figment of her overactive imagination. Adaire's Death is surrounded with questions, many of which Weatherly feels will lead her to discover the puzzle of her paternity, and why her mother abandoned her. In true southern style, we are led through the setting of Georgia in some of the most poverty stricken areas with characters such as Bone Layer and Raleean tagged with improbable names. The book was entertaining, if not believable, and one gets involved with the characters, wanting to know the answers as badly as Weatherly did.
This book requires a little more careful editing as one can accept some of the poor grammar as being part of the southern dialect, but other errors are merely spelling: whoever proofread it does not seem to know the difference between "lie and lay", for example.; he, or she also seems unaware that you can say "between you and me", but when the lamp host is added, it would be "among you and me and the Lamp post ". There are many other grammatical errors, but I had to accept them as simply being part of that southern dialect as many pronouns were used incorrectly. From beginning to end, I wanted to take a red pencil to the novel, but since I was reading the Kindle edition that wasn't possible. I am submitting this review, as the book was supplied to me by the publisher and exchange for an honest review.

"I was born in the woods in the hour of crows, when the day is no longer but the night is not yet".

This was so many things... creepy, beautiful, haunting, hopeful. I loved it. In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf followed Weatherly, a Death Talker. She can sense peoples' soul songs and can sometimes trick death into leaving a person alone for awhile. Her beloved cousin, who was able to see the future, was just killed in an accident. Weatherly began to think that it was something far more sinister and occassionally gets help from Rook, her friend who can turn into a crow. 1980's Appalachia was the perfect, rich backdrop for this story. The writing was brilliant, and Elmendorf was masterful in how she could surprise the reader with such nonchalance of horrifying situations.

In the Hour of Crows is an intriguing, atmospheric fantasy-mystery. With a unique voice and perspective, I enjoyed the hell out of most of this book. I thought that the pacing sagged in the middle, and few of the characters are “sticking” for me, but while I was in the book—I was 110% there for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for the ebook ARC. All options are mine alone.

Dana Elmendorf is a YA author making her adult debut with In the Hour of Crows. I've seen this book refered to as a cozy mystery in some places and it does sort of fit into that slot with its small town setting and quirky characters but I feel there's more suspense than mystery in this book. There's also a touch of Goth, dark magic and the paranormal in it. I guess that just goes to show that not everything can be neatly pigeon-holed. Weatherly has grown up in a bad situation. She was abandoned by her mother and her beloved grandfather, Papaw, died when she was young. Before he passed away, Papaw handed his gift down to Weatherly, making her a Death Talker or a person who can talk the death out of the dying. This is an amazing talent and tremendous burden for a young girl to carry. Weatherly's grandmother wants to harvest the Sin Eater Oil that is a by product of her gift. With the oil Grandmama can create potions, charms and curses. She's got Weatherly firmly under her thumb, until Weatherly's cousin and best friend, Adaire is killed and the man who confessed to killing her goes free. This is more than Weatherly can stand and now she's looking for answers, answers that her grandmother and others don't want her to have. Eventually, with the help of her friends, Weatherly uncovers secrets about herself, her cousin and the family she never knew. She just has to find a way to prove it before the police or the killer find her.

Mystery, Magic and Murder

A tale of Appalachian folk lore, a young girl and a murder. Weatherly lives with her grandmother but often spends time with her favorite cousin Adaire and her aunt Violet. Her mother left her with her grandmother and her father is unknown to her.

She has a special gift of drawing death out of people, which works most of the time. A mystery is evolved around this gift and the death of her cousin Adaire who was hit while riding a bicycle. Now other deaths have surfaced and Weatherly is being blamed. She must solve the murder and prove her innocence.

It is an intriguing story, a little hard to believe at times seems a bit of fantasy. It was a good reading story and almost believable knowing some of the remote areas have strange customs. I found the part about Rook and the crows a bit hard to believe.

Thanks to Dana Elmendorf for writing an interesting story, to Harlequin Trade Publishing for publishing it and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

In the Hour of Crows was such a fantastical, mysterious book set in the Appalachia region of Georgia. Such a deep novel of a young woman trying to live after tragedy strikes.

While I read the summary and knew what to expect for the novel, I was a bit thrown that there wasn't a romance in the book. On NetGalley the publisher information listed Harlequin, so I expected a romance. It's definitely not that! Fair warning.

I truly enjoyed this book! Everything about it made an engaging novel, from the characters to the plot itself. The first chapter opens in the middle of the story, with the Wilder's heading to the courthouse to see if the judge will go forward with the case that the mayor killed Adaire on purpose (he doesn't), and it does not slow down at all.

As someone who didn't grow up in the Appalachia region, it did take me a minute to get into the flow of the words and language, how this area of the county talks. I really appreciated how the author stayed authentic to that, as it immersed me more into the story and the feel of the region. It depicted a more accurate and sympathetic story written this way.

How the plot unfolds was well done, if a bit predictable. I had a strong feeling from the beginning that Lorelai was involved in Adaire's death somehow. I was also a bit disappointed that the motive was money, felt like a let down. The did like finding out about who Weatherly's dad is. I am perplexed by the epilogue chapter. What happened to Rook? Is he fully human now? What was that last scene between him and Weatherly about? Is there going to be a sequel to this? I thought this was a stand alone but who knows now a days.

I loved all the characters! They were so fascinating, yet deeply flawed. Going on this journey with Weatherly of proving her innocence was so fascinating as it really became a story about how to move on from trauma and her hometown. The abuse she endured her whole life can be left in the taillights now, and I'm so happy for her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this amazing book.

Wow! This book is absolutely spell binding! I loved every page! I devoured it!

It has magic, mystery, and the paranormal. Just enough of each. It is a bit creepy and will give you goose bumps and tingles down your spine.

Parts of it gave me flashbacks to Where the Crawdads Sing.

I absolutely loved this book. It is one I will read a second time through, and with my mounting to be read list, that's high praise!

Highly recommend!

Five stars for me!

In the Hour of Crows tells the story of Weatherly Wilder, a young Appalachian woman who saves the lives of many people with gift of death talking. Throughout the book we hear of the many tragedies and triumphs that plague Weatherly’s life and we see her sort through them to find her truth. This story gripped me from the very beginning and took me on a wild ride that I could never have fathomed. I really enjoyed it and couldn’t set it down, would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys a bit of magic and suspense.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you #HarlequinTradePublishing and #NetGalley for providing this #ARC Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is June 3, 2024.

• family secrets • dark magic • murder • Appalachian folk magic • 4.5 Stars

#InTheHourOfCrows by #DanaElmendorf is a Southern gothic novel set in a small town in Appalachia. The story follows Weatherly Wilder, a young woman gifted with the supernatural ability to "talk the death out of the dying," a power that comes with the price of being tied to her community. When Weatherly's cousin Adaire, a Scryer who can see the future in dark surfaces, is murdered, Weatherly is determined to uncover the truth behind her death. This novel has been described as a "gorgeous feast for the senses" that captivates readers with its blend of supernatural elements, gritty realism, and atmospheric storytelling.
that captivates readers with its blend of supernatural elements, gritty realism, and atmospheric storytelling.