My Rating: 4*

Charlie Book decides he’s going to wait out the hurricane on a stranded freighter he’s been studying for the Texas Wildlife department. Though the storm is expected to blow itself out, being on the water has its own risks and the stranded freighter with its mangrove trees feels like the place he wants to be. However, his ex-girlfriend shows up with a baby in tow and a mysterious woman as well. As the storm rages outside, a struggle for survival starts happening on the inside of the ship.

Ruby and a woman named Mae (though I think the summary on Goodreads says Johanna), are seeking asylum and a place no one would expect them to go. Ruby knows Book works on the ship and feels as though they can use the isolation and the lack of connections to an old ex of Ruby’s. Nevertheless, a coven of witches seems to be after the women and the child they carry and now they all have to try and survive the storm and the witches who hunt them.

Based on the cover alone, I thought this might be a ghost ship book which I was pretty excited for. Yet when we dived into the thick of it, I discovered it was a witchy book and was even more excited. I do wish we had a bit of ghost and paranormal on top of the other, but it was a good story. I did feel there was a lot of talking for the people on the ship and not a lot of “doing”.

Charlie Book lives and works aboard the Christabel, a half-sunken ship located off shore in Galveston, studying a growth of mangrove trees that have made the ship their home. On a dangerously stormy night, his ex Ruby Cahill appears along with a woman named Johanna and an infant, looking for safety and shelter on the Christabel. Soon Charlie, Ruby, Johanna, and Charlie’s research team becomes involved in a struggle to save the baby from supernatural forces. This dark paranormal horror read is told from multiple points of view and the audiobook is well-characterized. It’s perfect for fans of the supernatural and of atmospheric settings.

I really wanted to like this book, it had all the right elements, witchcraft, estranged sisters and a super creepy setting; a rusting old boat with mangroves growing through it. Unfortunately, it fell into the tired trope of female witches as evil hags who need to sacrifice a baby. The setting was outstanding, and I’d love to see it used in another book

This is such an amazing book. It had on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next.

This is a difficult book to review. I would give 3.5 stars if I was able to do so. This book is very effective in so many ways. Golden is a master of build up and describing sudden horror in a really great way that creates a jump scare on the page (or audio). There are so many great scenes of horror in this book and the setting is top tier. However, the way that the villains are portrayed and the overall feel that I got from the male/female interactions, who was bad, who was good, who were the heroes, who saved the day, were strangely old fashioned for the book as a whole. Again, there are so many good things about this book but overall it could have been so much more.