“Steeped in Gothic eeriness.”–Nicola Cornick, USA Today bestselling author In Salem, they burned. Now, they will rise. New Oldbury, 1821 The house holds its breath, trying to outlast me… Something has awakened in Willow Hall. Eighteen-year-old Lydia Montrose can feel it. But she has no idea what it is. Rocked by rumor and scandal, Lydia, her parents, and her sisters, Catherine and … her parents, and her sisters, Catherine and Emeline, fled their sparkling life in Boston for the sleepy country estate. But bone-chilling noises in the night have Lydia convinced their idyllic new home wasn’t exactly vacant when they arrived.
The Salem witch trials cast a long shadow over the Montrose family as the cloying heat of summer in Massachusetts mingles with something sinister in the air. The sprawling history of Willow Hall is no stranger to secrets, and its dark past soon calls to Lydia, igniting ancient magic she never knew she possessed. But with menacing forces unwilling to rest, threatening to tear her family apart, Lydia must learn to harness her newly discovered power or risk losing everyone she holds dear.
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The Witch of Willow Hall interested me from the first page, well to be honest, the blurb had me wanting to get my hands on this one from the moment I read it. Their was a bit of every genre in this well-paced story. There was romance, betrayal, mystery, secrecy, and loss. Hester Fox did a wonderful job combining all of these genres into a historical fiction novel that would appeal to teens and adults alike. I definitely recommend The Witch of Willow Hall to anyone who enjoys a historical romance with a bit of mystery and the paranormal and commend Ms. Fox on a lovely debut release!
3AM, the witching hour! That is how long I stayed up reading this gorgeous book. And Hester Fox is officially an author on my watchlist and she should be on yours too if you enjoy sexy gothic historical romances. Actually had a few Victoria Holt vibes.
I have a very particular (or singular) taste in literature that is very hard to satisfy, so I normally have to read a few different genres and a few different books at a time in order to slake these needs. The Witch Of Willow Hall satisfied ALL my loves: it was romatic, sweet, clever, sexy and yet eerie and dark, part House on Haunted Hill and part Little Women (sorta kinda) and part something else entirely. The plot was fresh and well developed and the story threads were tied up so neatly in the end that I was thoroughly satisfied by the last bittersweet page. I never wanted it to end!
The main character, Lydia, I connected with and empathized with so well because her charcater flaw is so similar to mine and her own self doubt, which her sister knew how to use against her, was one of the biggest obstacles that sometimes frustrated me to the point I wanted to scream. And every time I felt I wanted to leap onto the pages and strangle Catharine, slap her senseless, Lydia remained calm (mostly) and behaved with integrity, bearing the burden of her sister’s scandal with such quiet strength that I couldn’t help but love her, even if I did want to shake her a bit now and then.
And what a scandal! This book shocked and delighted me, creeped me out, and held me under its dark spell (excuse the pun, I had to) for hours and hours and even after I was done reading, bleary-eyed and exhausted, I couldn’t go to sleep because I had to digest the story and all its careful twists and misunderstandings and frustrations and delights.
My only regret is that it took me this long to read it.
Spooky with a hint of romance. I don’t normally read this genre but with Halloween around the corner, I thought I’d give it a try and I’m glad I did!
I was quickly drawn into the story. The interaction between the sisters slowly unfolded from what seemed a natural antipathy between different personalities to something much more. I found myself staying up late reading.
Enjoyed this book very much. Added it to my personal library so I can reread it as much as I desire.
Not that good. Story kinda dragged out and start out weird.
The Witch of Willow Hall will cast a spell over every reader.
The Witch of Willow Hall is so spookily good I felt haunted by it. Totally obsessed with Lydia’s story… I absolutely loved it from start to finish.
The Witch of Willow Hall is a skillfully crafted gothic romance. There were times that I felt like I was in 1821 right beside Lydia.
The Montrose family flees Boston in the wake of scandal and rumors involving the eldest sister, Catherine. As they settle into the countryside, their father works to get a mill established with a local businessman, ghost seems to start to appear as tragedy occurs.
The entire time you slowly get bits and pieces of what truly caused the Montrose family to relocate and at the same time, you feel the weight on Lydia’s shoulders grow heavier and heavier. As this weight grows, her relationship with Catherine dissolves. Her relationship with her mother unravels. The only light she had is John Barrett. Who, she can’t really be sure she has either.
The scenes were rich in detail, dialogue and emotion. It made me want to continue reading well past the time I was supposed to be asleep. There were aspects that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and I needed to know more. There were heartbreaking moments but then there were times I felt so light, so hopeful I had to keep going.
I enjoyed every page of this novel and hope to read more by the author in the future.
Amazing detail. I couldn’t stop reading it! As a reader it changed my life because it was just such a beautiful tale.
The Witch of Willow Hall is not what I expected. I wanted a mysterious story with witches using their magic and ghosts creeping about the place. Instead, it turned out to be more of a strange romance novel. Catherine is a mean spirited and selfish woman who seems slightly off balance. She does not care how her actions reflect on her family or what must be done to clean up her messes (of which there are many). If her sister, Lydia has something, then Catherine will take it away. As they grow up, it becomes suitors. Catherine does not want Lydia to have any joy in her life and goes out of her way to make her miserable. Lydia and John Barrett’s relationship was frustrating. Lydia is awkward with him which leads to miscommunication, misunderstandings and outright rudeness. The unlikeable characters lacked development and the dialogue did not suit the era. I enjoyed the authors descriptions that helped me to visualize the story. However, the pacing was slow and then it becomes sluggish. The story is vague in the beginning with details slowly being revealed (if you stick with it that long). It all comes together in the end when disturbing information is revealed. I did find the last quarter of The Witch of Willow Hall to be the best. The story wraps up quickly at the end and some issues were left unresolved. The Witch of Willow Hall had potential. I wish the author had focused on the paranormal elements. If they had been developed, it could have made for an intriguing tale. As you can tell, The Witch of Willow Hall was not a pleasant reading experience for me.
Absolutely Amazing
Okay, I began this book because it sounded like it would be about a young witch discovering and growing into her powers (kind of Harry Potter-ish). It was that, but it was also a very adolescent point of view with the main character and her sister seemingly unable to have one scene without mooning (and arguing) over possible love with the resident men in the town. Maybe this doesn’t bother some readers, but it was very annoying to me, as an adult reading the story. I absolutely do not intend to read any more of this series and that’s a shame because, done differently, it could have led to really great future books. It’s no secret that I don’t like romances, and I kind of fell into this one by accident. For readers with tastes similar to mine, I don’t recommend it.
For me the story was about family dynamics vs witchcraft. What is interesting is the weakness of Lydia and her development. The growth of family secrets that stem from that time period and the characters kept me turning the page.
I went into this book ready for witches and didn’t really get much. It has some interesting things going on, very gothic feel with setting and ghosts too! So that was fun but this veered very heavily into family drama, secrets, and romance that I wasn’t really expecting.
It has been a while since I picked up any historical fiction, and I always forget just how much I like it. When I read the blurb for THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL, I was intrigued enough to add it to my TBR, although I did not really know what to expect. I mean, it was coming out around Halloween, it’s a historical piece, and there is some romance in there, so, why not?
I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. Author Hester Fox did a great job with developing these characters, giving them depth and writing them so that I became completely invested in their stories. The story was engrossing, and I found it hard to put down, drawn in by the hint of darkness and the gothic feel of it.
This book was extremely well done, and I really feel like, for a new author, Hester Fox is well on her way to making a name for herself. If her follow-ups are nearly as good as this book, I will happily read each of them, and recommend them as well. As it stands, THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL is an easy 4 stars for me, and no, it’s not just for Halloween time. If Gothic romance, with all of the requisite mystery and creepy edge to it, is your gig, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. You will not be disappointed.
I finished this book but felt it was bordering on juvenile reading. Gives an avid reader that feeling of wanting to shout, “I read actual literature, really I do! This is just a Beach Read.
Wow, where to I begin with this book. So, let’s start with the setting, it takes place in Massachusetts, even if the city is not so real. It takes place in the 1800s, always more spooky, right? And it’s about sisters, family creepiness that you can’t even think about it (yeah be prepared), there is romance (the old way, which is nice), ghosts (yeah, more creepy and spooky) and old secrets. And I guest I have pretty much told you what the book is about without spoiling it. lol
But, seriously…We follow this family that has left Boston and moved to their country home, Willow Hall, because of a scandal involving one of their daughters.
Willow Hall is dark in itself and history and Lydia, the middle daughter, the one that tries to hold the family together and tries hard on everything but also has some dark inside of herself feels attracted to the house, as if it can talk to her. And more creepily, she hears and sees things that anyone else does.
As the family get settle in Willow Hall, everything falls into place at the same time will fall apart, trying to destroy the family. And we will get to see if they will be able to survive it all and if Lydia can keep it together and protect everyone she loves.
This book was creepy at times, spooky but at the same time? It intrigued me so 4 out of 5 stars. And yes, I do recommend it, specially to read at this time of the year!
The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox is a period piece, a ghost story, a story of witchcraft, a story of family dynamics and tragedy, albeit a little more intense than most, and a romance. A big order for one book and Fox pulls it off nicely. It is essentially the story of the Montrose family: Charles, Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline, and their parents, Martha and Samuel who have been forced to leave Boston, due to a scandal and have settled in New Oldbury where their father is building a mill on the river band with his new partner, John Barrett.
Willow Hall is their new home, huge house with three stories and bedrooms aplenty where the remaining servants, Joe and Ada hold sway. Snip, Emeline’s dog quite likes the open spaces in which he is able to run and Lydia is taken with finally having the space for an herb garden. There is a pond on the property where Emeline (who is 8) hopes to discover mermaids. The plot is interesting; the characters are drawn with plenty of detail, both physical and emotional. Lydia has an ex-fiancé she left behind in Boston, not quite broken-heartedly, and Catherine is on the prowl for a beau and a social life. These situations are drawn in exquisite detail.
This was an enjoyable book to read, not believing in either ghosts or witches made it more fun and less frightening. The sounds of the night in both Boston and New Oldbury are drawn so well that a reader feels he/she is there in the dark with Lydia. The interactions of this family are ones anyone with a family will recognize, although their tragedies are far worse than most.
I recommend this book. It was a lovely read for anyone who likes period fiction.
The plot was intriguing and the characters interesting, #netgalley #thewitchofwillowhall
Loved this spooky, spell-binding debut from Hester Fox!