There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

This author has a haunting Gothic style that I adore and her sophomore novel wowed me as much as her debut novel..

The Wildling Sisters by Eve Chase is a 2017 G.P. Putnam’s Sons publication.

The Wilde Sisters arrive at the Applecote manor in 1959 to spend the summer with their aunt. The girls, Dot, Flora, Pam, and Margot are close and protective of each other. But, their visit to the lovely country estate is dampened by their aunt’s struggle to overcome her daughter, Audrey’s disappearance, five years earlier. The mystery consumes the girls, but the closer they get to the truth, the closer they come to possible danger, and tensions begin to arise between them over two handsome boys.

Fifty years later, with the memory of her widower husband’s wife constantly surrounding her, Jesse is ready to escape the city. Not only that, her stepdaughter was involved in an ugly incident, which figured into her desire to move. Applecote Manor felt like the perfect place in the perfect setting at the perfect time.
However, trouble starts almost immediately. Her stepdaughter becomes increasingly difficult to handle, her husband is always away at work, and disturbing rumors about the house finally reach her ears. As her stepdaughter becomes nearly obsessed with the strange disappearance of a former resident, Jesse feels her life is slowly unraveling.

This is one of those books I was dying to read, but it just kept slipping down the TBR pile. I do recall hearing a lot of buzz about this book when it was first released. I have read other books by Eve Chase and was very impressed with her work. But, what drew me to this one was the constant effusive gushing about the novel’s strong Gothic tones. As a huge fan of Gothic novels, I’m going to have to cry foul on that one, just a little. Yes, there are a few Gothic elements, but I didn’t feel they were as strong or pure as many others have. I was slightly let down on that front, however, the story was very compelling, with dual timelines, and a very atmospheric and absorbing mystery to uncover.

As is usually the case for me, I was drawn more towards the historical elements of the story, but the present -day scenario, while not really adding a lot to the mystery, suggests a possible air of pending doom, which was quite effective, and may have been a slightly underrated element in the story.

The author wound the story around until the two timelines merged in a poignant way, slowly releasing the pent -up tensions, and bringing closure to all in a satisfying way.
I am glad this one didn’t drop completely off my radar. The story has a lot of familial touches, bringing the characters to life in a vivid and emotional way, drawing the reader into their world with lush writing, dialogue, and descriptions. Eve Chase once again impresses.

Possibly too atmospheric? At the expense of the story (slow to build) and characters (divided by decades and slow to connect), the atmosphere wasn't enough to sustain my attention.

This one was pretty stunning. The Wilde sisters are being sent to their aunt and uncle's country home. Their cousin (their only daughter) has been missing for several years. Margot is determined to find out what happened to her cousin. In the present, Jesse is trying to find a house outside of London to make a new life with her family. They are dealing with their own set of issues. I like this type of book that tells a story in the past and one in the present. Both of the story lines are really good and the author successfully draws you into both.

"Applecote Manor doesn't dominate the surrounding lush countryside but settles into it, like an elegant elderly lady dozing in long grass."

Two years ago I read Eve Chase's debut novel, "Black Rabbit Hall" and enjoyed it SO much that I vowed then to read everything she writes. I've found another novel that will star in my Best Reads of 2018 post at the end of the year!

Written with dual timelines, this book will be relished by readers who are fans of Kate Morton, Rosamund Pilcher, Diane Chamberlain, and Harriet Evans.

Summer 1959: We meet the Wilde sisters. Flora, Pam, Margot and Dot - aged seventeen, sixteen, fifteen and twelve. Their father died in an accident and they are now in the care of their beautiful, though flighty, mother. The fatherless family is struggling financially, so their mother decides to spend the summer in Marrakesh where she has been offered a job by a friend. The Wilde girls are shipped off to the Cotswolds where they will spend the summer with their Aunt Sybil and Uncle Perry. They arrive at Applecote Manor to find Aunt Sybil and Uncle Perry much changed. It has been five years since their only daughter Audrey had vanished. Aunt Sybil has deluded herself into thinking Audrey will come home any time now.... She keeps her room at the top of the house just the way Audrey left it. She buys her clothes and shoes which will fit her now... Audrey was just twelve years old when she went out in the garden to play and never came back.

The sisters are very close. "I don't know who we sisters will be without one another to differentiate us. Take one of us away and we'd all lose our balance, like removing a leg from a kitchen table."

Now the Wilde girls are living at Applecote, Aunt Sybil favours Margot (the narrator of their story) for it is she that most resembles the missing Audrey.

"Applecote itself feels caught between the past and the present, life and death, a house gummed shut, waiting for news that never comes."

The summer of 1959 was known for being the hottest summer in recent history. Day after day of hot, humid weather. The girls turned brown and strong from spending so much time outside. They met some local boys. They explored the vast grounds, the orchards, the river, and the historic old standing stones at the end of the garden.

"A memory is a living thing; it breathes beside you."

It was a summer of transition, of growing up. It was also a summer when a tragic event marred their memories for the rest of their lives.

"Houses are never just houses; I'm quite sure of this now. We grow up. We stay the same. We move away, but we live forever where we were most alive."

Over 50 years later: We meet the Tucker family. Jessie Tucker is mother to tiny three-year-old Romy and stepmother to teenage Bella. Jessie and Will are madly in love, but Bella resents her new stepmother Jessie, and her little half-sister, Romy.

Londoners, the Tuckers have just moved to Applecote Manor. Will is a widower. Jessie wants a new start with her little family in a house that isn't permeated with memories of Will's first wife, Mandy. Also, both Jessie and Will want to remove Bella from her London friends and lifestyle because they feel it is not good for her.

"She had no idea that trying to love Bella, let alone parent her as she grew into an angry teen, would be like trying to hug an animal that wanted to sink its teeth into her neck."

Will owns a logistics company jointly with a college friend, Jackson. He plans to take a step back from the company and spend more time in the country with his family. But as life rarely goes to plan, Jackson tells them that he wants to sell his half of the company and move to Australia. This puts a real 'spanner in the works' for the Tuckers. This means that Will will be away MORE often instead of less. He will be in London all week, returning to his family in the remote Cotswold valley only at weekends.

The girls are alone in the big old house. Bella's behavior remains cold and her moods maudlin. Jessie begins to fear leaving Bella alone with Romy... Will's being away so much begins to affect their marriage. Jessie feels alone even when he is home at weekends. Just when Jessie feels despairing of their life at Applecote, events take another disturbing turn...

What can I say? I LOVED this book. The Wilde sisters and the Tucker family made an indelible impression on me. But the house, Applecote Manor, was the star of the novel. This is a story that explores the strength of family bonds. A favourite read that I will be recommending to many.

Intriguing, but could have been shortened. There was a superficiality to many of the characters; a lack of depth.

If you are looking for a solid, atmospheric read - look no further than The Wildling Sisters. This book bounced between 1959 and modern day in an old gothic house. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the past both in flashbacks and through discoveries in the present. I enjoyed the style of writing and the story. I listened to this as an audiobook and therefore had the added benefit of fun accents (I’m American!). On a personal note, I could very much relate with the primary narrator since I too am a stepmom. I thought that Eve Chase did a nice job of showing the love and struggles that can come with that title.

A very deep and strange family saga. Really liked the characters and that twist at the end!

This book was absolutely brilliant! It was captivating from start to finish as I was instantly sucked into the characters' worlds and their unfolding stories. Couldn't put it down!

I enjoyed Eve Chase's Black Rabbit Hall, so I was excited to read The Wildling Sisters. It started off really interesting, but the middle really dragged for me. The ending was really good, though, and I enjoyed the book overall.

Eve Chase definitely knows how to write a good gothic manor mystery. Just as in her first, "Black Rabbit Hall," Chase captures the reader with a slightly eery feeling right at the beginning of the book and then plays on that feeling throughout. In this case, the four Wilde sisters are sent to spend a summer at Applecote, the country home owned by their aunt and uncle, when their mother darts off to Morocco in the 50s. Their cousin, Audrey, disappeared when she was 12 (5 years prior to the older of the two plots in the book), and the narrator of that plot thread, Margot, looks enough like Audrey to begin to fill a hole in the fabric of the home and family. The counterpoint plot takes place in the present, when a young family in crisis moves into Applecote. The manner in which Audrey's disappearance in the 1950s, and the modern-day resolution to the mystery, affects both the Wilde families and the present-day family shows that the toughest of relationships can be overcome. However, in the meantime, Chase imbues the book with a real sense of menace and creepiness that seeps out of the pages into the reader's perception.

The characters are well drawn and believable, and mid-century vs. modern sensibilities are maintained. The plots are well developed, and their resolutions add details even while the author plays fair with the reader. What impresses the most, however, are the atmosphere and setting. Upon closing the covers of this book, one is likely to feel as though they've just returned from the dark and wet isolated English countryside.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A perfect gothic novel with family drama, secrets, and the coming of age of young women almost fifty years apart.

I was so excited when I heard that Eve Chase was coming out with her newest book this summer. I loved…and I mean loved BLACK RABBIT HALL with its completely fresh voice and atmospheric tone. And now, with THE WILDLING SISTERS, she has done it again. This book is a dark and rich tale of heartbreak, loss, drama, love, and family. The author has the ability to weave together a story that is both haunting and heartfelt.

In the pages of this book, you will seamlessly flip back and forth in time to relive the history of Applecote Manor’s tragic past all the while getting to know the current residence of the Manor living there fifty years later. With a balance of past and present, I couldn’t help but get sucked into the mystery of the house simultaneously being fascinated by Jesse and her relationship with her step-daughter. Through every exquisitely crafted scene, the author honors the core of who each of her characters are all the while unraveling a mystery that has been unsolved for over a half a century. Ugh…Guys…this story is so good!

I am truly in awe of Eve Chase. Her eloquence and storytelling is masterful. And just as I said after I read BLACK RABBIT HALL, I cannot wait for the next book from this author. All hail the Queen of Gothic Women’s Fiction. Eve Chase…you have a fan for life.

This book was amazing! We ordered it for our library!!

A beautifully written gothic story! Loved it! I had a hard time putting it down!

Compared to Black Rabbit Hall, this was much more up my alley! This novel has got a beautiful gothic atmosphere and a very interesting dual storyline that had me hooked from the start. There were a lot of positive things that the author did with this novel that really made me appreciate the story! Each character was unique and had their own distinct voice and character, which was really awesome to see. These characters were complex and each evoked a different response from me throughout the novel. I'm not going to lie, I was definitely more interested in the storyline taking place in the past; it was the one most surrounded by mystery and intrigue! I liked how the author weaved between Margot's story and Jesse's story... I only wish there had been more of that! Overall, this was a very well-written story with an amazing gothic feel and a solid double storyline!

The Wilding Sisters by Eve Chase encompasses several genres: gothic novel, mystery, and a coming-of-age story. The setting is a house in the beautiful Cotswolds region of England--Applecote Manor--and the novel featuries dual story lines which are set in the present day and the 1950s. As the novel opens newlywed Jessie, her husband, Will, their toddler, Romy, and Will's teenage daughter, Bella--who is obsessed with the memory of her deceased mother--leave London for what they think will be a more peaceful, bucolic life in the countryside. No one tells them about what happened at the manor back in the 1950s when 12 year old Audrey, the beloved and only child of the owners, disappears one day never to be heard from again. The other part of the dual storyline comes into play five years after Audrey's death in 1959, when her four cousins--the Wilding sisters--come to stay at Applecote with their still bereaved Aunt and Uncle during the summer because their widowed mother takes a job in Marrakech. Despite some dark elements in the story line, the author is such a compelling writer, that I was loath to stop reading--despite the fact that gothic is not my favorite genre--because I wanted to see how those two dual story lines would meld into the ending. Thank you G.P. Putnam' Sons and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it.

Applecote Manor in 1959 was home for Perry, Sylvia, and Audrey as well as the summer vacation place for the Wildling sisters Margot, Flora, Pam, and Dot until the summer Audrey disappeared.

When Audrey disappeared, the girls never went back until one summer when their mother decided she needed to get away from it all. She sent her daughters back to Applecote Manor to stay with their aunt and uncle.

This summer wasn't the best for anyone, though. The close knit sisters drew apart, and Margot was obsessed with finding out what really happened to Audrey. Along with everything else, Aunt Sylvia did a few odd things and kept things from the girls.

Meanwhile back to present day at Applecote Manor. Applecote Manor has just been bought by Jessie and Will against the wishes of their rebellious teenage daughter, Bella, who is mourning the loss of her mother. Bella gives her stepmother, Jessie, a rough time by continually making hurtful comments to Jessie about how she isn't her mother. Once Bella finds boxes of her mother's things, the comments get worse.

Bella also feels that Applecote Manor still houses the ghost of Audrey and her family. A few things happen that might make that true especially since Bella is living in the attic rooms where Audrey lived.

As we go back and forth, we find out the personalities of the characters are mostly carefree in 1959 until the disappearance of Audrey and quite tense in present day.

THE WILDLING SISTERS grabs you from the first sentence. Ms. Chase's writing is marvelous, enticing, and detailed.

I enjoyed both the present and past stories and loved the descriptions of Applecote Manor and its grounds when they were in pristine shape and in present day when both the house and grounds needed a lot of work.

If you like mysteries and family drama, the WILDLING SISTERS is for you. It has a hint of Gothic and an undertone of foreboding.

My review is here: http://www.bethfishreads.com/2017/07/stacked-up-book-thoughts-pre-vacation.html

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Summer of 1959, the Wilde sisters are sent to their aunt and uncle's house Applecote Manor, where their cousin Audrey mysteriously disappeared a few years ago.

Current day, Jesse and her blended family buy Applecote and become haunted by the strange rumors that surround the manor.

Just a so-so read. Not bad, not great.

3.25 stars