I found echoes of an old Daphne DuMaurier novel,complete with pounding seas, family secrets and angry dark seas. The title refers to a famous book written by a long dead ancestor of the protagonist Miranda. A novel thought provocative in its day in that it laid bare the lives of the women of The great house and all they had achieved whether by hook or crook in a time when families kept skeletons hidden and history cloaked in mystery,which brings the reason for our heroine to seek shelter in this remote family fortress. Miranda is running from scandal of her own,clutching a heirloom bestowed on her by her mother ,a talisman she constantly wears finds herself employed as a nanny for her uncles children. A fact her uncle seems too preoccupied to notice. I found the pace very slow and the unraveling of facts to get to the truth torture . If you like throwback stories in plot design your thing than this is the novel for you. I would have loved a bit more back story on Jean Laidlow the retired school marm she seemed a deeper well. Leonard his story while brief felt tacked on as a means to tie a nice bow in the end.

There is something about The Barnsley house and the women that reside there that is terrifying. Beneath the elegance and the glamor nothing is quite what it seems and when Tessa, our protagonist’s long dead mother, pens the infamous novel The House of Brides she unleashes something that has yet to be contained.

We follow Miranda a now disgraced influencer as she travels to Barnsley. She seeks out knowledge of her hidden away family and the secrets they all hold dear.

This was a book that I had very conflicting thoughts about. The plot is interesting but also very confusing. Most times I had no idea what was going on and had to reread several sections to make sense of it. The writing is simple and flowy, beautiful at times but there’s way too many descriptions about the most mundane things. Interactions between the characters are off and not believable. The climax putters and isn’t in the least bit surprising at all.

I didn’t like half of the characters but I don't think we were supposed to. What is family if not a slew of people who you can barely stand.

I did enjoy reading this however and it was an interesting premise. There are these hiccups but Jane Cockram does a wonderful job of keeping you entertained and wondering exactly what is going on. You feel for Miranda and although she did a lot of wrong even before the book starts with her blog and app mistake, you can’t help but have empathy.

All in all my curiosity was piqued during the entire read and I felt as though I wanted more at the end. This is a good novel for an author’s debut!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are mine.

After terribly failing at being a social media influencer Miranda's dad finds her a steady 9-5 job. The night before she is supposed to start she finds a letter addressed to her mom, an author of the book House of Brides (based on the Barnsley House where her mom grew up), who died which Miranda was young. Miranda snatches the letter to find it is from the Barnsley House in England and its from her cousin who probably doesn't know she exists. Miranda decides she wants to find out why her mom left Barnsley house to never return. She buys a ticket with her dad's credit card and when she gets there she pretends to be interviewing for the nanny job. As Miranda searches for answers about her mother and why she left. She meets people of her mothers past and starts to understand the horrors of the house.

A thrilling familial drama, The House of Brides follows Miranda - a young woman trying to recover from an social media snafu and decides to infiltrate her dead mother's ancestral home. Everything seems idyllic, but deadly secrets lurk around every corner. I quite enjoyed this book and found Miranda to be pretty sympathetic. The mystery of her mother's book and the currently missing matriarch of the Summer estate kept me glued to the pages. I highly recommend this book if you like claustrophobic Gothic mysteries, with a dash of familial drama!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The House of Brides was such an eerie read that I found unputdownable! From the beginning, Jane Cockram did a fantastic job with hooking me! The storyline was very well paced and there were several perfectly timed twists and turns that I didn’t see coming—love that! I was shocked that this is Jane Cockram’s debut novel because she writes like a seasoned veteran! The House of Brides is a 4.5 star read that will keep you reading way past your bedtime! I am excited to see what Jane Cockram comes out with next!

A novel for those who like a Gothic feel in their family dramas. This book is full of the dark corners and family secrets that are reminiscence of in Daphne de Maurier and Phillipa Carr, but she gave it a modern feel with the updated characters and setting.

Although a great read, I did find it lacking throughout. At some points I just wanted to get on with the story, yet I could put it down at the same time.

Following scandal Miranda, a social media influencer finds herself an unemployed social pariah. Floundering to find her place in this new existence she finds herself drawn to the past hoping to find a future through understanding the women of her family. This string of remarkable women all have one thing in common, the Summer ancestral home of Barnsley. Only upon arriving at the palatial mansion can Miranda uncover the secrets of the past to reveal the path to her future.

The House of Brides is a thrilling mystery which engages the reader in a quest for answers. The pace can be slow in areas but rounds out well at the close of the book. The protagonist is a likeable character who engages readers in the quest for answers. To enhance the atmosphere of this book Cockram provides beautiful descriptions of the English countryside and the Summer estate which embrace both beauty and menace. Recommended for those who love gothic mystery and women’s fiction.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I had an uneasy feeling throughout this book, and I don't mean uneasy in the thrilling, suspenseful, engaging way - I mean some thing seemed...not quite right. My eventual conclusion is that it was written by the same computer program that "watched" hours of olive garden commercials and then wrote one of its own. It's almost worth reading the thing so you can see what I mean. Almost.

I was very excited to receive an advanced copy of this book and appreciate it very much. This book had some very interesting and intriguing parts—mystery, historical aspects and drama. However, it moved at an incredibly slow pace and was quite honestly hard to stay engaged with at many points. Rather disappointing as the premise of the book was quite intriguing.