Ok... what just happened?!

I'm SO confused!! Hmm.. there are SO many unanswered questions that I have right now. Uhg... I hate books that leave you feeling even more confused and an ending that doesn't make sense. GRR!!

There was so much going on in the castle and it was hard to differentiate if Hannah was dreaming all these things that were happening in the castle or is it real life?

I feel like sometimes authors leave you with so many questions but sometimes it can be a bit too much. I personally, don't like when things don't add up at the end. The ending just threw me for a loop since I was left confused and nothing added up to me.


Overall, was a pretty good mystery but was hoping for something more.

3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub day: 11/1/20
Published to GR: 5/25/20

What a spooky place, that Brackenhill. I hope I never need visit it. Are they real? Is it real? Did she do it? What actually happened? Or did it? Keep on reading. Although it took me a while to really get into the story, I flew through the 2nd half of the book barely able to put it down. A unique story with some twists. Do you believe in ghosts? Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Kate Moretti for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I really enjoy atmospheric gothic stories and the setting of this book checked all those boxes. The mysterious castle in the Catskills with the reclusive family, past secrets, & tragedy everywhere you look made the plot move fairly quickly. The only thing that didn’t really work for me was Hannah’s character. I love an unreliable narrator, but she did some truly frustrating things. I was constantly questioning why she would do the things she was doing. Otherwise, the book was an enjoyable read. There were a few inconsistencies, but they didn’t really take me out of the story. Overall, this was a good mystery. I can’t say I was too surprised with the ending, but sometimes it’s comforting to read a (not exactly) predictable read.

This was a great gothic mystery about the castle Brackenhill that’s in the Catskills. This castle is the forefront of several mysterious events that involve Hannah’s tragic family life. Hannah is trying to discover the truth about her sister’s disappearance that happened several years ago. The house seems to come alive as she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth.

There was a lot to like about this book, and there was a lot of extraneous stuff in this one also. I thought that the setting was superbly written. Brackenhill is essentially another character in this book and it's done well. However, there is a lot going on in this book that is just too much. It's hard to explain. The pacing is decent, and the characters are good, especially Hannah. I did finish it, although I'm not sure if I'd recommend it.

Because of a death, Hannah returns to the castle where she spent summers until her sister disappeared, Hannah wants to understand why Julia left without her. Now their aunt has died, and there are so many unanswered questions surrounding the castle. The town below holds a grudge against her family, and are little help in getting answers. Hannah is determined to figure it all out.

I am a sucker for weird sister books taking place in upstate NY so this had my attention right away. I thought it was a solid four stars. I liked the family castle setting, the car accident catalyst made sense. It really seemed more like a ghost story than a memoir. I felt like some of the emotional bits fell a little flat but it was enjoyable and distracting.

This was a fast paced, gripping and highly claustrophobic book which doesn't let up from start to finish. I love Gothic stories and this had everything i enjoy best in them; twists, turns, family secrets and lots of chills. My favorite kind of book is one which keeps me guessing and this did exactly that.

I love this author and really wanted to love this book. Sadly, I found it confusing and slow. At 20% in, I still hadn’t really established what the plot was going to be, and by the time we got there, I had stopped caring. Ugh.

A fast-paced and creepy thriller, this book gripped me from the first page and kept me turning pages long into the night. Excellent writing and fascinating twist and turns make for a compelling story that keeps your attention throughout. Would definitely recommend!

I absolutely loved this "soft ghost" story that had such a creepy castle. This is my first book from Kate Moretti and I think she has now become one of my new auto-buy authors. The story was so creative and felt so original. The writing was perfect and really well done.

Captivating from the very beginning to the very end. This thriller has great pacing, lots of twists and turns. While I correctly guessed the answers to a few mysteries, it was the final reveal that I never saw coming— and I love that in a good novel.

I really enjoyed this story. It has many twists and turns, and when you think you have things figured out, you don't.
Many families have mysteries, and you don't always know, what secrets have been kept from you. The mind can play tricks, especially where teenage age girls are concerned. I think readers will enjoy this as much as I did.

As a big fan of Kate Moretti’s previous works, I was truly excited to get lost in her new claustrophobic, facing your past and dirty family secrets, traumatic experiences story.

It begins fast, a prologue from past: a girl’s killing and we turn back to present time to meet Hannah getting a phone call inform her estranged Aunt had a traffic accident and as a next of kin, she had to drive to the hospital which meant she had to drive to the haunted place where she repressed her worst childhood memories. Her dear fiancée accompanies her. But as soon as they reach the hospital, they find out her aunt is dead. First instinct of Hannah is running away without looking back like she did 17 years ago but now she needs to stay and turn back to their family castle located in the Catskills. An eerie, dark, bleak, suffocating place, full of family secrets.

As soon as she comes back to the place, Hannah’s blurry memories about her past start submerging. She has memories about her own sister Julie’s disappearance that she is scared of facing them. She thinks she may be involved with her disappearance because of her never ending nightmares where she finds herself holding a shovel, burying something or someone?

And now she uses her mental shovel to dig out more about her family’s past and she starts to think car accident that ends her aunt’s life may be a murder and somebody try to harm her family. Sometimes you gotta learn the truth in expanse of ruining your own life and changing your reality.
It was fast, gripping, moving, exciting book with so many whirlwind twists. Some of them were easy to predict and some of them were really witty and surprising. Hannah has so many flaws but she was still connectable character. As you learn more about her past you start to empathize with her and her sister.

It was solid, well-written, satisfying four starred read for me. This author never disappoints me and thankfully she helped me to get lost this mysterious, captivating, dysfunctional family drama.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for sharing this gripping ARC in exchange my honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

Hannah and Julie used to spend summers with their Aunt and Uncle. Hannah is forced to return because her aunt has been killed in a terrible accident. She does not want to go back to Brackenhill, so much has happened there and she does not want to lose what she now has. She had lost her sister there too. She discovers memories that she had buried deep in her mind. And even some secrets that should have been buried. A page turner that will keep you guessing until the end.

An eerie, atmospheric Gothic mystery with a setting so vividly drawn you'll actually feel the castle's cool air and hear its creaking doors. I was totally pulled into Hannah's world as she searched for answers about her long-missing sister and confronted her still-lingering feelings for her first love, all while spending time in a possibly haunted (and definitely creepy) castle—and I was shocked by the twist ending!

A gothic novel with all of the trappings: dead children, a spooky house, murky personal histories, sleepwalking, the lot. While the set up--missing girls and young women in a small New England town--is fine and the primary setting of the house and grounds detailed and interesting, none of the characters are very compelling or deep. The author's reliance on the trope of mad women, jealous women, and vengeful women perpetuates stigmas against the mentally ill and the longstanding stereotype of women as unstable, unable to communicate clearly, devious, and two-faced. There are also several inconsistencies and poorly-reasoned aspects to the story that undermine its chances of being successful for careful readers.

Girls of Brackenhill is definitely worth the read. It's a thriller mixed with paranormal and is truly creepy. It keeps you interested through out the entire book. The only downside is I feel like not all of questions posed in book are answered by the end.

Girls of Brackenhill is a very atmospheric, Gothic read that makes you feel you are right there at the castle helping Hannah find out what happened to her sister all those years ago.

Hannah Maloney and her sister Julia spent many of their childhood summers with their Aunt and Uncle at Brackenhill, a castle on top of the Catskill Mountains. Brackenhill had a history of mysterious deaths and disappearances, deemed haunted by the local townspeople, and making it the perfect place to explore for two young girls. For Hannah, Brackenhill was a refuge until her sister Julia mysteriously vanished one summer and Hannah was sent away. 17 years later Hannah receives a call that her Aunt Fae has been in a tragic car accident and finds herself returning once again to Brackenhill. When human remains are found on the grounds, Hannah begins to believe that Julia may have never left and decides to investigate what really happened that summer.

Girls of Brackenhill is a haunting mystery in which a woman must revisit her childhood memories to uncover the truth behind her sisters disappearance. What she finds is a town full of secrets and a house with a history of death and disappearances. Each new discovery ties the past to the present and puts Hannah one step closer to the truth. I really love Kate Moretti and the plot for this new book was very intriguing to me. Although I enjoyed this novel, I wasn't able to really connect with this story and its characters as much as I had hoped. The novel does have some interesting characters hiding some very dark secrets and the house adds a pleasantly disturbing element to the story as well. Overall this novel was a well written and entertaining mystery with the perfect touch of paranormal.