It’s 1931 in Arkansas, and Gracelynn lives on Tin Mountain, helping her granny with herbal cures for the nearby town. There are whispers that the women are witches, but as they’re helpful and don’t cause trouble, they’re generally left alone. But an evangelist comes to town and begins to stir up trouble. Granny recognizes the evangelist from her past, someone she hoped she’d never see again. As tensions rise, Gracelynn realizes that it’s up to her to save her family or flee the new dangers that plague the land.

This story is told from dual POVs – Deidre in the 1880s, and Gracelynn in 1931. While I generally enjoy dual POVs, this one didn’t work for me. The two protagonists’ characterizations were quite similar, which made them feel like they lacked unique voices. This made it difficult to feel an emotional connection to either character – they were written well enough to not detract from the work, but not well enough for me to become invested in either of them. Added to this, the events in their timeline were almost completely parallel. This led to confusion in keeping the two timelines separate as well as a sense of boredom and repetition as neither story felt unique. I did enjoy that the women in the story were flawed. This wasn’t a case of all-women-are-perfect feminism, but rather a realistic look at realistically flawed people who learned from their errors.

Another issue I had with this story was that it was so on-the-nose. The symbolism and metaphors were so blatantly obvious that it detracted from the message and impact the read could have had. Similarly, it felt that the author tried to throw in too many social issues, which left none of them feeling adequately explored or impactful. The setting also never came alive for me. Based on the cover and the description, I expected to be completely immersed in the setting with a small-town mountain feel and the added atmosphere of the supernatural elements. But it never felt immersive or alive. This could partially be due to the fact that I couldn’t find a connection to the characters, which then leaked into the rest of the book for me.

I wanted to love this one, and many other reviewers did, but I had too many issues with it to enjoy it. If you enjoy historical fiction with supernatural elements, you might enjoy this read. My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I enjoyed how this author describes things and the atmosphere they created. While this story has a commonly used theme, it is told in a way that doesn't feel repetitive and holds your interest. This book is told from the POV of two people in two separate time periods. While I enjoy a book that has more than one POV, I prefer for it to be at the same time. When it's more than one time period, it can get kind of hard to follow. I did enjoy how this story used real-life folk tales and supernatural legends.

The Witch of Tin Mountain is a depression era novel that focuses on three generations of women in the Arkansas mountains. The women are healers/green witches working with herbs and native plants. The story is told in dual timelines and explores the supersitions and folk wisdom of the Ozarks. There is also LBGTQ representation.

The book is strong overall, although there are some character similarities that make things a little convoluted. One of the characters, traveling revivalist Josiah, is portrayed as an unnatural presence. A focus of the story is the struggle women had to find and hold onto their own power, and the way that power impacted the views of those around them. I believe a powerful woman has alway been perceived as threatening to the status quo, and this book demonstrates some of that struggle.

I recommend to those interested in the historical lore of the Ozarks and those seeking a touch of magic or LGBTP representation.

Atmospheric, haunting and I enjoyed the spookiness of it. I hope to see more from this author and I liked the writing for this one.

Overall this was a really good book, even though it did get a little convoluted in places. There was a lot of moving pieces and a lot of characters so it did get somewhat confusing, but I really loved the magical system and the atmosphere and imagery. A solid story!

I thought that I would enjoy this even though it’s sort of historical fiction. But I didn’t. It didn’t pick up fast enough for me or keep my attention really.

I went in with a lot of hope for this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. The multiple POV’s are usually a thing I like, but the characters were so similar, I found it hard to keep track of who was who and what was what.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — Great cover on this book.

"The Witch of Tin Mountain" by Paulette Kennedy is an outstanding read that will leave you on the edge of your seat... 

Set in Depression-era Arkansas, this novel tells the story of three generations of women who are bound by blood and power, but also by an evil that has followed them across decades. Gracelynn Doherty lives peacefully with her adoptive granny on Tin Mountain, helping her work her cures and heal the locals who seek them out for help. However, when evangelist Josiah Bellflower comes to town touting miracle healing and prosperity, he soon has the entire town under his spell.

The writing is exceptional, and the pacing is perfect, keeping readers engaged from start to finish. The dual timelines work perfectly with this story, providing both context and suspense. The setting and dialogue are atmospheric, transporting readers to the Ozark Mountains where they can fully immerse themselves in the story.

What really sets this book apart is how it tackles same-sex relationships while also weaving in folk healing knowledge, language, and superstitions specific to the Ozarks. The representation of strong female characters is also remarkable.

Finally, let's not forget about the magical realism, which adds another layer of intrigue to this already captivating read. Overall, The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy is a must-read for anyone who loves a good historical fiction filled with supernatural elements and complex characters.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

An interesting dual timeline story. A multi generational family of green witches being stalked by an evil presence is a lovely addition to the ‘witch’ genre.

I really enjoyed the characters and the lgbtq representation. I was challenged with the characters from different timelines being so similar. It was difficult to remember the storyline I was in for the first half of the book as they were so similar.

Overall: recommend!

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉. 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕- 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.
Gracelynn Doherty and her adoptive Granny live in Tin Mountain, healers who turn to the earth and its cures to help the locals. The people of the Ozarks may be a superstitious lot, but it is 1931 and times are hard, poverty rules the day, they aren’t too proud to turn to the purported ‘witches’ for help. Gracelynn would hightail it out of there if it weren’t for her love of her Granny, who took her in when her mother died. There isn’t a person in town who doesn’t harass her, look down on her, except for maybe Abby. Things are only going to get worse with the arrival of Josiah and his revivals. Granny knows he is nothing but a huckster, but it’s a disturbing vision that leaves her frightened of the evil he is bringing. The people are falling over themselves for his attention and promises, especially Gracelynn’s spiteful Aunt Val. Who needs an old mountain witch when the stranger promises a rich harvest, food for their children, and those who are ill and infirm to walk again in good health? Why can’t they see there is something unnatural about him? Gracelynn is haunted by strange dreams, and it’s not long before the stories of women in the past begin to unravel.

The timeline shifts to Deidre’s story in 1881, shirking her father’s warning about the haunted holler and her mother’s advice to never give herself to a man before they speak their wedding vows. She helps her mother, birthing babies, even for women in the city. She has her own pastor to contend with, Ambrose Gentry, who means to start a church in Tin Mountain. He is special too, has a gift for healing and her mother is pushing him on her, feeling it would be good for her to get Robbie out of her system. It would be a more virtuous pairing, but who is her mother to talk? Deidre is soon having her own terrifying visions of fire, death and power. Visions as a warning but figuring out what it means is no easy task.

There is a witch that once burned, so the old stories tell. The land is cursed, because of her spilled blood, but is that true? How did a grimoire end up in Deidre’s family? When she is sent off to a finishing school, to escape the evil stalking her, trouble finds her but so does forbidden love.

Gracelynn isn’t faring better, her granny is half dead, half alive and the preacher is stirring up danger. Stories begin to converge, and the Grimoire is told in interludes. Women must discover power on their own in this novel, which isn’t shocking for the time period. One was expected to be a proper miss, and godly men had the upper hand. Superstition poisons the well more than any accused witch, and darkness always finds it easier to step out of the shadows when people are at the lowest and struggling with basic survival. Power, like that within a Grimoire, is easy to abuse, even with the best of intentions. Suffering comes in many disguises, and people are easy to fool. Just how do you combat darkness when, as a woman, you are forced to fight for any bit of power you possess?

I had a hard time with the characters and timeline. Deidre was a bit fickle, too, with her heart and burning loyalty. When the men aren’t on drunken tears, consorting with evil or trying to marry their daughters of to the lowest scum of the earth, they don’t much flatter on the pages. It makes a lot of sense the women didn’t turn to men for affection. I loved the folklore; I am intrigued by the tradition of mountain grannies and healing. Some superstitions tickle my fancy too, not so much burning witches, but not all mountain superstition is bad. Aside from fiction, the root knowledge truly was a way of life and not something a fool could master. It’s not lost on me the LGBTQ theme runs parallel to women in power, whether it be witching or knowledge in general. People who are welcome as long as you have a use for them, people who are a threat because they are different. It’s hard to be yourself if people accuse you of being godless. Any sort of supernatural book is hard to write without making it come off as silly, and with the mountain as a character itself, the haunted holler, it gave the yarn a more believable feeling. It was a decent read, I would especially recommend it for LGBTQ+ readers.

Publication Date: February 1, 2023

Lake Union Publishing

While the plot and basic story elements of this book are intriguing, certain character aspects strains credulity a bit, and make the different timelines seem a bit too much the same.

The Witch of Tin Mountain tells the story of two witches who fight an evil preacher. I was looking forward to this book because I heard great things about it. However, I did not like how religion was portrayed in the novel. I also thought the storyline was very confusing and should have had a single timeline. I did like the setting and thought it was the best part of the novel. It was eerie with a mysterious atmosphere.Thus, this novel had potential, but it was not executed well.

I liked this. I love American folklore, specifically in regions like the Ozarks. I wish I would have been warned about the heavy topics, and I didn’t love the ending—but I appreciated the strength of these women. I found it confusing that the idea of home is detailed as the people who you love you, not the place—and then at the end, it is the place that is emphasized.
I especially appreciated the author’s notes of how she sourced material and how this book came about.

3.5 Stars

This was the most aggravating thing to rate. I actually loved the book but some things were enough to bug me so I can not give it a full four or even five star rating.

I'll start with what bugged me...and don't worry I rarely talk about plot in my book. Read the synopsis or other reviews for that.

The story is told from two timelines one of the characters is based in 1931 and the other in 1881. Which is totally fine, their voices were just so similar that it took awhile to get used to them enough that I felt some connection with them.

The whole wanting to be a social warrior thing. You have religious trauma, multiple same sex relationships, abuse, mental health...so much going on. I felt preached at sometimes. All the men are mostly bad in this book. I know they can be turds but all of them?

Now for what I loved and I really LOVED these parts of the book.

The Granny Witch storyline. That is totally my kryptonite. (Well and dang southern books with the meth slung in). I LOVED this one. It's set in the Ozark mountains and I think the author really did her homework on some of the herbal cures and types of things that are practiced.

The women's friendships. These ladies stuck together. None of them were really perfect and they even admitted that.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

That intriguing cover image. Phew just suckered me in and got me to request the book from Net Galley.

Dual timelines with witches and an evil demon were enough to get me excited to get into the book. And for the most part, the author has done excellent work, taking the reader thru a fictional town called Tin Mountain and the curse that exists in the land from the burning of a witch called Annaliese. The journey then takes us thru two timelines, Dierdre in 1881 and Gracelynn in 1931 where the women in both eras must fight against more than poverty to live life on their terms.

Paulette Kennedy captures the imagination of the reader with some flawless writing. Tin Mountain was a picture in my eyes easy to imagine with its set of small minded people and their prejudices, asking for help from the witches but afraid to declare to the world. The spooky atmosphere of the hollow and the paranormal elements with visions adds to the chilling scenario even though the author carefully controls her tale without veering towards horror.

Dierdre is characterized as wilful and headstrong initially and I loved how the author showed her growth as she learns from her mistakes and takes on the demon to save her granddaughter. Gracelynn is however kinder as she has seen the darkness hidden inside a man from a young age and knows to be wary of all men. There are elements of LGBTQ romances in both timelines and a considerable number of characters and sub plots in the story that tend to confuse the reader a bit. And even though the overlapping becomes clearer towards the end, I wish there was a clear demarcation of Gracelynn and Diedre’s thought process that would have helped to keep the timeline separate. Sometimes the emotions conveyed by both women are so similar that I had to return and check if I am reading about Deidre or Gracelynn and the only reason why I am going with 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

In this fictional story set in Tin Mountain, Ozarks we go back and forth between Deirdre in 1881 and Gracelynn in 1931. The two stories are almost identical and being just 50 years apart makes it hard to distinguise at times. I kept going though and suddenly their connection appeared. From there on it becomes a fast and emotional ride. The Witch of Tin Mountain reads like a historical novel and has much to teach its reader about care and kindness in desperate times where natural healers are branded witches.
The main characters are part of a family cursed by a blood oath to a hundred year old shapeshifter, a demon influencing every part in their daily lives, effecting all people around them.
Supported by spells and rituals, generations work their magic to a powerful grand finale.
The added real life historical overview of the region makes this an especially wonderful read.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5323643529

Wrote my review on goodreads and cannot seem to be able to reverse post back to here. Click the above link to view on goodreads

This reads like a family saga from 1881 then jumping to 1931 with strong women through the generations. The author spins a very descriptive story which brings you in and holds you. Whether it's the historical background or the effect of the weather, you want to learn more. I had a bit of confusion deciphering who was who but it gets sorted out. If you like folklore and witch stories this will be for you. Strong women, dysfunctional families, abuse and homosexuality all enter into the story through these women. Highly recommend.

Read this if you like;
• Witches & Demon
• Strong Female Heroine
• Gothic atmosphere
• Magical Realism

I really enjoyed the author’s debut novel;<i>‘Parting the Veil’</i>, so I was very excited to read this book and suffice to say I thoroughly enjoy reading this one!

The plot is told in multiple POVs and dual timeline, which followed three different women whose unknowingly interconnected with one another by blood and the same enemy.

A well written story and well-crafted world building that brings out the gothic atmosphere throughout the story with the mysterious whispers and curses that will raise your goosebumps.
The characters are likeable but also flawed which makes them so realistic. I easily connected with them and also adore how they try to survive in those times.

There’s only one thing that makes me didn't full enjoy reading this book, it’s how similar both female main characters. Both sounds similar since they are experiencing the same troubles and fears but in different time which makes it difficult to differentiate them at times.

The ending is wrapped up nicely with that epilogue which lets the readers have a glimpse of how the characters lived their life.

Overall, this is a remarkable story about love, family and magic. It also has a great LGBTQ+ representation and covered a lot of heavy topics inside.
This book is highly recommended for those looking for a historical fiction with witchy elements and powerful women!
I’ll definitely look out for new books from this author in the future!

Actual Rating: 4.5⭐

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Sexual assault, child abuse, abortion, child death, bullying, rape

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, thank you to the author and Let’s Talk Books Promo for having me on this book tour. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’m always all in for the witchy vibes, and I really enjoy mother/daughter stories - so the combo of both is a favorite of mine. I love seeing how women share their histories and how each generation chooses to twist and use pieces of that shared knowledge in their own ways. I also really enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences in the response to women and witchcraft across time and the pull that religion has over people in vulnerable situations. This would be a fun book club read.