The Witches of Bone Hill has a little bit of everything for spooky season. There is romance, a haunted inheritance, witchcraft, magical realism, family mysteries, and sisterly bonding.

For me, this was a quick and enjoyable read. The plot moved quickly and there was plenty of action to keep the pages turning. I really enjoyed the background on the ghosts and previous matriarchs of the Bone mansion and thought the magic itself stemming from Nordic lore was a new and unique twist that I had not previously encountered before. That being said, I had an issue with a few of the plot points. The first was the entire storyline revolving Cordelia's ex-husband and the mob. To me, it was completely unnecessary and didn't really make much sense. I also wish the romance between Cordelia and Gordon didn't feel so forced. I though there could have been more interactions between the two of them that would push them together as lovers instead of just simply him looking hot and them being in the same room together.

Overall, if you like books by Alice Hoffman or Jennifer McMahon, The Witches of Bone Hill will definitely be up your alley. For many, it will have just the right amount of spooky magic and a pretty tame romance that could easily be read and enjoyed by anyone from teens to more senior adults who don't appreciate a lot of spice.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ava Morgyn, and St. Martin's Press for an Advanced Readers's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Witches of Bone Hill is a captivating and enigmatic novel that seamlessly blends mystery, magic, and family drama. Morgyn's skillful storytelling and well-crafted characters make this a must-read for fans of supernatural mysteries with a touch of family drama. Prepare to be entranced by the secrets of Bone Hill and the journey of two sisters discovering their hidden powers and the truth that binds them to their family's legacy.

The strength of Morgyn's storytelling lies in her ability to create a vivid sense of atmosphere. The old Victorian mansion and the crypt exude an eerie and haunting ambiance, making them almost characters in their own right. The characters, including the sisters, are well-developed, each harboring their own secrets and personal struggles.

You must pick up a copy tomorrow, September 26, 2023. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin Press, and SMP Influencers for this advanced reader's copy.

Close your eyes, Cordelia, her mother would say. Don’t look at them. But more importantly, Never, ever speak to them.

The Witches of Bone Hill is a perfect story for the Halloween season with it's Gothic tone, supernatural mystery, and two sisters on their own trying to figure out and survive their family history and legacy. Told all from younger sister Cordelia's point-of-view, readers come into her life as it's completely falling apart. Her soon to be ex-husband has cleaned out her bank accounts and is currently destroying her credit as he gallivants around with her former assistant, that she caught in flagrante delicto with her husband in the kitchen. As she's trying to sell her house to stay ahead of the creditors, receiving a note from a bookie threatening that she is now on the hook for her husband's fifty grand owed, Cordelia receives a phone call from her sister Eustace, who she hasn't talked to in five years. It seems the great aunt that they have never met has passed away and left them her estate, which includes a house called Bone Hill.

This place, with its gothic sensibility and family history, might hold the only answers she could hope to find about who and what their mother was, why she left, and what happened to her.

Right away the story sets the tone as the sisters are driven up to the old Victorian looking home, with it's gables, turrets, and antiques. Once inside, they discover a picture of women standing in a circle and one in the middle levitating, along with a pentagram looking shape on the floor of one of the rooms. I could feel the spookiness already creeping in and when Cordelia looks up the stairs and sees a woman in black dress and white hair, I knew the chills where on the way. Cordelia and Eustace's mom always kept them on the road, never settling for too long and never talked about her family. The sisters are confused as the home and antiques seem to point to the family having money and they start to wonder why their mother kept them from it. Cordelia sees this as an opportunity to sell and get the money she needs to pay everyone off but the estate lawyer, who claims to come from generations that have served her family, tells the sisters that they must stay at the house, as there is a contingency against them selling. The will obviously is a way to keep the sisters at the house and while it generally worked, the contingency talk later on got a bit messy and I felt myself just having to go along with it.

What concerned her more was the hulking groundskeeper and his bedroom eyes, the things he wasn’t saying more than the things he was, the effect he had on her. Men like that didn’t roll out of the womb covered in ink and defiance— they were damaged somewhere along the way. And Cordelia hated to admit just how much she yearned to know what his damage was.

Along with the estate lawyer that will have you wanting to keep your eye on him and his nephew that acts like a chauffeur, there is the groundskeeper, Gordon, who makes you want to keep your eye on him for a different reason. Adding in some romance, Gordon is a former rock star who's mother worked on the estate as a maid and then had her own mysterious death. Gordon seems to be working there as a way to grieve and maybe find out what really happened to her. Cordelia and him have some instant attraction and then it becomes what all does Gordon know and can Cordelia trust him. Since I was mostly here for the chills, I really enjoyed this little romance additive but it's definitely not the star of the show. Cordelia and Eustace trying to figure out their family history and the supernatural elements are the spotlight and they delivered.

When she opened her eyes again, she read the answer in the mirror before her, her heart icing over. In the blood dripped and spattered across the opposite wall, righted only by the reversal of its reflection, one gruesome, gut-twisting word had formed.
Witch.

The first half of this book had me thinking this would be a five star because I love Gothic mystery and this had the setting and the tone but the second half meandered a little too much and then, along with the contingency, some threads got a bit too disheveled in trying to keep the mystery alive. Cordelia and Eustace's family history was fascinating and I liked how it brought in an unexpected element of old Norse history with the supernatural. I thought the villain of the piece was pretty obvious and then when we got the whys, they had gotten too lost in stretching the story out for a little too long. The whole mob, owing money to the bookie thread really seemed unneeded to me and shared some of that messiness I was talking about, it could have been removed in favor of streamlining, cleaning up the story; Cordelia already had enough reasons to be desperate for money.

“I am what lies behind,” the woman said. “And I am what lies ahead. Hella of the Bones. Speaker for the dead. I wield the Seidr.” She drew near to Cordelia , placing a finger between her breasts. “And you are of my vӧlur.”

Cordelia and Eustace's relationship added some heart to the story, with the sisters coming together again after the five years of estrangement and Eustace had her own magical journey. While most of the tone of this was Gothic, the second half and ending did bring in some horror elements, there was very descriptive scenes of animal cruelty and general blood and gore. The magical lore created, ghosts, and human relationships all made this a spooky seasonal read that I highly recommend.

“Don’t you want to know?”
“If we’re witches?”

This book is a perfect read to give all of the Fall vibes! There is family, drama, mystery and witches! The setting and atmosphere in this book added a dimension to the spookiness of the story. I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going on and to solve the mystery of their family secrets. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

I picked this book up because I like stories about witches. This was an intriguing tale of two sisters who inherit not only a house from a great aunt they didn't know, but a family history mired in secret rituals and magic.

Description:
Cordelia Bone's meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts.

When her older, carefree sister, Eustace—a cannabis grower in Boulder, calls to inform her the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.

But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt's aging attorney who insists they inhabit the house and retain it but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.

As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that's been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill.

My Thoughts:
What began as an inheritance and hopes for a new beginning descended into a fight for survival as Cordelia and Eustace unravel the family secrets and try to overcome the malevolence that come with their inheritance. The story became very tense at times as the sisters faced threats. The house was full of dark secrets. The bone rituals were interesting and kind of creepy. There was some humor in the book though. I liked the characters and their desire to become part of the community (if they could ever leave the grounds of Bone Hill). I would recommend to anyone who likes witchy stories.

Thanks to St Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

This was so much more than I thought it was going to be. There was mystery, horror, drama and romance. I love all of these things. Combined in this one book made the story so so good. I did not want to put it down. I wanted to know all the things. I loved the sisters. I cried for Marvel. That hurt my heart. I would read more in this world if I could. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Cordelia Bone has a secret, as in “I see dead people,” kind of secret. When her whole life blows up and she is drowning in chaos of her ex husbands making her estranged sister, Eustace, reaches out. Right when she needs it the most it appears she has caught a break and a possible windfall of an inheritance is just within her grasp. The only catch is she is going to have to learn some truths about herself and her family that she has spend the majority of her life trying not to face. The Bone sisters make their way to the family estate and finally learn about the legacy and powers they are destined to inherit. Or would be at least if mysterious forces weren’t trying to keep them away.. A murder mystery, family origins and hunky tattooed groundskeeper join the mix in the delightful and suspenseful witchy mystery. The only downside is that the stores eventually has to end. This reader would love to hear more about the Bone sisters of Bone Hill!

Thank you so much Net Galley and Ava Morgyn for the opportunity to read this and leave an honest review.

The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgan was a great story about two sisters who were estranged for a period of time, but forced into a reunion due to the passing of their aunt. Quickly, they realized how much they missed each other and how without the other, there was a void for each of them. Each of the sisters have different feelings about their new situation, but also, are discovering new abilities, as they learn more about their ancestry and how their family are what their mother wanted to protect them from - the fact that they are witches.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and watching as both Cordelia and Eustace come to terms with the information they have learned. And of course, what is any good story without a bit of suspense? The Witches of Bone Hill gives you everything you want in a book about witches and didn't disappoint me and my expectations of the book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review an advance reader copy of this story.

Cordelia’s life is falling apart. Her husband has cheated on her and racked up tons of debt in her name. She is about to lose it all. Then she is notified of her great aunt passing away in a small Connecticut town. She and her estranged sister head up there to take care of her aunt’s estate. Little do they know…a family secret is looming!

This story is a little bit of everything…family drama, murder, secrets, ghosts, and of course, witches. I enjoy how this tale manipulates the reader. There were times I was afraid it was about to be a horror book, then it twisted again.

I fell for both Cordelia and her sister Eustace. Both of these ladies are so different. And their interactions with each other is classic sibling love!

Need a good witching tale for Halloween season…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review

Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


Content warnings: gore

Rep: sister bonds

Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:

...This was a weird book for me 🤔. And I didn't really enjoy it. I've seen a lot of reviewers compare this to Alice Hoffman and she's not an author that I have enjoyed; but if you have enjoyed Hoffman's work then I would give this a try.

I thought that the writing was fine, but I kept getting confused about what was happening. One minute the character (Cordelia) is doing one thing and then all of the sudden by the 4 sentence she's in a completely different part of the house or she's having a conversation with someone who I didn't even know was in the room. It honestly just felt like whiplash and it kept taking me out of the story.

This is a debut novel so I am giving the author some wiggle room, but this unfortunately was not my fave 😭

DNFed this one. It just wasn’t what I expected. The writing was good, but the pace was very slow. I wanted something either a little more fun or a little more spooky. The author was trying to build the atmosphere in the beginning, but I just wasn’t feeling the spooky, creepy vibe of the house.

You may enjoy this one if you’re…
- looking for a Halloween read
- into descriptive writing
- wanting a slower paced book
- into mysterious families and their secrets

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for my eARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I was interested in The Witches of Bone Hill for several reasons - the description sounded interesting and I thought it had a cute spooky season cover!

In this novel, we meet two sisters who inherit the Bone Family estate, but it comes with many strings attached - moving to the property, etc.

I wanted to love this book, but it just never hooked me. I read 80% of the book without feeling a connection with the characters or the story, so I set it aside and haven't gone back to finish it completely.

First, I love how the author writes. She's amazing and her description are so good ! The way she describes ghost had me feeling scared. I could see them in my head !

It was too scary for me. I thought it was more of a small town witchy books and it is but there is clearly horror too and I can't read that kind of books.

I know some people who will love it though but that's not me ! 🙈.

THE WITCHES OF BONE HILL is definitely a tale for readers that delight in the macabre and things that go bump in the night. Two sisters inherit a very spooky house and a twisty family secret that unfolds a tad too slowly for my taste. While we await explanations for all the weirdness that unfolds, we experience life through the eyes of the sisters as they very slowly piece together a better understanding of their mother. This book will be great to read for Halloween. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I didn't remember what this book was about before reading it, and looking at the cover I assumed it was going to be more of a cozy witchy romance/ mystery or a combination of both.
While this is a witchy, it's definitely on the darker side. There is a family home filled with ghosts, one of whom may or may not want revenge.. and all the family history and secrets that Cordelia and her sister Eustace ever wanted to know.
When their aunt dies, Cordelia and Eustace are left the family home, one they never even knew existed, it comes at the perfect time for both of them especially Cordelia whose entire life has just fallen apart. But the house comes with some unexpected things, some unexplainable things. Cordelia and Eustace are going to dig through every room and uncover every single secret, hoping it will shed some light on why their mother left home, refused to return, and ended up dead.

I loved seeing Cordelia and Eustace rekindle their relationship, and grow even closer as they try and figure out what the heck is going on with their family. The road to uncovering it all was full of twists and turns, and the suspense of having someone or something try and drive them out really kept me invested in the story and glued to the page. I also really liked that it was a bit darker full of blood, death, and magic. I really enjoyed this book and will absolutely check out future books by this author, and dive into her backlist.

Author: Ava Morgyn
Book Name: The Witches of Bone Hill

ARC
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin & NetGalley for an ARC of Ava Morgyn’s The Witches of Bone Hill

Stars: 5
Spice: 2

Standalone
Fast Paced
Single FMC POV
Low Fantasy Gothic Adventure
Heavy Vibes
similar vibes to Mexican Gothic

- Topics
- Overcoming Trauma
- Becoming the Turst Version of Yourself
- Acceptance
- Family
- Tropes
- Haunted House
- Family Secrets
- Witches
- Occult Vibes
- Norse Mythology
- Romance Subplot
- Instant Love
- SPOOOOOOKY
- Thoughts.
- Such good spooky vibes
- Similar vibes to Mexican Gothic and
- Just such a good atmosphere
- Need a low romance, high vibe, witch book for Halloween this is it

The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgan was such a great book that I really enjoyed.

Cordelia is having trouble in her life. When her sister Eustace, who she hasn't heard from in a long-time calls and says she has intertied, she thinks this will be the answer to her troubles.

Once back together they are embroiled in a family mystery.

I love paranormal stories and especially witches' and this book is so well written.

I loved this book so much!

Have you ever wished that you got to randomly inherit a massive house in the New England countryside with the accompanying massive bank account & investment portfolio to go with it?

Sisters Cordelia & Eustace had an unconventional upbringing with their rolling stone of a single mother & her strange rules, & haven’t really spoken since they cremated her a few years ago. But Eustace reaches out to her sister just as Cordelia’s life is coming unglued with the news that they have a recently deceased great aunt they never knew existed, & she’s left her sizable estate to the two of them. Cordelia wants to just sell the place & start fresh with the cash, but once she & Eustace get there they realize there’s so much more to the family legacy than the house - and if they’re going to make it through this alive they’ll need to fully embrace their birthright.

The creepy parts of the estate are so well done, from the widow’s walk, to the basement full of surprises, to the eerie bedrooms frozen in time, with the family crypt out back & the Bone motto of “Silent in life, vocal in death,” & I particularly loved the description of the chilling solarium with its pond. The simmering romance between Cordelia & the groundskeeper, Gordon, adds another fun aspect to the story, and though I felt like the writing could use a bit more editing here & there the story itself was creative in all the elements it pulled together & it had excellent pace. I will say that I was not a fan of one of the major plot points because I’m an animal lover, but I got through that part to the end which resolved the many issues the sisters faced in a pleasing way.

Thank you to NetGalley & Griffin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover deceived me on this one. It was a little darker than I was expecting. I went into this thinking it would have Practical Magic vibes. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right read for me at the time so I DNF'd.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book. I had the highest of hopes for it. Sadly, there was so much disconnect and confusion that I almost DNF. Which is so rare for me. The plot sounded fun, and the characters sounded intriguing before I read. The story just sort of stayed bland, and the characters were just not relatable for me. I wish I could have loved it.