Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn in exchange for an honest review. I requested this book as it sounded similar to a book by Darynda Jones which I liked. While there were similarities, it was also different. This was a very interesting read and I thought it was really good.

Without even meaning to, I read two witchy/gothic books back to back and I am definitely not complaining. I enjoyed this spooky read so much! It was giving me Charmed vibes throughout the entire story (where are my Pipers at?), and of course that made me incredibly happy.

I loved the fact that there were so many witchy elements, but the book started off in the non-magical world. Seeing the sisters (Cordelia and Eustace) come into their powers was so much fun.

There was so much involved in the story and I loved every aspect of it. There was a romance, but it wasn’t a huge focus of the story and I thought it was touched on a good amount. There was also a great storyline about sisterhood and the power of families. That warmed my little heart, especially because I have a sister that I love to death. And the sisters were actually funny, and that was a nice little reprieve from the darker elements.

Also, the writing was wonderfully done and the author did an amazing job with the imagery and descriptions.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

The Witches of Bone Hill, by Ava Morgyn

Conceptionally, I love this novel hasn’t had many elements that I adore - spooky witches, and murder.

Where it lost me was the add on of a mob boss and their cronies. Because of that, the book felt a bit disjointed.

Selfishly, I would’ve preferred if the novel had left that part our of the plot and focussed more on the families curse, and the mystical underpinnings of this magical family.

In addition, the pace of the book was rather slow in many parts, and I struggled to push to the end.

That said as I did enjoy many bits of this novel, I intend to circle back to this book in the coming months to see if I will have a different experience and feel for the book which may have been impacted by the busyness of this spooky season.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my digital copy of this novel to read and review.

I grew to love Eustace and Cordelia Bone throughout their plight to save their family name and break the family curse. The organization of the book felt a little disjointed, but overall a good mystical and witchy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC which has not affected my review.

I enjoyed reading this book. Some of it ran a bit slow for me. At some point I almost put it down but, I’m glad I kept reading.

This was a perfect read for the spooky season!
The story ended up being more scary than I anticipated. The house was its own character, but the Bone sisters were the perfect pair to uncover the story of their family and the house that they inherited. I would suggest going in to this one without knowing a lot, it made it that much better!
Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

I was seeking a cozy fall book and this wasn't quite that. This was definitely more spooky and not in a Casper kind of way. I struggled to continue reading this, it wasn't griping my attention and I didn't feel connections to any characters.

This looked like the perfect spooky season read and I was so excited for it. Unfortunately it did not work for me and I ended up DNF’ing around 40%. The pace of the story was too slow for me and because of that could not hold my attention. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the mix of everything was just not for me.

I very much wanted to love this book - the cover is gorgeous and the plot sounded so interesting. However, I've had a really hard time getting into it. I don't connect with the characters and for me it's a bit too slow moving to really get pulled into the story. I'm sorry :(

From the moment Cordelia and Eustace enter the grounds of Bone Hill things start to get very interesting and tense. The house seems to have a life of its own. It has a creepy atmosphere with its decor of antiques and macabre curiosities. The people who work for the family are also a little odd or different and everyone seems to be keeping secrets. Added to this is the fact that the townspeople hate the family and are not friendly to Cordelia and Eustace at all.
The story is a bit of a slow burn as the two sisters struggle to understand their heritage and what being a witch of Bone Hill means. They also must accept their suppressed paranormal abilities that come to life in their new surroundings.
The final quarter of the book is very tense and exciting. There are a couple of scenes that are quite gruesome but it's very fitting to the overall feel of the book and goes a long way to creating a sense of menace and horror. I found myself glued to the book even more so at this point and I was on tenterhooks to see how the sisters would survive their ordeal.
A great book for the Halloween season and as a palate cleanser for the rest of the year when switching up reading genres.

Yet another book for October that I was really torn with. I really liked this book, it just wasn’t executed very well. To me, there felt like quite a bit of leading and most of what was going on was easy to figure out – well before the sisters got there. I think if certain aspects of the story had been threaded throughout it would’ve made it more intriguing and more of a mystery. For example, Gordon’s mother and the rhyme. The book also suffered some transitional choppiness between chapters – jumping forward in time or entirely new without much leading up to it. I was also not a fan of the reveal in the last portion of the book involving Cordelia’s physical state – it didn’t serve the plot. I’ll just leave it at that.

Eustace was by far my favorite character and the one that I identified most with (sans the weed). I enjoyed the sister dynamic as well, since I have three older sisters myself. I loved the house, the grounds and the family ghosts – they really helped set the atmosphere of the book. The history was interesting as well & it was intriguing reading about the sisters learning more about their (previously unknown) heritage.

"At the same time, she wanted to drink the stories in like good wine, let them ferment inside her, build a history where she had none, fill up all those empty spaces."

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Witches of Bone Hill. All opinions are my own. This book had a lot of potential – there were just a lot of unnecessary things that bogged it down.

Perfectly cozy, magical, air of a little creepiness, the witches of Bone Hill has all the elements of a great story. It reminds me of all those great 90s movies that I love to rewatch during the fall. 7.5 out of 10

A twisty witchy ride filled with death and discovery! A little bit Practical Magic and a lot of blood.

There are so many pieces to this story and I really rooted for Eustace and Cordelia through all of the obstacles put in front of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

This was a fun spooky read, perfect for October!
Would I have liked it as much, if I wasn't in the mood for horror? I don't think so.
That being said, I enjoyed the creepiness this book provided!

A great atmospheric witchy read. This book was full of mysteries and magic. I never knew what was going to happen next and it kept me intrigued and entertained. The magic system at times did feel a bit overwhelming with all the different aspects and I did skim through some chapters.

The Bone sisters were vastly different but both great characters in their own way. I loved Cordelia’s character growth and her self-healing that happened throughout the story, I also really enjoyed her relationship with Gordon. Eustace was also a great character, I would have loved some chapters in her pov.

Overall, a great book if you are in the mood for witches, familial bonds, ghosts and a spooky atmosphere.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This story starts off slowly as two modern- day sisters estranged since their mother’s death are both down on their luck, one with illness and the other with a cheating swindling husband. They are brought together when they discover that the aunt they never met has left them her estate and they must appear in person in Connecticut to claim it. This “estate” is no mere house, but rather a massive gothic manse- ala Biltmore-and it’s full of ghosts. Strange things are happening at the manse besides ghosts. Someone or something wants them out. To complicate things there is the mysterious hunky caretaker Gordon, a creepy lawyer, his creepier nephew and a crypt. The second half of the book picks up the pace as three mystery deepens (though I figured it out at the 20% mark) .
The scares as well as the romance in the book at PG. An enjoyable read that still let me sleep at night.

The perfect combination of spooky and funny and inspiring, all at the same time. It was a great read right before Halloween and I appreciate the more-serious (but not all-out horror) and less rom-com balance. A great read!

Cordelia and Eustace are sisters, drawn into a web of family secrecy after inheriting their aunt's ancient mansion. They must inhabit the house to claim their inheritance, but there's more going on around them than meets the eye. The Witches of Bone Hill is a horror fantasy unlike anything I've read before. This is a book of secrets and dark magic, with a side of romance to boot. I found the plot compelling and was surprised multiple times at various junctures within the narrative. The characters were well done. I absolutely adored Cordelia. The setting was creepy, and with the addition of ghosts, blood magic, and dark rituals, became down right haunting. I couldn't put this book down!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

I stopped reading this at about 35%. The plot wasn't moving forward. Mostly I was confused about the vibe of the book. it's kind of cutesy, but maybe more of a horror story? The involvement of the mafia was unnecessary and convoluted. .Generally, I just lost interest.

I was on the fence about picking this up because it didn’t really seem like my kind of book but I was invited to read a free review copy via NetGalley and it seemed fitting for this Halloweekend, but wow did I not enjoy this book. I thought about DNFing when the mob boss bill collector came, and then again, when the love interest is introduced and his name was Gordon Jablonski, and he was supposed to be this intimidating like tattooed motorcycle gang looking guy.

I think that this book is trying to do too much. It’s a fantasy but it’s a romance but there’s a mystery element and then there is this mob boss and old family secrets and unexplained magic, and I just felt like there were so many elements that it wasn’t possible to flesh any of them out in a satisfactory manner. I also quite frankly found Cordelia obnoxious and sincerely believe that I would’ve enjoyed this book a little bit more if we had gotten some of Eustace’s point of view.

I do see how this could be a book for somebody else, but for me it falls in the category of books like Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witchesthat are so quirky they become irritating.