Meg is a kid from the poor side of town, her mom works two jobs, one of which happens to be on the cleaning staff of a fancy private school. Meg is also a talented artist, so her mom encourages her to apply for a scholarship to study at the fancy school. Meg get's the scholarship and becomes friends with super rich, super popular, super perfect Lottie Wren.

The book starts with Meg arriving at Lottie's creepy AF Scottish family estate. She hasn't seen Lottie since the dreadful night of the end of school ball three months prior. This book has two main dueling plots: trying to figure out why Meg got suspended after the ball, and figuring out if the lake at the Wren estate is truly haunted by a banshee.

There are a lot of other characters, but the book is told solely from Meg's point of view. Because of this, there was just an absolute ton of repetition in her thinking and obsessing. The book struggled to move forward in the plot and frequently skirted around what really happened at the ball, without giving it away until almost the very end.

There were some fun turns, and some neat atmospheric horror scenes, but it didn't really come together at the end. I think the book would have been a lot better if we had a few other character's POVs.

I appreciate the ARC!

This book was SO creepy!

I loved all the spookiness and the mystery and ghosties and banshees and wondering if the narrator was unreliable. However, there was a little too much teen drama mixed in for me, and some of it got a little weird with the twin side characters. I am all about teen drama, but all the back and forth with these girls and Seb, while a murrdurrrerrr is afoot?! I was like ugh, girls you don’t even need him this boy is not worth it 🙄😂.

Honestly, I got worried there at the end that there wasn’t ghosties or banshees at all and it was just crazy jealous teens taking each other out.

I liked this though, it’s a good fall read!

Thank you @netgalley and @delacortepress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Ever since Meg left school, she’s been ousted by her friends, and now this weekend is her final chance to win them back. The Wren twins have invited her to their eerie country estate, Wren Hall, but Meg can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t quite right. The estate is infamous for being haunted by a lady of the lake and its history is filled with unsettling disappearances. As Meg faces the tension within the group and the estate’s dark secrets, she must decide whether she can repair their fractured friendship or if the past will tear them apart for good.

A gothic adventure that explores the longing for acceptance and belonging, but not without dire consequences. Perfect for readers who enjoy haunted houses, deception, and mysteries shrouded in lies. The atmospheric setting and well-crafted characters draw you in, making you feel as if you’re shrouded in the sinister mystery right alongside Meg. Loved this from beginning to end!



*Thank you to Amy Goldsmith, Random House Children's and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

This story was such a fun, dark gothic mystery. A modern group of teens is dropped into a historic Irish estate in a town that whispers and hides from the owners and the legend of a banshee rises as their group slowly begins to dwindle. The characters were just as snobby as you’d expect a group of elite teenagers to be, but the atmosphere and paranormal horror made up for it in all the right ways. If you need a spooky mystery to dive into, I would definitely recommend reaching for this one this fall!

Thanks to Random House Children’s and Delacorte Press & NetGalley for an E-ARC copy of this story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing me with an eARC of Our Wicked Histories in exchange for my honest review!

This YA gothic horror tale radiates a supernatural atmosphere that I can't get enough of. It's the thick sort of mood that creeps me out as we stay in this manor and check out the accompanying lake, with the tension particularly bumping up a notch towards the second half of the plot. I wouldn't even say this is doing anything especially groundbreaking with its execution, but that doesn't take away from the ways in which it can rivet me. In addition, I appreciate how this explicitly touches on the dangers of love-bombing—something I wouldn't have necessarily expected a story of this type to cover.

Overall, I'm officially rating Our Wicked Histories 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4 stars. I'll look forward to more of Amy Goldsmith's work.

I was definitely spooked throughout this one. If you want something good for spooky season definitely go with this one it passes the vibe check for Fall season reads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

A myriad of things are haunted in this gothic horror novel: our protagonist Meg, her old friends' family estate Wren Hall and even the water that surrounds it. Drowning in her sorrows after being suspended from an elite art school—one she can only attend via scholarship—Meg jumps at the chance to reconnect with the Wren twins in the hopes of once again landing in their good graces. She needs them if she wants to return to the school she loves. She needs them if she wants to feel like <i>herself</i> again.

One weekend at Wren Hall to celebrate Halloween, and things could possibly go back to the way they used to be. Expecting a lush estate, Meg is surprised by the dilapidated state the manor is in and the eerie lake beside it. Things are definitely not as they appear, and many more secrets than just what happened at the ball last term will come to light... some of them screaming.

The water remembers.

This book wants to be beautiful and full of lush, evocative prose, yet for me it didn't hit the mark. A handful of pretty words could be strewn together in a sentence, but oftentimes left me feeling hollow rather than enraptured. Detailed, winding descriptions are a staple of gothic lit so the inclusion isn't a poor one... I just feel like another round of edits could really make these passages <i>sing</i>.

This is a decent enough first forray into gothic horror, for the younger crowd looking to dip their toes into a new subgenre. Readers who enjoy dark acadamia will likely enjoy themselves as well, seeing as many common tropes and motifs from that subgenre are also present. I loved the messy relationships and all the bean sí or banshee lore in this novel!!

I think that I'm a bit too old for the story this novel wanted to tell, but that hardly means it's unsuccessful. The cast of British teenagers all act and sound like modern teens, which may put off any potentially older readers but ultimately the YA tag isn't really <i>for</i> us. I know I would've eaten this up back when I was in high school!!

I enjoyed this book, the ending totally surprised me. I did think this book was going to be a lot more spooky based on the cover and blurb, but the flash backs to things in the past with all the drama really kept it a "safe" level of spooky. Its YA though so like--I get it. I had lingered on a 4.5-5 star rating but man if I wasn't salty about hearing about Seb constantly but getting the ending we got. Like did girlie just not spend the whole book talking about how much she wants this man. (Granted, I think he's trash anyways, but still. Girlie wanted this red flag man let her have her mistakes. Shes young 😂)

A very gothic, spooky, isolated setting was top notch for this book. It is set in Ireland, in an abandoned (not completely) estate, where a group of friends gather to mend their friendships and air everything that has gone wrong that one faithful night. Of course, ghosts are involved, Irish folk lore, scared look and whispers from the locals and a bunch of friends that keep their secrets and feeling close to their heart till they explode.

I appreciated this story of revenge, and murder and unreliable narrator. It had enough creep for horror light.

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and Random House children for my gifted copy to review.

Meg’s attempt to make with her former group of friends takes a sinister turn during a weekend gateway at ancestral Irish estate where something lurks in the lake near by. The past and present collide.
This book was for sure not something I would have normally read. And I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. I found myself getting annoyed with the poor girl trying to belong with a bunch of rich monsters. Even tho I could understand the age groups need to belong. Mix in this mysterious lake with something lurking in its depths and I was interested but not really into the writing style. It just wasn’t for me to be honest. I had to force myself to finish this book.
Like I always tell people, don’t let my review you deter you from reading this book. If the synopsis interests you, read it. Everyone has different opinions and you may like it more than I did.
I liked the cover of this book and it’s what drew me to it. Gothic and beautiful.
Rating: 3 stars

Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for a copy of this book. My review is honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

How much do you trust your friends?

School can be such a tumultuous time mentally with all the different social hierarchies and trying to fit in while also being true to one’s self.

This book was an eerie, slow building unraveling. It made you think about what you were doing at that age, but maybe not to this extreme. It was a non-linear tale that wove together past and present to put the pieces back together at the same time as the protagonist was uncovering things.

Very visual and descriptive that I could sense the foreboding feelings as well as the chill from the rain. It was the perfect story to read during a cloudy/rainy day to add even more ambience.

A creepy tale to make you question your own loyalties and how far you would go to get what you want.

Thank you so much to the author, Amy Goldsmith, Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this eARC of Our Wicked Histories!

Being the new kid can be tough, but being the scholarship kid makes it even harder. Meg longs to fit in with her old friends and find acceptance, but can she truly be embraced after the choices she made last year? *Our Wicked Histories* intertwines paranormal events with local folklore, yet the way these two themes clash at a haunted house leaves much to be desired. Goldsmith struggles to meld them seamlessly, relying instead on high school drama as the bridge. Unfortunately, due to the lack of character development, this connection falls flat. Sadly, most characters are quite unlikable, leaving readers wishing for their downfall.

I loved Amy's debut novel and thought this one was just as creepy and windy. I love her writing and find her stories so atmospheric.

This was a great spooky season read! It felt a little predictable in some places but that didn’t take away from the story for me! A good read

The setting and atmosphere were interesting but the main character and her friends were harder to digest, particularly Seb and his manipulating ways. Overall, fans of gothic novels and unreliable narrators will like this one but the setting shines more than the characters.

In theory, this ticked all of my boxes. Dark, gothic, probably unreliable narration ... I'm usually here for it. But this was executed so dully that reading felt like swimming through mud. I didn't care about any of the characters or their problems, and the spooky aspects of the story took their sweet time showing up. Lots of other dark academia-with-gothic-undertones books out there to choose from.

I loved this atmospheric gothic story of Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith. Gobbled this up!

Synopsis:
A teen girl’s attempt to make amends with her former friend group takes a sinister turn during a weekend getaway at an ancestral Irish estate in this atmospheric, literary horror from the author of Those We Drown.

It's a YA book but I'd say an older YA. Which doesn't matter because it was still a good and creepy dark academia book.

In Our Wicked Histories Meg is the poor girl who has been kicked out of a high class school after an altercation with one of the members of her rich, preppy group of friends. Trying to get back in their good graces, she attends a Halloween party in a run down house in Ireland that is supposedly cursed and haunted by a banshee.

First, what I liked about the book. The atmosphere was fantastic. A creepy old house, a lake with half submerged statues and an overabundance of choking green weeds, a paranoid small town nearby, and lashing thunderstorms. The storyline itself sucked you in; you wanted to see what happened next and what the big event was that caused the falling out with the others. The characters COULDN'T leave - they weren't just staying in a place where people were dying because they were being dumb.

What I didn't like:
The main character was incredibly selfish and made some poor choices. The other characters were shallow, annoying, and felt pretty similar to the characters in Those We Drown... in fact, we even copy/pasted the poor girl surrounded by rich jerks trope.

The drinking! Is that what high school kids do these days? There was not a night (and sometimes day) that went by where they weren't getting drunk and stupid.

The two-possibly two and a half-story lines. Honestly, in the end I didn't know if some of the events really happened or if they were just dreamed up/hallucinated. This was one time that I wish the villain had monologued MORE because I didn't understand why some of the things in the book even needed to be in the book.

WHY ARE GIRLS SO STUPID OVER CUTE BOYS??? A little self confidence would have gone a long way.

In the end, the book was good enough to finish, but not enough for me to rave about it to my friends.

It was a not-for-me-right-now gothic horror novel. I'd read her first one and enjoyed it so I thought I'd fall right in but I think I was a little distracted from the start. And the setting, in Ireland, definitely shifts the atmosphere and the fact that everyone's carrying secrets at Wren Hall and there's an ominous lake nearby- I wonder what deaths will occur and what secrets will and won't be spilled?

... that's how I felt because I've just read a few too many of these thrillers that I need a break because they're all blending together. Again, not that it's not a good one, just that I've been immersed in them and have a bit of overload.

Excellent ghost story.

I loved everything about this story from beginning to end.

I am looking forward to picking up "Those We Drown." It's great books like this that make me want to read an author's backlist. Amy Goldsmith will definitely be on my favorite authors list.