3.5 stars

This is the feminist Over the Garden Wall you didn't know you needed.
I will say, to be quite honest, that the first two thirds didn't got me at all. I was actually quite bored with everything that was going on and I didn't even put my heart into making any theories. But the last third picked up and delivered a very satisfactory conclusion to Tempe's story.
I really liked the setting and the relationship in between the sisters. I still felt very big plot holes but the read is overall very enjoyable.
Highly recommended for mystery fans

The Lamplighter is an auto conclusive book that surprised me because i didn't think i would like it as much as i did, it's premise and cover are eye catching . It managed to captivate me in such a way that I finished it quickly, because like every mystery or suspense book, I wanted to finally get to the part where that “secret” is revealed and to know how it was going to end.

Although I must admit that it can be somewhat predictable if you manage to catch some small signs or clues beforehand, which are somewhat obvious, but there were still things that took me by surprise, like the ending.

Above all, I liked the author's approach to mental health, that how in difficult times we don't have to carry everything but share that concern with loved ones or close ones. That it's possible and important to ask for help and not feel guilty or sorry for it.

The only thing that didn't completely convince me was the noticeable age gap between two important characters, even though in the era in which the book is based it was seen as something normal.

Crystal J. Bell manages to perfectly immerse you in that peculiar atmosphere that The Lamplighter has and for me that is very important in a book.

Overall, it has a very original premise, it managed to get me hooked quickly and has an ending that I didn't see coming. I will definitely keep an eye out for any future books from her.

The Lamplighter is a perfect read for autumn or spooky season!

*FYI this book contains several trigger warnings

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of "The Lamplighter". This book is an eerie and unsettling debut that sucks you in from the first pageand keeps you up all night. I loved the atmosphere, the flawed characters and their complicated relationships.

"It's an honor to bring light to the dark. The nineteenth-century whaling village of Warbler is famous for its lucky ship figureheads - and infamous for people disappearing into the nightly fog. In this murky locale, the lamplighter is synonymous with safety and protection, and it's a position Temperance assumes when her father is found hanging from one of the lampposts. Though Tempe proves competent, the town is still hesitant to let a woman handle this responsibility. When a girl disappears after two lamps go out, Tempe's ability to provide for her mother and younger sister hangs in the balance. She scrambles for answers, hindered at every turn by the village authorities' call for her removal. As more villagers vanish under her watch, Tempe discovers unsettling truths about the famous Warbler figureheads and her own beloved father. But her warnings of a monster are ignored, even by her own family. Now she must follow the light out of her own fog of despair, as she faces the choice to look the other way or risk speaking out and possibly dooming herself and her sister to be among the lost."

I mean, obviously there has to be a monster in the fog right? Even if it's shaped like a man, it's still a monster...

While the atmosphere was incredible and the bare bones of the mystery were creative, this book suffers from a rash and impulsive main character incapable of thinking things through or gathering evidence. There was a lot of circular thinking that grew very tiresome.

2.5 stars

“I’m the one who brings light to the dark.”

I should have loved this book. A horror novel that takes place in a 19th century whaling village? Love the concept.

It failed in the execution for me. The pace was horrendously slow and the characters were sort of unbearable. In an attempt to fill the story with atmosphere, it killed the stories ability to create suspense and the actual horror of the story was flat. I very much skimmed post page 100.

I will say, the epilogue was interesting. I would rather a book that started there than ending on that note. Now THAT would be a folklore/horror novel.

I found the feminist narrative in this one to be surprisingly heavy-handed and as a result, tiresome. This one sadly didn’t work for me the way I was hoping, but I'm hoping it will find its audience!

TW: abuse, adult/minor relationship, alcoholism, animal death, blood, body horror, death, death of a loved one, fire/fire injury, grief, injury/injury detail, mental illness, misogyny, murder, pedophilia, physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, suicide, violence.

Crystal Bell is able to create an environment of growing unease and anxiety throughout the novel. Tempe, a small Connecticut port towns' lamplighter, becomes obsessed with solving the cases of girls going missing in the fog. While I devoured the book in two days, I found a lot of the novel's reveals to be a bit obvious and the tense feeling that was growing on me throughout the book were just waiting for these "surprises" to be realized by the main character. I did appreciate the well-rounded female characters and the originality of the evil within the novel.

The Lamplighter is a seriously and spooky tale that combines the myth, magic, and grit of historical maritime seaside villages and the constant, low-grade horror of being a young woman in a world built by/for and controlled by men. This was a beautifully crafted tale in a world you fully believed in. While reading, I half expected to look up and see a fog had crept in around me. I will never look at a lamp or a lantern the same way again!

Eerie and atmospheric, this book gave me a deep appreciation for a new genre mash-up: historical horror.

In a New England whaling town, something lurks in the nightly fog. Temperance, the town lamplighter, is haunted by the light post where her dad hung himself, but soon she begins to suspect that something worse than her memories is creeping around. It's her job to keep the villagers and visiting whalers safe from disappearing forever into the fog. But when two of her lamps go out the same day a girl goes missing, she finds herself under fire in a town that resents her for being female.

After her father's death, Temperance was allowed to take over his job to provide for her family, but the town still feels unease about the role being filled by a woman. Temperance is constantly butting up against society's expectations with her need to be able to take care of herself. But standing out can attract the wrong kind of attention, in more ways than one.

I loved the relationship between Temperance and her younger sister, Prudence. Though they fought and disapproved of each other's choices - especially Prudence's courtship with the much older Gideon - they had each other's backs in the end.

The ending was both unexpected and absolute perfection.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so to tbrandbeyond for including me in their book tour of this novel! My full review will be updated here and posted to Instagram on scheduled book tour date, 5/22!

This book really has me stumped because although some parts were good and well-written, others gave me a bit of an ick and the characters were a bit off for me- I think I backtracked a few times as well. 😅

Moody and foreboding, this historical fiction novel has a supernatural twist. Temperance is a lamplighter to light the way in the foggy darkness of her 19th century fishing town, and grows increasingly wary of the figurehead carver, Gideon, amidst villagers disappearing into the fog. This is as much a family drama as it is a tense supernatural mystery. Readers who get drawn in by an evocative setting and those who like a touch of weirdness in their stories should enjoy this!

1.5 stars!

i was very disappointed by this book. the story was all over the place. the characters were very annoying. and there were only a few moments that shocked me.

prudence was the worst of them all. we were told she was more grown up than her age but still acted like a child. like why wouldn’t she listen to her sister and make her feel worse?!? this story wants to put across a feminist message, but it is lacking a lot. i was hoping for more with this, but i found things predictable and slow and just so disappointing.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for a honest review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for giving me and e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

2.75/5 stars

I wanted to love this book- I really did. The premise sounded like something I would adore. It has a strong fmc, a small seaside town, supernatural elements, and a touch of eerie horror.

Firstly I’ll start with what I did enjoy: I loved the main villain as a character. Without spoiling anything, I thought they were genuinely scary and threatening. At a couple different points I really feared for our main character and had absolutely no idea how she was going to succeed. The action scenes present in this book were definitely thrilling and well-done. I also liked the number of twists- most of which I didn’t see coming. They kept me interested in the story and motivated me to finish it.

Now for what I didn’t like as much: Basically, I found the first 60% of this book to be incredibly slow. So slow I almost dnfed this book. I found it very hard to connect with any of the characters and be interested in their survival/success/goals. I think this book would have worked much better for me if those scenes were shortened and replaced by more action scenes. Additionally, while the ending was very unexpected, it felt vague and unsatisfying. It almost feels like the author is setting up the plot for a sequel book but without really concluding anything from this one.

Overall, I didn’t think this book was particularly bad, it just struggled to keep my attention and be something I’m interested in. I would still suggest other readers give it a shot if they’re interested- especially if they’re ok with a slower start. I do think there are readers who would love this story, I’m just not one of them.

Not the book for me. Bad things happen to important characters and it doesn't evoke any emotion. Tempe spends a lot of the book being criticized by other characters, and they're all right, but not compelling enough for me to care about them. Vibes were good though.

This is the best possible way I could articulate my thoughts about this book, but it is unfortunately, very terrible. I rarely DNF when I’ve progressed to 41%, but I cannot say anything that makes this book redeemable. I am part of the minority who disliked this and these are just my thoughts.

CWs/TWs: Sexual Assault, Suicide, Depression, Mental Illness, Adult/Minor Relationship, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Sexual Harassment, Sexism
Bell’s writing paints an eerily atmospheric picture. It is poetic and has lots of potential but is very dragging. Almost halfway through and I could see why other readers did not like this at all. With these amount of CWs, you’d think the writer would’ve handled these issues in a manner that compliments the story and its main character’s purpose, but the execution was bad. I am not intentionally being mean, but this story made me so uncomfortable, especially with the Adult/Minor relationship and how Temperance (the fmc) dealt with SA. The FMC’s goal was to provide for and protect her sister, which I have nothing against, and SA survivors do not owe the world their story, but Tempe was clearly protecting her sister and she failed to do so by hiding substantial information from her, defending her abuser by disguising his actions as rejection. This was a constant reminder throughout the book that it just lost how crucial this should’ve been addressed. In the end, her sister ends up with a pedophile who preyed on her emphasizing how he’s “pushing her for another child” despite her not being ready and our main character loses her mind. It strayed away from the purpose of the story as a whole. I am not trying to be harsh here, but if you want to write a book that says “fuck the patriarchy” then don’t write a book where men still win.

📚The Lamplighter
🖋️Author: @crystaljbell
📝P.g.:304
🖌️Publication: @northstareditions
📆Publication date: 21st of May
🗂️Genre: Historical Fiction- Horror- Teens & YA

•𝒜𝑅𝒞 𝑅𝐸𝒱𝐼𝐸𝒲•

‘’Your bell doesn’t just notify the constables of the beginning of your shift. It reminds the rest of us to be on our guard. To get home while we can- before it begins to hunt.’’

‘’Any moment, I could fall to the ground, my body bursting into fog, unable to do anything but watch as people walk through me.’’

📌Summary:
In The nineteenth-century whaling village of Warbler and it’s lucky ship figureheads, Tempernace, the protagonist
of the story, has the most dangerous job of all, the job of the Lamplighter. She has to light all the lamps every night and patrol the village, because of the fog that envelops the place when the sun sets.

When a girl disappears, Temperance- apart from the villager’s belief of her incompetance, has to unravell the mystery and find what happened to the girl. As more people start to disappear, she comes face to face with gruesome realisations and the choice of either looking the other way in order to protect the ones she loves or putting an end to it for once and for all.

📌Review:
Tha narrative is so atmospheric. I got chills while reading the scenes where she has to light the posts at night, how the fog
seemed to hide secrets and boogeymen. Thinking that she is all alone and responisble for the wellbeing of so many people. The author really succeeds in placing you beside her and thinking you are with her in the fog.

Temperance holds a special place in my heart. She is a strong independant woman, who is the head of her family and finds meaning in her job, while people around here don’t value her very much. You could say she resembles Jo March.

The novel is full of plot twists. The one special twist in the end had me gasping. I really hope there will be another book in the series.

📌Thoughts:
If you love Historical Fiction with horror elements this book is waiting for you to pre- order it on Amazon. I strongly suggest you read it, because it’s refreshing and very well- written.

#thelamplighter #crystaljbell #northstareditions

A girl must face off against a dangerous monster of a man who is closing in on those she loves most in this horror story set in a 19th century whaling village. In the little village of warbler, famous for it's lucky ship figureheads, people have been known to disappear in the nightly fog. It is the job of lamplighters to light the lamps at night to guide people home. Temperance loves her job as a lamplighter, it lets her support her ill mom and her sister. After her father's suicide, Tempe has been trying to be everything for her family. The only thing that she hates is Gideon, the wealthy and respected individual man in town that her father had warned her about... and the very same man who had assaulted her when she was 16 and now is her sister's new fiance. Tempe wants to do everything in her power to save her sister but she refuses to tell her sister the truth about what he did. Tempe begins noticing more girls disappearing and finding a connection to Gideon as well... she knows she has to stop him but he might be more powerful and monstrous than she could have ever imagined. This book started off interesting but I just did not have a good time with it. I loved the premise and loved the setting, however, I did not enjoy Tempe as a protagonist and that ending just left a bad taste in my mouth. The characters were all so frustrating and it just does not end well. I love horror books, especially historical horror, and this one missed the mark for me. If you enjoy historical horror with women suffering, then this is for you, otherwise I would absolutely steer clear of this one.

*Thanks Netgalley and North Star Editions | Flux for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I LOVED this book! It was mysterious and spooky and creepy and gothic and romantic and scary and it hooked me from the very beginning!