⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What I loved:

✨The character development - it starts slow in the beginning but hang in there. It gets GOOD and after a few chapters this book is hard to put down!

✨Multiple timelines - there are several references that span past, present & future. The timelines blur seamlessly as the plot thickens.

✨ PLOT TWISTS - this is what made it so hard to put down! I thought I could predict the ending but I was totally wrong which gave me a wonderful reading experience.

📣 a gothic story with romance, a ghost, & lots of intrigue!

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 let’s design our own gothic story by playing this or that:

Black or faded like dried flowers
Crumbling old house or the moors
Friendly ghost or angry ghost

The gothic vibes of The Third Wife of Faraday House by BR Myers got to me in a thrilling kind of way: mysterious footsteps, a figure in the window!, hallucinations (seemingly), an unsettling back story or two….

They all gave this book a chilling air that I adored ratcheting up with every chapter. There are lots of mysteries in this book, as Emeline tries to figure out what has happened to the first & second wives of Faraday house, & her own growth throughout the haunting & danger she’s up against is a nice touch.

I found the romance in this one to be a tad lackluster—mostly because it just didn’t totally convince me—but it was cute & I’ll (rarely) turn down a love story 🩷.

In the end, this is an enjoyable gothic adventure that served up a surprise or two along the way.

4 ⭐️, out 08/20.

CWs: murder, attempted murder, death in childbirth.

[ID: Jess holds the ebook as her blue-sandałed feet are propped against a porch railing.]

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Emeline is hoping for sonMe changes. She does not want to marry her families choice, but she has no other options. Her new family is something out if a book. This book was an ok read.

I received a free copy of, The Third Wife of Faraday House, by B. R. Myers, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Its 1816, and Emeline Fitzpatrick is looking for a husband. Things do not go so well and Emeline is forced to meet a widower, at Faraday House. Faraday House has its own secrets. This is quite the read, I do not know if I liked it though.

The Third wife of Faraday House by B.R. Myers is a gothic thriller that takes place in the 19th century. It is reminiscent of Du Maurier's Rebecca with it's remote dark and deary setting. In this story, Emeline finds herself orphaned and involved in a romantic scandal that forces her guardians to send her to a remote island off the coast of Halifax. Here she is expected to become the third wife of Captain Graves, only to discover that his second wife has yet to die. A mystery surrounds the first wife's death and the second wife's illness that Emmaline is determined to solve while hiding her own secrets. The story much like the setting is dark and deary and mysterious.
I loved the gothic feel of the story and development of Emmaline's character, The mystery tells like a ghost story mixed with an Agatha Christie locked room tale.
Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Emeline Fitzpatrick is desperate to escape her stifling life in foggy Halifax before she is married off to some suitor her guardians have found. Luckily, she has a way out. Emeline is in love with a handsome lieutenant in the British navy. She only needs him to propose. Before that can happen she is caught in a scandal.

With her hopes and plans dashed her only solution is wealthy and enigmatic Captain Graves. Having already lost two wives to tragic circumstances, the unfortunate widower is seeking a new companion in his cloistered seaside manor, Faraday House. Or at least that is what Emeline had been told, because when she arrives, she is horrified to discover that the second Mrs. Graves, Georgina, has not yet died.
What is going on at Faraday House? Who can Emeline trust and is she really safe there?.

This story is unexpected, charming, creepy, sweet, cozy, and more. No one is as they seem. Emeline herself is more than just a girl who wants to marry. She is an interesting and likeable character who displays a lot of growth in the story. The other characters are also interesting. Whether we can trust them is a different story. That is part of the fun. I went back and forth trying to figure everyone out. I rooted for Emeline and Georgina but the outcome is never clear to see. You just don't know what is going to happen. But you'll find out soon enough as you stay up late to finish this page turner.

The writing is just wonderful. I wrote down several quotes. I couldn't get enough. The environment is creepy and has Gothic vibes. I was fully immersed in the setting.

The story has elements of Rebecca and Jane Eyre, but it is also its own. Despite all the horrors going on, I didn't want to leave Faraday House. The ending is satisfying and makes me happy. I loved this book!

This is a really good gothic tale set in 1816 Canada. Emeline Fitzpatrick, a beauty of Halifax, is secretly engaged to to a naval officer. When scandal looms her guardians take charge. She is sent off to a coastal island to become the third wife of Captain Graves, the master of Faraday House. But (spoiler) the second wife hasn't died yet. They say all the wives of Faraday House die young so it won't be much longer!

Is "fun" a word we can use to describe how much one likes a mystery centered around the goings on in a creepy, gothic house? Because I had so much fun reading this book! Yes, it built tension, and I had all sorts of guesses as to what was happening throughout the book, but I also had fun with this one. The pace kept moving, and Emeline was the perfect lead. Her progression as she slowly uncovered what was going on (and came to multiple wrong conclusions along the way) made for an engaging POV to follow. The supporting characters - from Mrs. Shackelton to Captain Graves and the Reverend - all played a role in shaping the story and Emeline's views about the world and herself.

This is a gothic mystery at the core. Emeline comes to Faraday House as a soon-to-be wife. The only problem is the previous wife is still alive (but not in great shape). And the staff and Captain Graves all have issues. Oh, and the wives of the house all seem to be cursed. Not great for Emeline. Who is also pining for the lover she had to leave behind, but hopes that he will come to save her before it's too late. There are a lot of possible motives and reasons for why the wives of Faraday House all seem to die young. All Emeline has to do is figure out why before she becomes the next wife to befall the same fate.

The atmosphere in the book was well done, and I got swept up and finished this within a few days. The end comes at you fast, and when the mystery all comes together, you can picture all the previous hints and see how things spiral out of control. Emeline is nothing if not a determined young woman, which is admirable in the environment she is dropped into on this remote island. Her developing friendships with Reverend Pellerine and Georgina give her a bit of an anchor when everyone else in the house seems to have their own motives and ideas about how welcome Emeline is at Faraday. The ending felt a little lighter than what I normally expect in books of this genre, but it did wrap things up well and provide a nice bit of levity at the end of a story that could have had a much darker conclusion.

Emeline Fritzpatrick is anxiously awaiting news from her secret betroth, Lieutenant Frederick Fletcher, before her guardians marry her off to one of their choosing. But when Emeline is found in an embrace with her lieutenant, her guardians ship her off to marry Captain Grave of Faraday House which sits on a remote island near Halifax. When she arrives it seems that the second wife of the Captain is ill and not dead and Emeline is going to make sure that the wife does not die.
A fast paced thrilling gothic mystery with sinister servants, tales of murder, unexplained noises and a handsome but cold Reverend.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this e-galley of "The Third Wife of Faraday House".

I am blown away by how much I loved this suspenseful, gothic story. Young Emeline is caught in the embrace of her lover, and sent away to marry a different guy far away from Halifax to avoid scandal for her family.

The only problem: this guy is still married to his dying wife, helloooo Mr. Rochester 2.0!

The dying wife and Emeline forge a bond and try to understand what is behind the hauntings of Faraday House. But will they survive and who can they trust? It is all a guessing game until the end.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

I think the premise for this story was more interesting than the actual story itself, if that makes sense. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, especially because gothic mystery novels that sound like a mashup of Crimson Peak and Jane Eyre are in short supply! I think I, like most reviewers, didn't connect with the main character and that's where the main issue was. Overall, I would still recommend this novel but preface by saying there are a few weak plot points near the end and character personalities that can be a bit hard to read at times.

Before getting into the content, How beautiful is this cover??
When first starting this novel, I wasn’t sure who the third wife may be, and was so sad for Emeline. But of course she was double crossed by her original live interest.
I was expecting the daughter of the first Mrs Graves to be found and part of the tale, but wow would that have been twisted.
Georgina and Emiline’s friendship is the real star of this book

Thanks to NetGalley & William Morrow for this ARC!

Suspenseful Gothic mystery--is it a curse, a haunted house, or just the soon-to-be husband? Or the not-quite dead second wife? Not really a romance, but an enjoyable read that I read quickly. Wuthering Heights vibes. Did not love the main character, but the rest made up for it. Would recommend, particularly for people who enjoyed Mexican Gothic.

I essentially finished Myers' The Third Wife of Faraday House in a single sitting (or, as close as a mom can get to a single sitting...). Myers creates a world that will have lovers of Victorian/neo-Victorian novels swooning. The mystery is intense and the plot fast-paced, and Myers finds all kinds of ways to subtly throw readers curveballs,

Though advertised as a romance and a “love letter to Gothic fiction”, The Third Wife of Faraday House read almost like a Gothic-inspired cozy mystery for most of the book.

I think Gothic fiction readers will certainly enjoy the premise and all the set dressings, but, for me, there were a few things that kept me from being fully immersed in the story and atmosphere. Again, the tone almost felt like a cozy-style mystery for much of the book, and I am not sure if that was intentional. I also felt like the language and writing style didn’t really compliment the time period that the book was supposed to be set in. And there were parts of the book where I felt like the author was doing a lot of handholding for the reader by over-explaining during the main character’s internal monologue.

The characters weren’t particularly complex or interesting, and the plot was fairly straightforward and a little predictable, but none of that really bothered me - it was engaging enough. If you are looking for a fast and easy read with elements of Gothic fiction, I think this will definitely provide you with a lot of entertainment. It just wasn’t my jam.

*Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to review an eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

In this tale of love gone wrong resulting in an arranged marriage finds Emeline Fitzpatrick desperate to find a way out of her dilemma after her supposedly relationship with a handsome navy officer ends in scandal. She is whisked away to Faraday House, a crumbling cement home owned by a widowed sea captain. Sure, he has money but the hangup is that the captain's second wife is not yet dead when Emeline arrives! From this nifty romance hook, the story becomes one containing many gothic mystery tropes from creaking floors, women grasping candelabras, footsteps treading in secret rooms, ghosts trying to communicate with the living, a nasty suspicious staff plus a dying woman secluded in an upstairs bedroom. Emeline wants out of her upcoming nuptials and foolishly figures her navy officer will sail up and rescue her. As she waits for this miracle, a local reverend who is easy on her eyes warns her of the house's curse. This is a fine mystery that ties up neatly and readers will hope Emeline finds a happy ending.

After an engagement scandal, Emeline agrees to a last-resort marriage to a recently widowed stranger. While she hopes the man she thinks she loves will come and rescue her, she finds herself tangled in mysteries of Faraday House.

Despite an enticing premise, this book did not hold my attention. I know that true gothic novels can be "slow burns" in terms of peeling back clues to the mystery but I found myself not caring about Emeline's fate and I skimmed quite a bit.

My first gothic read ever! I enjoyed the haunted island setting more than I thought I would, and I'm glad I tried the genre. But the overall reading experience was just okay.

The characters were the weakest element of the book -- the protagonist was painfully naive in most parts, but incredibly mature and insightful in others. The secondary characters were inconsistent and at times, incredibly annoying tbh. The mystery kept me intrigued to continue reading, but felt rushed in the second half of the book. And finally, I think the book was mismarketed as a romance -- it was more of a gothic mystery/thriller. I think readers who enjoy gothic fiction might enjoy this book more than I did.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggled with this review because I like the premise of the book, and at times it pulled me in, but the pace just was not right for me. I found myself not caring enough for the main character and getting confused over the secondary characters. Maybe I will try reading it again, but the first time through was difficult for me. Felt a bit more "gothic" than my prefered read.