This was different than previous books by Karen Marie Moning I’ve read. It’s high fantasy with a gothic setting, I loved it. Karen always writes strong and relatable female main characters. This was a great blend of genres

I was captivated by the gradual revelation of Divinity—a town cloaked in mystery, accessible only to the invited or the exceptionally powerful. The plot kept me hooked as shadowy secrets and intriguing connections unfolded, seamlessly blending southern occult themes with classic gothic undertones.

By the end, the story left me with more questions than answers, perfectly setting the stage for the sequels. Although a few chapters had moments that made me roll my eyes or left me slightly disappointed, I couldn’t tear myself away. The cliffhanger was both infuriatingly satisfying and left me eager to jump into the next book.

Karen Marie Moning’s The House at Watch Hill lays a compelling foundation for the Watch Hill Trilogy. It follows Zo Grey, a 24-year-old woman who has endured a life of loss and uncertainty. She finds herself in Divinity, Louisiana, after discovering a long-lost family connection that leaves her the heir to a sprawling Gothic mansion steeped in dark secrets. But there’s a catch: to claim the estate and its accompanying fortune, Zo must live there alone for three years.

With its fresh spin on paranormal tropes and a richly atmospheric setting, this book offers a promising start to what could become an engrossing series. I can’t wait to see what the next installment has in store.

What a fantastic story! The plot is unique and gets a tight grip on you and won't let go. My only issue was with the main character, Zo. I do not think I have run across a more unlikable main character in a long time. She was okay at the start and morphed into a raging narcissistic jerk. The cliffhanger ending was cool and the house is a showstopper.

The House at Watch Hill is the first in a new series by Karen Marie Moning. The main character, Zo, stands to inherit millions if she fulfills the terms set forth in the will, which includes a provision of living at Watch House. I really liked the dark spin on this book as well as the elements of witches, vampires, etc. The book definitley had me hooked and left us on a cliffhanger, so now I can't wait for the next to be released! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this! Witches and vampires? Yes, please!

The first installment in a multi-book series is always a little harder for me to get into because of all the world building and laying the groundwork for a strong story. I think the author did a tremendous job of that and that ending left me wishing I didn’t have to wait for the next book!

I will say that I wish the house itself featured a little more malevolently in the story. And I wish we had gotten to know the menacing villagers a bit more thoroughly. And the main character had a lot of inner dialogue that was maybe not always necessary.

But this was a really fun story and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Extensive world building is always really hard for me to stick with but if you power through you usually won’t be disappointed but for this one, I was expecting more. Maybe I’ll give it another try when the next book comes out because I do see potential but it’s going pretty low on my TBR as of right now.

Ugh I really wanted to love this but was a little disappointed. Zoe’s mood switch ups, which are explained, were odd and frustrating. I couldn’t resonate with her. But I will say the last 15% did leave me interested so I may read the next one.

The House at Watch Hill was a great start to an exciting trilogy! A perfect blend of fantasy and romance that left me wanting more.

I was thrilled to see that Karen Marie Moning had a new release coming out. For this reason, I think I set the bar pretty high. So, even though I enjoyed the book and found it to be a well written and creepy book with witches and vampires, it left me wanting just a little more "something." Don't get me wrong....I still really enjoyed it! Like I said, the bar was set high.

This book introduces us to new characters and a new world. It's one where witches - - both good and dark live among us - - as well as cold and warm vampires. The main character is Zo Grey who has recently moved to Louisiana to find out about an inheritance from a mysterious relative she never knew about. From there things start to get a little crazy.

This story contains the right mix of suspense, creepiness, a little romance and some definite mystery. Even though I figured out one of the twists early on, it didn't make it any less clever. This is the first of a series (I believe a trilogy) so we have at least two more books to look forward to. I think there's a great deal of potential to build on these characters and this storyline and think it should be a fun ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I had really high hopes for this book because I LOVED Moning's Fever series but unfortunately, I didn't love it. There were so many parallels with Mac's story in the Fever series, right down to the order in which the events happen, that it was hard to ignore. This book felt like a mash-up of the Fever series with the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice (including some weird parallels there, too). I finished the book because I assumed that if you're not a fan of Fever or Mayfair, the story would be really good, but then you get to the end and not a single thread of the story was resolved apart from her learning that she's a witch. All of other plot lines were left on a cliffhanger. I dont have a problem with cliffhangers in a series but no resolution to any part of the plot.

I wont be posting my review publicly in the usual spots (blog, socials, Amazon, Goodreads). I'm truly heartbroken that I didn't enjoy this book. I've read Fever about a thousand times and had super-high hopes for this series.

4.5 stars

Karen Marie Moning has a wonderfully imaginative mind! Every book of hers I read I just love.

The House at Watch Hill is different from her previous series, but I love that. I like this new story and the characters in it. I can’t wait to see which house Zo gravitates towards and all of the characters she will meet. This first book was a great start to the series, bring on the next one!

***Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for an ARC copy in return for an honest review***

Southern Occult Meets Gothic Vibes
I was drawn in by the slow-burn unveiling of Divinity—a town shrouded in mystery that only reveals itself to those invited or powerful enough to gain entry. The plot held my attention as ominous secrets and intriguing connections began to take shape, blending southern occult elements with classic gothic undertones.

By the end, the story leaves you with more questions than answers, setting the stage for the sequels. While a few chapters had moments that made me roll my eyes or feel a bit let down, I couldn’t put it down. The cliffhanger was both deliciously frustrating and left me eager to dive into the next book.

Karen Marie Moning’s The House at Watch Hill establishes a fresh and compelling foundation for the Watch Hill Trilogy. It follows Zo Grey, a 24-year-old who’s faced a lifetime of loss and uncertainty, now finding herself in Divinity, Louisiana. Thanks to a long-lost family connection, she inherits a sprawling Gothic mansion full of dark secrets—but there’s a catch. To claim the estate and the fortune that comes with it, Zo must live there alone for three years.

With its unique take on paranormal tropes and a darkly atmospheric setting, this book is a promising start to what could be a fascinating series. I can’t wait to see where the next installment takes us.

3.5⭐️ Karen Marie Moning blessing us with a new fantasy series in 2024 was not on my bingo card but I’m so happy it happened!

In this book we meet Zo who is grieving her mother and is moving into a spooky mansion that she inherited from an unknown relative. Zo is a fun character and I liked that she is learning all about this mansion with us the readers and it felt like we were on a journey together.

This book laid down the ground work to the world and Zo’s backstory so because of that there were moments where I felt like I wanted more to be happening. I think this is the type of series that will get even better as it goes on. The ending definitely left me interested in what’s to come!

While slightly predictable, The House at Watch Hill was still a good time. I absolutely love the gothic, creepy atmosphere!

The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning is about a young woman named Zo who is thrust into a paranormal world she didn’t know existed but everyone else did. Her mother dies in a house fire and a wealthy random relative leaves her an inheritance, what ends up to be a sentient gothic mansion along with a sexy Scottish grounds man named Devlin. Who doesn’t want that? No one knows who this vague relative is!

It was difficult for me to get used to this authors writing style. I often found myself out of breath with the long run-on sentences and even longer descriptions. Because of the many pages spent on world-building and heavy yet vivid descriptions this book has a very slow start.

Zo is well-written and utterly clueless. For a paranormal romance, the story spends a lot of time on Zo’s desires in her mind, but there isn’t much romancing. When there is, it’s awkward and weird. So, the whole “fall in love with the love story” aspect wasn’t there for me.

The story starts to pick up towards the end when Zo decides to accept; and then uses the worst literary device ever - a cliffhanger! Noooo.
The entire book is a long set up for the series.

It has all the things I love; witches, southern gothic vibes, vampires, some twists and secrets, a paranormal world, magic, mysterious things,’a wealthy random person or thing, attractive men ready for romance! I finally got into it maybe 75% in and then cliffhanger. Ok, so who the heck are these people?

The second book will hopefully have more going on, but I’m not 100% sure if the “intro book” has enough to hook me into a whole new series. It is still a great atmospheric read, especially for spooky season. Either way I will most likely pick up the next book because that annoying cliffhanger has me intrigued!
I do recommend reading this booknfor yourself, especially if you’re a fan of the fever series, which I know nothing about. It always takes a learning curve for me when I read a new author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy for my honest review.

I've been avoiding big fan of KMM's books since the beginning of her Fever series. I was so excited to see she had a new series coming out. I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to continue the series. There was a lot of world building in this book which slowed things down a bit. I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending and was highly entertained. 4 stars

While the overall storyline and concept for this book was interesting, the book in total was very meh. The vocabulary throughout the book was very excessive and much more flourished and complicated than was necessary. It very much felt like the author was trying to sound more intelligent and different from her typical novels and this got in the way of my enjoyment of the story. It also felt like not very much happened in this novel, it was a lot of small things that somehow amounted to this big thing at the end and I can barely tell you how it all fits together.

This was just as good as I expected. Karen Marie Moning is a master storyteller and I cannot wait for the second book!

Wait one damn minute. Mckeltar . Isn’t that the name of one of the Druids from the Highlander series? So this book is connected to that series?

Ok. Now let’s look at this book on its own. There is so much extraneous information in this book. Yes past is important but this was a lot of telling with little showing. Maybe a novella would have been a better introduction to this world. But I’m not a writer so what do I know?

There were some great elements. Some intriguing magics. There was so much marching to Mordor.

I am interested in continuing the trilogy.

There is a lot of world building. The characters are complex and interesting. I had a hard time getting into this one but it was worth sticking with. The ending is a big wow. I definitely think this trilogy is going to be worth the wait.