3.75 stars

This is an insidious gothic/paranormal/horror mashup with undeniable chills throughout, but readers sensitive to certain topics may want to find a different source for their daily creeps.

Lilly Bly isn't doing well. She and her husband have recently moved into a dilapidated mansion in a small town in Wisconsin. While the idea is grand - a common theme throughout Lilly's life - in practice, things are falling apart. The house is literally coming down and the couple lacks the funds to handle the repairs or maintenance and the communication skills to resolve their growing issues. On top of these stressors, they are dealing with infertility.

Readers who are sensitive to discussions about infertility and detailed descriptions of miscarriages should look elsewhere. I am not sensitive to these issues, and the latter motif was a lot for even me at times.

What Lilly has wanted all along is to be a mother. Her current infertility, her past losses and choices, and her relationships with her parents - a distant mother and a father whose death traumatized Lilly in more ways than one - all work together to put her in a special position. Now, she's more willing than ever to fight for her children...even in the least traditional ways.

Assuming prospective readers can handle the aforementioned content, there's a lot of creepiness to enjoy here.