Wednesday, June 16, 2021

"On the Cliffs of Foxglove Manor" by Jaime Jo Wright

1885: Adria Fontaine has been sent to recover goods her father pirated on the Great Lakes during the war. But when she arrives at Foxglove Manor--a stone house on a cliff overlooking Lake Superior--Adria senses wickedness hovering over the property. The mistress of Foxglove is an eccentric and seemingly cruel old woman who has filled her house with dangerous secrets, ones that may cost Adria her life.

Present day: Kailey Gibson is a new nurse's aide at a senior home in a renovated old stone manor. Kidnapped as a child, she has nothing but locked-up memories of secrets and death, overshadowed by the chilling promise from her abductors that they would return. When the residents of Foxglove start sharing stories of whispers in the night, hidden treasure, and a love willing to kill, it becomes clear this home is far from a haven. She'll have to risk it all to banish the past's demons, including her own.

Treasure hunts, conspiracies, and a haunted mansion . . . This is the closest thing to a ghost story I've ever read in fiction without an actual supernatural element. While I knew there couldn't be an actual ghost, there had to be some explanation for people seeing the same apparition over a hundred years apart--and I loved how it all tied together as variations on a theme! Jaime Jo Wright writes the most complex stories--not complicated and confusing, but truly complex, with an incredible attention to the details that are interwoven and connected throughout the book, even (or especially?) across timelines. 

The setting is marvelous. Having lived along the shore of Superior for several years, I can picture the haunting landscape perfectly, from the brooding lake to the high, windy cliffs to the sea caves. It's no wonder both Kailey and Adria feel the desolation the lake can inspire. Of course, both heroines are fighting their own battles with trauma, heightened by the manipulation around them. If you're looking for a superb Gothic tale of suspense that spans more than a century, look no further!

Thank you Bethany House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

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