Back on my book recs!

The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning

Back in 2012, I took a girl’s trip with some neighbor friends to New Orleans for a book signing. It was my first book signing, and boy, ol’boy, I was not ready! Having read everything Karen Marie Moning had written at that time, especially The Fever Series (multiple times), I was pleased as punch to fly down to one of my all-time favorite places to visit in the US, New Orleans, Louisiana! The sixth book in Moning’s Fever series, ICED, was released on October 31st as if one needed another reason to haunt NOLA during Halloween. As a huge Barrons + Mac fan, I was overjoyed to see my favorite secondary character, Ryodan, get some love. What an amazing weekend! It was a slightly scaled-down version of what I can only compare to ComiCon, with blonde women wearing pink hard hats adorned with a circle of taped-on flashlights and dark fae lurking around every corner. The weekend ended with a massive party with the famous birthday cake scene on the dance floor. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read The Fever series and report back!) New Orleans never disappoints, Karen Marie Moning threw a hell of a weekend, and I got my first tattoo. (side note: the first tattoo was not Fever related, it was Ex related and now it’s covered up!) I was already a KMM fan, but that weekend solidified my loyalty for life.

Imagine my delight when Moning’s PR team reached out earlier this year with an advanced copy of her latest book, The House at Watch Hill. This is book one in The Watch Hill Trilogy, and I’m feeling the feels from 2012 all over again! So, what is this book about?

Zodeckymira “Zo” Grey has never known what it’s like to have a home. Her life has been one endless stretch of running, hiding, and struggling to survive for twenty-four years. Constantly moving to escape her mother’s past—and the terrifying specter of Zo’s father—she’s never had the chance to put down roots. Her days have been consumed by odd jobs, mounting medical bills, and her mother’s slow, agonizing decline.

When her mother dies unexpectedly, Zo is left reeling, lost, broken, and well, completely broke. But then, a letter from Divinity, Louisiana, arrives, upending everything she thought she knew about her life. Apparently, she’s the sole heir to a gothic mansion at the top of Watch Hill—and a fortune to match. There’s a catch, of course, there’s always a catch: she has to live in the creepy house for three years alone to claim the inheritance.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Zo moves in, determined to handle whatever bizarre thing comes her way. As Zo begins to uncover the truth, she learns she’s not just inheriting a house and a fortune—she’s inheriting a legacy.

The mansion, which feels like its own character, holds the key to her long-hidden identity as a witch. Unlocking its mysteries means confronting the shadows her mother painstakingly shielded her from her entire life. Divinity is full of witches, a warm-blooded vampire, and humans who don’t have a clue what’s happening under their noses. Zo is about to find out just how deep her family’s roots go in this strange, supernatural town.

One of Moning’s talents as a writer is world-building. The beginning of The House at Watch Hill feels a little heavy, but it’s also necessary to set the scene properly for all to come. There’s a lot of lore to get through. Zo has no one to fully trust, so she figures many things out with trial and error. Errors can be catastrophic when you’re dealing with magic! The last third of this book really picks up the pace and as Karen Marie Moning is wont to do, the story crash lands with a killer cliffhanger that had me shaking my fist at the sky! Like many KMM books, we have morally grey characters galore, light magic, dark magic, and possibly the scariest of all, grey magic! Oh, and I’d be remiss if I failed to mention a talking book that could possibly be an ancient grimoire. I swear to you, every time I thought I had a handle on what was coming next, a twisty turn would happen that made my brain yell, “You know nothing, Jon Snow”! I wouldn’t label this book a romance but it definitely has romantic elements, some of which are of the spicy variety. It’s also not a Southern Gothic but atmospheric and creepy for sure. Clearly, it’s what we old-school book bloggers would call paranormal, but there’s also a level of fantasy that adds an extra layer to the mix. It’s a thriller, mystery, and possibly murder—The House at Watch Hill refuses to be neatly categorized or labeled, much like our main protagonist, Zo. I loved it so much and can not wait for the next book to arrive. I haven’t been able to uncover when that second book might happen, but if I were a betting woman, I’d say Moning will give us a treat on Halloween 2025. Consider me part of the coven or Koven to reference the lore of the book. I’ll let you know as soon as I learn any new details.

So, gentle readers, all of this begs the question of what would you do? What if you suddenly inherited a mysterious mansion with a gigantic fortune attached—but you had to live there alone for three years surrounded by strange townsfolk, a hot Scottish groundskeeper, riddles, and possibly most definitely sinister forces—would you risk it for the biscuit? Tell me in the comments below!

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