The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn – Review

Published: September 26, 2023

Publisher: Griffin

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416 (Paperback)

My Rating: 4 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Cordelia Bone’s meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts.

When her older, carefree sister, Eustace—a cannabis grower in Boulder, calls to inform her the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.

But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt’s aging attorney who insists they inhabit the house and retain it but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.

As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that’s been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill.

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I’m really embracing the influx of witchy fantasy stories and have been trying to pick up a few each season. For the fall season, we have the surprisingly spooky book, The Witches of Bone Hill.

This is the story of two sisters who’re both having difficulties in their lives when they’re informed that they’ve inherited a massive estate in Connecticut from their estranged grandmother. Cordelia is going through a nasty divorce and the mob is calling her up for her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s debt. Her sister Eustace had a successful cannabis business in Colorado until cancer treatments nearly bankrupted her. Cordelia, a real estate agent, has plans to sell the property to make her financial concerns go away, but it seems her ancestors insist the estate stay in the Bone family and the two sisters find themselves with a massive, haunted house on their hands and perhaps something more sinister.

The Witches of Bone Hill shows the goods and bads of the Bone family and has a surprisingly spooky kick to it. Cordelia can see and speak with ghosts and the entirety of the Bone estate is chock full of their ancestors’ spirits and it’s terrifying to Cordy. Eustace’s magic allows her a talent for growth and a gift with animals, much to Cordy’s envy – why did she get stuck with the macabre magic? Not only do they have to deal with their magic, which for so many years they had denied or suppressed, but it seems like they might have a human intruder on their hands. Could it be the same person who murdered their mother years before? 

I enjoyed the mystery element, the gothic atmosphere of the Bone Hill, and the little thread of romance woven into the story. I thought Cordy and Eustace were great characters and it’s wonderful to see a book where siblings actually love one another, despite being apart for years. Overall, this was a really good story that balanced the darker aspects of magic, with the beautiful bond of sisterhood that Cordy and Eustace have. I think this could be a good choice for folks who enjoyed Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, but who don’t mind a somewhat darker aspect with less of the cozy fantasy vibe.