#BookReview The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb #Mystery #Romance #Fantasy #Ghosts @NetGalley @AmazonPub
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Many Thanks to Net Galley, Lake Union publishing and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
Wendy Webb is one of my favorite authors, most of the books that I have read have a gothic element with ghostly presence centered around the very beautiful and peaceful Lake Superior. Now tell me, what would a reader expect with a haunting in the title and that cover image?
So that is my BIGGEST problem with this book. I went in expecting something and ended up with an altogether different experience. The book is classified in the gothic fiction genre but this had more elements of time-travel or a bit of fantasy/sci-fi element in it.
NO..NO…Don’t get me wrong, Wendy Webb’s story that focuses on the trauma of losing someone you love after being their primary care-giver is essentially about the haunting of person by grief. The beautiful town of Wharton comes alive in this loving story of finding joy in simple things and the warmth and unconditional love from strangers. The author shows us the innumerable ways that a community join hands together to help a person suffering from Alzheimer’s, a dreaded disease that destroys not just the person suffering from it but traumatizes all the near and dear ones to insurmountable depths.
The ending did leave me perplexed as to the time scale of events unfolding but for the hopeful and touchy feeling that The Haunting Of Brynn Wilder left me with, this one gets 3.5 stars but I would definitely add an additional half star for the town of Wharton. I just loved the setting so much and would simply love to feel the tranquility that is so beautifully conveyed in this book.
After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.
But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic-even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows.
In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer.
This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Medium.com, Goodreads, Amazon India and twitter.
Originally published at http://rainnbooks.com on November 20, 2020.
