The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning
The Watch Hill Trilogy #1
Urban Fantasy Romance
October 1, 2024- William Morrow

Review by Angela

As soon as I found out this author was releasing a new series, I added it to my TBR list. Karen Marie Moning is an author I’ve loved, from her old school romances to her more urban fantasy like Fever series. And while I kind of quit the Fever series as it evolved from a MacKayla to a Dani storyline (the last book I read in the series was Iced), I’m still weak when it comes to her storytelling abilities.

This is a book about witches. After her mother dies Zo Grey is surprised when she gets a call from a lawyer in Divinity, Louisiana with the news that she is the sole beneficiary of a grand estate, left to her by Juniper Cameron, a distant relative. With nothing left to lose she heads out to meet him and learn the terms of the will. When she arrives, she discovers she has inherited a huge house, and a rather large inheritance. The only catch is that according to the will she must live in the house alone, for three years, before the money or the house truly belong to her.

This is one of those books that if you’ve read the author’s previous works, you kind of know what to expect, yet are intrigued by the cast of characters and their motives. I found the world-building to be compelling, and despite some irritations with the main character, was all in as she discovers her birthright and the reasons why her mother kept them from her for the whole of her life. Zo enters this world with no expectations, but quickly realizes that she is indeed a member of a powerful coven, and her dormant powers are slowly beginning to surface.

The surrounding town is full of questionable, interesting characters and it’s hard to determine both their loyalty to the previous matriarch or their motives. Zo is taken with the seductive groundskeeper but is still haunted by Kellan, the man who she spent a sexy night with during her trip to Louisiana. As she explores the house, full of locked rooms and deserted hallways, she slowly begins to learn of her heritage with the help of letters from Juniper given to her by James Balfour, Juniper’s lawyer. She can’t help but wonder why her mother ran from the family, and why she kept her daughter in the dark for so long.

The overall feeling of the novel is dark and ominous, and it did remind me a little of the Fever series. I expected the cliffhanger but was still exasperated at the ending. I know something big is coming and I absolutely will be reading the next book in the series. Karen Marie Moning’s writing is just as addictive as ever, and I’m all in on this new series.

Final grade- B