August is over, and I can’t hardly believe it. I didn’t read as much as I hoped because we remodeled our house, but I did squeeze in a few short reads. It was a mixed month. I really enjoyed a few of them, but a few were just lackluster. So, let’s get to my August 2022 Wrap Up.
The Lighthouse Witches
Synopsis:
When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it’s an opportunity to start over with her three daughters–Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she’s frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.
Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her.
My Rating: 3/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/08/09/the-lighthouse-witches-review/
What Moves the Dead
Synopsis:
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
My Rating: 5/5
My Full Review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/08/30/what-moves-the-dead-review/
Spiderwick Chronicles Vol. 1 & 2
Synopsis:
After moving to a creepy old mansion, the Grace kids come to believe that an old book with hand-drawn pictures holds the key to all the weird things that have been going on.
My Rating: 4/5
My Full Review: I found these on Libby and decided to give them a listen. They’re rereads for me, but it’s been so long since I’ve read them, I hardly remembered anything. But it’s been a lot of fun revisiting them. They’re perfect for this time of year.
DNFED
Old Country
Synopsis:
It’s the house of their dreams. Former marine Harry and his wife, Sasha, have packed up their life and their golden retriever, Dash, and fled the corporate rat race to live off the land in rural Idaho. Their breathtaking new home sits on more than forty acres of meadow, aspen trees, and pine forest in the Teton Valley. Even if their friends and family think it’s a strange choice for an up-and-coming pair of urban professionals, Harry and Sasha couldn’t be happier about the future they’re building, all by their lonesome.
That is, until their nearest neighbors, Dan and Lucy Steiner, come bearing more than housewarming gifts. Dan and Lucy warn Harry and Sasha of a malevolent spirit that lives in the valley, one that with every season will haunt them in fresh, ever-more-diabolical ways. At first, it seems like an old wives’ tale. But when spring arrives, so does the first evil manifestation, challenging everything Harry and Sasha thought they knew about the world.
As each season passes, the spirit grows stronger, the land more sinister, and each encounter more dangerous. Will Harry and Sasha learn the true meaning of a forever home before it’s too late?
My Thoughts:
I don’t normally include dnfs in my wrap ups, but I have a lot to say about this one. I had high hopes for it, but I quickly got my fill of it. The main characters are absolutely annoying. Usually, I can overlook that if the horror aspect is interesting. But it wasn’t. The spirit was a cyclical thing, so it done the same thing over and over every season. While the cycle changed each season it still got repetitive. This had good bones. I think it could have been interesting, but it just didn’t work for me. Oh, but the setting was amazing, so at least it had that going for it.
So that’s it for my August 2022 wrap up. It’s time to move on to some spooky season reads, and I can’t wait.
