Audiobook Review: The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning

 

The House at Watch Hill (The Watch Hill Trilogy #1) by Karen Marie Moning

Publication Date: October 1st 2024 by Harper Audio

Pages: 384

Audio Book Length: 11hrs 34min

Narrator: Amanda Leigh Cobb & Tim Campbell

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Zo Grey is down on her luck with a terminally ill mother just trying to get by when she discovers she’s the heir to a vast estate and fortune in Divinity, Louisiana. However, there’s a catch: she has to live at the old imposing house for three years in order to inherit.

 

There was some waffling back and forth over whether she’d accept the terms, but to be honest who in their right mind wouldn’t accept and give it a go?  Especially someone like Zo in her financial situation. Yes, the house looked intimidating (and it was!) but sounded gorgeous as soon as you set foot inside!

 

Of course, anything that seems too good to be true usually is, and Zo starts to discover a darker side to the town, the house and her history. She’s known on a subconscious level there was something “extra” about herself, but her mother never shared anything about her past or powers.

 

The House at Watch Hill was more about setting this world up and didn’t have much in the way of action until the end. Still, it was an engrossing read and Moning has a way of setting up an enticing backdrop and mysterious characters. There are two potential love interests. Not sure how it’ll work out, but I did prefer one over the other. The story ended on a cliffhanger. I look forward to finding out what happens next after that last scene!

I listened to the audio version and really enjoyed Amanda Leigh Cobb and Tim Campbell’s performance! She has an appealing voice and Tim Campbell’s lent an air of mystery to his character.

4 Stars

Book Description:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets...

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.