The House at Watch Hill by Karen Marie Moning Series: The Watch Hill Trilogy #1
Published by William Morrow (10.1.2024)
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Format: eARC, 384 pages
Source: NetGalley
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.
My thoughts
This is rather hard for me to review, as I had mixed feelings about it.
I absolutely LOVED Karen’s Fever series – namely, books 1-5. After that, the series kind of lost me. I mostly enjoyed books 6-8, but they started to feel a little monotonous and I never continued past that. I enjoyed most of the Highlander series, too, although Immortal Highlander is my favorite far above all the rest (ADAM BLACK!!). So, when I saw that she was coming out with a new book, I was ecstatic.
Overall, I think maybe my expectations were too high. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, I did for the most part! But the book left me wanting in some way I can’t define.
The beginning was a little rocky, not gonna lie. Zo is quite arrogant about her looks – she’s gorgeous, and can get any man she wants. A fact that she reminds you, often. Confidence is great and everything, but the fact that she’s just sooo hot and flaunts TF out of it makes her hard for me to relate to. I was also on the fence about her sexuality. I think it’s great for women to be open and unashamed about sexuality, but she was almost over sexualized…and here’s where things got a little weird. Because she had this thing where she talked about looking at someone, and the two of them having a full on conversation with their eyes. As in, literally, not figuratively. It was soo fucking weird. No one talks like that. No one even thinks like that. It almost lost me, to be honest. View Spoiler » I’m grateful it was explained, but it was still very odd and jarring.
There was a lot of focus on the sex in all of the Zo’s relationships. A distinct difference between the Fever series and this is a complete lack of any chemistry or tension. There are a couple of male interests, but it was all insta-lust and no chemistry. Nothing like the sexy slow burn between Mac and Barrons. It’s actually crazy to me that it’s the same author that wrote that relationship. How can I have any attachment to a man that the FMC barely even knows?! They had almost no interaction. I also didn’t care for there being too many love interests.
This is definitely a slow-burn novel. It takes forever to get any kind of background or answers. (And even then, I feel like we still didn’t get a full explanation?) The pacing is quite slow and not much happens. I did love the gothic setting and vibe of the story and the house itself, it kept me going! Also, who doesn’t dream of suddenly inheriting a mansion and a shitload of money?! Lmao.
Something about this story that really spoke to me was the poignant portrayal of grief. I can tell it was KMM writing something quite personal to her, because it had me tearing up multiple times at how visceral Zo’s grief was. It was a little hard to read, having lost both my parents (and one of them to cancer, just like Zo’s mom).
I am also super excited about the reveal at the end of the book, what a cliffhanger! View Spoiler » While I didn’t love this book, I do want to pick up the second one to see where the story goes.
Overall Assessment
Plot: 3.5/5
Premise: 4/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Characters: 2.5/5
World-building: 4/5
Pace: 3/5
Feels: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
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