by Ava Morgyn
September 26, 2023
Publisher: St Martin’s Griffin
ASIN: B0BQGJMNVP
ISBN: 9781250835437
Cordelia Bone's meticulously crafted life and career in Dallas are crashing down around her thanks to a philandering husband with criminal debts. When her older, carefree sister, Eustace―a cannabis grower in Boulder―calls to inform her that the great aunt they never met has died and they must travel to a small town in Connecticut to deal with the estate, she sees an opportunity to unload the house and save herself.
But once there, the sisters learn they are getting much more than they bargained for. The Victorian mansion they stand to inherit is bound in a dynasty trust controlled by their late aunt's aging attorney, who insists they retain and inhabit the house but keeps them in the dark about the peculiar rituals of their ancestors. Not to mention a sexy, tattooed groundskeeper with a shrouded past who refuses to leave the carriage house and a crypt full of dead relatives looming at the property line.
As both women grapple with their current predicament, they come face to face with a haunting family secret, the truth of what happened to their mother, and the enemy that's been stalking them from the shadows for generations. In a twisting torrent of terror and blood, the sisters must uncover the power within them to heal their fractured relationship, reverse their mysteriously declining health, and claim the lineage they wanted to escape but now must embrace if they are to survive at Bone Hill.
The Bone sisters, Cordelia and Eustace inherited the Connecticut mansion and fortune of their great-aunt, Augusta. For Cordelia, it may be a way for her to get much needed money to pay off her husband John’s debts from a gangster and to fix a mold in their Texas home so she can sell it. For Eustace, as you read further on, she is one more chemo treatment away. Once they live in the house, Eustace begins to gain weight and looks like the peak of health. Cordelia learns that if any of them leave off their land for anytime, it is not safe for them health-wise.They can even die when visiting the nearby town for groceries. She also learns the townspeople fear the Bone family. The sisters figure out they are descendants of Nordic witches, bone witches. Meanwhile, Cordelia is falling for their groundskeeper. If that wasn’t all, Cordelia needs to find out why she is not getting better like her sister, and it also appears someone is out to get them.
If The Addams Family and The Haunting of Hill House gave birth, this dark fantasy with romance would be the result. It pulls the reader into this mystery and wickedly magical story that is hard to put down.
I give The Witches of Bone Hill 4 ½ sheep.
Reviewed by Pamela K. Kinney
Website
Ava Morgyn is a native Texan who grew up falling in love with all the wrong characters in all the wrong stories. She is a lover of crystals, tarot, and powerful women with bad reputations. She studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University in Austin and currently resides with her family in Houston, where she lives surrounded by antiques and dog hair and writes a blog on child loss, ForLoveofEvelyn.com. When she isn’t at her laptop spinning darkly hypnotic tales, she can be found reading, hunting for delicious vegan recipes, or wandering a forest.
She is the author of Resurrection Girls and The Salt in Our Blood. Learn more at avamorgyn.com.
![Monstrous](<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-55482" src="https://rrbooktoursblog.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/cover-reveal-banner-1.jpg" alt="Cover Reveal Banner" width="851" height="315" /></p> <strong>We are thrilled to share the cover of Monstrous by Nicole M. Rubino. Read on for more details!</strong> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone wp-image-55484" src="https://rrbooktoursblog.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/ebook-cover.jpg" alt="EBook Cover" width="340" height="510" /></p> <b>Monstrous</b> <strong>Expected Publication Date: January 17, 2024</strong> <strong>Genre: NA Urban Fantasy</strong> 🖤Monster College 🖤Slow-burn Romance 🖤Wednesday Addams Vibes w/ a Dash of Jennifer’s Body 🖤Murder Mystery 🖤Queer Rep 🖤Praise Kink 🖤Fake Out Make out <span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic">I’ve never been afraid of the dark.</span> <span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic">I never needed a nightlight when I was younger or any reassurance that there was no monster in my closet or under my bed.</span> <span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic">Perhaps that’s because a part of me always knew I was one.</span> Sharp teeth and claws weren’t the type of gifts I’d expected for my eighteenth birthday, along with the desire to eat my ex-boyfriend. Yet those monstrous traits are the exact reason I’m here, at Alystair University. Alystair University was all I heard about growing up. Its prestige and exclusivity could rival any Ivy League. But that’s not the <span class="a-text-italic">real</span> reason that sets the school apart from others. Everyone at this school is a monster. Like me. I should feel safe here. This school will afford me the opportunity to hone my monstrous abilities and curb my carnivorous urges. Not to mention, I have a fierce girl gang by my side, guiding me every step of the way. But then decapitated bodies start showing up on campus. Someone is killing off students, and in a school full of monsters, everyone is a suspect. Yet all eyes are on Nick Cervallos, a boy whose charm is as deadly as his claws. And who I can’t seem to stay away from. I’m determined to prove Nick’s innocence, but in order to do that, I’ll have to tap into my monstrous side. I just don’t know what I’m more afraid of - coming face to face with a blood-thirsty monster… <strong>PRE-ORDER <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFSQ9VN2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HERE</a></strong> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>About the Author</strong></p> Nicole Rubino is a lover of fantasy, but particularly dark (though she loves a steamy contemporary romance for good measure). Monstrous is her debut new adult novel and is the first of a three-book series. Morticia Addams is her role model, and you will often find Nicole belting out the tunes to any Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac song (alas, not well). The mother of four young dragons (children), Nicole manages the beautiful chaos of her home by channeling it into her poor characters instead. Nicole lives in New York with her 100% Aries of a husband and said dragons. <a href="https://linktr.ee/authornicolemrubino" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Nicole M. Rubino</strong></a> <strong>Cover Reveal Organized by <a href="http://rrbooktours.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">R&R Book Tours</a></strong>){kind=link}