I believe I bought this book on a discounted whim probably over a year ago. In an effort to work through books I own, Katie Moretti’s Girls of Brackenhill intrigued me the most on my shelf.
At the jump, it’s clear Hannah has some unresolved trauma. It’s not that hard to make that conclusion as she heads back to take care of some things after her aunt Fae’s passing. In the car, we’re privy to Hannah’s inner monologue which consists of a lot of things that her new fiancé has no clue about. I will say, as the book goes on, I have no clue why Huck and Hannah are getting married. Even though Hannah is peevish in the old castle where she spent a few summers in her teens, followed by tragedy, she seems annoyed by most of Huck’s qualities. Also, yes, Hannah’s kept a lot from Huck, but wouldn’t omitting certain things be a red flag for him?! I don’t feel that it should come as a spoiler when I tell you it doesn’t work out between them.
Anyways, Hannah is dreading going back to the small town in the Catskills that houses her family’s castle. Yes, castle. It’s the most intriguingly described thing in the book, but that’s good because it’s central to so many life changing things. It’s for sure haunted, so what I thought at first was just going to be a straight mystery/thriller, also managed to pepper in some supernatural happenings. Not in a way that diminished the story at all, though. Hannah’s got a bad past with this castle. It’s why she hadn’t been back to visit her aunt and uncle in seventeen years. Not since the summer when her sister disappeared. Well, likely died, but Hannah’s never given up hope.
Once back in town and at the castle specifically, all of these memories of the five summers she spent there came flooding back. The first few were really happy ones, with her and her sister Julia having a blast just exploring the massive estate, swimming, and just playing around. Then the last summer things took a turn and Julia got serious, hardly spending any time with Hannah. There was a boy Hannah liked though, Wyatt, and of course he’s stayed in this town, now looking into her aunt’s death. What starts as a cut and dry follow-up ends up finding some literal skeletons and presents Hannah with a lot more questions than answers about what happened the last time she was at Brackenhill.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, if a little repetitive at times. That always seems to be my biggest gripe with authors. But besides all that, the story was intriguing both in the present day and past passages. A lot was a mystery but then in the final fifty pages or so, enough discoveries were made that the revelations fell into Hannah’s lap like dominos. I did appreciate that they still left Julia’s fate a bit open-ended. I’d personally love to know the author’s perspective on it, or if there will ever be a follow-up novel. It still feels like there are more mysteries to unravel about that place’s history.