The old house where she and her daughters will be staying is old, dark, and damp and the lighthouse is full of dank water and bats and is falling to pieces. Knowing that 3 of the 4 main characters are going to mysteriously vanish plunges the entire story into a suspenseful race adding symbolic weight to every action or conversation during the ‘present’ day storyline. Luna grow up as a broken kid, haunted by the ghost of her past and what happened with her mother and sisters and how she tried so bad to get her family again.

The Lighthouse Witches (Audio Download): C. J. Cooke, Eva

Having nowhere else to go Liv takes her three children with her to this strange place, where she isn’t welcomed with open arms, and where two of her children are destined to vanish, only perhaps to reappear decades later, unchanged. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. The author’s note at the end is detailed and provides insights into her idea and intent for the book. This is her opportunity to make a new life for herself and her three daughters, Sapphire, Luna, and Clover. This is a very clever story which although it centres in witchcraft it is also about love, motherhood and family.Their cures one the land left the island reeling and people afraid, superstitious and in a strange way looking out for each other. Clover is the sister she remembers—except she's still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. For me, the biggest pro points of this book were its plot idea and its ability to spring surprises almost till the end. The audiobook is 10 hrs 13 min long, and that’s 10 hrs 13 minutes of a captivating hearing experience.

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke | Goodreads The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke | Goodreads

I really liked this book, it was engrossing and I found myself drawn into the story and the lives of Pearl and Mabel.

However, you can also enjoy The Lighthouse Witches as a straight-up horror story or psychological thriller. The land was used to keep women accused of witchcraft and when the witches were murdered they cursed the island. Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. And compared to some of the more violent horror novels I’ve read this month, this one isn’t gory, so it’s a more accessible story with wider appeal. There were also brief snippets of a book Sapphire found in the lighthouse that was written during the time of the witch trials, The Grimoire of Patrick Roberts, and which I thought were the most compelling, creepy parts of the book.