Review of The House at Watch Hill

Blurb: 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.

Review: After the sudden death of her mother, Zo Grey receives a call from an attorney that she is heir to a great inheritance left by a distant relative in Louisiana. With nothing else, Zo travels south and hopes merely for a nice night at a hotel. Instead, she ends up in Divinity, a beautiful little town and a grand mansion on Watch Hill. She'll inherit the house and a vast fortune, if she stays in it for three years. Strange, but it gives her hope and a future. Then all the layers of her seemingly gray life peel away and Zo discovers she is a powerful witch and many other witches have their own agendas. Does she have the strength to build her legacy or will she fall into the greedy hands of one of those who plot against her?

This is the first book in the paranormal urban fantasy series, The Watch Hill Trilogy. Many reviewers felt this book was more of a prologue than a story in itself, and I can understand that. We get introduced to the town, the house, and the cast of characters, but there is no growth in any area. It's a trilogy, so I'm expecting a lot more in book two. Also, Karen Marie Moning was one of the first authors to pull me into the paranormal romance genre with her Fever series. I loved it, and it's one I recommend to readers in the genre. Her writing in this book is different from the Fever series. Definitely a different voice and far more detail oriented.

First off, the house itself is fascinating. Lots of great descriptions about it, and there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it. I could have read a big novel about the house itself. I badly wanted it to be a sentient house. It's what I expected when I started reading, but since there wasn't actually as much going on with the house as I'd hoped, my fingers are crossed that answers will be given in the next book.

Zo has a great strength and is forged in grief. Her grief is fresh and potent, keeping the story on a very emotional level. She barely has time to get to know her new witchy self and her powers before everything happens, and I hope she explores all those things in the next novels. Devlin is her love interest, and oh yes, he's hot. (Hot as Jericho Barrons from the Fever series? Not yet, but we'll see by the end of the trilogy.) There's a big cast of characters with my favorites being Devlin and Rufus the owl. There are a few mystery players yet, and I love the extra layers they add to the plot.

You can find Karen Marie Moning on her site and buy the book here.