House of Spells and Secrets

Overall Rating: 5/5

Swallow Hall holds its own secrets. Secrets that it will take with it if it has to.

Rowan Connors has always led a fragmented life with her sisters, Saoirse and Caraline. Things only take a turn for the worse when their elusive and rather secretive mother Bridget somehow hits her head and drowns. Shortly after her death, Rowan finds a strange picture secreted away in her mother's belongings... depicting her mother in front of a house that she does not recognize. On that image as well is her mother's last words... a last request. And so the sisters set off on a quest to find out about their mother's past, about the house that they see on the photo concealed in their mother's things, and to discover their own magical gifts.

They return back to find the island sinking, and to find a grandmother that they previously did not know about to be living within its dilapidated walls. From Everly... they learn that their last name is not Connors but is actually Early. And they learn that the dilapidated and slowly crumbling stone and brick that builds the house surrounding them is much more than just a house...it lives and breathes the magic of their bloodline... it breathes the magic of the land that it sits on...and it almost seems as though the house has secrets that it wants to share with the triplet sisters. At times, it almost seems like the house does not want them to leave now that they've returned... eager to have the sister's magic in its walls and to provide them a sanctuary to flourish....

As they learn more of their family's past, and they settle more into life on the island... the triplet sisters discover that their bloodline has an enemy, hidden quietly right alongside their magic, but twisted to serve a darker purpose... and as Rowan finds out more and more about her mother and about her bloodline...She begins to believe that her mother's death was no mere accident, but part of a deeply sinister plan set into motion long before her and her sisters were born.

As the dark shadows of the past seep more into Swallow Halls' already-crumbling walls... and the sudden disappearance of their grandmother... Rowan and her sisters must join together to confront whatever chased their mother, Bridget, from its walls... or risk their bloodline, their magic, and the house with its seemingly endless secrets from vanishing forever...

Perfectly charming and cozy, dashed with a secretive dark past and exploring the bonds between three sisters... this was the perfect read for October, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. If you are a fan of Practical Magic, of Nora Roberts' The Inheritance, and also a fan of the fantastical... of finding your own magic and your own power...I would highly recommend adding this to your to-read pile.