The Haunting of Brynn Wilder

Wendy Webb — 2020

From the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Daughters of the Lake comes an enthralling spellbinder of love, death, and a woman on the edge. After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos. But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn't. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she's become irresistibly drawn to Dominic--even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows. In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer.

Reviews

Dave | Storyphoria@storyphoria

Dec 15, 2022

Another waaay outside my wheelhouse, but very enjoyable. It walked the tightrope between romance and paranormal but it did so beautifully. Highly recommended.

Sofia Alfonso@sofiacalfonso

Jul 5, 2022

Beautiful written.

If you needs a read that keeps you tiring the pages to see what is next this novel is it. It has love, it has ghost and new beginnings. What more can you ask for?

Brian Walborn@brianreads

Feb 8, 2022

Wendy Webb has cornered the market on what I refer to as 'cozy horror'. That is, stories often involving romantic will they or won't they scenarios with a ghost or two thrown in for good measure. Always reliable reads and enjoyable, if rarely filled with dread or unease. A great beach reach particularly for those summer months vacationing along the Great Lakes. The Vanishing remains my favorite.

Stephanie Midolo@steviemidolo

Dec 2, 2021

1.5/5. Sorry this was not good.

Jordan Heustis@mylifeasjordanreads

Nov 27, 2021

I found this to be incredibly boring. I wouldn’t recommend this.

Moon of Pages@moonofpages

Nov 18, 2021

3,75

Ruth Parker @ruth

Nov 18, 2021

I’m a bit disappointed with this book. I was hoping for it to be more ghostly and more supernatural. It was the buddy read for winterween 2021 and if it hadn’t been I would have DNF’d it. It was a paranormal romance with an emphasis on the romance. It also did a lot of telling rather than showing. The ending came really suddenly as well - almost as if the author ran out of pages and needed to finish in record time. Not for me, big disappointment.

Katrina White@katrinareads

Nov 17, 2021

I'm actually giving this Book a 2 and a 1/2. It's a jumble of genres--everything from mystery to paranormal to romance to Gothic. It is really about grief, dissatisfaction, and uncertainty; and how to live on and even flourish with those feelings. There were a few twists that I could see coming from a mile away. That's not always a bad thing but I am easy person to surprise. For someone who does not like to see a twist coming they won't be satisfied with this book. It tried to end in a profound way and I kept wanting to feel what the author was trying to make me feel but I just didn't. This book is right down the middle. I didn't hate it but it failed at doing a lot of what I think the author wanted it to do.

Adrianna Giunta@adriannaslibrary

Nov 16, 2021

3 stars This could have been a new fave for me and when I first finished it I was raving about it but the more time I've had to process my thoughts, the more I see glaring issues. This was definitely not a horror, this was more of a paranormal romance. The relationship between Brynn and Dominic made me super uncomfortable and too much too fast. I loved Alice, Jason and Gil, they pretty much carried this book as the plot was all over the place. It was as if the author kept changing her mind halfway through as to what she wanted to write about. A lot of plot points were never really explained or didn't make sense. The timeline in this book is all over the place. The reason I gave this three stars and not a 2.5 is because I did really enjoy the atmosphere. I enjoyed the spooky stuff that was in here but I didn't enjoy that it never really went anywhere. Overall I do want to read more from this author but I don't think the marketing was on point for this one.

Melea Mullican@mel_lenore

Oct 18, 2021

4.43 on CAWPILE I wanted to adore this book. It had all the elements that should have worked for me. Eery seaside town, ghosts, mystery, but unfortunately the book was too uncohesive to really work at all. Brynn goes through a lot during the course of the book. She loses family, friends, a beloved pet, but she wants to start over. She meets Dominic and they fall madly in love. Unfortunately, the book jumps all over the place. One minute were dreaming in the present, the next the past, the next its real world ghosts, then no maybe a dream. On top of all that there is further elements with another couple's loved one. And let's toss in a romance and question whether he is a murderer just for good measure. Nothing aded up or worked together at all. Not even in the end. (view spoiler)[ turns out Dominic isn't the murder or bad guy but an angel? What the hell? That isn't even slightly alluded to until the last 3 pages of the book. (hide spoiler)] I wanted to love this book, but it was just too chaotic for me.