A review by sarahwarrengillreads
The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston

3.0

I always like to add a magical ghost story to my fall reads and the cover of this one just drew me in.

Hecate is such a lovely character, she’s so charming and down to earth and very bookish – she’d make the perfect best friend.

It is 1881 and Hecate is a librarian assistant at a cathedral library. She can see and converse with ghosts as well as make a medieval world map, named the Mappa Mundi, that hangs close to her desk, come alive.

Working in a library is her dream job despite her mothers wishes for her to settle down and marry, something Hecate does not want to do. In the cathedral she discovers ancient chained library books that carry cryptic and enigmatic stories that are somehow related to the map and she plots to find a way to get access to these forbidden books. The premise of this book had so much promise but while reading I couldn’t figure out what the main idea of the book was supposed to be. It’s a mixture of historical adventure, paranormal romance maybe?

Unfortunately this wasn’t my favourite read, I felt that I wasn’t engaged in reading, the storyline never really accumulated to anything for me and the ending just petered out.

I guess you win some, you lose some. Some books are not for everyone and that’s quite okay.

Many thanks to @stmartinspress for my #gifted review copy.

3 ⭐️