Burnt Cove by G Wayne Miller

Burnt Cove by G. Wayne Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 211

Publisher - Austin Macauley

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

When Rose O’Reilly White, a respected member of the small-town Deer Isle, Maine, community, died at age 97, she left many secrets, some monstrous and others magical, including her first love, a young woman who died in a tragic fire in 1942. This woman was her teacher; Rose was a teenager. Another secret was her later long involvement with an African-American woman. A third was her poisoning and killing a Catholic priest of many years ago after Rose learned he was a serial pedophile and wanted to prevent him from abusing other victims.

Rose’s husband, Bill, another respected member of the Deer Isle community, knew and accepted all this. But unlike others who die leaving secrets, Rose left a key to open them, and her filmmaker son Jack brings them to light as he sets out to produce a documentary of her life—an endeavor that reunites him with his first love, with whom he had a daughter unbeknownst to him until they are together again.

A novel unlike any other, Burnt Cove artfully blends horror, supernatural, dark fantasy, time travel, love, death, and mystical resurrection.



My Review

So for a thin book this one really packs a whole load of stuff, Rose O'Reilly White has died, she was close to 100 years old and a huge part of her community. The book is really Jack (Rose's son) writing about their family history and Rose of course is/was a huge part of that. Rose's stories (the book jumps about a bit) were tapes when she was alive and Jack has been working on the project of their life stories. Rose is a character and had many secrets. Jack is basically our main character and putting together the story so we are hearing things that Rose recorded/lived but also following Jack from finding out his mother died, going to the funeral and speaking to the people who knew her and going from there.

Like we start in June 2023 and end up March 2026 so there is a fair bit of jumping and considering it is only just over 200 odd pages we delve into a lot. Jack is a film producer, he is delving into his mum/family life as a project and as with many of us find out things about our family that leaves your jaw dropped.

I really liked the focus on his mums life and the secrets and things she did and why she did them but I feel it was cut a bit short. Like for me it was two splits, one being his mums life and the whole telling the story of the family/her and then after the funeral he finds something out about his own life which then takes us down a spiritual road. I do enjoy spiritual takes/ghosts but I felt the two read as really different stories and may have worked better as two different books. Like give Rose a whole book for herself, either following her life story from beginning to end and then give Jack his own story too with all the surprises and spiritualness that came about. Like, I liked it but I was just distracted and felt both stories could have had more time and pages because they are both good/interesting. I felt like we were just getting into it when Rose's story was left behind and we focused more on Jack. Overall 3.5/5 for me, this was my first time reading this author, I would read them again.

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Review - The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - on and off over 15 days

Pages - 1207

Publisher - Penguin Books

Blurb from Goodreads

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real a family of witches-a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being."

My Review

Rowan Mayfair was kept from her immediate family from birth, to save her from the family legacy and curse. Events take place that will bring Rowan home,the history of the witches and its ghost are about to come to a head and something new is coming along.

Rowan is a fabulous young doctor, she saves the life of Michael in a chance meeting that will change their lives forever. Michael is suffering from visions and his hands are picking up vibes and readings from anything he touches. He needs to figure out what it all means before going crazy. Rowan is desperate to meet her family, despite making a promise to the woman who raised her that she would never return. Together Rowan and Michael try to unravel the mystery of the Mayfair family and what it means for them and their relationship.

The book covers the past and present, the history of the family ghost and all of the Mayfair witches to date. It gives some insight into Lasher, the family ghost, although not in depth as this will follow in the second book.

The book covers secrets, murder, sex, incest, magic, history, lies and deception to name just a few of the themes covered within this tale. It is quite a long book standing at over 1200 pages, some of this I feel could have been trimmed off and not have affected the overall tale. It has mystical and magical happenings, sex is a strong theme throughout which may make some readers feel uncomfortable. For me, this is a reread, I read this as a teenager and loved it. I still liked it as an adult however, after having devoured so many books I find myself much more critical and clearly not as enamored with the tale as I had been as a teen. It is a great book, opening up a new world with ghosts (or demons if thats your preferred term for Lasher) and witches that spills over into our world.

This is the first in a trilogy, as I have said I have read it before and will track the others down, they are somewhere in my many book shelves. Despite the time line jumping around and there being quite a few characters, the story is quite easy to follow and Anne Rice has created a world that many will love. Certainly worth a read if you like mystical type tales laced with sex and family tragedy and secrets, 3/5 for me this time.

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