The Darkling Bride

A decades old murder, and a abandoned tower that holds more than just memories...

Carrah has landed her dream job. She has been tasked with working through the library at the Gallagher castle. As they prepare to turn the castle over to the National Trust, a full inventory must be made of all the books. While she prepares to begin the monumental task of going through the thousands of books in the room, she meets the Lord of the Castle. Aiden is not your normal Viscount. He is a Detective Inspector in London, and has no time for the memories that are held within the castle walls. It might have been his inheritance, but he wants nothing to do with it.

Decades earlier, his parents were murdered in the castle. Only ten years old at the time, Aiden and his sister Kyra went to live with their Aunt Nessa in Kilkenny. The castle was shut up, except for a few workers who have maintained the home, no one has been there in years.

Carrah knows that Evan Chase, one of her favorite authors, had spent time at the castle. He married Jenny, daughter of the viscount, and agreed to remain there with her, due to the “delicate health” that she suffered from. But Jenny begins to lose her grasp on reality, and refuses to accept her son as such. She is convinced that he is a changling, an imposter. Nothing her family can do can change her mind about the child. When Jenny commits suicide, Evan leaves the castle for London, abandoning the book on the Darkling Bride that he had been working on.

The Darkling Bride - an old Irish legend which haunts the castle. Happiness never seems to last for the Gallaghers who reside within its walls, and the Darkling Bride is always lurking within the mists surrounding the castle.

As Carrah and Aiden become closer, the castle begins to share some of the secrets held within. As they work together to solve a riddle that his mother had left behind decades earlier, they find a lot more than a birthday present stashed away....

Murder, family secrets, and intrigue come together to weave a spellbinding story - one that you cannot walk away from until you have finished! I can not say enough about this book! I LOVED IT! I have a book hangover from reading through - it was that good! Grab your copy today and get lost in the Irish legends, a haunted castle, and one explosive secret...

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book, for an unbiased review.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book is not generally my type of book, but wow did I love it.
Sure, it was a slow read for me, tending to drag at times, but the mystery had me hooked.

Look, this book is told in three different periods –around 1880 (Jenny & Evan), 1970s to 1992 (Lily & Cillian – parents of Kyra and Aiden), and 2015 the present era. Now, at first this can be confusing, but once you understand the three times and the characters within them, it gets easier. In fact, I loved it. I loved seeing how things connected through the eras, either with the Darkling Bride or the deaths of Lily and Cillian.

I absolutely loved the characters as well. Each one is unique and flawed while also adding to the story in their own way. There are bad characters and good ones and even figuring out which one is the true villain is a challenge.
The atmospheric setting really sets the story too. Seriously, this is amazing writing, dropping me right into the story and keeping me interested, even when it feels like nothing is happening. Yeah, it are those moments when I would think “wow, this book is taking me a long time to read” but I never once wanted to stop reading it– take a break maybe, but not stop forever. I ended up loving this book so much!

Now, the mystery... hmmm. I liked it throughout. I think it was slowly revealed fantastically. But, the antagonist... it was hard to full believe for me. The reasoning, I guess makes sense for who they are, but I don't know about for all the things that happened in the present. Truly, this is the only part I wasn't too thrilled on.

Do I recommend this? Yes. This is for people who don't need action or adventure. The story can be a slow-burn, so isn't for everyone, but if you want an atmospheric mystery which connects three different generations: this is the book for you :)