The Needfire
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You are afraid of the border places. You are afraid of the fork in the road. Fleeing her mistakes in Glasgow for a marriage of convenience, Norah Mackenzie's new home on an estate far in the north of Scotland is a chance for freedom, a fresh start. But in the dim, draughty corridors of Corrain House, something is very wrong. Despite their warm correspondence, her distant, melancholic husband does not seem to know her. She is plagued by ghost ships on the sea, spectres at the corner of her eye, by winding, grasping roots. Her only possible companion, the housekeeper Agnes Gunn, is by turns unnerving and alluring, and harbours uncanny secrets of her own. As the foundations crumble beneath her feet, Norah must uncover the truth about Corrain House, her husband, Agnes, and herself, if she is to find the freedom she has been chasing.
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I did find this book quite hard to get into, the first 30% was probably too long, I wish this bit had been cut shorter, as the book only starts to grab your attention around 30%. Unfortunately the pacing goes right back to 0 mph and it's another struggle to get through. But then again, something happens at about 51% the hooks you win straight away. If this hadn't been an ARC I'd have DNFd so please read this review with that in mind.
It's easy to bond with the main character because you are just as lost as she is, although I can't decide if that is a good thing.
Described as a horror, I wish there a bit more suspense in the book. Whenever something with the potential to be horror happens, they are flashed over by the author so quickly that it is over before it starts. In the slower parts of the book the author could have built suspense and planted seeds to get your mind going. It's common knowledge that half of horror is your own thoughts working over time about the worst things that could happen.
The romance in the book is a very slow burn which has the air of regent yearning from the lady of the house. It's not quite the lesbian love affair you want it to be. There are also a few grammatical and spelling errors that a quick edit would have picked up on.
The choice to make the FMC plus sized is confusing. The only thing it brings is a way for her and her month to insult her? Whenever she spoke about her weight or her size, it was only negative and I don't quite understand why the author would include a plus size woman just to constantly be negative about her size. It brought nothing to the plot, rather it's just cheap shots.
I can see from the author's note at the end that they struggled to write the book and get it all out and that it was quite a long process until the ending which was rushed out in 3 weeks. And I think, as a reader, I can tell that I can tell that this isn't a cherished love or a passion. I feel like this story has just been written to be written. And not because the author is really inspired and empowered to tell a message.