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A young woman forced to live with ghosts in a mansion frozen in time must decide between forbidden love and the price of freedom in this gothic fantasy where Jane Eyre meets The Haunting of Bly Manor, perfect for fans of Starling House. At Thorne Hall, a grand estate nestled in the Berkshires, fifteen restless spirits roam, bound within the mansion’s walls since the Gilded Age. Elegy Thorne bears the weight of her family’s curse to preserve the mansion as it was in the 1890s, using ancient folk songs to keep the spirits secret and silent in order to avoid deadly consequences. When a mischievous child spirit wreaks havoc on the manor, the Thorne family calls upon their trusted preservationist to restore the mansion. He brings along his son, Atticus – a vibrant man full of life and ideas of modernization – and Elegy is captivated by him, igniting a longing for freedom she’s never dared to embrace. Torn between her desire to follow her heart and her duty to her family and its legacy, Elegy begins searching for a way to release the spirit collection back to the afterlife and set both herself and the ghosts free. With century-old secrets, peculiar magic, and spirits both whimsical and deadly, Thorne Hall will haunt and enrapture readers—and you might just not want to leave.
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**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** J Ann Thomas presents The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall, a gothic fantasy where ghosts are the burden of the Thorne family. Elegy Thorne is the most recent Thorne to be named heir to the family curse, trapped in Thorne Hall to keep the spirits compliant and calm. Some of the spirits are more whimsical where others could be potentially deadly. When Elegy finds herself falling into a forbidden love, she becomes desperate to escape her cursed fate. This book is slow. It has a contemporary setting, but everything within the confines of Thorne Hall is deliberately kept as it was in the 1890s. The phrase "frozen in time" has come up, and, unfortunately for me, also describes the pacing. I waited to be able to listen to the audiobook (narrated by the author) and was able to proceed forward more happily that way. Otherwise, I may have DNFed due to sheer impatience. I don't know that I realized that most of the story would have a contemporary setting, and found myself wishing for the historical one. This story was likened to Starling House, and I agree. In that same vein, I will compare it to A Study in Drowning, though I will emphasize this book is not intended for a young adult demographic. All of these books happened to achieve the same rating from me, in part because I can recognize that they're good, but were somewhat of a mismatch with me personally. I did not particularly like Elegy as a character, as I found her a bit docile and meek for my personal preferences. Even as Atticus brought out her desire for more... well, I'm not a huge fan of that aspect of her character either. Yes, she always wanted a change, but her blossoming relationship seemed to be the push for action. I can absolutely see where people would enjoy these characters, but it was a miss for me. Wishing J Ann Thomas much success with the release and hoping this book finds its audience.