Audiobook Review – The Haunting of Brynn Wilder by Wendy Webb, Narrated by Xe Sands (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Gothic/Magical Realism
Length: 8 hours and 21 minutes
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Release Date: November 01, 2020
ASIN : B087XB5BJ9
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
“ After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.
But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic – even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows.
In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer..”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I originally got this from Kindle First Reads and then ended up picking up the audiobook from Audible to listen to.
Audiobook Quality (4/5): This audiobook is well done. The narrator does an excellent job reading it and I don’t have any complaints, it was very pleasant to listen to.
Story (4/5): I liked a lot about this book but thought the ending felt a bit off and too contrived. This is kind of a slow burn mystery with some magical realism, ghosts, and time travel of sorts. There is also a heavy theme of dealing with grief and taking care of ailing elderly family members. This is not really a feel good book, I found a lot of the story to be very depressing and there were a lot of tear jerker moments. However, I enjoyed the vacation town and the characters we met there. There is a heavy theme of love helping people get through hard times too. The story does have a sort of sense of peace about it even as our characters struggle with some tough life issues.
Characters (4/5): The characters here were very well done. I enjoyed Brynn and all she was struggling with (ending a long term relationship, death of multiple loved ones, and lack of joy in a job she used to love). Watching her reset in this small town was intriguing. There are a number interesting characters in here with complex pasts and issues they are dealing with. Characterization is in general very well done and if you love character driven stories you should enjoy some aspects of this.
Setting (4/5): I love that this takes place on the shores of Lake Superior, one of my absolute favorite places to vacation to. The atmosphere is captured perfectly. I couldn’t find an actually small town called Wharton in MN on Lake Superior but this does capture the vibe of a lot of lakeside small towns in the region. Very well done and fun to visit.
Writing Style (4/5): I really enjoyed a lot of this story. The characters were interesting and the setting is a lot of fun. I initially enjoyed the mystery and the spooky hauntings. Then things start to get a bit convoluted, there is talk that Alzheimer’s Disease is really mental time travel and then somehow we are talking about not only time travel but supernatural beings. It was all very contrived and didn’t seem all that plausible. It was a pity that this story got so twisted around these strange elements towards the end because I really enjoyed most of the aspects here.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this but was a bit disappointed by how convoluted the mystery resolution got. I liked the characters, the location, and the atmosphere. This had an excellent ghost story going initially but then too many odd elements get thrown together to resolve this mysterious ghost story. I would still recommend if you enjoy Lake Superior, interesting characters or a ghostly magical feel to your story. Just don’t think too hard about how everything wraps up or you might hurt your brain.
