I enjoyed the narration of the story and the language.Unfortunately, I did not like the story. It wasn;t for me.

The Lighthouse Witches is a multi-narrative story which takes place over three separate timelines.

- In the 1600’s a group of twelve women were accused of witchcraft and persecuted on the remote Scottish island of Lòn Haven.

- In 1998, Liv and her three daughters Saffy, Luna and Clover arrive on the island after Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in the lighthouse there. The family get dangerously swept up in the local history and lore, resulting in the disappearance of two of Liv’s daughters.

- In the present day, Luna who is preparing to become a mother for the first time is desperately searching for answers about what really happened to her family all those years ago on Lòn Haven.

I am half Welsh and half Scottish so I grew up hearing about and reading a lot of Celtic Folktales. The thing I loved the most about this book was the way in which the fantasy and folklore elements were woven into an already creepy and unsettling story, combining two of my favourite genres. I actually have family who live on a remote Scottish island, so the descriptions of the close-knit island community (set in their ways and traditions) felt incredibly real and authentic for me.

I was also pleasantly surprised that overall the book took a very different direction than I had imagined. I knew that witchcraft and witch-hunts featured heavily in the story. However, I was only a few chapters in when one of the major twists completely stopped me in my tracks! I had to go back and re-read that section because it was such an unexpected turn of events. It was one of those rarer moments in a book when you stop and think, well this just got interesting!

Gothic, dark, surprising and utterly enthralling, The Lighthouse Witches is a really strong contender for my book of the year. I got completely swept up in all three parts of the story and read excitedly through page after page, wanting to find out what happened but at the same time never wanting it to end. Basically I adored everything about it - the rugged Scottish setting, the references to Witchcraft, the unexpected supernatural elements and the mystery of the missing family running throughout - all added together to make The Lighthouse Witches the most perfect and original gothic thriller.

I loved this book! It was a thriller, but with an intriguing family saga and also witches, foklore, myth and magic. thrown in. Add the brilliant pacing, dark spooky atmosphere, small town menace and a few winter storms set around a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island. Just my cup of tea! Se mainly in 1998 and 2021, this tale of a mother and her three daughters moves between timelines and differing points of view. The amount of research into the Scottish witch trials really shines through, with a great plot and plenty of twists it's a compelling and very enjoyable read. I would highly recommend and will be checking out the authour's other work!

We start this book in Scotland in 1998. Liv, the mother of three daughters, Saffy, Luna and Clover, is commissioned to paint a mural in a dilapidated lighthouse on the isle of Lon Haven. The lighthouse and the caves below it are rich with a dark history and folklore tales of witches, curses and wildlings.
When two of her young daughters, and then Liv herself vanish, it appears that the folklore may be based in fact.
Told between the 1600s, 1998 and 2021, you need to concentrate to follow the storyline. It's definitely worth it though and the author's note  on her research at the end is really interesting.

Cooke does an excellent job at building up tension, first introducing the eponymous Lighthouse, which Liv and her daughters first arrive at on a dark, cloudy night. The story jumps between time-periods, with Liv and her first person perspective set in 1998, her eldest daughter Sapphire also in the same year, and her middle daughter Luna, in 2021. Luna and Sapphire’s chapters are written in the third person, and part of Sapphire’s chapters have extracts from ‘The Grimoire of Patrick Roberts’, dated from the 1600s and describing the witch-burnings that happened in Lòn Haven, and the start of the myth of the wildlings. The change in time and perspective was done well, and though I would sometimes want to just get back to one of the characters, it worked well to build suspense, and to unravel the events slowly and to maximum effect. Already a few chapters in we know from Luna’s narrative that she is the only one who ever left the island, and the rest of her family is still missing. And as she is about to start a family of her own she is thrust back into the past, returning to Lòn Haven after swearing never to do so again, trying to recover her shattered memories of that time.

Of all the chapters, Luna’s were the most clunky at times, and I feel that they could have worked better in first-person, like Liv’s are, but that is a small complaint, really, and it may be that in the final version some of the phrases that felt awkward to me have been ironed out. My other complaint is that the ending felt a little too neatly resolved, which almost didn’t fit the theme of the rest of the book, but at the same time it did give me some comfort after some of the darker parts of the story.

It’s hard to talk much more about The Lighthouse Witches without revealing the plot twists, but if you need more convincing to make this one of your spooky October reads, here are some of the key tropes that make it appealing to me: small town with a dark secret, mythology woven into the story, complex mother-daughter relationships, and complicated romance. I will say that there are some pretty graphic moments, and violence towards women and children, as well as some triggers about pregnancy and miscarriages, so do be aware of that before going in. But it’s a great story and quite a quick read once you get sucked in, and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of the gothic.

Perfect read for spooky season! CJ Cooke captures Scottish island life beautifully. The story unfolds across different timelines and draws on historic witch trials. I particularly enjoyed the folklore.

This books was so well written, keeping you in suspense of what was happening with disappearances, witches being burned and cursing the land, weird happenings.

The one thing i loved about this book is the authors note at the end, highlighting the dark scottish history around the torture and burning of women accused of witch craft with little evidence and yet hardly mentioned in history.

The book does talk about about what women accused of witch craft went through, and this lead to the story of the island being cursed.

This is more than just a disappearance but a journey. The story is set across 3 time lines, the time of the witch trials via a journal, 1998 (disappearance) & 2021 (the mention of mask due to covid).

Im trying to write a review without giving away what makes this such a great read. I can't wait to read more by C J Cooke, who turns out to be a local author :)

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eArc for an honest review.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

If you're still looking for your perfect October-witchy-read ór if you perhaps wanted a literary equivalent to the netflix show "Dark": look no further... You have found it. Witches, changelings, elements of Scottish folklore and a vividly spooky setting, all woven together seamlessly make Where The Lighthouse Witches my favourite Halloween release of 2021 so far.

Scotland, 1998. Liv, single mother of three daughters is commissioned to paint a mural in an abandoned lighthouse on a remote isle just off shore. What begins as an opportunity for a fresh start for her and her family soon takes an ominous turn. The lighthouse, as well as the cave-network below it, are saturated with dark history and sinister folktales: witches, curses and wildlings have left their mark on the place for centuries now. Any doubts on their validity are shattered when first her two young daughters, and then Liv herself, vanish without a trace.

Scottish shores, 2021. Luna has been looking for her sisters and mum for over twenty years. Then one day, she receives a call that her youngest sister has been found near the lighthouse where she disappeared. Only she hasn’t aged a day since she was last seen… Is this girl really her sister? Is she a changeling from the folktales Luna grew up with? In order to find out, she has to return to the lighthouse, to unearth the secrets that linger there once and for all.

Where The Lighthouse Witches has all the ingredients to make for my perfect Halloween-read, and mixes them together in its cauldron to become even more than the sum of its parts. Told in three timelines (the witch-hunt of 1662 that started it all, the vanishings of 1998, and “return” of 2021), this story sucked me into its mystery, its atmospheric setting and its Gothic imagery from page one, and kept me on the edge of my seat with anticipating and suspense throughout. Although I already enjoyed Cookes previous novel The Nesting, I feel they’ve grown so much as an author since. Where The Lighthouse Witches matches its predecessor in creepy atmosphere, it has has tighter and sharper prose, pitch perfect pacing and a much more vivid and likable cast of characters. It also incorporates some elements of different subgenres to elevate it above your “typical horror novel”.

Even though it’s still early in the month, this has to be my favourite Halloween release of the year so far, and I can’t recommend it enough. Where The Lighthouse Witches is available in print, as well as in audio-format, both of which I can highly recommend. For full immersion points, I suggest a dark room on a stormy night; letting the excellent narration and the Scottish accents carry you away to the foggy shores...

Many thanks to Harper Collins for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Interlocking history, mystery, myth and lore, and knotting peculiar concepts of time and agelessness with survival struggle, misconceptions, family distress, teen life, motherhood...and daring multiple voice narratives spinning at 360 degree angles around setting and plot... The Lighthouse Witches is a SPLENDID read!!!

Thank you Harper Fiction and Net Galley for the eARC.

Liv has run away - we don't know what from - but she ends up on a remote Scottish Island with her three daughters,, commissioned to paint a mural in a lighthouse. The absent owner of the lighthouse has left her a sketch of what he wants painted, but no other instructions.

Strange rumours and myths surround the lighthouse and its owner. As Liv starts on the mural, Saffy, her teenage daughter, cross at being uprooted from her former home, starts to rebel, disappearing without warning. Her younger daughters are also unsettled by their surroundings.

The island's history is disturbing, with tales of witch trials and murders - what should Liv make of this?

In parts, this is a compelling read, but I was not entirely convinced by the outcome. This is almost a very good book but, for me, not quite.

I really enjoyed The Lighthouse Witches. I don’t read a lot of mystery and thrillers but I was really intrigued with this one.

I loved the characters and the timeline of the book. Sometimes I don’t like skipping timelines but it was done so well in The Lighthouse Witches.

Really enjoyed this book. There was something missing in the atmosphere created but overall really liked it.
Was worried about the resolution of the mystery, about what had happen to the mother and daughters, but in my opinion the author did a very good job in solving it.

I loved my time with The Nesting last year, so deciding whether to read her newest gothic story The Lighthouse Witches was very easy indeed. There was just something about the blurb of this story that spoke to me immediately... The Scottish setting, the hint at the supernatural/folklore with the wildlings, the history of witches on the island; all elements that held a lot of promise of turning The Lighthouse Witches into a success. And while the pace did turn out to be considerably slower than expected and it wasn't as scary as I hoped it would be, as a whole this gothic thriller is still well worth your time.

The first thing that stands out is the setting on a remote Scottish island. The descriptions really make this setting come alive and I loved just how important the setting was throughout the story. Directly relating to the setting itself is the history and folklore woven into the plot, with the mention of the Scottish witch trials, mentions of the wildlings and the hint at the supernatural in general. This was definitely what made this story a success for me and it's without doubt one of its strongest features. I would have loved to have an even stronger focus on the supernatural, but as it is I still found it to be satisfying.

The story uses a multiple POV structure as well as different moments in time to tell the story. We have 1998 where Liv and her children first visit the island as she is commissioned to paint the lighthouse. Then we have 2021 where her daughter Luna is all grown up and still searching for her missing mother and sisters after all those years... And on top of this, we have glimpses at the distant past with Patrick's voice in the grimoire fragments. The POV switches help create an atmosphere of intrigue and suspense, since you don't have the full picture of what is going on for a very long time.

It's hard to put The Lighthouse Witches into a neat little genre box, as it has hints of domestic/psychological thriller, historical fiction, horror, supernatural as well as fantasy. I always like it when a story refuses to be put inside a box, and while I did expect the story to be darker and scarier than it turned out to be, I still applaude it for its originality. I think that the fact that I didn't rate it the full 5 stars is mostly due to my issues with slower paced and more domestic/psychological thrillers; especially the parts that focused on the issues of Liv's daughter Saffie and daily life in general just didn't work for me personally, but that doesn't mean that they weren't well written or didn't fit the rest of the plot.

As a whole, I can confirm that The Lighthouse Witches is another excellent story with a gothic vibe and a hint at the supernatural that will keep you invested until the very end. C.J. Cooke writes in a way that will draw you in and her atmospheric descriptions are the perfect backdrop for this eerie story.

🌊THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES🌊

🌊🌊BOOK TOUR REVIEW 🌊🌊

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5🌟s

Thank you to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for having me along on the tour and to CJ Cooke for my newsletter giveaway win of a proof copy of The Lighthouse Witches!

This book has been such a dream to read! From start to finish I couldn’t get enough.

I will definitely be picking up the authors other books and the writing in this was flawless. There’s no other word for it really.

The perfect blend of the realism and magicality (did I make that word up?) is second to none!

I also enjoyed the transitions from each time period. Nothing felt fumbled as they switch back and forth. Each smoothly moving into the next.

I came to know and love each character and was eager to learn more about each in turn.

I don’t want to give anything away but this story about Liv and her 3 daughters, Sapphire, Luna & Clover is one not to be missed!

If you love immersive gothic stories then this is the book for you! Even if you think that’s not your type of book, trust me, this book is for you!

#TheLighthouseWitches #SpookyReads #GothicReads #PrettyBooks #AmReading #ReadAndReview #BookReview

Wow what a book!
I was drawn in from the start and couldn't put it down. Incredibly atmospheric, tense and gripping with an ending I did not see coming.

A hauntingly atmospheric story full of folklore and superstition.
The characters are beautifully drawn and the differing points of view and timelines provide such detail to the story. The lighthouse setting and weather adds character and mystery. This is certainly one for the spooky season and is a brilliantly written mystery.

Moody, atmospheric and with the right amount of spookiness this book had me gripped from the outset. Witches, faerys, wildlings it has got it all. Set over multiple timelines, the story follows Liv Stay and her daughters who move in the dead of night to Lon Haven in the Scottish highlands where she is commissioned to paint a mural in an old lighthouse. What follows is the stuff of nightmares and the past curses of witches condemned to death in the 17th Century create hell for the Stay family. I didn't want to read this at night on my own but I couldn't stop myself - it was gripping and delightfully scary.

A gothic mystery which is written so atmospherically it chills and thrills even if you don't believe in witchcraft.
Liv flees to a remote Scottish island with her three children and quickly becomes embroiled in all the belief in witches, wildlings and the need for such children to be killed by ordinary, god-fearing folk.
The writing is compelling although the change in time periods can be confusing at times.
The more you revel in witchcraft, the more you will love this book.
Many thanks to Netgalley/C.J. Cooke/HarperCollins for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. This is the second book I've read by the author and I can't fault it. I loved the element of mystery. I loved the way the story moved from past to present as it played out. I loved the characters. I loved the folklore that was seeped throughout the story. The pace was perfect and the execution of the story was flawless. If you enjoy folklore, witch trials, history, a secured island setting, and mystery and a really good story told from the perspective of a number of characters, you'll really enjoy The Lighthouse Witches.

This book got me in the mood for Halloween! I love autumn and this is the perfect autumn read. Set in the highlands of Scotland, this follows the story of Olivia and her three daughters. Olivia is commissioned to paint a mural inside an old lighthouse. Running parallel to this story is the story of a group of 12 women accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. As they are murdered, the women place a curse on the town. That they will murder their own children. The prison where they women were kept sits underneath the same lighthouse that Olivia is painting. And so begins the strange going’s on.

I really enjoyed this. The parallel stories are interwoven beautifully. The characters are written with depth and I enjoyed the multi-faceted aspects of this. This was easy enough to follow without losing any of the suspense of the story. A riveting on the edge spooky story.