I haven’t read a gothic novel in many decades, but I quite enjoyed “The Artist of Blackberry Grange” by Paulette Kennedy. Set in the 1920s, it tells the story of Sadie Hollaran, who has nowhere to go after a broken engagement with a sleazy philanderer. She hits on the idea of staying with her declining great-Aunt Marguerite in her mansion in the Arkansas Ozarks. At first, Sadie is suspicious of her aunt’s handyman, and he is suspicious of her. Both wonder if the other has ulterior motives when it comes to looking after the aunt. And not only that, mysterious things keep happening and Sadie falls under the spell of the handsome man in the painting, who at first is charming, and then dangerous. Only by solving the mysteries of the past, will Sadie and her aunt be completely safe.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. My opinion is my own.

What a rollercoaster! From beginning to end. This novel is full of longing, anxious moments because you don't know whats happening next, turns and loopholes and most importantly it shows us the capacity that our brains have of hiding the most horrible secrets in order to protect us.

I loved the characters and their development through out the story. The depiction of Aunt Margs desease was so real and so haunting that it gave me chills.

I fell completely in love with this book (so much so, that I read it in 2 sittings) and I'm looking forward for more of this autor.

I never met a Paulette Kennedy book I didn’t love. Always so gothic and atmospheric full of feminist vibes and plots you can’t look away from - they draw you in and mesmerize you with the perfect amount of spooky and supernatural to feel almost real. I read somewhere she is the ‘modern day Daphne du Maurier’ and that description could not be more fitting!⁣
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Feeling a bit like the black sheep of her family, Sadie has no where to live, and no one to love. She leaves Kansas City for an Arkansas mansion - hoping to become a live-in companion to an elderly estranged aunt - and even quite possibly, inherit the home. What she finds is a woman in the throes of dementia who paints all too real portraits of the ghosts of her past. Sadie is determined to find what haunts her dear aunt, but finds she might need to face the actual ghosts, before all who live there lose everything. ⁣
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The Artist of Blackberry Grange is an Amazon First Read this month and definitely deserving because it’s twisty and chilling and so full of secrets that every page will captivate and haunt you in the best of ways.

The Artist of Blackberry Grange was an intriguing Gothic novel

Sadie Halloran is the good time girl in her family, a good time girl who is not really having much of a good time.. After being dumped by her married lover and with her mother dead and buried, Sadie is at loose ends and broke. Her cousin mentions that her Great-Aunt Marguerite needs help at her house, Blackberry Grange, With fond memories of her visits there as a child, Sadie decides that she will be the live in companion that her aunt needs. Sadue however is unaware that her aunt is suffering from dementia and that strange happenings as the Grange will overshadow her time there.

This was a wonderful Gothic story of past lives, current lives and how a little thing can change the trajectory of one’s life for the better.

Thanks to Negalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author for the chance to read and reivew this book.

The Artist of Blackberry Grange
by Paulette Kennedy
Pub Date: May 01 2025

The Artist of Blackberry Grange is a great ghostly story! Great storytelling, great twist and turns with a spectacular finish! What more could you ask for? What I liked most about the this book is the gothic style and dual-timelines.

This is my very first book I've read by this author and I look forward to reading many more of her books! Definitely a 5 STAR read!

Short Synopsis: In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced. For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves.

Many thanks to #TheArtistofBlackberryGrange #NetGalley and #LakeUnionPublishing for providing me with an E-ARC of this fantastic book!

Sadie Halloran, reeling from a broken engagement & devestated by the death of her mother, makes the decision to go live with her great-aunt Marguerite, Marguerite, once a renowned artist, is now in the late stages of dementia, and needs full-time care. Becoming Marguerite's live-in companion and caretaker gives Sadie the purpose her life needs, so she packs up and moves from the Kansas City boardinghouse she was living in for Blackberry Grange. When she arrives, she discovers Marguerite is feverishly compelled to paint eerie, hallucinatory portraits of old lovers—some cherished, some regretted, and some beastly. All of them haunting. With each passing night, time itself seems to shift, and truth & delusions begin to blur, Sadie must uncover the secrets that hold Marguerite captive to her past before reality—and Marguerite’s life—slips away entirely.

This gothic thriller was haunting & eerie. There were evil spirits that haunted both Marguerite and Sadie, spirits that came from the paintings that Marguerite did, but then there was also a love story.....the romance between Sadie and the groundskeeper, Beckett. This book was dark, but I really liked Sadie's character, and she was what made the book for me.

I was super excited to read The Artist of Blackberry Grange since I really enjoyed this author’s previous book, The Devil and Mrs. Davenport. This book was slower paced and took me a bit to get into, and I didn’t really like the main character. Some of her decisions didn’t make sense to me and she kind of got on my nerves. However, I loved the Gothic atmosphere and the 1920s setting. I also loved the supernatural elements in the story. Fans of Gothic historical fiction will probably enjoy this one. I do love Paulette Kennedy’s writing style and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

3.5⭐️

I must warn you - once you start reading you’ll be swept up in a fast-paced, captivating, dark story, and you won’t want to set it down until you’ve reached the end. Sadie has had her life turned upside down, and although she goes to live with her aunt afterward, it doesn’t entirely break her spirit. I was fascinated by the mystery and ghosts that haunt Aunt Marguerite, and was just as invested as Sadie in unraveling them. Kennedy does a masterful job at bringing both the historical setting and characters to life. You feel like you’re right there, wandering the halls of Blackberry Grange by Sadie’s side, and you’ll get an eerie feeling that the ghosts are standing just over your shoulder as you read. A brilliant story that gave me chills, even in the middle of the heat wave we’ve had.

This was another good book by this author!
I wasn’t too sure I liked Sadie to begin with but she changes as the book goes on. This was a nice gothic mystery with a ghostly vibe to it. It does touch on quite a few issues but all are handled really well. I couldn’t put it down!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved The Artist of Blackberry Grange! I've recently started to get more and more into gothic horror and wow, this did not disappoint! It was atmospheric and the drama was messy, which I always love! As I haven't read too many gothic books, I really enjoyed its midwest setting, that was new for me!

What would you do to change the past?

Set in 1925, this novel delves into a mystical world, but also explores themes of love, greed, and deception. Sadie moved to this small town in Arkansas because she had few other options. This is a time when women were set aside, not allowed to inherit things, and were at the mercy of men. However, what she discovered in Eureka Springs was family and secrets. Those secrets were hard to uncover due to her Great-Aunt's dementia. But with love, persistence, and some help from the mystical realm, the truth is exposed, and perhaps wrongs can be righted.

This is billed as horror, and I don't see it as such. To me, this had a paranormal twist that intrigued and kept me captivated. I nearly finished this book in one sitting! It wasn't Sadie who kept me enthralled with this book, but Marguerite and her past. There were so many stories to uncover the truth, and this was harder due to Marguerite's dementia. Was what she learned the truth, or were there other factors at play?

The book is dark, and if you don't read books that include spirits or otherworldly possibilities, this isn't the book for you. But if you are open to a novel that will bend reality and explore the paranormal, then this is the book for you. 

I thought this book was amazing and gave it 5 paws up.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Let me start by saying that the cover of this book is gorgeous and I am a sucker for beautiful covers even when I read a book on my Kindle.
Since I have only read The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, it is hard for me not to compare it to that. I have to say honestly, as between the two, I may have preferred that one. It was more rooted in the contemporary and a little less hard to follow. Yes, I do know there is a family tree in this book but I confess that in a Kindle, I don't tend to refer to it much and I know that is my fault. This book was historical which is not at all a bad thing, but I may prefer my paranormal in juxtaposition to modern times. I think of historical as more "gothic" and I have not read much gothic and it may not be my preferred genre. I have not yet read enough of it to form an opinion. I would not take stars off for this because that is less about the quality of writing than about preference. And the quality of Ms. Kennedy's writing is as good here as it was in the Devil and Mrs. Davenport. I also think that this was more layered and probably a more difficult book to write.

I think I would give this 4 1/2 stars. The only thing that may have bothered me a little was there were moments that I found the main character to be a tad annoying. It is hard to put my finger on. However, as with most books written from the first perspective, I think it is a little easier for that to happen. I do admit to having, these days, a slight preference for third person narratives.
That said, I very much enjoyed this book, which I got from Amazon First Reads and NetGalley (oops), and look forward to Ms. Kennedy's next one. Thanks you to NetGalley and to Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Paulette Kennedy has done it again—The Artist of Blackberry Grange is a mesmerizing, emotionally rich gothic that swept me into its haunted hallways and never let go. I've loved her previous novels, but this one might be her most affecting and intimate yet. The blend of grief, memory, and spectral mystery is so skillfully rendered that Blackberry Grange feels like a character in its own right—its walls pulsing with regret and longing. Sadie’s journey is achingly human, and Marguerite’s unraveling is both terrifying and tender. Kennedy’s prose is as evocative as ever, and the way she weaves supernatural elements with the raw complexities of caretaking and familial legacy left me deeply moved. Five stars, easily.

I don’t know why I couldn’t get into this since it’s everything I generally like. Maybe just timing and mood. It’s not bad but I wasn’t engaged.

Historical fiction with a touch of paranormal mystery! I really enjoyed reading this unique book! It's always fun to find historical fiction novels that are NOT set in WWII- this 1920's era story takes place in rural Arkansas

Intricate & intriguing, this gorgeous Gothic novel was impossible to put down. The characters were larger than life and the chilling cliff side surrounding of historic Blackberry Grange was haunting and isolated, creating the ideal aura for a spooky setting. I haven't read many books with the magical time-slip element so this was a unique reading experience for me.

I loved the dark, moody atmosphere. It reminded me of the iconic great classics like Wuthering Heights and Rebecca.

I highly recommend this creative, one-of-a-kind work of art!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for access to the e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am not sure why but this book did not work for me. However, as I always say when I don't like a book, just because I did not like the book, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. It also doesn't necessarily mean that I may not like another book by the same author. Or even that I may not like the book if I try it again in the future...

An atmospheric Gothic set in 1925 Arkansas. I liked this for the relationship between Sadie and her aunt Marguerite. who is fading but who has both wisdom and secrets to impart. There's a bit of the paranormal but it never gets woo woo. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

If you could, would you change your family history?

Ozarks, 1925, Sadie moves in with her great-aunt Marguerite, who suffers from dementia and spends most of her time painting portraits.
Blackberry Grange mansion is said to be haunted, staff are never in for the long ride.
As we follow Sadie, aunt Marguerite and groundkeeper Beckett in their daily routines, we get a glimpse into a mysterious past. A secret history is revealed, the paintings playing a very special part.

I so enjoyed this story. Family, living and dead, the good times and bad, it's all here. Set in gorgeous countryside, The Artist of Blackberry Grange is in a league of its own, part historical fiction, part ghost mystery.
It pulled me in and wouldn't let go. Great storytelling, great twist, spectacular finish.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC.