This book blends multiple genres into a unique and engaging story. One of the most intriguing pieces is that part of the narration comes from a piece of building, known as the Kirkbride. The shifting perspectives between the four main characters are handled smoothly, making it easy to follow as the connections between them unfold. I went into this story expecting a thriller with a ghost twist, but it surprised me by focusing on the ghost stories. The emotional depth caught me off guard, and with so much happening, you quickly become absorbed in the plot without overthinking the supernatural aspects. The setting-- Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum-- is vividly brought to life, incorporating real historical elements that add authenticity. This added a nice touch and lets more people know about the Asylum. While I enjoyed the overall story, I felt the ending lost some of its momentum. Certain sections became over wordy, and a few scenes especially those involving Eugene, could have been more precise. The ending could have been wrapped up in a shorter way afterwhile I just wanted it to be the end. Overall, this is an original, emotionally resonant read.

This book was not for me at this time.

That said, I really liked the authors writing style. and the way they tackled some of the themes.. it has some sensitive issues and I think this is why I am not ready for it.

Someone will love and maybe I will re read in the future..

I was so pumped to dive into this one! The concept had me practically vibrating with excitement, but sadly, the execution left me feeling a bit deflated. (Quick note: I know there's another proofreading round coming, so I'm steering clear of that kind of feedback. But, honestly, a solid copyedit wouldn't go amiss!)

This is paranormal historical fiction that weaves in real historical details across multiple time periods, tackling some hefty themes like mental health treatment, race, gender, and memory.

What made me happy:
The premise is fantastic, especially that prologue! It uses a unique perspective, and I'm here for that originality. The character development was also fabulous in places!
I enjoyed the structure of having different characters narrate each chapter. There's something delicious about those "aha!" moments when you suddenly connect dots from earlier chapters that just feels better with this kind of structure for me. You know that little thrill when something clicks? Pure gold.
And can we talk about how it's grounded in actual history? Because yes, please! Give me that blend of fact and fiction any day.

What made me grumpy:
Here's where things got a bit wobbly for me. The writing sometimes felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be impressive. I'm all for beautiful, flowery, unusual language when it serves a purpose, but here it often felt forced and out of place.
Certain character relationships (one in particular!) felt like they materialised out of thin air. The book spent time on things that maybe didn't need it while rushing past relationship development that I felt could’ve used more attention to give it more credibility.
And that structure I praised earlier? Well, it got a bit... too ambitious. Flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks left me confused about when and where I was supposed to be. Not the good kind of mysterious, just the "wait, what's happening?" kind.

The verdict:
I can't in good conscience recommend this one because the execution just didn't work for me. BUT – and this is a big but – I absolutely adored the premise! Sometimes a brilliant idea just needs better execution.

Thank you to Netgalley and Indie Appalachia LLC for an ARC in return for my honest review. The following has been posted to Goodreads as of 07/16/2025 at the link provided

DNF 10%

I hate having to give an extremely indie debut author a bad rating. But this book has so many issues I could not continue reading it. It suffers heavily from some basic writing mistakes - such as making sentences as wordy as possible, and going down rabbit holes way too often. Having both together leads to an extremely confusing book for the reader and I truly can't wrap my head around most of what I'm reading.

The wordy sentences isn't what I would call thesaurus abuse, because they're common words. But it seems like in every single sentence, the bigger word is ALWAYS chosen. Think "sustenance" instead of "food", just as an offhand example. This is a new writer's mistake and unfortunate. Using bigger words is not creating good prose. Many of the greatest authors, such as Kurt Vonnegut, speak very plainly in their works.

And then the second issue, the rabbit holes. I had gotten through the prologue and the first chapter just overall very confused, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I pinpointed the wordiness straight away, but it wasn't until I started chapter two that I finally saw the trend. The chapter begins with a new character being introduced. So at this point I'm keeping straight the story of the narrator in the prologue and the first character that was introduced in the previous chapter. Then, in this new narrative, the character is introduced in present day, abruptly goes into a flashback, and then there were more flashbacks nested inside. By the time I got 3 layers in I had no idea what I was even reading anymore.

This could very well be a good story, the premise seems interesting. Unfortunately when you can't even find your way out of a paragraph with your head on straight, it's just impossible to read.

Best of luck to M.L. Mallow and their future books