The Haunting of Blackwater Cottage

De: Clay Wise

Narrado por: Jess Trepanier

Recently widowed, Alicia Hawkins can no longer live in the New York apartment she shared with her husband. She leaves the city behind for a small fishing village in Duxbridge, Massachusetts, where she purchases a rundown house the locals have dubbed Blackwater Cottage.

But, the quiet life and beautiful views are disrupted by secret notes and unexplained phenomena. During renovations, Alicia discovers an old leather-wrapped diary hidden between the studs of a bedroom wall. She can’t help but wonder who it belonged to and why the locals are so determined to get her to leave, but the diary may hold the answers to Blackwater Cottage’s disturbing history.

©2022 DBS Publishing (P)2022 DBS Publishing

4/5 stars

The Haunting of Blackwater Cottage by Clay Wise
Narrated by Jess Trepanier
Run time: 7 hrs and 37 min

Summary:
Ally (Alicia Hawkins) loses her husband to a car accident. This sends her into a tailspin. She decides to sell her house and move to a quaint cottage she bought without visiting. (Mistake number one)

She needs to do a lot of work to the cottage, but the contractor (Handsome Jerry) can’t find local people who will work on the project because the cottage is haunted.

Additional Comments:
• Emily’s the owner and waitress at the local diner. She’s also loaded and willing to be a ghost hunting assistant.
• Jerry’s a decent love interest.
• Ally and Emily end up going on a scavenger hunt of sorts to unravel an ancient mystery.
• Some of the ghosts are nice … others are kind of ticked off.
• The book has some excellent sections but there are also slow parts too. The romance angle with the contractor is fine but it is kind of just a bunny trail to the main story.
• With some restructuring, the main story could have been much faster paced (riveting). As is, it’s still good, but I wouldn’t exactly call it exciting.
• Not sure why it started with the main character and her best friend in a bathroom stall smoking weed. It seems to be the wrong starting vibe. The book really started once the MC bought her little haunted cottage. There’s literally no reason for the scene since the bestie drops off until the last chapter and maybe one phone conversation.
• Performance is solid. Audio quality is good. Editing missed one repeated line, but that’s not a huge deal.
• Narrator has a pleasant voice and decent skill at distinguishing characters. I grabbed a bunch of other stuff she’s done, though I’m definitely sensing a pattern to the types of books she selects.
• The narrator reminds me of Brittney Goodwin. (She’s one of the narrators I’ve worked with.)

Conclusion: 4 of 5 stars
I would definitely listen to the narrator again. The story was slow at times, but it had a predictable sort of ending that tied things up nicely.
*I received a free copy of the audiobook from a site where authors/narrators leave them in the hopes of getting reviews. I have chosen to review this. All thoughts are my own.

Love a good mystery

Love a good mystery and guessing at each turn of the page on what will be revealed next