Margaret Lennox is recently widowed and newly hired as the governess at the mysterious Hartwood Hall. She is fond of the young boy whom she's been hired to teach—and yet her new employer is hiding secrets.

The most basic summary of this book makes it clear that it's a pastiche of the Victorian Gothic novel. Yet for a pastiche of the genre written by someone who runs a popular YouTube channel devoted to nineteenth-century literature, this is a strangely passionless addition to the genre. If you'd told me this had been written as a writing exercise by someone who'd read nothing more of Victorian literature than Jane Eyre, I'd have believed you. There's no evident infusion of love for the source material here, and the anachronisms are glaring. The dialogue is the worst, but Katie Lumsden doesn't appear to have a deep grasp of contemporary sensibilities—my eyebrows rose so high at seeing the widow of a Victorian Church of England clergyman tell her young pupil that it's fine and indeed effective to pray for the dead.

That's downright papist of you, Margaret Lennox!

The other elements of the book—pacing, characterisation, relationships, suspense, denouement/reveal—were all at best mediocre-to-competent. Even the Supposedly Dramatic Lesbian Reveal at the end wasn't enough to spark any interest in me, particularly after the fairly dull hetero romance that dominated much of the book.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall isn't an outright terrible novel, but I don't see much here either for the casual reader of this genre or for the aficionado. ( )

Mrs. Lennox is newly widowed and has taken a position at Hartwood Hall as a governess for Louis Eversham. But all is not as it seems. Mrs. Lennox is running from her past, but what about this household lacking staff? What of Susan Potter who gets into everyone's business? Why is half the house closed off?

The book held my interest, but was slow moving in places. Some minor twists. ( )

This is not the type of book I would normally pick up. But I follow Katie's YouTube channel so have seen her progress towards publication and so wanted to read the book. I enjoyed it too and I could spot the Bronte influences a mile off. The solution to the "secrets" is a very modern one. Glad I read it. ( )

Was thoroughly enjoying this gothic tale. Decent characters, good intrigue, a hint of spooky feels. And when the haunting secret of Hartwood is revealed, there was a brief moment where I thought of rereading to catch all the subtle hints. But then the last couple of chapters happened.

Margaret’s final “obstacle” (for lack of a better, less-spoilery term) felt cheap. The two major realizations she had because of it would’ve still happened anyway.

And the final confrontation of Hartwood was more comical than it probably should’ve been. Absolutely absurd. ( )

Left penniless after the death of her husband, Margaret Lennox takes a position as governess at a secluded manor house. Her charge Louis is a charming boy, but the house holds many secrets: strange noises, rumors of ghosts, figures that seem to flit around at the corner of Margaret's vision... Still, she needs this position, and she doesn't believe in ghosts. Right?

I do enjoy a good Gothic every now and then. This reminded me a bit of the Victoria Holt books I consumed in my teens, albeit with a few modern updates. Despite some pacing issues, I enjoyed this book up until the ending, which I found unsatisfying.
Recommended to fans of the genre. ( )