Week 8 Review: The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall

From Goodreads:

A young woman forced to live with ghosts in a mansion frozen in time must decide between forbidden love and the price of freedom in this gothic fantasy where Jane Eyre meets The Haunting of Bly Manor , perfect for fans of Starling House .

At Thorne Hall, a grand estate nestled in the Berkshires, fifteen restless spirits roam, bound within the mansion's walls since the Gilded Age. Elegy Thorne bears the weight of her family's curse to preserve the mansion as it was in the 1890s, using ancient folk songs to keep the spirits secret and silent in order to avoid deadly consequences.

When a mischievous child spirit wreaks havoc on the manor, the Thorne family calls upon their trusted preservationist to restore the mansion. He brings along his son, Atticus–a vibrant man full of life and ideas of modernization–and Elegy is captivated by him, igniting a longing for freedom she's never dared to embrace.

Torn between her desire to follow her heart and her duty to her family and its legacy, Elegy begins searching for a way to release the spirit collection back to the afterlife and set both herself and the ghosts free. With century-old secrets, peculiar magic, and spirits both whimsical and deadly, Thorne Hall will haunt and enrapture listeners—and you might just not want to leave.

My Review:
This was such a wonderful book to read! The premise sounded really interesting, to be bound to this house that part of the inheritance is a collection of spirits? And part of that is keeping things as much as they were when the spirits first were being acquired, including clothing? Yeah, it was such an interesting premise!

I wasn't sure what time period that this took place, since the house and clothing was basically frozen in time, so it took a minute to learn that it took place in our time, with all that entails. I loved the juxtaposition of the older times when she's at Thorne Hall, and the modern times outside of her home.

Elegy has had it rough, her mom died, and she's not able to control the collection like her father demands, which puts a lot of pressure on her, since he doesn't have much longer to live. So that's not a good situation to be in, especially since the collection is aware, and is taunting her with that fact. 

Then she meets Atticus, and oh, I loved the two of them together! That she was supposed to marry her friend because of old money family arrangements, she knew she wouldn't be happy with him, given that he's gay. Watching as the story progressed, as she fell in love, and started searching for other options, well, I loved learning more about the collection and why it was collected in the first place-and how to let it go. It was so good, and I loved how it resolved, there were some pretty shocking twists! 

Loved reading this book and I'd love to read more by J. Ann Thomas! 

Author: J. Ann Thomas
Read: February 19th, 2025
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: It sounded really good, and it's a SAC 2025 Book!  
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Published: February 11th 2025

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars