Wendy Webb brings readers back to Wharton in the spellbinding read, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder. Webb takes American Literature professor Brynn Wilder and sets her on a life changing journey that is bound to keep readers entertained until the very end. After the devastating loss of her mother, Brynn Wilder sets out on an adventure away from Minneapolis, Minnesota and heads to Wharton, a small tourist town on the shores of Lake Superior to find some peace. After showing up in Wharton, Brynn learns that the Inn she is staying at is haunted and it slowly begins infecting her dreams.
Webb focuses on Brynn and her story throughout the book and also touches on some other characters including a man named Dominic who is covered with tattoos and Brynn feels strangely drawn to him. As the story progresses, Brynn finds herself enthralled with this strange man and cannot seem to figure out why she feels such a strong connection to him. Brynn also visits with long time friend Kate Granger that readers will recognise from Webb’s Daughters of the Lake. While this isn’t a sequel to Daughters of the Lake, it is in the same universe. This is nice because readers don’t need to read the previous novel to know what is going on in Brynn Wilder.
Webb’s main theme in this novel is grief and how it affects us all differently. Webb uses Brynn to show readers just how grief is different for everyone and how it can dictate a lot of what happens in our lives. Webb’s next largest theme is reincarnation. Webb makes this theme the forefront of her story later in the book and it can feel like it was rushed. The concept is brilliant and it would’ve been nice to see this drawn out even further.
Webb has written an enchanting story that is slightly misleading because some readers may think that they are getting into a scary story when in fact it isn’t. The Haunting of Brynn Wilder is definitely a magic realism story that brings in some elements of a ghost story, but as for scary things that will happen, they are few and far between. While this is a story that made me cry in the end, I personally felt like Webb could’ve went deeper with the story as the ending felt slightly rushed. Webb keeps the reader engaged throughout and the story is very easy to follow and read. There are parts that are left as loose ends and are never cleaned up, so this was slightly frustrating because they seemed like such important points to the story overall. The Haunting of Brynn Wilder is an easy to read, emotional story that will be loved by many.
The Haunting of Brynn Wilder is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.
But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic—even in the shadow of rumors that wherever he goes, suspicious death follows.
In this chilling season of love, transformation, and fear, something is calling for Brynn. To settle her past, she may have no choice but to answer.
