The Lighthouse Witches

The Lighthouse Witches is a blend of several genres: Gothic, paranormal, and mystery. At the outset, author C. J. Cooke expertly sets the eerie, evocative scene: a decommissioned lighthouse called the Longing on the Scottish island of Lon Haven. It is "a white bolt locking earth, sky, and ocean together. . . . [L]ovely in its decrepitude, feathery paint gnawed off by north winds and rust-blazed window frames signatures of use and purpose." It sta...read more

Saffy is an angsty teen, annoyed by her younger sisters Luna and Clover, and determined to make her mother Olivia suffer for bringing them to the remote island of Lon Haven. The island is home to the Longing Lighthouse and steeped in a history of witch hunts and curses. When Saffy's angst leads to her own disappearance and then the disappearances of Clover and Olivia, Luna is left orphaned. Twenty years later, Clover returns but has not aged. ...read more

Some of us loved it. It read like a novel, but included supernatural elements, combined with history and a love story. But others didn’t like that it jumped around between characters and times. It got a little confusing. We liked that it wraps everything up at the end, answering almost all our questions.

I felt like this had a slower start than I wanted at the time, but it really picked up speed quickly. A little island in Scotland is plagued with lore and myths about witches and wildlings. So much so that when children go missing, and eventually come home, they are called wildlings and usually killed.

Two girls go missing along with their mother in 1998. The 3rd daughter grows up and is pregnant in 2021 when she gets news that her little sister ...read more