A review by howlinglibraries
Christmas at Wheeldale Inn by Gemma Amor

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 
Fresh snow fell, erasing all evidence of her pain and injury, and it left the land unblemished, ready for new hurts to be layered on top like a fantastic, hopeless sort of sediment beneath the white powder of broken dreams.

I love a good Christmas horror story, and while my tastes for holiday frights usually leans more into the fantastical or blood-splattered sort, there's nothing like a classic gothic tale to creep into your bones and settle there on a winter night.

I've loved Gemma Amor's work ever since I was introduced to it by the NoSleep Podcast years ago, and I was so excited to receive a review copy of Christmas at Wheeldale Inn. This is an eerie historical novella of a couple who gets lost out on a desolate moor in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve and finds themselves at Wheeldale Inn, where they believe they've found salvation despite the somewhat unusual nature of the inn's occupants.

Wheeldale is a difficult read at times, as it features heavy themes of grief and domestic abuse in a marriage gone sour, but there's also an underlying element of magic in the way Mrs. Wilcox views the inn and its innkeeper that I was mesmerized by. I loved to hate Mr. Wilcox and found myself desperately flipping the pages in hopes of seeing him get his comeuppance, and while I won't spoil a thing for you, I'll say that I was both surprised and delighted by the final twist in this story.

If you want a cozy, quiet horror story to keep you company for the holidays, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own. 
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