Book Review: The Wedding Gift
Katie 
The Wedding Gift is by Kathleen McKenna. The book starts with some newspaper articles about a family being killed brutally in their home and how the story progressed to it being that the wife had killed her husband, 5 children and then herself. Then there were more articles about their abandoned home (mansion) and a child who had died while sneaking around the “haunted” house.
The story is from the point of view of Leann Worthier who is the sister of the boy who died at the haunted house and is about to marry the nephew of the man who was brutally murdered in the home. Leann is just graduating high school and her fiance (and baby daddy) is in his mid 20s. The fiance is one of the Willets, a rich family and he is the heir to their fortune.
When I picked out this book – I saw that it was listed as Horror / Ghost but I figured I could handle it. (Why I thought that, I don’t know because I am a total scaredy cat!) When I made it through the whole first part of the book (it is 3 parts) and there was no mention of anything other than the brutal murders, I figured I’d be home free. WRONG! I have a very over active imagination and it doesn’t take much to freak me out. When the ghost was first mentioned in the story, it was just about time for me to head to bed to get a good night’s sleep for work the next day. I opted to stop reading at that point so I wouldn’t end up awake all night freaked out. The next night was the day before Thanksgiving, so I was able to push through it and not have to worry about getting a decent night’s sleep.
The book is very well written and a great mystery. I love a mystery that I can’t solve before the book is through and this was definitely one of them. It was definitely interesting the back and forth with whether or not Leann really loved George, if the ghost Robina was bad or good, if the ghost was even real or a figment of Leann’s (and my) imagination.
The book comes in at about 250 pages and took me 2 nights to read. It would have taken 2 nights even if not for me stopping the first night. I tried not to give too much away in the review because everyone should check it out. Although, maybe not if you spook yourself out easily! 😉
About the Book
Leann wasn’t good enough for her uppercrust in-laws, so they gave her the mansion none of them wanted. Years ago, something or someone in the house killed Leann’s brother. Will its violent secrets kill her, next?“ . . . a spine-electrifying supernatural tale where a huge Southern States mansion contains one of the most terrifying, violent and indeed psychopathic ghosts to haunt any town. It is also a murder mystery—why did Robina Willets apparently kill all five of her young children, and her husband, before stabbing herself to death? And, if you are in the camp of believing that ‘Justice . . . just is not,’ then this will have you frothing at the mouth with righteous social fury.”—Tim Roux, author of Missio and The Dance of the Pheasodile
I received a free copy of this book to read from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not asked to write a favorable review. All opinions are my own.