The Curse of Misty Wayfair

Title: The Curse of Misty Wayfair

Author: Jaime Jo Wright

Series: Standalone

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publishing Date: February 5, 2019

About the Book:

Left at an orphanage as a child, Thea Reed vowed to find her mother someday. Now grown, her search takes her to Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin, in 1908. When clues lead her to a mental asylum, Thea uses her experience as a post-mortem photographer to gain access and assist groundskeeper Simeon Coyle in photographing the patients and uncovering the secrets within. However, she never expected her personal quest would reawaken the legend of Misty Wayfair, a murdered woman who allegedly haunts the area and whose appearance portends death.

A century later, Heidi Lane receives a troubling letter from her mother–who is battling dementia–compelling her to travel to Pleasant Valley for answers to her own questions of identity. When she catches sight of a ghostly woman who haunts the asylum ruins in the woods, the long-standing story of Misty Wayfair returns–and with it, Heidi’s fear for her own life.

As two women across time seek answers about their identities and heritage, can they overcome the threat of the mysterious curse that has them inextricably intertwined?

My Review:

Ever wonder what goes on in an author’s mind that enables them to create such intricate webs of suspense? Once again Jaime Jo has knocked it out of the park! Her stories are so well developed and the suspense is woven so deeply that you’re both afraid to continue and you need to continue. Whew, now I can go back to sleeping at night!

Mental illness is a sensitive and difficult topic to approach. It’s haunting how horribly it’s been handled historically. Some of the “tests” and “experiments” patients experienced are nothing short of torture. Not wanting to be labeled as “crazy,” many suffer in silence. This story is split in two timelines–Thea in 1908 and Heidi in modern time. Heidi suffers from crippling panic attacks. Her sister often calls her “crazy” and you can see what it does inside to Heidi. What’s noteworthy is that often what is described during an attack is the physical side-effects.  When someone says “it’s just in your head” it’s clearly coming from someone in ignorance. Heidi experiences dizziness and changes in vision before her mind even has the chance to slow her racing heart. Sometimes she has warning when one is coming on, and others appear to hit her out of nowhere. In my opinion Jaime handled this topic realistically with both honesty and sensitivity.

As with many suspense stories, this story had a whole slew if tiny little pieces that needed to be put together by the end. How she was able to weave it all together is nothing short of masterful. I won’t share too much about this because I obviously don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that as someone who is averse to paranormal activity in stories I was satisfied with how it all concluded.

Another piece I love about Jaime’s books is how she is able to weave the hope of Christianity in the midst of the chaos characters are walking through. Her books are a perfect option to share with unsaved friends because they approach the need for Christ in a way that is real without being overly cheesy. Words of hope and encouragement are shared in tangible, heartfelt ways instead of impersonal Sunday school answers.

If you haven’t gotten your hands on one of Jamie Jo’s books yet you should go remedy this immediately. They are so incredibly written and are sure to grip you from start to finish. If you’re looking for a book you can’t put down–go ahead and pick this one up!

*I received a copy of this book from the author through NetGalley. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.

Rating:

Content Warnings:

*PLEASE NOTE: This section may contain mild spoilers but I do my best to reveal the difficult and/or triggering content without giving away the story.

There is definitely a “spook” warning for this one but as mentioned above, the ending is thankfully not paranormal (which would be expected for Christian Fiction). This story deals a lot with mental illness. Adultery is part of the Misty curse but the physical content I would consider clean. There are several murders talked about throughout the story but nothing shared in graphic detail.