The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo Wright ~ Book Review

In 1908 Thea Reid finds herself in Pleasant Valley, Wisconson taking Memento Mori photographs, photos of the deceased.  But what really brought her to Pleasant Valley was a search for her mother who gave her to an orphanage when she was small.  She'd fallen into her odd career when a traveling photographer and his wife needed a helper and took her in.  But now they were both deceased, and taking over the photography business was a means to an end.  But settling in Pleasant Valley is proving very strange.  The town is weird, divided down the middle supposedly for religious reasons, but rumor hath it it's more of a family fued involving murder with the victim haunting the streets.  When the clues to her mom lead her to the local asylum Thea uses her photographic talent to gain access to the asylum.   But there is more happening there that she bargained for and the secrets kept within may just be her undoing.

A century later, Heidi Lane is also headed to Pleasant Valley after receiving a very odd, obscure letter from her mother.  Her mom is in a home facing dementia so getting the letter asking her to come is strange especially when Heidi has been estranged from the family, including her sister, for many years.  But as usual trouble seems to follow her and when strange things start occuring her urge to run as usual wants to take over especially when she starts see a ghostly woman rumored to be someone called Misty Wayfair.   Will her urge to run or her deep desire to find out what her Mom's letter meant win out?

I am not a fan of ghost stories so I was really reluctant to read this book but it seemed to get such great reviews I thought I'd give it try.  And I'm glad I did.  It was well written and really grabbed my attention with it's gothic and modern day settings.  The two women's quests to seek their identities was compelling and the stories of both kept me turning the pages.  The setting of the asylum and the curse of Misty Wayfair lent a creepiness to the story and kept me turning the pages to find out the truth and how the two stories were connected.   I loved how the author was able to weave into the story how asylums used to be and how those with mental illness, depression and sometimes even medical things such as seizures were treated and experimented on.  This is the second book I've read by this author and I've enjoyed both.