Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion

Welcome to our January 2023 BOM thread. We'll be reading and discussing Once Upon a Haunted Moor.

Remember that once the discussion starts there may be spoilers, so read with care. ;)

Happy New Year! Our discussion starts now — or as soon as you read or are reading/rereading Once Upon a Haunted Moor.

I think I'll start my rereading this evening. Looking forward to your take on it as a new to you story or as you refamiliarize yourselves with this tale.

I am going to start later today.

I finished this going back and forth from listening to the audiobook, then reading the ebook. I'll probably reread before the month is out, but meanwhile I've plowed ahead with a reread/re-listen of the series and will start Book 5 tonight.

There's so much I'd forgotten, including how each of the first four (and beyond?) books is set on a significant pagan (Wiccan) holiday — Samhain/Halloween for this first one. It's funny to have forgotten this as it's a integral part of the series. This is another reason I love rereads.

Are the rereads just as good as the first time around?

Jordan wrote: "Are the rereads just as good as the first time around?"

In many ways I find them to be better, although I do remember being very happy to realize that a series was intended after reading this first book. It just clicked on a lot of my likes — a paranormal mystery set in a small town in Cornwall, with MCs who are very different and mistrust each other at first. When I reread/re-listen I refresh my memory and catch more details, both in the story and the author's style of writing. Harper Fox is such a master of atmospheric writing and she manages to create genuinely spooky/haunting stories.

I'm on Book 6 now... and I expect to finish it this time. ;)

Here are some links about The Wheel of the Year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_o...

https://www.pagangrimoire.com/wheel-o...

I'm including this on because of the first photo.
https://www.througheternity.com/en/bl...#

I haven’t managed to start yet but I am determined to read some on the way to work this morning.

Karen wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Are the rereads just as good as the first time around?"

In many ways I find them to be better, although I do remember being very happy to realize that a series was intended after re..."

That's great! I love it when I reread books and catch new details I missed the first time around. Josh's books often do that for me.

Karen wrote: "Here are some links about The Wheel of the Year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_o...

https://www.pagangrimoire.com/wheel-o...

I'm including this on because of the first photo..."

Oh, these will be super helpful when I get around to reading this. Thank you!

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I haven’t managed to start yet but I am determined to read some on the way to work this morning."

How did it go? :)

OK, so I again have a faulty memory issue, although not as amusing as my misremembering of A Case of Christmas (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...).

This contains spoilers, I think, for the second book in the series.

(view spoiler)[So I originally gave Once Upon a Haunted Moor a relatively low, for me, rating of three stars. I remember that my dislike of the book was primarily based on its non-ending, leaving poor Lee possessed by a demon.

But on my reread of the book, this doesn't happen! Reading the blurb, it looks like this happens in the second book of the series.

But:

1. I don't own the second book, and it's not available in my library. It's nowhere in my library or KU history. There's no way I could have read it; and
2. I would never have based my rating of the first book of the series on what happens in the second book, or worse yet, a blurb about what happens in the second book. I couldn't have; I would have already rated the first before starting the second.

All I can think of is that Once Upon a Haunted Moor used to contain a "sneak preview" of book two, which I mistook for the end of book one, and was long enough to cover the possession incident. And somewhere along the line the Kindle edition was "updated" to remove the sneak preview?

Any help? I mean, Lee is possessed in the second book, so it's not like I made it up out of whole cloth, like I did the A Case of Christmas murders.

(hide spoiler)]

Karen wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I haven’t managed to start yet but I am determined to read some on the way to work this morning."

How did it go? :)"

I have read the first chapter :)

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "Karen wrote: "Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I haven’t managed to start yet but I am determined to read some on the way to work this morning."

How did it go? :)"

I have read the first chapter :)"

:-D

SamSpayedPI wrote: "OK, so I again have a faulty memory issue, although not as amusing as my misremembering of A Case of Christmas (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

I have the October 2013 Kindle edition and there's no preview for Book 2 at the end of my copy. Yes, the incident you're recalling does occur in Book 2. The exact nature of the entity isn't so clearly defined. Of course Zeke has his opinions. :)

A preview for the next book is included in each of the Audible audiobooks. If you listened to the audiobook, and if (like me) you listen in bed at night, it's possible you semi-dozed through the part that explains you're listening to an excerpt to the next book... but I don't remember that the issue came up until a few more chapters into the story. Memory is a mysterious thing. :)