What a truly intriguing fantasy! While reading like a historical fiction, All the Murmuring Bones also adds in so many fantastic elements that keep you guessing throughout the whole book.

Miren O'Malley has grown up hearing of her family legacy - once the most powerful family in Breakwater, the O'Malley's have diminished in both family members and fortune. The legends of how that fortune was obtained is dark, and some members of the family have gone to extremes to reclaim that prosperity. While Miren has grown up hearing the history, it's hard to determine what is myth, and what could possibly be real. Abandoned by her parents at a young age, she has no one to turn to but her grandmother. When she passes, Miren is left the remaining estate, Hob's Hollow. On the brink of being married off to a bully of a cousin, so he can claim Hob's Hollow for his own, Miren escapes in search of her parents. But there are dangers that lurk in every shadow, all looking to settle a debt the O'Malley's have left unpaid... While Miren encounters many creatures, both good and bad along the way, the real journey lies in what she discovers in herself.

There were so many reasons to love Miren as a character. She was independent, and wanted nothing more than to live at Hob's Hollow alone for the rest of her days; she was resourceful, and not afraid to get her hands dirty in order to survive; and she was fearless! The beings and creatures she met on her travels did nothing to sway her from finding her parents. Old relationships were healed, and new relationships blossomed, but I loved how many myths and creatures were placed throughout the story. I couldn't decide whether the Mer were a threat or not, but the ending definitely help clear that up. I definitely enjoyed this one, and will be looking for more from this author!

4.5

This was a very interesting reading experience, because there is nothing that I outright disliked, but there also isn't anything that really stood out to me...
In my opinion, this book accomplishes everything that I believe it set out to do, but I still didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would.

Our main character is Miren O’Malley, the last daughter of true O’Malley lineage. This was once a powerful family with strong ties to the sea, but now their prestige has dwindled and Miren lives with her grandparents in the run down mansion of Hob's Hollow.
It has always been a mystery as to how the O'Malleys acquired and maintained their position of wealth and succes, but now the truth may finally come to light.

When Miren's grandfather dies, her grandmother decides to marry Miren off in order to regain some of their lost prestige and glory. Because our main character isn't exactly what you would call a meek and obediant woman, she decides to flee.
Not only does this result in a chase by her intended, but the mer people also come for her.
And that is where the gothic, dark element of the book comes in, because these mer are dangerous and malicious. Aside from the mer, other sea creatures (such as Rusalka and kelpies) also make an appearance in this book.

I liked the eerie vibes of this book, but the plot didn't draw me in. If it wasn't for the atmospheric writing style and our smart, capable and strong headed main character, I don't know if this book would've kept my attention.
In my opinion, this book was a bit all over the place. Miren is fleeing from her intended while trying to figure out her family's secrets and I feel like the balance between these two 'quests' was a bit off.
The ending was also wrapped up way to neatly for my liking, especially since the rest of the book is quite dark and bleak.

This is definitely well written and I would recommend it if you are looking for a book with an eerie, fairytale esque vibe. Despite the fact that this book wasn't entirely for me, I definitely do not regret reading it.

3,5 stars rounded up. This author needs to lay if the thesaurus, too many unnecessarily complicated version of words. Fine use old timey ones, but pregnant has no reason what so ever to be substituted with gravid. Gravid is incidentally the Danish word for pregnant which was the only reason I didn’t have to look it up. The story was interesting and had many great plot points, I just felt like it all could have been smoother. It felt like there were certain story points that had been written first and not enough time had been spent on smoothing it all out and making it a more fluent narrative. Like at one point there are (mild spoilers) some
Ghosts telling stories, it just felt like something the author wanted in there, but was so out of context and felt like a filler.
But it had a nice general, spookyish, gothic vibe to it, I just wanted a bit more or possibly slightly less.

4.5 stars.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

HIGHLIGHTS
~the coffins have locks and you should be grateful for them
~good girls carry knives
~the mer might be monsters but the humans definitely are
~Witchcraft – so easy, anyone can do it!
~a little blood fixes everything

First thing’s first: this is not a selkie story. I have no idea why it’s being described that way; All the Murmuring Bones features many magical water-creatures, but selkies are not among them. So if that’s what you’re after, you want a different book. (Maybe The Blue Salt Road by Joanne Harris, if you’re cool with having your heart ripped out.)

Which is not to say that All The Murmuring Bones is not a good book, because it very much is. It’s just not about selkies.

Miren O’Malley is the last ‘true’ O’Malley; while offshoots of the family are flourishing, the trunk is very much not. She lives with her grandmother in a manor growing more dilapidated by the day, on the coast, next to the sea that has been the source of the O’Malley fortunes since time immemorial. There are all kinds of stories told about the O’Malleys, and plenty of stories that they tell each other about their pasts, but the fact is that however grand and powerful they once were…they’re really not, anymore.

And Miren is more or less okay with that, until it becomes clear that her grandmother is scheming to marry Miren to Miren’s awful cousin, in order to rejuvenate the family fortunes.

And Miren’s not going to just lie down and take that.

All The Murmuring Bones has a cadence to it, a rhythm and style that is reminiscent of a folktale – something only strengthened by the actual folktales that break up the story, tales from the O’Malley’s book of not-quite-legends. And like a folktale, Miren’s story has a frank and undramatic acceptance of all things magical. I thought the world of All The Murmuring Bones was more or less like something from the Regency period…right up until Miren casually mentions the zombies (she doesn’t call them that) that the carriage-driver has to avoid when going into town. It was the wonderful casualness with which the magic in this world is introduced – so blithely, all of it taken for granted, all of it considered all but mundane – that made me sit up and pay proper attention.

Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!

3.5 stars

Gothic horror slash fairy tale. No good versus bad, only different shades of gray. Really liked it. Audio-book narration by Aoife McMahon was a great addition to the story.