Myrrh by Polly Hall

Myrrh has a goblin inside her, a voice in her head that tells her all the things she's done wrong, that berates her and drags her down. Desperately searching for her birth-parents across dilapidated seaside towns in the South coast of England, she finds herself silenced and cut off at every step.

Cayenne is trapped in a loveless marriage, the distance between her and her husband growing further and further each day. Longing for a child, she has visions promising her a baby.

As Myrrh's frustrations grow, the goblin in her grows louder and louder, threatening to tear apart the few relationships she holds dear and destroy everything around her. When Cayenne finds her husband growing closer to his daughter, Cayenne's stepdaughter, pushing her further out of his life, she makes a decision that sends her into a terrible spiral.

The stories of these women will unlock a past filled with dark secrets, strange connections; all leading to an unforgettable, horrific climax.

To be honest this book almost landed in my DNF pile. The synopsis was intriguing, and the blurb comparing it to one of my favorite authors compelled me to read it, but once I started it was a slog to get through. It felt much longer than its 128 pages and I kept checking to see how much longer I had to go. 

I really wanted to love this but I can't. It's not horror. It's confusing what one character has to do with the other until you realize how it's forced to be connected, and it just doesn't work for me at all. Learning what the "goblin" is left me feeling cheated.

You may enjoy it more than I did but it's not one I can recommend.

My thanks to Titan Books.