This is a more of a 4.75 star. I'm feeling generous tonight.

Book started slowly but once it got rolling .... A lot of reviewers found this book difficult to describe. It centers on a lovers triangle in 19th century England and one girl who has the talent/curse/affliction to hear/sense man-made objects.

The book jumps timelines with lots of flashbacks. The author describes things vividly and really had me rushing to finish to find how this story would play out. ( )

Mysterious, thrilling story in a victorian gothic setting, written by a modern author. Raccomended to me by Goodreads, great, becauce otherwise I would never learn about this book and missed some amazing hours of reading! ( )

Interesting book, gothic fantasy with a serving of the philosophiical battle between evolution, creation, or goddess, so true to its time setting.

Who is Jane Silverlake? Where did Nathan Ashe go? What did Ariston Day do to him, and what does Day have planned? What is happening at Stoke Morrow and the Heath? With names like that, the reader gets a sense of all the original gothics rolled into one but also knows that the story is its own unique telling. Good writing and a page turner, but definitely expect a complete new twist on the genre. And, it lingers. I keep wondering what it all means, if anything, which is how I like an author to leave it.

As a side note, I enjoyed listening to original music from the TV series Dowton Abbey while reading. Gave it just the dark melancholic but fast paced sense that was needed. ( )

Jane, Maddy, and Nathan have been close friends since Maddy Jane to join in the other two’s adventures on London’s Hampstead Heath. This friendship continued into their young adulthood. However, the friendship has been threatened since Nathan’s return from Malta and the Crimean War. Both women noticed a change in Nathan’s personality, which only became worse when he became involved with the charismatic Ariston Day and the Temple of the Lamb. The cult had attracted many of London’s young aristocratic males into its exploration of arcane philosophies. One night, after one of the Temple’s rites, Nathan mysteriously disappears.

Jane’s mother died in an accident on the heath when Jane was a young girl. Shortly after, she discovered that she possesses a supernatural gift which enables her to see the souls of man-made objects, a gift that can be shared with others during physical contact. Although Nathan and Maddy had kept Jane’s secret, which could be disturbing to others when shared, for years, Nathan shared the secret with Ariston, who became convinced that Jane was the “doorway” into a mysterious world known as the Empyrean and could be the instrument in removing the barrier between the two worlds, an action Ariston believes would unleash paradise. Jane hopes to find Nathan using her gift while avoiding being drawn into Ariston’s plans that Jane believes would unleash hell rather than Eden.

Although I enjoyed the book, it wasn’t without its flaws. I initially found the plot convoluted, which made it difficult for me to follow. This wasn’t helped with the addition of characters I thought would be major ones only to scratch my head regarding the reason for their inclusion. The pace dragged at moments but plot elements would be added as Jane discovered what happened to Nathan, which kept me reading. I especially enjoyed the evolution of Jane’s gift and her increasing awareness of her abilities.
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The White Forest is a Gothic wonder that draws one to the outskirts of London and into the lives of Jane, Maddy, and Nathan; this novel reminds me of another novel - Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan. I appreciate the way McOmber slowly unravels Jane's world through mysterious prophecies and leads the reader toward the netherworld or, in this case, the Empyrean. ( )