Read from 13th August – 8th September 2023
Synopsis:
Theodora Corvus can hear the whispers of her crumbling family home. She can hear the whispers of Kingsward Manor, her place of employment. She sees the watchers by the lake, black-eyed and waiting. But Broken Oak is silent. Broken Oak is empty.
When Theodora takes the job as governess to young Ottoline Thorne, she leaves behind her beloved grandmother and the decaying ruins of her childhood home to travel far north to Broken Oak Manor. There, she finds a house filled with secrets. Under the stern eye of the foreboding housekeeper, Theodora quickly navigates the dark and winding corridors of Broken Oak, only to find herself irrevocably drawn to the mysterious lord of the manor. But someone walks the hallways late after nightfall, their footsteps leading to the attic. The only place in the sprawling house that does not remain silent.
As her scandalous feelings for Cassias Thorne grow, Theodora fights to unearth the secrets of Broken Oak. Who wanders the house at night? Where is the Lady of the manor? What lies behind the attic door high up under the eaves of the house?
“Where is Lady Thorne, Cassias? Where is your wife?”
Bookish Things: 194 pages. The cover is glorious and very fitting of the style of story.
Where to buy: Amazon on kindle for $10.59
My Review:
Bookshelves: horror, arc-netgalley, indie-author, 2-star-review, editing-required, made-me-bored, romance-ish, something-missing
The cover attracted me initially, then that rather lovely book blurb. The premise of this book is good, and the writing, wow, at times it was so beautiful it almost hurt to read.
The atmospheric senses in the writing were beautifully handled and caressed my inner editor repeatedly until she fell asleep and made adorable little snoring noises.
Alas, the pace was so slow I fear she would have fallen asleep anyway. It wasn’t until about 60% through the story that things started to move along.
The first 30% of the book, while a nice taste of the authors writing, was kind of pointless and just served to pad an already exceptionally slow burn.
The last 30% was so rushed it did a real disservice to the concept. Things occurred and they didn’t really make sense. The big ‘Ah-hah’ moment lacked punch because it got about three paragraphs of attention.
The twist fell exceptionally flat because I’d guessed it from as soon as Theodora arrived at Broken Oak Manor. I’d hoped for a less obvious twist.
I didn’t really like any of the characters, they felt a bit underwhelming and underdeveloped.
I’d rate this as a generous 2.5 stars, but I’d definitely look at another story by this author. This story just fell short.
*Note: I received an electronic copy via Netgalley*
coffee2words 