Tag Archives: Gothic suspense

#BookReview ‘Inheritance’ by Nora Roberts #contemporary #gothic #suspense

4 Replies

I’m a newcomer to Nora Roberts and didn’t know what to expect from Inheritance, first in her Lost Bride trilogy. This amazing, page-turning, gothic slash romance slash suspense story had me grabbing every spare minute to read another couple of pages. I’m a Nora Roberts convert, are all her books like this? Nora RobertsInheritance ticks all the gothic romance boxes. An unexpected inheritance. A haunted house. A conflicted heroine who faces challenges in her life. Ghosts with personality. And a handsome hero. Sonya MacTavish’s wedding plans take a U-turn thanks to her cheating fiancé, so when she discovers the hidden truth of her father’s birth and has an opportunity to change her life, she grabs it. Sonya inherits not only a mansion but the money to run it and a support network of local lawyers and tradespeople.
Surprising herself by loving the lonely seafront mansion and the small town nearby, city girl Sonya soon hears bumps in the night – and the day – and discovers Lost Bride mansion (its nickname locally) has other residents besides herself. Sonya, who prefers to call a spade a spade and refuses to be intimidated by the unknown, gets herself a rescue dog, learns to cook pot roast and wins new clients for her freelance graphic design business. There are new family members to meet, her lawyer and his relatives, the man who cuts logs and sweeps snow from the drive and a chef in town who shares her recipes.
Sonya loves her new life and refuses to be cowed by the slamming doors and weeping in the night, a decision which means she must confront the ghosts and solve a mystery to lift the curse.
A bit silly in places, funny, heartwarming and spine tingly. Loved it. And what a great ending, beware, it’s a cliffhanger. Bring on number two, The Mirror.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

If you like this, try:-
‘A Sudden Light’ by Garth Stein
‘The Bear’ by Claire Cameron
‘The Invitation’ by Lucy Foley

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview INHERITANCE by Nora Roberts https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7ws via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Kate Grenville

#BookReview ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey @Healey_Jane #mystery #WW2

1 Reply

As soon as I read the premise of The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey, I was intrigued. It is 1939, war is declared, and a decision is taken to move the exhibits from the Natural History Museum to safety. Hetty Cartwright is charged with moving the mammal collection to a country house where they, and she, will stay for the duration of the war. Jane HealeyLockwood Manor is one of those atmospheric houses in literature that will stay with you after you read it. Crumbling, dusty and dirty, it has rats and secret rooms, ghost stories and scandal. It is an extra character in this story and in fact has a clearer presence than some of the peripheral characters who perhaps could have been deleted. Hetty arrives with her cargo of taxidermy animals in display cases plus catalogues and samples to find a mixed welcome from the manor’s servants who see the new arrivals as extra work. The irascible lord of the manor welcomes them then disappears, he is seen briefly at mealtimes and when ushering his latest girlfriend from the house. At first Hetty, charged with the care of the mammals, is kept busy arranging, cleaning and organising. Then she finds an ally in the lord’s daughter, Lucy, who though mentally fragile, finds peace amongst the animals. Hetty and Lucy, with their vulnerabilities and lack of confidence, have almost inter-changeable voices.
Then Hetty hears noises at night and starts to find animals not in their correct place in the morning. So when a case of hummingbirds is opened and the tiny stuffed treasures disappear, it becomes clear that something sinister lurks in the house. Is it a ghost, a mischief maker or a burglar? The odious Lord Lockwood and the equally unlikeable housekeeper are dismissive of Hetty’s fears, adding to her feeling of incompetence. This is part ghost mystery, part love affair, part family history. Hetty suspects everyone, first of mischief but she soon comes to realise it is something altogether more dangerous. Feeling vulnerable in her own job and not wanting to admit she can’t cope, she vascillates over writing to her boss in London. The delay is costly.
I remained conflicted about this book to the end. The clever idea is hindered by a slow pace and repetitive description, there are many beautiful passages which do not add to the plot. The final quarter raced along well enough though I still skipped some paragraphs, but I was left feeling I had read a nineteenth century Gothic story set in the Victorian era not World War Two. The absence of war from Lockwood Manor is such that the story might have been set at another time, the wartime setting is wasted. The introduction of a voice from outside the house would rectify this omission, perhaps from someone at the museum, adding conflict, moving the plot along and strengthening the feeling that Lockwood Manor exists in an abnormal bubble.
Read it for the descriptions of the house, the brooding atmosphere and for the way Hetty likens everyone she meets to an animal. ‘Lucy had been called a dove by her father but, as a mammal lover, I thought that she rather reminded me of a cat somehow, in her glamour and warm smiles’.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Wicked Cometh’ by Laura Carlin
‘The Hoarder’ by Jess Kidd
‘Whistle in the Dark’ by Emma Healey

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE ANIMALS AT LOCKWOOD MANOR by Jane Healey @Healey_Jane https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4EE via @SandraDanby