Okay. So where to start? I’m not sure which is most prevalent, but in The Girl from Rawblood, Catriona Ward has written a combination of horror, gothic, mystery and a hint of tragic romance that could be utterly fascinating, but just did not work for me. I’m really not sure why – it should hit every…
Taking a break from her Lady Darby historical mysteries, Anna Lee Huber has embarked upon a new series entitled Gothic Myths, a set of linked but standalone gothic romances. The first of these, Secrets in the Mist, is an enjoyable and well-developed story of mystery and suspense in which the author makes the most of…
I enjoyed The Dark Tower, although, as is the case with most gothic romances, the emphasis is on the gothic rather than the romance, which, in this case, is pushed so far into the back seat, it’s practically in the boot of the car! Twenty-two year-old Kate Hayden has been teaching at a Yorkshire school…
There is something terribly chilling and titillating about gothic novels, and that’s what made me pick up this male/male story. The combination of romance and horror is layered under the generally dark and dank background, and the first person narration pulls the reader deeper into the romance and intrigue– that’s why I was so excited…
I really like gothic romances, but they’re so dependent on the narrator. If the heroine doesn’t work – if I’m not happy when she is, and despair when she does – then the book has basically failed. In that and most other senses, I’m happy to say that Sea of Secrets is a success. But…
“I laughed until I cried,” is perhaps not a phrase that one would expect to find in the review of a gothic romance. However, in the case of Inheritance of Shadows, it was the book’s one real saving grace. If I hadn’t entertained myself trying to guess sci-fi/fantasy references and giggling over (perhaps unintentionally) hilarious…
Intersections between the present and the past, romance and just a touch of the otherworldly, and, of course, plenty of dark secrets. These are the key ingredients of the sort of books that grabbed my attention all through high school and college, and Legacy has them in spades. I don’t know how I managed to…
As soon as I saw the word “gothic” used to describe this book, I knew I would have to read it. While it does have its good points, including a creepy atmosphere, the book also has its eyerolling moments. The setup of the novel will be familiar to gothic readers everywhere. The hero has a…
Oh my gosh, I couldn’t put this book down. Incredibly compelling, highly evocative of those glorious days of true Gothic literature, The Dead Travel Fast is a book that is meant to be savored slowly. Very slowly. These days it’s not often that I find myself so immersed in a story that I forget everything…
When I came across a (semi-)affordable copy of Joanna Bourne’s Her Ladyship’s Companion online, I found myself unable to resist. When else do you get a chance to read an early book by an acclaimed new author, published 25 years before her current releases and yet is a sequel to the present series, with two…