Nite Lite Book Reviews: gothic

Showing posts with label gothic. Show all posts

04 April 2013

The Madman's Daughter - Review

The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter #1)
by Megan Shepherd

Publication date: 29 Jan 2013 by Balzer + Bray

Category: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Keywords: Historical, romance, re-telling, science
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: Library

My Synopsis:

The Madman's Daughter is a re-telling/alternate view of the H.G. Wells classic The Island of Dr. Moreau told from the point of view of Moreau's daughter, Juliet. Accused of performing inhumane and ungodly experiments, Dr. Moreau abandons Juliet and her mother when she is 10 years old. Believed to be dead, Juliet's life is flipped upside down though when she finds out that he is alive and well off on an island in Australia, possibly continuing the work that made him flee England. With no prospects and poverty imminent in London, Juliet takes the treacherous journey to the island to confront her father and learn the truth about the rumors herself.

Review:

Guys, I was so impressed with this book. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, having never read the Island of Dr. Moreau (though I did see that bad Marlon Brando movie in the 90's). I also heard that there was a dreaded love triangle (which we will get to later), which made me a little skeptical. But I was really surprised by how much I liked it. If you like dark, gothic novels and don't mind (or like) a bit of blood, then you will like this book.

The Madman's Daughter throws you into the thick of things right from the start, giving you a taste of the grisly experiments that Dr. Moreau has been accused of. If you're squeamish or don't like descriptions of animal cruelty, do not read this. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and the book does not shy away from the dirt and the dark side of life.

I thought Juliet was a really great character. She's had to take care of herself from a very young age but she doesn't feel sorry for herself. I understood the anger she felt towards her father but also her naive hope that life will be better once she finds him. She's really smart and isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes in and I really admired her. Dr. Moreau is cold and arrogant and I hated him for how he treated Juliet, Montgomery, and the islanders. His moods were so mercurial, changing from fatherly affection one minute to rage the next.

There is also a love triangle in this book. I don't know about you, but I am pretty sick of love triangles. How is it that every girl has two men fighting over her? I digress. Juliet had two very different people vying for her affections in The Madman's Daughter. Montgomery is her childhood friend who knows all her secrets and still loves her. But Montgomery has been living on the island with her father for years and Juliet isn't sure that she can trust him or her feelings towards him. Edward Prince, the handsome survivor of a ship wreck, is Juliet's equal in society and shares her horror of her father's experiments. She's drawn to both men but, for me, Montgomery was a much more compelling character. He's not perfect by any means but I felt like they had much more of a connection with their shared past. Edward was too mysterious and I thought he was a bit bland. While I was rolling my eyes at the love triangle throughout the book, it is somewhat justified in the end.

And that ending - wow! What a twist! I knew something big was going to be revealed but I didn't see that coming.

What impressed me the most about this book though was that every page was so rich with atmosphere. I really felt like I was in Gothic London and on the mysterious island. Chilling and intense, The Madman's Daughter is fraught with tension and I could not shake the feeling of impending doom while reading it. If you like dark, disturbing stories with rich characters and surprising plot twists, don't hesitate to pick up The Madman's Daughter. I can't wait to read the next book coming out in Jan 2014.

Visit the author online at meganshepherd.com and follow her on Twitter @megan_shepherd

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21 February 2013

Winterblaze - Advance Review

Winterblaze (Darkest London #3)
by Kristen Callihan

Publication date: 26 Feb 2013 by Grand Central Publishing

Category: Adult Paranormal Historical Romance
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, gothic, marriage, historical
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Link to synopsis

*This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.*

Review:

Kristen Callihan has quickly become one of my favorite romance authors. With compelling characters, intricate plots, passionate romance, and the backdrop of a London full of mystery and dangerous creatures, each book in her Darkest London series only seems to get better. Winterblaze is no exception and Win and Poppy are my favorite couple yet.

Winterblaze is the story of Poppy, the eldest Ellis sister, and her husband Winston, who have been married for fourteen years. At the end of the last book, Win was brutally attacked by a werewolf and discovers that Poppy is Mother, a paranormal and also the head of a clandestine organization dedicated to keeping supernatural creatures a secret from humans. Feeling betrayed and confused, Win has leaves Poppy to sort out his feelings. While Win is on holiday in Paris, a new threat arises and Poppy must find Win and defeat this threat before it destroys them both.

My first impressions of Win and Poppy from the previous books were not necessarily positive. Poppy always seemed a bit stern and humorless to me while Win came off as a serious, straight-laced police detective. But I was so wrong about the both of them. In Winterblaze, we really get to see their true personalities and there is much more to them than I thought. Poppy is definitely still an overprotective older sister but it’s born out of a deep love for her family. Though she doesn’t always make the right decisions concerning them, she does what she believes is in their best interests. She is also a fighter and extremely intelligent. Win is also extremely smart and not as proper as he seems. He has a love of danger and a dark side to him that we haven’t seen before.

While I loved these two individually, they are even better as a couple. Winterblaze is a different type or romance novel because it’s about two people who have already been married for fourteen years. Win and Poppy have grown apart and this book is also rediscovering each other and falling in love again. Each of them has been hiding something from the other and, as they slowly learn to trust each other again, their bond grows even deeper. I loved that, to the outside world, they are seen a certain way but with each other, they could be their true selves. Only Win is allowed to see Poppy’s soft, sensual side and is privy to her most vulnerable moments. And only with Poppy can Win divulge his darkest secrets and let out his more playful side. They don’t stifle each other and it’s together that they are at their best.

But their journey isn’t an easy one. There is a lot of anger at first and they both know how to hurt each other. They are two people deeply in love who have grown apart and it’s heartbreaking at times.

And if you think being a married couple would be boring in the bedroom, think again. This may be Kristen Callihan’s hottest book yet! Win and Poppy are estranged at the beginning of the book and the sexual tension between the two is intense. I was dying for them to get together and when they finally do – wow. I never thought that calling someone “wife” would be sexy but Win makes it sound deliciously sweet and debauched at the same time. Be prepared to swoon.

This is definitely my favorite book of the series so far. Poppy and Win are fantastic characters and I could not help falling in love with them. I can’t think of a better matched pair. This may be Callihan’s most personal and emotional story yet. If you enjoyed the previous books in the series, I think you’ll love this one. There’s also a small teaser for Jack and Mary’s book included. These two have been circling each other for a while now and I can’t wait to read their story!

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Visit the author online at kristencallihan.com , follow her on Twitter @Kris10Callihan , or on Facebook

Please note that this post contains affiliate links to Amazon and The Book Depository. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here.

05 February 2013

Dark Companion - Review

Dark Companion by Marta Acosta

Publication date: 03 July 2012 by Tor Teen

Category: Young Adult Mystery/Romance
Keywords: Mystery, romance, Gothic, boarding school
Format: Hardcover, eBook
Source: ARC received from publisher at ALA

Synopsis:

Orphaned at the age of six, Jane Williams has grown up in a series of foster homes, learning to survive in the shadows of life. Through hard work and determination, she manages to win a scholarship to the exclusive Birch Grove Academy. There, for the first time, Jane finds herself accepted by a group of friends. She even starts tutoring the headmistress’s gorgeous son, Lucien. Things seem too good to be true.

They are.

The more she learns about Birch Grove’s recent past, the more Jane comes to suspect that there is something sinister going on. Why did the wife of a popular teacher kill herself? What happened to the former scholarship student, whose place Jane took? Why does Lucien’s brother, Jack, seem to dislike her so much?

As Jane begins to piece together the answers to the puzzle, she must find out why she was brought to Birch Grove—and what she would risk to stay there.

Review:

Dark Companion starts off with a bang. A young girl battles for her life while a storm rages. Blood flows and she knows that she will die. A spirit takes her high into the trees, where she is safe and warm. When Jane Williams wakes up, she has no memory of the terrible events of that night, or her life before the accident.

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, the first few pages of Dark Companion are probably the most compelling and I really struggled to finish it. I was never really able to connect with any of the characters and they didn’t feel real to me. The pace of the book was also really slow. Halfway through the book and still felt like I was waiting for something dark, scary, or even interesting to happen. There were definitely hints throughout the book that all was not right in Birch Grove. But Jane wasn’t putting the pieces together quickly enough. By the time she finds out what the Big Secret is, it’s very anticlimactic.

I also had issues with Jane and her friends. I read a lot of YA novels and, while I am no longer a teen, I feel like I have a decent grasp of what teens sound like. But Jane and her friends do not sound like any teens I know or have ever heard. They’d spout utter nonsense and slang one second and then top it off with a Latin phrase the next. And why did everyone and everything have a nickname? MV, JM, Wilde Thang, Ms. McSqueak, etc. etc. I actually got confused a couple of times because of all the nicknames. Perhaps I am not around teens enough but the dialogue seemed really forced and it took me out of the story.

The biggest disappointment for me was Jane herself. She starts off as a cynical, sarcastic, street smart young woman who has studied hard and earned herself an education at a prestigious school. And though she’s a fish out of water at Birch Grove at first, she remains true to herself and makes some good friends along the way. But then the inevitable happens and she falls for Hot Guy. In this case, the impossibly gorgeous and unattainable Hot Guy is Lucky Radcliffe, the town’s golden boy. And like most golden boys he’s smart, charming, and gets whatever he wants. The second that Lucky shows any interest in her, smart, strong Jane disappears and a Jane I don’t recognize takes her place. She ditches her friends and stays at home so that she can be available for him at all times. He proceeds to treat her like crap in public, while telling her how much he trusts and needs her and asks her to agree to a “secret relationship.” It’s never a good sign when a guy doesn’t want to be seen in public with you.

And what’s so great about Lucky? Truly I do not know. I could have understood Jane’s attraction more if he really cared about her or had some kind of redeeming personality traits, but I really did not see what Jane saw in him besides his good looks. He was clearly using her and she was so starved for love that she compromised herself to obtain it. I could kind of understand Jane’s desire for love and a family since she is an orphan, but it seemed very out of character for her to change so much and I started to lose a lot of respect for her.

As you can see, this book just wasn’t for me. It’s clear that Acosta has some writing chops and I did like certain parts of it. She has a knack for creating an atmospheric setting and the birch forest in particular had a real personality. I liked Mary Violet even though she was ridiculous and I didn’t understand half of what she was saying. However, she was sweet, and I enjoyed her rabid enthusiasm. I also thought that Acosta’s premise for the blood play was a really unique take on the vampire myth as genetic disorder. While the whole hierarchy and the traditions of the Family didn’t make sense to me (why do only men get Companions?), the scientific angle was original, and I wish we could have explored it more.

While I enjoyed certain parts of Dark Companion, they could not save the book for me. The various elements never quite came together and the book fell short.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Visit the author online at http://www.martaacosta.com/ and on twitter at @MartaAcosta.

12 December 2012

Moonglow - Review

Moonglow (Darkest London #2) by Kristen Callihan

Publication date: 31 July 2012 by Forever

ISBN 10/13: 1455508586 | 9781455508587
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Category: Adult Historical Romance/Paranormal Supsense
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, suspense, gothic, London, weres
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

Synopsis:

Once the seeds of desire are sown . . .

Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy's door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .

Their growing passion knows no bounds . . .

Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.

*This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.*

Review:

I am a huge fan of Kristen Callihan's Firelight and was a little worried that the second book in the series would not live up to my expectations. Happily, Moonlight is just as good as Firelight, if not slightly better. Moonglow has the same dark, moody atmosphere and the same great mix of historical and paranormal that I fell in love with in Firelight. While I love the world of Darkest London, it was Daisy and Ian who stole my heart in this story.

The last time we saw Ian Ranulf, he was doing his best to keep Archer and Miranda apart. His path crosses with Daisy’s when he saves her from a vicious Lycan attack. And wow – the chemistry between the two of them is immediate and intense. There’s nothing I love more than a relationship that starts off with antagonism and it’s fun to watch Daisy and Ian trade verbal barbs while fighting their attraction to each other.

Daisy is a very strong and vivacious character. I liked that she was very different than Miranda, more outspoken and earthy, but was also vulnerable. Daisy had a deep core of loneliness that I think Ian understood. And Ian. Oh Ian. If you like tortured heroes then you will love Ian. My heart broke for him and the tragic past that still haunts him. He, too, knows what it is like to feel alone in the world. Both of them are damaged and imperfect but they open their hearts to each other and learn to love and trust again.

With Moonglow, Callihan continues to expand upon the Darkest London world, taking us deeper into the mysteries and secrets it holds. I enjoyed learning more about the Lycan clans and the appearances of the GIMs is a new and exciting twist. Callihan continues to impress with her world building and knack for writing passionate, compelling relationships. The only thing I am sad about now is that book 3, Winterblaze, doesn’t come out until next year. I have a feeling that Poppy and Win’s story is going to be fantastic and I can’t wait!

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Visit the author online at kristencallihan.com, follow her on Twitter @Kris10Callihan, or on Facebook

16 February 2012

Firelight - Review

Firelight (Darkest London #1) by Kristen Callihan

Publication date: 31 January 2012 by Grand Central Publishing

ISBN 10/13: 1455508594 | 9781455508594
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Category: Adult Historical Romance/Paranormal Supsense
Keywords: Paranormal, romance, suspense, gothic, London, fire
Format: Mass market paperback, eBook
Source: e-ARC received from Netgalley

From goodreads:

London, 1881

Once the flames are ignited . . .

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . .

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

Thuy's Review:

Firelight is the thrilling and passionate debut novel from Kristen Callihan. The first book in her Darkest London series, Firelight is what would happen if a historical romance and paranormal mystery got together and had a book baby. An exciting, romantic, sensual and captivating (so many adjectives!) story that you won’t want to put down.

Set in Gothic London in the 1800s, Callihan does a great job of creating an atmospheric and mysterious setting for her story. Born with a gift of fire, Miranda has hidden her true self her entire life, afraid of what might happen if her secret is revealed or the devastation that could occur if she ever lost control of her power. Archer comes across Miranda in an alley one dark evening and witnesses her boldness in the face of danger. Taken by her beauty and strength, he vows to come back for her. When her returns to London years later, Archer makes Miranda’s father an offer he cannot refuse and she becomes his wife.

I fell in love with Archer and Miranda! They are both fantastically well drawn and complex characters. Both cursed in their own ways, they are forced to hide their true selves from society. However, they each find a counterpoint in the other, a person who understands them and accepts them for who they are. With Archer, Miranda’s power becomes her strength and she is able to see past Archer’s curse to the man inside.

Arch is perfect as the devilishly mysterious Duke. A cross between the perfect English gentleman and the marauding bandit, he’s charming but also moody and arrogant. There’s also an inherent sadness to him, brought on by years of isolation. I loved the vulnerable moments he had with Miranda. At first, Archer thinks he’ll be able to marry but also keep his wife at arm’s length. But Miranda is no wilting wallflower and won’t stand for a husband who keeps too many secrets. I loved how fearless and brave Miranda was. Even without her power, she is formidable fighter. With it, she’s a force of nature. Her red hair matches her fiery personality and she is also extremely loyal and clever.

The chemistry between Archer and Miranda was red hot! Their heated arguments and playful exchanges had me blushing and wanting more. But their connection is more than just a physical attraction and I loved watching them get to know each other and start to trust each other with their secrets. The weakest part of the book for me was the murder mystery/serial killer. I actually figured out who the killer was pretty early on, but I did like how everything ends up coming full circle.

It’s hard to categorize this book. Historical romance, suspense, fantasy, mystery - it’s all of those things and more. A truly original and surprising story, I fell in love with this world and the characters in it. This is one of my favorite reads so far this year. I am dying to read Book 2, Moonglow, which comes out in August. To tide myself over, I bought the short prequel to Firelight, Ember, available as an ebook. Do yourself a favor and pick yourself up a copy of Firelight NOW. You won’t be sorry. :)

P.S. - Keep an eye out for a giveaway of this book soon. We love it and want to share it with our readers. :)

Also available

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.