Tag Archives: Gothic

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

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Synopsis:
When her mother dies, a woman from a privileged family uncovers a family secret that threatens them all.

Review:
I had high hopes for The Fate of Mercy Alban, thinking it would be like a Kate Morton book only with ghosts. But I had to stop reading about three-quarters of the way through. I was already frustrated by the flatness of the characters and the plotting. I gave up when I was presented with an unpublished manuscript by a man who was supposed to be a great American author, and the prose was so flat I didn’t want to read it, let alone take it seriously. I don’t typically post reviews when I haven’t enjoyed a book, but this book seems to be getting a significant publicity push so I’m not worried I’m damaging a burgeoning writer’s career (something I really don’t want to do). I think that the author can absorb some criticism, if she even notices my little old blog.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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Synopsis:
After a fatal accident claims her best friends and her boyfriend, Mara Dyer starts over and finds love in Miami, only to find herself haunted by PTSD and what may be the ghosts of her dead boyfriend.

Review:
I was drawn in by the supernatural aspect of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, but put off by the Twilightesqueness of the love story between Mara and Noah. The whole “he’s a bad boy with a bad reputation and a big vocabulary” thing really bothered me. Plus Mara continually tells Noah that she hates him–yet he keeps coming back for more. Really irritating and it took away from the rest of the story to the point where I’m not planning to read the next book, despite everything else I liked about it.

Eerie by Jordan Crouch and Blake Crouch

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Synopsis:
A cop and his prostitute sister find themselves trapped a a malevolent force that won’t let them leave her brownstone.

Review:
Eerie scared the absolute crap out of me! At one point I was too scared to even get out of bed to use the bathroom. The claustrophobic atmosphere was a big part of the power of this story–I really felt trapped in that house right along with Paige and Grant. I can’t say I was fully satisfied by the outcome of the story, but it was a fantastic haunted house story and I will definitely be seeking out more by these authors.

Asylum by Kristen Selleck (Birch Harbor Series, Book 1)

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Synopsis:
A college student with a troubled past uncovers a supernatural secret in her dormitory that threatens the love she’s finally discovered, and possibly even her life.

Review:
I really wanted Asylum to be as awesome as Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan, and it just wasn’t. I loved all the texture and historical detail, but all the scary stuff just didn’t play. And the love story was pretty one-dimensional. I almost didn’t finish it because my unmet expectations were bumming me out too much.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

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Synopsis:
Chloe’s always admired her older sister, but when Ruby shows up with a girl who was dead the last time Chloe saw her, Chloe starts to fear that her sister can do anything–absolutely anything–she wants, no matter what Chloe or anybody else thinks about it.

Review:
Both Ruby and Chloe are compelling characters, for completely different reasons, and that’s what makes Imaginary Girls so successful. Ruby is obsessed with Olive, a town buried under a reservoir thanks to some eminent domain shenanigans in the early 20th Century. Chloe fears Olive, because she almost died in the reservoir, saved only by the timely appearance of a rowboat containing the dead body of London, a girl in Chloe’s class. Chloe left town, but when Ruby summons her back for the summer, Chloe is excited–until Ruby shows her London, who isn’t dead. She’s alive–and she shouldn’t be.

This is a wonderfully creepy premise, reminiscent of my favorite author Shirley Jackson, only with a YA touch. Ruby is so alive, such a vibrant and exciting character and it’s easy to see why the world seems to revolve around her. It’s impossible to imagine her as anything other than a beautiful teenager, at the peak of her life and beauty and power. She’s everything every girl wants to be, and Chloe loves that there’s no one on the planet whom Ruby loves the way she loves Chloe. The sisters build a world together, and it’s just about perfect, except for London, whose very existent freaks Chloe out and threatens the world that Ruby has created for them. Even though this is a contemporary story, set in summer sunshine among partying teens, this book is a classic Gothic story that hits all the right notes.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

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Synopsis:
As she dies, a former lady’s maid reflects on the scandal that ended the family she served and reveals the truth that only she knew.

Review:
Kate Morton is rapidly becoming my latest favorite author. With her thrilling blend of Gothic melodrama and intricate plotting, she hits all my favorite buttons, much like her self-proclaimed influences Daphne DuMaurier and Barbara Vine.

In The House at Riverton, Morton presents Grace, a lady’s maid who spent her youth in service with a titled family haunted by tragedy and tainted by scandal. Now a dying old woman, Grace has been approached by Ursula, a filmmaker who is recreating the events that ruined the family. Grace is the only living survivor, and while she tells Ursula she was only incidentally connected to the events, the tapes she is making for her missing grandson reveal that she was privy to every interconnected secret.

I loved this so much I’m hurrying off to buy the next one, even though it’s way overpriced in the Kindle format. I don’t care! Must.read.more.Kate.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

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Synopsis:
A bereft Australian woman travels to Cornwall to uncover the mystery behind her grandmother’s mysterious appearance on a dock in Maryborough at the age of 4, her identity completely unknown.

Review:
While I had some minor quibbles with some of the stock characterizations in The Forgotten Garden, on the whole I was absolutely riveted by the storytelling. Morton expertly weaves together the stories of three women: Cassandra, a contemporary Australian woman who has received an unusual bequest from her grandmother Nell; that of Nell, who learns at age 21 that in 1913 she was discovered a pier, having arrived on a ship from England with no identity to speak of; and Eliza Makepeace, a writer who crafted a book of fairy tales while living in a cottage in Cornwall at the beginning of the 20th century. She also includes three of Eliza’s stories, which are hypnotic and absolutely convincing. And in Eliza’s story, we also get the points of view of several other characters.

It’s quite a masterpiece of jigsaw puzzle storytelling, because while the reader is privy to information that Nell and Cassandra are not, the conclusions that Cassandra and Nell draw from the information on hand are plausible and convincing. The mystery is truly engaging–even though figured it out about halfway through, I was sufficiently enthralled to want to carry on.

And, oh–how badly do I want to live in a windswept cottage on the Cornish coast–complete with maze and hidden garden! All I would need is a big storm and I’d be as happy as I can be.

Purple Jesus by Ron Cooper

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Synopsis:
A rollicking southern Gothic feast.

Review:
With inventive prose and eccentric characters, Purple Jesus has a lot going for it. For me, I never really connected with the characters, though I did admire what Ron Cooper has accomplished. I would like to see this book, published by a small, independent publisher, find an audience, so please check it out if you like Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, or John Kennedy Toole. You’ll find a lot to enjoy in this rich book.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

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Synopsis:
The only girl aboard a ship bound for America, 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle finds herself embroiled in mutiny and a murder plot, and only ingenuity, bravery, and mad rigging skills will save her.

Review:
Set in 1832, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a fast-paced, Gothic-tinged action story featuring a most intrepid heroine in a most unusual situation.

Charlotte’s family booked passage aboard the Seahawk for her to return from boarding school to her home in Rhode Island, but upon her arrival aboard ship she learns that the family that was to accompany her has been forced to stay behind due to illness. Her father is a high-placed officer in the trading company that owns the Seahawk, and since she has no money of her own and nowhere else to go, Charlotte places herself in the care of Captain Jaggery and his shipmates. Once at sea, she discovers that the crew is planning a mutiny, and a series of missteps involves her in the very heart of the matter. She might be a kid, and a girl to boot, but Charlotte learns quickly that the sea has its own code of law.

I’m disappointed that the cover of this edition of the book gives away a major plot point, one that did take me a bit by surprise. But the story has enough going for it that I’d still recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA period fiction, such as Witch of Blackbird Pond. It’s up to that caliber of storytelling.