I am a big believer in ghosts. I love to read about them both in fiction and in nonfiction. I think ghosts can be used to elevate a plot in so many ways, either in subtle ways via background influences or overtly by making the supernatural entity a vital character. Beyond ghosts, there are so many ways the supernatural and its various creatures/forms can add layers to a text. Not all supernatural stories have to be a horror story. I also enjoy comedic ones and ones that relay a meaningful message. It’s not the things we see that fascinate me; it’s the things we don’t see.
This book stays with me because it was one of the few books where I didn’t see the twist coming. I was intrigued by this book due to Vida’s inferences that the story she is ready to tell involves a ghost and dark family secrets. Do you not love that?
I adore books that you think you know where they are heading, but they suddenly veer in a different direction. This book is like that. I usually pride myself on figuring out what the ending is, but this book got me.
'Simply brilliant' Kate Mosse, international bestselling author of Labyrinth
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Everybody has a story...
Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten.
It was once home to the March family: fascinating, manipulative Isabelle; brutal, dangerous Charlie; and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But the house hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...
Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past, and its mysterious connection to the enigmatic writer Vida Winter. Vida's history is mesmering - a tale of ghosts, governesses, and gothic strangeness. But as Margaret succumbs to the power…
Charley’s a grim reaper–that’s all I needed to know to get caught up in this book. I was surprised by it, to be honest. I was not expecting this sarcastic heroine (did I mention I am also one with the sarcasm?) to fall in love.
This love story, if that is what it can be called, and her profession leads into other books in this series, but this first book–made me want a Reyes of my own–and the ability to help people cross over.
Private investigator Charlotte Davidson was born with three things: looks; a healthy respect for the male anatomy; and the rather odd job title of grim reaper. Since the age of five, she has been helping the departed solve the mysteries of their deaths so they can cross. Thus, when three lawyers from the same law firm are murdered, they come to her to find their killer. In the meantime, Charley's dealing with a being more powerful - and definitely sexier - than any spectre she's ever come across before. With the help of a pain-in-the-ass skip tracer, a dead pubescent…
Music, madness, and a malevolent ghost made me love this book more than Interview With the Vampire. I found the twist in this book very compelling, as Rice made her main character human and female with no “gift” other than her musical talent.
I’m also drawn to novels that move across time periods, as this one does, and bring in so much rich history.
In the grand manner of Interview with the Vampire, this thrilling novel moves across time and the continents, from nineteenth-century Vienna to a St. Charles Greek Revival mansion in present-day New Orleans to the dazzling capitals of the modern-day world, telling a story of two charismatic figures bound to each other by a passionate commitment to music as a means of rapture, seduction, and liberation.
At the novel's center: a uniquely fascinating woman, Triana—who once dreamed of becoming a great musician—and the demonic fiddler Stefan, tormented ghost of a Russian aristocrat, who begins to prey upon her, using his magic…
When books about the supernatural involve children, I am always interested, especially if one of the children is not exceptionally likable. This book had two twists (of sorts).
One was eyebrow-raising, and the second was heartwarming. It was the ending, though, that made me recommend it—I got a bit of a chill from it.
1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor. When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation.…
I adored this book because it was not of the typical Stephen King variety. I did, of course, enjoy the rich kingdom that King weaves, but the very ingenious escape of one of the main characters nailed it for me.
I like it when things are not easily guessed, and I love it more when books are so creative that you remember details 30 years after you’ve read them.
Discover six suspenseful tales of ordinary people facing the extraordinary and supernatural. In Across the Water, Laura knows something is off about her daughter. She just can't figure out what. What memories come back to Laura, and what does she discover when the plane they are on hits a terrifying storm? Mike has always felt guilty about something in his past. Despite his best efforts to bury it, he's out of time and is forced to confront it in The Conversation. The loss of a job, an addict brother, and a betrayal bring Faith to the Breaking Point.
Discover these and others in these page-turning stories in a book that will stay with you long after you've finished.
My book is fantastical historical fiction about two characters who're wrestling with the monstrosity of their grief.
It takes you into London high society, where Ambrose tries to forget about how much he misses Bennett and how much he dreads becoming as cold as their Grandfather. It takes you to the family's country manor house, where Mattie isolates and old ghosts start to come out of the woodwork.
It's a story about loss and depression; it's a story about friends who don't let you walk through the valley of death alone.
Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they'll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she's ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.
At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren't as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie's desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose's sister into…
