Review: Interesting but flawed:
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2013
While the story is solid  and the nearly endless rain and thunder give it a truly Gothic feel the historical deficiencies are glaring enough to be disconcerting to the discriminating reader. These mistakes begin to annoy early on in the book, lithium was not used to treat mania until the 1870's, fingerprints were not used to identify people until the 1890's and English law would never have bestowed a Peer's wealth on an unrelated person, ocean liners were not in service until the 1840's and went only from England to the American east coast ( although there was a service started over the same routs in 1818) and trips to far away places like the orient could not be accomplished twice a year ! Oh, and English saddles do not have saddle horns !While this may appear to some as nit picking, God is in the details and it is in those details that a story is ether convincing or it isn't, things like referring to the gypsies as Romanian when in the 1820's they were ( and still are ) referred to as the Roma or Egyptians and who trace their origins  not to the Carpathian Mts. but to India and while it is perfectly reasonable to call Draven's stepmother a noblewoman which she is, the proper title would be Dowager Countess.I am growing weary of authors who feel they are prepared to publish when they are not even interested in doing enough research to to make a story convincing.Overall, this book can be recommended on it's slightly overused Lon Chaneyesque werewolf and spunky if undecided heroin ( I'm going, I'm staying), the wicked stepmother is solid and the Butler is an endearing character with an uncultivated accent that would never have been tolerated in an aristocratic household no matter how remote.I am not saying "don't read this book", I am saying that with some diligent study this author has potential and will develop positively with applied effort.