Review: Disappointing
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 27, 2013
I love old fashioned gothic romances and they are few and far between so I was really looking forward to this, but sadly I was disapponted.The plot wasn't particularly innovative, impoverished heroine takes job as governess to brooding Hero's troubled child in remote manor, complete with deceased wife who died in mysterious circumstances. This wouldn't have bothered me if it had been executed well but it has been done better. There seemed to be too much of a rush to get the story going, to the point where the heroine had been employed, seen the usual ghostly apparition, suspected the Hero of murder and yet still found time to have her first kiss with him by chapter three.Because of this I found it hard to connect with the story. In these sort of romances particularly I think it is important to build the story slowly. The tension should be carefully ratcheted up, the romance slowly built to maintain the mystery. I want to be surprised in a gothic romance, to have genuine fear that the Hero has somerging sinister to hide, to believe that there is a supernatural threat, that's all part of the fun. In this book every plot development was clearly signposted to the point that it was dull. The only thing I could say wasn't entirely obvious was the sub plot about a gang of smugglers, mostly because it was forgotten about for half the book and then thrown in at the last moment for a supposed plot twist.The characters were a bit two dimensional as well. I didn't feel like I ca say anything definitive about either of the main characters as I didn't get a strong impression of either. Equally the supporting characters weren't great: the villain was one note and the grumpy housekeeper was a bit of a downmarket Mrs Danvers.I know my review seems very negative, but honestly the reason I was so disapponted is that there were hints of a better story there. The writing wasn't bad, and if the story had been expanded, a bit more detail it could have been a much stronger read.All in all, not the best read. I would potentially consider reading this author again but I would hope for an improvement.