Review: Strange, but interesting
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2014
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this one, but the story certainly held my interest.At the beginning of the story, our heroine is a young woman being raised in relative poverty by her mother.  The mother had run away and married a man beneath her in society.  The man had apparently only been interested in her family connection as he soon deserts her.  She discovers she is with child and manages to convince a brother to give her something to live on.  But when this brother dies, she is informed no more money will be provided.  The mother writes to any relative she can think of asking for assistance.  She receives a letter from a distant relative saying he will help by marrying the daughter.Mother and daughter arrive at the crumbling estate.  The future husband is an older man and quite cold in his treatment of the bride to be.  The wedding takes place quickly.  A cousin of the groom attends the ceremony -- and our heroine is immediately attracted to him.The heroine had been raised properly, meaning she knows next to nothing about physical relations between husband and wife.  And of course, her husband is less than gentle with her.Tales abound regarding the mansion -- stories of dealings with the devil and lost jewels.The attractive cousin is dependent upon the evil husband, and the evil husband seems to be plotting to do away with his young wife at some point.I wasn't entirely happy with the ending.  Though I can certainly see why our heroine acted as she did, it didn't really seem in character for her -- but that is my thoughts about it.  I would have liked to have more of the attractive cousin in the story.  He wasn't as well developed as I would have liked.I do recommend this one for a change of pace.  I am not sure if this is geared for the young adult set -- the sexual scenes aren't graphic -- so I did wonder if this might be more for a fan of Stephanie Meyers writing.