Title: A Light Amongst Shadows
Series: Dark Is the Night: Book One
Authors: Kelley York and Rowan Altwood
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 344 Pages
Category: Gothic Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Paranormal, Historical Romance
At a Glance: This was, without a doubt, the perfect storm of everything I look for in a book. My imagination as well as my emotions were engaged, and that’s what made it such a terrific read.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: James Spencer is hardly the typical troubled youth who ends up at Whisperwood School for Boys. Instead of hating the strict schedules and tight oversight by staff, James blossoms, quickly making friends, indulging in his love of writing, and contemplating the merits of sneaking love poems to the elusive and aloof William Esher.
The rumours about William’s sexuality and opium reliance are prime gossip material amongst the third years…rumours that only further pique James’ curiosity to uncover what William is really like beneath all that emotional armor. And, when the normally collected William stumbles in one night, shaken and ranting of ghosts, James is the only one who believes him.
James himself has heard the nails dragging down his bedroom door and the sobs echoing in the halls at night. He knows others have, too, even if no one will admit it. The staff refuses to entertain such ridiculous tales, and punishment awaits anyone who brings it up.
Their fervent denial and the disappearance of students only furthers James’ determination to find out what secrets Whisperwood is hiding…especially if it prevents William and himself from becoming the next victims.
Review: Is there a much better feeling for us readers than to get to the end of a book and be this excited for the next book in a series? There’s also not much worse for us, though, than being this excited about the next book in a series and then having to wait for it, is there? Sigh. The bane of the bookaholic’s existence.
James Spencer has just been sent away to boarding school. Why he’s been sent to Whisperwood remains only hinted at for quite some time, until the moment is ripe for confessions later on in the book, but suffice it to say that his new “home away from home,” as his parents wish him to think of it, is very much more a punishment than it is an act of benevolence on their part. One thing is immediately apparent about our dear James, however; his eminent charm and good humor show through from the moment he begins to narrate the story. He arrives at Whisperwood at odds, given the circumstances, but he is determined to make friends, which he does easily. He and his roommate, Oscar, bond from the moment they meet, and soon James resolves to befriend the resident outcast, William Esher, as well. A daunting task that, but one James is determined to see through and to make the beautiful boy notice him.
William, both as James’s love interest and as an individual, was immediately sympathetic to me. While we only see what he allows James and, thus, the reader to see, there’s a certain vulnerability to him, a softness that was not weakness but rather, it made me feel protective of him, so it made sense that James would become protective of him too. William is suffering his own personal issues, namely an opioid addiction which has caused problems for him with a particularly nasty boy, and much like James, William doesn’t want to confess his secrets out of fear that he’ll lose James’s friendship, so the trust that slowly builds between them is nothing less than poignant. They are boys who are flawed but not due to circumstances of their own making. Their issues originate from without, but they’ve internalized their suffering, and I adored them both for their strength and resolve as the plot thickens.
As the story unfolds, and the authors, with skill and finesse, draw out the mysterious goings on at the school—the punishments handed down by the headmaster, the sudden disappearance of a student and the subsequent search for clues that reveals a not-so-hallowed school history, and the ghost sightings as well as the physical attacks, which were written in a way that inspired plenty of thrills and chills—I was completely engrossed by the danger and intrigue, and I even shed a tear or two at the end. Whisperwood harbors its share of secrets, a sinister history, and the authors set about to draw readers in and then allow us to wander the school’s hallways and experience every fright and threat as it plays out on the page. An item of note to those who don’t tend to read historical fiction, York and Altwood took great care to ensure that I knew I was reading a Victorian Era novel, but they also made it accessible to a contemporary audience. This is not a history lesson; it’s a paranormal mystery that just so happens to be set in another place and time. James and William are quite aware of the laws of the time and while they don’t abide them, they do their best to keep their feelings for each other between just the two of them rather than risk certain punishment. This also made me appreciate their small group of friends all the more for their loyalty.
Call this novel what you will: Gothic Horror, Historical Romance, Murder Mystery, or Ghost Story, they all apply, but there’s one word I’d use to sum up the entirety of A Light Amongst Shadows. That word is sublime. I could also say it’s stunning, provocative, suspenseful, heart-wrenching, lyrical, enthralling…all those plus many more superlatives would be true. It is also romantic, sweetly and heartbreakingly so. The setting is absolute perfection, as every Gothic Horror novel should have its dark and drafty hallways and dismal atmosphere to inspire the proper invitation to menace and into which the spirits of the dead might appear and wreak havoc on the innocent.
This was, without a doubt, the perfect storm of everything I look for in a book. My imagination as well as my emotional engagement in the story was complete, and that’s what made it such a terrific read. In case you haven’t cottoned to it yet, I loved it, and it’s only the beginning as James and William begin a life journey together that the authors promise won’t be easy; the issues they face aren’t the sort to be swept aside just because they’ve found each other, so it stands to reason there are many more challenges for them ahead. I plan to be there to face each and every one of them as well.
You can buy A Light Amongst Shadows here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07CRQ1JQT?d” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]
