Title: The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall
Author: Sebastian Nothwell
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 416 Pages
Category: Gothic Romance, F/F Romance
At a Glance: Nothwell offers up plenty of twists and turns along with some unexpected details and interests that keeps the story flowing at a steady pace and left me guessing how things would resolve as it all turned deadly and a less than happy ending seemed imminent. But all’s well that ends well, as the saying goes.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Heatherhurst Hall
Cumberland, England
1892
American heiress Kit Morgan is heartbroken at the wedding of her dearest school-friend. At her lowest moment, she is rescued from her agonies by the mysterious and alluring Alexandra Cranbrook, sister of a visiting English baronet. Alexandra is beautiful, charming, and effortlessly beguiling. Kit cannot help but fall in love with her.
When Sir Vivian Cranbrook proposes marriage, it seems natural for Kit to accept—if only to live with the woman she desperately loves.
But the Cranbrook’s ancestral home of Heatherhurst Hall is not all it seems. The attic is forbidden. Strange scratching noises echo from within the walls. Wraiths stalk the corridors by night. And worst of all, Alexandra’s love has turned to scorn.
Still, Kit is determined to earn her happily-ever-after and save the Cranbrooks from the horrors of Heatherhurst Hall.
If only she could know Alexandra loved her in return.
Review: Author Sebastian Nothwell impresses once again, this time with his Gothic Romance The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, a historical novel filled with intrigue, danger, a crumbling English manor, and things that go bump in the night—and in the light of day, too.
Kit Morgan is the young American heiress this story revolves around, whose family made their fortune in whaling—a common occupation in the author’s work—and she earns her heroine status from the very start. Kit is nothing if not endearing, made so through her courage and the challenges she’s faced from the time she was orphaned to the teasing and tormenting she endured in school. Kit, being much taller and less delicate than was considered beautiful at the time, has had her self-image shaped by that taunting. Kit just doesn’t see herself through the proper lens. It takes the arrival of a pair of siblings from England, visiting New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the purpose of finding Sir Vivian Cranbrook a bride, and befriending Kit in the process, for her to begin to, if not consider herself in a new light, at least to find reason to move beyond the heartbreak of watching the woman she loves marry another.
It’s Sir Vivian’s sister, Alexandra, who has everything to do with Kit’s heart taking flight again. Alexandra sees Kit’s beauty, sharp and clear, both the outward and inward.
As Nothwell lays out the plan for Kit to cross the Atlantic in pursuit of her deepest desire, there are past hurts and betrayals and tragedies that will have a hand in shaping the outcome of Kit landing on the rather intimidating doorstep of Heatherhurst Hall…as Sir Vivian’s new bride…which was not part of his and Alexandra’s original plan. As Kit endures her new sister-in-law’s unexpected and unexplained derision, she becomes determined to make the best of her new life and home, a situation that allows Kit to be vulnerable and yet show her bravery and ingenuity time and time again. That the Hall appears to be haunted by the ghost of the first Lady Cranbrook provides the story with plenty of suspense and chills. That Kit is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the haunting reveals more than a few secrets.
Nothwell offers up plenty of twists and turns along with some unexpected details and interests that keeps the story flowing at a steady pace and left me guessing how things would resolve as it all turned deadly and a less than happy ending seemed imminent. Hell hath no fury, indeed…. The arrival of Kit’s imperturbable and delightfully pragmatic cousin Phoebe was a fortunate circumstance that couldn’t have happened at a more convenient moment.
All’s well that ends well, as the saying goes—or ends as well as a murderous soul bent on vengeance would allow—and Kit as well as both Cranbrook siblings do get their happy ending. As much as I liked Hold Fast, I enjoyed The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall just that little bit more, and love that love found a way for everyone involved.
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