"An excellent gothic romance!"
This is without a doubt one of the best gothic
romances I've read in a while. I was one of those avid
gothic lovers back in the 1970s and really miss them.
They tried to make a comeback several years ago and I was
in gothic heaven but their popularity declined once again.
So needless to say when Eve Silver wanted me to review her
gothic historical romance, I jumped at the chance. This has all of the classic elements found in a
good gothic, innocent young girl thrust out into the world
alone, the brooding handsome hero with a huge secret and
of course, the tension and danger. I ate it all up and was
enthralled! Poor Darcie Finch went from the darling of her
loving stepfather and mother with a wonderful older sister
to her mother dying, her older sister running away and her
step father losing all of their money. Now she only has
one place to go and that is to her older sister, Mrs.
Feather as she's now known because she is the madam of a
brothel. She doesn't know what else to do. Her sister
knows this is not the life for Darcie so she gives her a
coin and tells her to find Dr. Damien Cole. She tells
Darcie to ask him for a job and tell her that Mrs. Feather
sent her. As Darcie is weak from hunger, she is a little
dazed and is nearly run over by a carriage owned by none
other than Dr. Cole. He hires her as a maid but soon
realizes that he needs her to draw parts of the body for
him as he studies cadavers and cuts them up to study the
body parts. Dr. Cole is very mysterious though. There is
also talk about a maid in his employ who is now missing.
Why is he so mysterious? Darcie can't help but be drawn to
him. Still she is only his employee. Dark and mysterious, this book grabbed from the
very first paragraph. This may be Eve Silver's debut book
but I see a very bright future for her especially if she
keeps writing books of this caliber. If you enjoy gothic
style books as I do, be sure and grab this one up! Make
sure you have plenty of time to read before you start it
because you won't want to put it down.
Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted October 29, 2005
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