Victoria Holt: The Shivering Sands

I really tried to read this book again. I know I read it years ago when I was in high school. Maybe I even enjoyed it. As a friend of mine and of the blog said, it has little or no atmosphere, and that makes it tough to get into. The beginning had a very lengthy section of back story, too, that drove me nuts. I picked the novel up and put it down many times and made it to about page 60 or so when it was all said and done. My motto is that if a book can't grab my attention by page 30, I need to put it down. I give some books more pages than that. The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt was one of them.

I'm not going to do a full review here. Instead, if you have thoughts on the novel, post them. Tell me why you love it. I need more atmosphere and movement in a novel than I got in this one, but I'd love to know what you think...

I suspect I'm just not much of a Victoria Holt fan after all. Perhaps I just haven't found the right novel of hers to go gaga over yet. Suggestions? :)

Victoria Holt: The Time of the Hunter's Moon

This novel makes for the second in a reread of the Holt novels I devoured half a lifetime ago. I figure I need to review several of her works since she is a widely loved gothic romance author. I was not a huge fan of hers, but I like the genre. I read most of the novels I could find by her all those years ago. I wanted to see if my opinion from then holds up.

Published in 1983, The Time of the Hunter's Moon is a gothic romance or romantic suspense novel and a later offering in Holt's (Eleanor Hibbert's) prolific career. I classify it as possibly romantic suspense because it is something of a murder mystery with very little Gothic atmosphere.

Characterization: 3/5 [ Cordelia Grant is a bit complex, and I like that. Jason Verringer makes an appealing love interest as well, though a troublesome one. Edward Compton is also an intriguing character. One complaint I have with the characters in this novel is that I could only picture a few of them-- Cordelia, Violet, Aunt Patty, and Theresa. Holt provides a dearth of physical description, and I happen to think physical description is important for gothic romance novels. The most well rounded, loveable character in the novel is Aunt Patty, rather than the heroine, interestingly enough.]

Plot: 3/5 [Holt excels in this area-- the twisted plot. I knew what was going to happen some 100 pages in. I remembered from all those years ago, but this novel is quite ingenious. One issue with the plot: Holt comes close to a forced seduction scene with bad consequences for the heroine. Her choices later in the novel regarding the great romance of the book are interesting as well. I have to say I was not happy with the heroine's romantic decisions ultimately.]

Atmsophere/spooky elements: 2/5 [I like the idea of an abbey and of the hunter's moon legend, and this novel is probably actually one of Holt's more atmospheric, but it still falls a bit flat. It does have some spooky images called forth by the thought of long dead monks. I think Holt could have really exploited Verringer's ancestral home in terms of atmosphere. She didn't, and that is a huge downfall of the novel.]

Literary heft: 2/5 [This one is really just fun.]

Romantic elements: 2/5 [I was dissatisfied with this one. The forced seduction (or almost scene) left a bad taste in my mouth as did other events in the novel. It made the heroine's decisions unbelievable. You can read it for yourself, though, and let me know what you think. I like a Heathcliff type as much as the next girl, but I don't think it works as written.]

Rating: 2.5 + stars

** I am on the fence about this one. With all the great classic gothic romances out there, you might skip it. If you've read it, please let me know what you think in the comments! :)

I do love the cover art on this one. It's unique. Some of the newer covers are gorgeous as well.

The Time of the Hunter's Moon

Victoria Holt: The Spring of the Tiger

This novel was published in 1979; the above cover is the one I have in the hardback edition. I know I have read it before, but I can remember very little of Holt's novels since it has been about seventeen or eighteen years since I read most of them. I liked them very much then, but I'm not sure about now as I plan to reread some or most of them-- this being the first in that attempt.

This one concerns Sarah Ashington, the daughter of an actress, who has never known her father. After a scandal concerning her mother's lover, Sarah and her mother retire to Ashington Grange to live with two old aunts, Martha and Mabel. Sarah makes a friend in her mysterious governess, Celia, who leaves suddenly one day. Sarah's mother dies, and her father comes to visit. His companion, Clinton Shaw, becomes an object of fascination for Sarah almost immediately. Her trouble begins there. The setting moves from Ashington Grange to Ceylon; menacing events unfold and Toby, Sarah's beloved friend and old tutor, reappears in Sarah's life.

Characterization: 4/5 [Some of the characters seem a bit flat. I had a little trouble picturing Sarah Ashington for a while, but with her brown hair and indeterminate eye color, I thought of Jennifer Garner for her role in any possible movie. Toby I picture as a guy I once liked in my neighborhood growing up-- brown hair, blue eyes. :) I think Clinton Shaw could be played by a younger Brad Pitt.]

Plot: 3/5 [This one gets off to a slow start for me. I honestly feel the novel could be at least 75 pages shorter. I finally got into the novel around page 85, but it ebbed and flowed for me. I simply was never really captivated by it or by Holt's writing style. Also, there is a twist or two in the novel, but I had figured out the villain early in or suspected the villain. I wonder how my re-readings of the other Holt works are going to go.]

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 3/5 [There is very little of this type of thing until a good ways in when a threatening woman shows up on the doorstep outside, and Sarah sees her. Then, ghosts at Ashington Grange become an issue along with the ever present Ashington Pearls which are said to have some sort of power and have been passed down through generations. Overall, this one takes a while to get to the spooky/menacing stuff, and when the scary stuff did happen, it sort of fell flat for me. The novel feels more melodramatic than Gothic.]

Literary: 3/5 [Poets are mentioned and quoted and the title of the book is a variation of a line from a poem; I always like that. For some reason, though, this novel feels very fluffy to me.]

Romance: Yes... and rape and other stuff. I liked one male love interest in the novel and not the other. I don't want to add a spoiler here.


Rating: 3+ stars    ***+

I am torn with this one, and that 3+ rating feels high to me, honestly. I am sure many of you would like the novel, so I recommend it on that basis. With that said, it is definitely not one of my favorites of the genre, and I'm trepidatious about my next foray with Holt.