Mary Linn Roby: The White Peacock and Shadow Over Grove House

I picked up gothic romance author Mary Linn Roby's Signet Double Gothic from 1973 some time ago. I have an affinity for the doubles, and they aren't that easy to find. From what I found out about her in a search, she is now a writing and editing coach. The first novel in the double is The White Peacock. I really like the cover of the novel. It has that distinct early 70s look, and the blonde model has different features than most. The White Peacock

 I wanted to like this book, but I found the characterization thin at best. The heroine, art appraiser Irene Haverlock, (nice name) is likeable enough, but the love interest, David, is not well drawn. Consequently, the love affair is rushed and not believable. I am not sure why I kept reading other than the setting of Portugal. The villain was totally out of left field as well. I'm starting into the second one in the set,  Shadow Over Grove House. So far, it is off to a very fast start with little context, and I noticed it is only about 180 pages. I don't think I'll continue with it since there are no real Gothic elements jumping out at me. I might give Ms. Linn Roby's work another try again later. I noticed she has some great titles for her other novels. I like this one: Afraid of the Dark (Gothic) and If She Should Die, Pennies on Her Eyes, and Still As The Grave.

I know, lots of links, but some of the covers are very nice as well. Have you read a gothic romance by Mary Linn Roby? Did you enjoy it? If so, let me know in the comments so I can review it or you can. ;)

Mary Stewart: The Ivy Tree

Mary Stewart's gothic romance The Ivy Tree was published in 1961. Many readers of this blog say it's their favorite novel by her. So far, I'd have to agree it's mine, too, of the ones I have read.

When Mary Grey meets Connor Winslow on the Roman Wall when she is sightseeing, he makes an offer she wants to refuse... but strangely, she is drawn to the job of impersonating Annabel Winslow, an heiress who disappeared eight years before from the family estate, Whitescar. Secrets and threats to Mary's life make the job fraught with peril. Someone wants Annabel dead for good.

Plot: 4/5  I was surprised by one major plot twist and not another. I will say that the novel drags after the first twenty pages which are riveting until around page 60. I know some won't agree, but there is one scene in particular that seemed way too drawn out (in Mary's boarding house with Lisa). Overall, though, the premise of the novel is intriguing, and the suspense and tension mounted until I didn't want to put the novel down. I was kept guessing for a while about a couple aspects of the plot.

Characterization: 5/5 Each character was well drawn. I could see Connor Winslow played by someone I can't quite grasp. He is that much his own character to me. Adam Forrest, the other love interest in the novel, is also compelling. I am not sure that any author does a love scene bathed in moonlight better than Stewart, and there are at least two in this novel that the heroine shares with both men in a parallel fashion. Some of the characters' names are also enviable in the novel. Stewart infuses them with symbolism and meaning.

Spooky elements/atmosphere: 5/5  For the sheer beauty of Stewart's description, I have to give this a 5. Mary Grey's walks in the moonlight took my breath away as did the world that exists in the novel. Stewart's prose is lush.

Literary elements: 4/5  Stewart has a snippet of a poem, often a ballad at the start of each chapter. In general, too, the writing is just intelligent.

Romantic elements: 5/5  This one is hopelessly heady and romantic. If you are a fan of studying how fate, choice, and chance intersect and the impossible love story comes to fruition, you will enjoy this one. I admire the way Stewart leaves doors open and explores nuances of feeling in each character. She focuses on the gray of emotions and relationships as well as the tension. One of my favorite set of lines in the novel is this, and I won't spoil any plot details by tagging them. The dark romance of these lines ranks up there for me with Wuthering Heights and some of the dialogue between Cathy and Heathcliff. From The Ivy Tree:

"Life does go on, and you change, and you can't go back. You have to live it the way it comes. You know that."

"Yes, of course. But it would be very much easier to be dead."


Rating: 4+ stars  ****+

If you want to know why Mary Stewart is so loved, this novel can help... :) "Time was. Time is... time is to come."

Barbara Michaels: Be Buried in the Rain

It's no secret to regular readers of the blog that I love Barbara Michaels' gothic romance novels. I hadn't read Be Buried in the Rain, published in 1985, for years, so I decided to take it along on my trip to Barbara Mertz's (yes, Michaels is a pen name) near stomping grounds of Maryland.



The novel is set in Virginia, so it was close enough. ;)

Julie Newcomb, a first year medical student, is summoned back to Maidenwood, the dark Carr house where she lived during childhood. Her grandmother, Martha Carr, is a force to be reckoned with, and Julie's trip back stirs up ghosts from the past as well as skeletons in the present. Someone wants to keep the past buried and prevent Julie and her old flame archaeologist Alan Petranek from uncovering it.


Plot: 3/5 The novel drags a bit. I love the feel of Michaels' books. I get lost in them, and she has a gift of making the book seem as if it is really happening or as if it could happen. I can easily practice the willing suspension of disbelief as I read. Daily life goes on, and strange things break in that her characters must deal with. Living in her novels isn't tough. With that said, the novel has too much filler and not enough plot for my liking. I was still sad when I finished it, though.

Characterization: 5/5 Michaels shines here as she often does. Each character is memorable long after the novel is done. The hero is unconventional and intelligent, rather than a hunky cop or the like (not that there's anything wrong with that, I just get enough Navy Seals, cops, and others in more modern novels, and I think that's one reason I always come back to old gothic romances where the heroes span a universe of careers and types). Old Martha Carr is also well drawn and hard to forget. Even minor characters come alive with Michaels' writing.


Atmosphere/spooky elements: 3/5 The mist curls around the house, the family graveyard is fenced and locked, harrowing scenes from Julie's past are sprinkled throughout, and skeletons abound. This novel is not one of Michaels' scarier ones, though. As I mentioned, there is too much lag time and not enough thrills and chills.

Romance: 3/5 I like the hero, but there isn't a whole lot of romance. As is Michaels' forte, hero and heroine spar and match wits through much of the novel before falling into bed together as we knew they would.

Literary elements: 5/5 Yes. If you like poetry and literature, as usual Michaels uses it to a haunting degree. The Edna St. Vincent Millay poem she focuses on and that is used in part in the title will send a shiver up your spine.

Rating: 3.5+ stars ***.5

I recommend this one. It is not one of my favorites by Michaels, but it has its charms.

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? :)

Jana DeLeon: The Secret of Cypriere Bayou

I made a foray this weekend into Kindle for PC and into a new romance novel brand I've never read that I remember: Harlequin Intrigue. I picked DeLeon's The Secret of Cypriere Bayou because I was curious about how these are written, and she had dubbed it "Gothic lite," citing Barbara Michaels as an inspiration. I was also psyched to find out there are a few of these "Shivers" in the Intrigue line. They are short and sweet. Another now popular gothic thriller author, Amanda Stevens, also wrote for this line until just a few years ago.

Olivia Markham goes to LaMalediction, an old haunted house in Louisiana, to spend time writing. The caretaker, John Landry, is hunky and has secrets of his own. Strange noises and happenings in the house escalate into danger. Will Olivia and John figure out the secrets of the house and find love?

I enjoyed some of the thrills and chills in the novel. Secret tunnels, old letters, and atmosphere were spooky elements. Overall, I give it 4 stars for a category romance with Gothic atmosphere and trappings.

Harriet Esmond: The Eye Stones

I've finally finished The Eye Stones. It's no real fault of the novel. I've just been busy.

Harriet Esmond is a lovely pen name for husband and wife writing team John and Jean Burke. John Burke's wonderful website is here:

Tales of Unease

Take a look at that horse in the foreground as well as the gorgeous yellow gown. The house has a lighted window, and the colors are dark blues and greens. Very nice.

Plot: 4/5 The novel starts out a bit slowly, but I noticed the narrator describes characters' clothes, etc. immediately with waistcoats and such. So many gothic romance novelists who write historicals don't include such things, and it's annoying to me. Anyway, Deborah Ritchie travels to a remote part of Eastern England after her father's death. She plans to spend time with her half-sister and is shocked to learn her sister Beatrice and husband died in a mysterious fire. A mystery unfolds that includes Satanic rituals, decaying families, sadomasochism and more.

Characterization: 4/5 Nicely done. All the characters are well drawn and memorable, and Deborah is a strong heroine with brains. The tortured hero is yummy as well.

Literary elements: 4/5 The novelists did their research, and it's obvious with Victorian words like mere and others sprinkled throughout the novel. Mentions of other period events also lends credibility to the novel.

Atmosphere/spooky elements: 4/5 There isn't any real ghostly activity going on, but the shocking nature of what the villain and others get up to with the young ladies of the village lends a dark tone to the novel.

Romantic elements: 3/5 The romance isn't hot and heavy in this one, but I rooted for hero and heroine, though I knew early on which man was the one. I prefer to wonder for a while.


Rating: 4 stars ****

If you find a copy of this one, grab it! It is original and interesting.

 

Joe R. Lansdale: Devil Red

It's been a while, and I'm still looking for guest reviewers/bloggers! If you have a favorite novel you'd like to review or just write about, send me an email or message on Facebook. If you're a gothic romance writer or gothic novelist, let's set up an interview or a guest post. :)

Now, on to the review of Joe R. Lansdale's Devil Red.

Let me begin by saying I love Hap and Leonard. I feel like I know them and can picture them both in my mind easily, though I've never met a guy quite like Leonard. Hap-- actually, I've probably met a few since I'm from Alabama, and these are good ole Texas boys.

With that said, I have a feeling this series is reaching its end. The first 3/4 of the novel was bland. Hap and Leonard have been hired to find the killer who marks his victims with a red devil. The other novels in the series, Mucho Mojo, for example made me laugh so hard I thought I would die. This one had a few laughs, but it was lacking in those as well as snappy dialogue. The girlfriend, Brett, is bland. I miss Florida Grange, and the whole thing seemed to coast for a long time. Hap's angst over killing folks felt contrived and drawn out where it had felt visceral in past novels.



Then suddenly, bam! There is the climax of the novel. It came as a surprise and felt uneven since things had been very flat line to that point. I teared up a bit in that section, and I was glad to see the resolution, but I didn't feel the suspense I usually do in these novels or the catharsis. I knew what was going to happen, and I thought "meh." Some of these Hap and Leonard novels have left me in tears, feeling woebegone and in existential crisis.

In short, this one lacks the magic of the series. I'm thinking perhaps it's near the end. It's been a good run if so. Have you read it? What do you think?

I look forward to future novels by Lansdale. Maybe it's just time for another series or some good stand alones.

I give Devil Red 3 stars. It's good enough to read, but it's not the best in the series.


Rating: *** Stars