The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review

The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses coverAn orphaned governess takes up a new position in a remote manor and begins to develop inadvisable feelings for her employer. You’ve heard this story before—or have you? L. V. Russell puts a new twist on this classic Gothic premise in The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses, which came out earlier this month from small indie press Quill & Crow Publishing House. Continue reading The Quiet Stillness of Empty Houses Review

Review of Ghosts of the Forbidden—Gothic Romance Is Back!

Ghosts of the Forbidden coverDangerous mine shafts, an abandoned ski resort, families feuding for generations, and ghosts galore—the town of Glazier’s Gap has enough fodder for a whole string of Gothic novels. And that’s the idea. Ghosts of the Forbidden by Leanna Renee Hieber is the first book in the new Glazier’s Gap series published by Castle Bridge Media, which will include loosely connected novels that all feature a supernatural romance set in this unusual town. As the queen of haunting heartwarmers, Leanna Renee Hieber is the perfect author to start this series off, though this is her first foray into contemporary romance. But not to fear—while the story may take place in the twenty-first century, the lovers in Ghosts of the Forbidden are as stuck in the nineteenth-century as Leanna’s devoted readers are. Ghosts of the Forbidden comes out October 11. Continue reading Review of Ghosts of the Forbidden—Gothic Romance Is Back!

Gothic Vocab: Romance

You’ll often hear the term “Gothic romance” tossed about, sometimes in wildly different contexts. Are we talking about mid-century pulp novels whose covers feature women in flowing gowns fleeing from brooding men and looming castles? Or are we talking about The Castle of Otranto—a novel which hardly contains anything that modern readers would recognize as romance. To understand the many meanings of a phrase like “Gothic romance,” we have to dive into the history of what the words “romance” and “romantic” have meant in a literary context over the years. 

Photo of long-stemmed red rose with green leaves lying on a white surface
Photo by jerry klein on Unsplash

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Review of John Eyre—Monsters in the Attic

How many times can one Gothic novel be retold? If that novel is Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre—a story that spawned other great classics like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and served as a blueprint for the entire genre of mid-century Gothic romance pulps—I think its generative capabilities are endless. One of the latest authors to put her own spin on Jane Eyre  is Mimi Matthews, with John Eyre: A Tale of Darkness and Shadow, coming out tomorrow, July 20. From the title, you might guess that this is a gender-swapped retelling, but it’s actually much more than that: John Eyre uses the familiar beats of Brontë’s classic (along with elements from a few other Gothic novels) to tell an entirely different story. I am thrilled to have been invited to participate in the official blog tour for this book’s release, because I need more friends to geek out about this charming and clever reimagining with! Continue reading Review of John Eyre—Monsters in the Attic

Review of Cursed Once More

Cursed Once More coverHow many curses can one woman handle? Clara Blackwood finds her happily-ever-after interrupted by yet another family curse in Cursed Once More by Amanda DeWees. I had reviewed the initial book in this duology, With This Curse, quite a few years ago and was very impressed with DeWees’s grasp of classic Gothic tropes. After hearing how much I loved the first book, the author was kind enough to send along the sequel. It had gotten buried in my TBR pile until now, but I was delighted to finally dive back into DeWees’s luscious Victorian Gothic world with Cursed Once More. Continue reading Review of Cursed Once More

Romance in Gothic Fiction

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we’ve all got a bit of romance on the mind. And what could be more romantic than an entire genre that was originally called “Gothic Romance”? Of course, the term “romance” has meant different things over the course of the genre’s history, and each iteration of the Gothic utilizes romantic elements in different ways. Let’s take a brief look at the role romance has played in Gothic fiction.

Mr. Rochester and Jane in the film Jane Eyre (2011)

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Sea of Secrets Review—A Gothic Romance Spin on Hamlet

Oriel’s life seems like a fairy tale when she finally escapes her emotionally abusive father to go live with some loving—and wealthy!—long-lost relatives. But when she meets Herron, the dark and brooding young duke, she learns that this paradise may not be as perfect as it seems. Could someone in her new family really be a murderer, as the duke suspects? Find out when you read Sea of Secrets by Amanda DeWees! Last year, I picked up a couple of works by this spectacular self-published author of Victorian Gothic fiction, including her short Christmas tale Upon a Ghostly Yule. As a bit of a spin-off from Sea of Secrets, this short story introduced me to the Reginald family and hinted at their myriad scandals. It was about time, then, that I finally picked up Sea of Secrets itself. Continue reading Sea of Secrets Review—A Gothic Romance Spin on Hamlet