Helpful Score: 2
I had a good time with this one! The set-up is not particularly new - a young woman temporarily stuck in an old mansion with a group of...shall we say "eccentric" people, all mooching off of the wealthy owner. But this was a fun read instead of seeming like a tired old plot. It starts off a little slowly (but then, almost every book I end up loving does), but before long things started getting more and more interesting and I was hooked!
The group in the house have gathered to practice and recreate a magickal rite once performed by the famous (or infamous) Thorne Blackmore - the ritual during which Thorne's lover died and he disappeared about 25 years ago. Thorne and his lover's now-adult daughter Truth is the young woman currently visiting the mansion, gathering research for a biography but very much NOT interested in joining any magickal activities. Is the magick real? Was it then? What really happened that night Truth's mother died and her father disappeared? While I guessed much of it, I still had a great time watching the story unfold and was surprised in a few places.
It's always fun to read about places you know, and the New York state setting of this book is very familiar to me. While mansions of this size are a little out of my realm, the style of the house is right on, down to the twin parlors in the front!
And oh my gosh - the cell phone! This book was published in 1995, and wow what a difference 11 years makes!
All in all, good light read, and it was fun to watch a great author play around with established gothic mansion plot.
The group in the house have gathered to practice and recreate a magickal rite once performed by the famous (or infamous) Thorne Blackmore - the ritual during which Thorne's lover died and he disappeared about 25 years ago. Thorne and his lover's now-adult daughter Truth is the young woman currently visiting the mansion, gathering research for a biography but very much NOT interested in joining any magickal activities. Is the magick real? Was it then? What really happened that night Truth's mother died and her father disappeared? While I guessed much of it, I still had a great time watching the story unfold and was surprised in a few places.
It's always fun to read about places you know, and the New York state setting of this book is very familiar to me. While mansions of this size are a little out of my realm, the style of the house is right on, down to the twin parlors in the front!
And oh my gosh - the cell phone! This book was published in 1995, and wow what a difference 11 years makes!
All in all, good light read, and it was fun to watch a great author play around with established gothic mansion plot.
