Today, I have the wonderful Maria from Simply Austen with a book review to share with you all! Maria and I share an obsession for all things Jane Austen and are both on our way to being English teachers, so I couldn't be more excited for her to guest post today! Maria recently read Mist of Midnight and is here at Peace Love Books to share with you all what she though!
By Sandra Byrd
Release Date: March 10, 2015
Thank you so
much for having me Jessica! I’m so excited to share my review of Mist of Midnight with you and your
followers.
Summary: In
the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns
home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and
inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.
Rebecca
Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following
the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her
family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to
see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had
arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but also
her home and incomes.
That
pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the
young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps
she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father's investments
reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who
quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love
with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives—does he love her or does
he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as
everyone suspects, will she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca?”
A
captivating Gothic love story set against a backdrop of intrigue and danger, Mist
of Midnight will leave you breathless.
Review: I’m always looking for a good Gothic romance. Ever
since I read Jane Eyre in high
school, I’ve been a fan of the genre. The intriguing mystery, suspicious
characters, and dark hero are a combination that is hard to resist. Sandra Byrd
delivers all of that in her inspirational new novel, Mist of Midnight.
Rebecca
Ravenshaw returns home to England after twenty years as a missionary in India
as an orphan. Expecting a warm welcome to her family’s home, she is shocked to
realize that someone had impersonated her and then died within months. Everyone
is suspicious of Rebecca, including the broodingly handsome Captain Luke
Whitfield, who has taken over her family home. Rebecca must prove her identity
as she unravels the mystery of who impersonated her and discover who Luke truly
is and how she feels about him.
From the first
pages, you are swept into the plot with beautiful imagery and language of India
and England. During some of the passages in this book, I felt like I was in the
tantalizing tropical atmosphere of India. Byrd handled the transitions and
flashbacks between the two locations very smoothly.
Rebecca was a
heroine who I empathized with from the beginning. She was smart and courageous,
but was still vulnerable enough that she wasn’t sickeningly perfect. I
especially enjoyed that she had to have the staff and her neighbors help her understand
English social customs; those situations showed her awkward side and were
written well to show the intricacies of English society.
The mystery was
a driving force in the book; I kept reading because I had to find out who had
been the imposter, where the Indian maid was, what was true and what was not, and
all the secrets that Luke hid. However, the plot wrapped up a little too neatly
for my taste. I would have loved to see a few more climactic scenes, or some
more stumbling blocks that Rebecca would have to overcome. I won’t discount the
ending though, I enjoyed it immensely!
Overall, if you
are looking for a fun Gothic romance with a few hints of inspiration, you
should definitely check out Mist of
Midnight. There were small details that bothered me, but the book as a
whole is strong and is worth the time spent reading it. Sandra Byrd impressed
me; I had never read one of her works before, but I certainly will be looking
forward to seeing what will be next in her Daughters
of Hampshire series.
If you are
interested in seeing more reviews or general book ramblings by me, stop by my
blog, Simply Austen, simplyausten.blogspot.com, or my Twitter @simplyausten, where
I talk about anything and everything Jane Austen.
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