My dear bookish friends,
Today’s book review is of a book I was surprised to love as much as I did, but then again now I wonder why. Yes, I’m a huge scaredy cat, but at the same time, Victorian literature – and Gothic stories in particular – is one of my guilty pleasures, and I have read and loved many such classics during my studies. Inheriting Her Ghosts by S.H. Cooper reminded me of them in a way, and I felt like back at uni!
If you want to check out an atmospheric, brooding, dark and ghastly story for the next grey and rainy afternoon, please keep on reading!
About the Book
Inheritance often comes with strings attached, but rarely are they as tangled as those hanging over High Hearth.
When Eudora Fellowes learns she’s the sole heir of her estranged great-aunt’s seaside manor, she believes it will be the peaceful escape she’s longed for. What awaits, however, is a dark legacy shrouded in half a century of secrets, and it doesn’t take long before Eudora realizes she’s not the only one to call High Hearth home.
My Review
I don’t normally comment on opening lines very often, but I really loved the opening lines of this and have to mention them:
The house inherited me as much as I did it. We were alike, this house and I. Both filled with bones that creaked and dark hallways where memories lingered still.
Strong, powerful, captivating, they made me want to get to know the main character better and find out about her story. The book hooked me right from these very first lines and it didn’t let go. I fell in love with the narrator within a single page! She sucks you in with writing that feels like one of those old Victorian classics I love so much.
Our narrator is an ‘old’ – she isn’t really, but she kinda describes herself as such – woman who has decided that men are just as useless and annoying as we all suspect (lol) and that she is better off without them. She never met societal standards or expectations, but has learned to cope with the strange looks given to her by strangers and has come to terms with her own journey through life.
She also is not fond of visitors, and any delivery men are told to leave their goods on the back doorstep and not bother her. If somebody knocks on her door you can feel her willing them just to be on their way and leave her be. Literally within a few pages you are soooo on board and relating to her.
When her great aunt passes and leaves Eudora her entire estate she sets off with Cerberus and Black Shuck (her dogs, sweet, as she describes them, but big and scary looking on the outside, and that way the perfect guard dogs for someone who wants to be left alone anyway) and so, the adventure begins!
When she arrives at the stately manor she instantly feels like she is home. But what she doesn’t realise is she isn’t the only one who calls the house home!! Eeek! *hides under blanket*
This is such a fantastic Victorian gothic novel, it reminded me so much of all the classics I love so much and it’s just as well well-written! My hats off to the author – definitely a 5 stars read for me!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so much to BBNYA for introducing me to this fantastic story, and thank you for TheWriteReads and the author for my spot on this tour (which didn’t influence my rating in any way).
If you’re fan of classic ghost stories be sure to check this out!
Thank you all so much for reading!
Xoxo
That is an excellent first line!
Isn’t it!! The rest of the book is awesome too 😀