Reviewed by Christy
It’s 1875, and Alva Webster has fled her abusive husband while
living in France. She becomes quite
the scandal amid upper crust society (thanks to her estranged husband feeding
salacious and false stories to the press). While trying to work up the courage
to file for divorce, Alva’s husband goes and dies, sending the rumor mill into a
frenzy. Hoping for a fresh start, Alva finally returns home to New York City.
There she purchases a rundown mansion in the hopes of fixing it up and maybe
even publishing a book about her decorating skills. Unfortunately, the house
appears to be haunted, and it’s very hard to find good workers when a ghost
keeps scaring everyone away.
Alva has a hard time believing in
ghosts but eccentric scientist Samuel Moore wants
to believe and would love nothing more than the opportunity to research it
thoroughly by setting up camp in Alva’s manor. After much cajoling, Alva agrees
and the odd pair start working together to solve the mystery.
This was a very fun and engaging
read. Though it deals with heavy themes (domestic violence, general oppression
of women in the 19th century, etc), it still manages to have an air
of light-heartedness that I found refreshing in what is essentially a gothic
romance. And the romance part is great! Alva and Sam have wonderful chemistry.
Though they lean a little into the Insta Love trope, which I am not a fan of,
I’m willing to overlook it because their dialogue made me laugh out loud a few
times. Their banter reminded me a little bit of the screwball comedies from the
1930s. The ghost story is really more of a side plot but I think it’s done very
well – a little scary but mostly heartbreaking.
This ended up being one of my
favorite reads of 2023, and I highly recommend it for the dark winter months.
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