Good Evening,
It’s the start of another week. It’s Monday! What are you Reading is hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, this is a weekly event to share what we’ve read in the past week and what we hope to read, plus whatever else comes to mind. To be honest, I am not sure what I am in the mood to read, but this is what I am going to try to get to this week.
For the most part I accomplished what I wanted to finish last week. However, I may have put myself in a slight reading slump. So this week I am going to try to mood read, so we will see if I actually finish anything.
Recent Books
A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers | Historical, Mystery | Add to Goodreads
In this spectacularly imaginative and ghoulishly fun Gothic murder mystery brimming with romance, betrayals, and chills, a fake spiritualist is summoned to hold a séance for a bride who died on the eve before her wedding, but as nefarious secrets are revealed, the line between hoax and haunting blurs.
Be careful what you conjure…
In Victorian London, Genevieve Timmons poses as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy mourners–until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The Lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been inconsolable since the tragic death of his beautiful bride-to-be. If Genevieve can perform a séance persuasive enough to bring the young Lord peace, she will win her freedom.
Soothing a grieving nobleman should be easy for someone of Genevieve’s skill, but when she arrives at the grand Somerset Park estate, Mr. Pemberton is not the heartbroken lover she expected. The surly–yet exceedingly handsome–gentleman is certain that his fiancée was murdered, even though there is no evidence. Only a confession can bring justice now, and Mr. Pemberton decides Genevieve will help him get it. With his knowledge of the household and her talent for illusion, they can stage a haunting so convincing it will coax the killer into the light. However, when frightful incidents befall the manor, Genevieve realizes her tricks aren’t required after all. She may be a fake, but Somerset’s ghost could be all too real…
A Dreadful Splendor is a wickedly whimsical brew of mystery, spooky thrills, and intoxicating romance that makes for an irresistibly fun and page-turning read.
A Treacherous Trade by Kerrigan Byrne | The Fiona Mahoney Mysteries #2 | Historical, Mystery, Romance | Add to Goodreads
Fiona Mahoney stands in the ashes of her hopes facing her tempting adversary, Inspector Grayson Croft. Her sins are about to spill from her lips, when he says the one thing that could dispel all thoughts of revelation or redemption.
Someone is leaving the corpses of prostitutes in the streets, and a name is being whispered in the fearful shadows. The name against which Fiona would sell her very soul for vengeance.
Jack the Ripper.
Old enemies and new friends join Fiona as she chases a relentless evil through the streets of Victorian London. She’ll pull upon every contact in her arsenal including Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Inspector Aberline, “The Hammer” a charismatic gangster, “The Blade” an enigmatic assassin, and, of course, Jack.
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson | Edenbrooke #1 | Historical Romance, Proper Romance | Add to Goodreads
Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry.
From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will Marianne be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.
The Vintage Medium by Melanie Karsak | The Chancellor Fairy Tales Book #4 | Romance, Magical Realism | Add to Goodreads
People think being haunted is a bad thing.
That’s because they’ve never visited The Curiosity Curio.
The spirits who linger in my store dance the jitterbug, look after the plants, and gossip about long-dead relatives. Even though no one believes me about my mediumistic gifts, it’s my job to aid these lost souls. I can help them, even if I gave up hoping to find someone who understood me long ago. Call me a vintage-items peddler, but it’s my duty to match ghosts—and the objects to which they are attached—with the people who need them.
That’s where James comes in. James Herringbone, the high-end antique dealer who looks like he just stepped out of an expensive cologne ad, possesses a pocket watch I desperately need. Until I get it back, the spirit of a flapper girl who haunts my shop will let me have no rest. Talking to James isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, he is perfection in glasses and a tweed jacket, even if he looks down on junk-item antiquarians like me.
But when I try to bargain with James for the pocket watch, things get…complicated.
Of course they do.
Because this is Chancellor, where magic lives on every corner.
Currently Reading
The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke | The World of Lore #3 | Nonfiction, History, Folklore | Add to Goodreads
Sometimes you walk into a room, a building, or even a town, and you feel it. Something seems off–an atmosphere that leaves you oddly unsettled, with a sense of lingering darkness. Join Aaron Mahnke, the host of the popular podcast Lore, as he explores some of these dreadful places and the history that haunts them.
Mahnke takes us to Colorado and the palatial Stanley Hotel, where wealthy guests enjoyed views of the Rocky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century–and where, decades later, a restless author would awaken from a nightmare, inspired to write one of the most revered horror novels of all time. Mahnke also crosses land and sea to visit frightful sites–from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, to the brooding, ancient castles of England–each with its own echoes of dark deeds, horrible tragedies, and shocking evil still resounding.
Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they’d visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.
Birthright by Kathryn Amurra | Soothsayer’s Path Book #3 | Historical Romance | Add to Goodreads
The daughter of a patrician woman who chose to marry beneath her class, Nerilla has witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of following your heart. Determined to correct her mother’s mistakes, she has carefully selected the perfect patrician man to wed. The fact that the man is only marrying her to obtain her father’s legendary sword Ceres, which is to serve as her dowry, is of no consequence–that is, until that very sword is stolen right out from under her nose by a handsome thief with a charming smile and innocent eyes.
As an orphan with no memory of his birth parents, Jovian has been searching for the truth about his parentage for as long as he can remember. When a soothsayer tells him that to uncover the key to his past he must seek out the sword called Ceres, he can hardly believe his luck, for he has already stolen that sword from its owner. Unfortunately, he has also already sold it to a man bound for Neapolis.
A chance meeting between Nerilla and Jovian results in what they both know is an ill-advised arrangement. As they work together to find the sword, they discover secrets from their pasts that make them question everything they thought they knew. And they find themselves having to choose between pursuing the perfect plans they’ve laid or risking failure for the chance of achieving their true birthright.
What are you hoping to get to read this week?
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