by C.J. Archer
Paperback, 218 pages
Published May 25th 2013 by C J Archer
ISBN 0987489933 (ISBN13: 9780987489937)
Blurb
It’s customary for Gothic romance novels to include a mysterious girl locked in the attic. Hannah Smith just wishes she wasn’t that girl. As a narcoleptic and the companion to an earl’s daughter with a strange affliction of her own, Hannah knows she’s lucky to have a roof over her head and food in her belly when so many orphans starve on the streets. Yet freedom is something Hannah longs for. She did not, however, want her freedom to arrive in the form of kidnapping.
Taken by handsome Jack Langley to a place known as Freak House, she finds herself under the same roof as a mad scientist, his niece, a mute servant and Jack, a fire starter with a mysterious past. They assure Hannah she is not a prisoner and that they want to help her. The problem is, they think she’s the earl’s daughter. What will they do when they discover they took the wrong girl?
The Good
- The catchy opening. “To say I’d been kept prisoner my entire life in an attic wasn’t quite true. It was only fifteen years out of eighteen.” This opening line grabs you immediately. As the story unfolds, bits and pieces of Hannah’s life begin to reveal themselves, dragging the reader deeper and deeper into the addictive plot.
- The betrayal. The betrayal Hannah discovers is shocking, and Hannah’s reaction to it is absolutely perfect. She’s confused, hurt, angry—this is the part of the book where Hannah feels most genuine.
The Bad
- The “Twilight”-ness. Hannah lusts after a moody, sullen boy who she knows is dangerous but cannot help herself. The boy’s reaction to Hannah swings violently back and forth between cold indifference and blatant flirting. Perfect example: “I smiled at him, and his lips quirked up at the edges. Then he frowned and looked down at his hands.” I also just didn’t feel any chemistry between the two of them at all, but maybe that was just me since a lot of other people seem to love this book a lot.
- The villain. The villain didn’t feel sinister enough. Yes, he is dangerous, but at the same time I never got the feeling as I was reading that he was a true threat to the group that was acting against him—they always had the advantage and upper hand. I guess I wanted to be left guessing a little more whether or not good would win out in the end.
Overall Rating
This book started out very strong. The opening is catchy, Hannah’s life in the attic is bizarre and interesting. It is only after she is kidnapped that things started to go down hill for me. The slow plot, Twilight-ish romance, and nonthreatening villain were just too much. That being said, many people really loved this book, so if the premise sounds like something that is interesting to you, you should definitely go pick up a copy. I would recommend this to fans of Twilight and gothic, historical fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley.com and C.J. Archer for allowing me to review this book! Advanced review copy was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.