Spotlight List: More Historical Fantasy on My TBR

More Historical Fantasy on My TBR

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Release Date: 1958
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Pages: 256
Goodreads Page

This is one of those classic books that sounds fantastic, but I've somehow managed to miss.

Set in the mid-20th century, Peggy finds herself alone in her ancestral home in New York. Except, she's not actually alone. She soon discovers ghosts from the American Revolution haunt her home and she becomes a spectator in a "centuries old romance against the American Revolution backdrop of spies and intrigue and battles plotted and foiled."

Someone pull out my fainting couch, because that plot sounds to die for!

The Minister's Daughter by Julie Hearn
Release Date: December 26, 2006
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 272
Goodreads Page

I'm always curious about books with dual narratives, especially when they're set in two different times like they are in The Minister's Daughter (one in 1645, the other in 1692 during the Salem witch trials). It sounds like the narratives alternate throughout the book, slowly feeding the reader clues about earlier events involving witchcraft accusations to coverup a pregnancy and the ramifications of those actions.

I haven't heard much about this book, but I'm always up for a good historical set during the Salem witch trials--especially when they're real witches!

The Red Queen's Daughter by Jacqueline Kolosov
Release Date: October 2, 2007
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 416
Goodreads Page

Mary trains as a white magician and, upon her sixteenth birthday, joins Queen Elizabeth's court as a lady-in-waiting. She quickly learns that practically everyone at court is vying for power, and some are even plotting against the queen. If that weren't complicated enough, Mary finds herself up against a dangerous black magician who is a threat to the queen...and Mary's heart.

HECK YES! I love court scheming! And am I sensing a little hate-turned-love, perhaps?

By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle
Release Date: May 1, 2005
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 240
Goodreads Page

An evil presence lurks in Maddie's medieval village (in Scotland!) and something is killing her neighbors one by one. Can Maddie find and fight the culprit? Looks like she'll have her hands full with the supernatural, but if the description of the "mysterious young man" is any indication, she'll be able to find a little time for some romance as well!

I don't want to spoil the surprise (I'm not even sure if it IS a spoiler, because it's clear in one blurb and not mentioned in another), but this book features a paranormal creature my co-host Ruby harbors a particular fondness for.

My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
Release Date: July 26, 2006
Publisher: Orion
Pages: 208
Goodreads Page

If you like your vampires evil and not at all sparkly or romantic, then this just might be the book for you! Vampires are attacking a 17th century Transylvanian village and it is up to Peter and his father to stop them. It sounds like Peter's father is carrying around a hidden past (involving vampire slaying, perhaps?)...and that past is catching up to him.

I really, really hope this one is scary! I've heard it's not really as exciting or frightening as it sounds, but I'm a wimp so I scare easy.

Have you read any of these books? Did you like them? If you haven't, are you going to add any to your TBR?

Today Ruby is sharing a book review with you! 

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Cover Crazy (16): The House of Dead Maids

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by Tawni at The Book Worms where a beautiful cover is featured each week for all of us to admire. I am going to use my Cover Crazy posts as an opportunity to review a book cover I love or review any cover (even the ones I don't love) from a book I've read. This week's Cover Crazy is for:  

The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

Ho-lee-crap! Does the publisher want to give me nightmares? Because that’s exactly what this cover does! 

Where are her eyes?? AAaahh! There are a few things that never fail to make me squirm, and doing things to eyes is one of them. I’m totally cool when eye colors are changed or even given slit cat-like pupils. I actually like that. 

But sticking things in eyeballs or, worse, removing them completely freaks me out. I just keep going back and harping on the question: Where are her eyes?! Why aren’t they in her head where they belong? I had the horrifying need to read this book and find out the answers to these questions.

Tearing myself away from the horror of her absent eyeballs, I see the title of the book: The House of Dead Maids. Well, ok then. She’s probably dead. Impressed with my observational skills? I know, I know. The way she fades into the background was another clue I picked up on as well. Now I want to know why she died, and if she lost her eyeballs before or after she died. 

Seriously though, can you get scarier than a ghost with gaping eye holes? This cover alone leaves me quaking and turning on every single light in the house. Add in the spooky trees in the background and the atmosphere-rich coloring of stormy, dreary grays and I don’t know how I managed to read this book without a brown paper bag cover!

(For the sake of full disclosure, I did put the book face down on my nightstand when I wasn’t reading. Could you imagine waking up in the middle of the night, turning over and seeing that cover??)

Then there’s the blurb: “Dark and Beautiful, literary and lovely.” Well, all of that is entirely true about the story, but yikes! I don’t know if I’d call that cover beautiful or lovely. More like chilling, haunting, and terrifying! All words that also apply to the amazing story. 

The only thing I don’t really like about this cover is the title font. It seems just a little too pretty to me. I would want something scary. Maybe a font that drips or somehow fades like ghostly smoke. Maybe something like the Supernatural font. 

This book was so deliciously good (you can read all about how much I loved this book in my The House of Dead Maids review), even for a huge wimp like me. The cover compliments the story very well.

What do you think about this cover?
Do you like it? Dislike it? 
Does it make you want to read the book?

Interested in covers? 
Be sure to check out another Cover Crazy post by Gina from My Precious.

 

Want to cleanse your palate with a pretty cover?

Cover Crazy: Pegasus

More of my Cover Crazy posts

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Book Review: The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 146
Received: Library book
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Author's Page
Amazon Page
Book Trailer
 

Summary:

Young Tabby Aykroyd has just been employed as a maid in the spooky Seldom House. The house is empty, understaffed, and lacking a proper employer. Soon after her arrival, however, the master of the house returns with a boy for Tabby to care for. This boy, known to Tabby only as “Himself” is an immoral imp ruled by his own selfish whims. As Tabby and Himself form a shaky relationship, both children begin to notice ghostly occurrences in the forms of young maids and masters whose urgency seems to increase with each encounter. What are the ghosts trying to tell them? Why have so many maids and masters died? Most importantly, can Tabby unravel the truth before she becomes the next dead maid? 

Review:

The House of Dead Maids is written as a prequel to Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, which is no small task. Equally haunting and atmospheric, THoDM is more than worthy to stand up against Bronte’s classic. I loved Wuthering Heights, but I’ve always had two nagging questions: Where did Heathcliff originally come from, and where did he go when Catherine first spurned him? Dunkle’s THoDM not only answers both of those questions, but it does so in a way that is completely and totally satisfying. I really can believe that Himself would grow up to become the horrible Heathcliff and I can completely believe Heathcliff would be the type of person to partake in the awful secret of Seldom House (if you couldn’t tell, I’m NOT one of the people who finds Heathcliff dreamy. I thought he was a raving, though entertaining, lunatic).

THoDM works beautifully as a prequel, but it also manages to stand out as an engrossing story in its own right. I don’t know how frightening the story would be to a horror aficionado, but I am a wimp and I was totally scared. Even the cover creeped me out and I had to turn the book over so the cover was facing down when I went to sleep at night (sad, yes, I know, but there’s also a really creepy scene with a ghost at night in a bed). These ghosts aren’t benevolent ghosts the main character will counsel and possibly fall in love with. Oh no, these ghosts are more like zombie wraiths (and not the kind of zombie the main character will counsel and possibly fall in love with).

The ghosts weren’t the only scary part of the book. The living people were just as scary as the ghosts (maybe even scarier) and behaved just as crazily as Bronte’s nutty characters (minus the overwrought speeches and love). As Tabby begins to uncover the mystery of the dead maids, she discovers the real reason she was brought to Seldom House. For such a slim novel, Dunkle did a truly excellent job of dropping hints in a way that kept me reading rapidly to discover more clues but didn’t feel like she just dumped it all on me all at once.

The final clever twist of this story was the way Dunkle wove in actual fact. Not only did she tie her story in with Wuthering Heights, but she also made references to Bronte’s own servant: A woman named Tabby who is said to have told the Bronte children dark and scary stories, much to young Emily’s delight.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this short prequel and I’m very, very happy I decided to pick it up. If you haven’t read Wuthering Heights, don’t worry. It’s not necessary to have read the original to understand this story, and this story doesn’t give away any spoilers for the original. Fans of Gothic fiction, Wuthering Heights, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill should be sure to check out this most excellent book.

 Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

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