The House on Blackstone Moor by Carole Gill

Synopsis:  “They say my father was mad, so corrupted by evil and tainted by sin that he did what he did. I came home to find them all dead; their throats savagely cut. My sisters only five and eight were gone as well as my brother who was twelve. My mother too lay butchered in her marriage bed. The bed her children were born in…”

Young Rose Baines discovers the savage murders of her family by her mad, incestuous father.
She is plunged into a nightmare of hell and is incarcerated in two madhouses after which she is helped to obtain a position as governess at Blackstone House.

The house is located on haunted moorland. Nothing is as it seems for Blackstone House and its inhabitants have hideous secrets. There is unimaginable horror there but there is love too--love that comes at a terrible price.

The story is as haunting as it is terrifying and will remain with the reader long after its disturbing tale has been told.

My Review:  

When I read the synopsis for The House on Blackstone Moor I knew that I had to read it.  It sounded incredibly intriguing and more than a little bit creepy.  The story sounded very mysterious, and the gothic nature caught my attention.  The story did not disappoint.  I started it and couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

Rose Baines returns home to find that her father has slaughtered her whole family and then himself.  She is taken to an asylum as a result of her distress.  After a horrific span of time in the asylum, where she is assaulted, her psychiatrist, Dr. Bannion, recommends her for a governess position with friends of his.  While she is preparing for the transition she spends a month living with Dr. Bannion and his housekeeper.  While there, she begins to doubt her sanity as well as lose her trust in Dr. Bannion.  Everywhere she turns is secrets.

When she starts her employment for Mr. & Mrs. Darton as governess for their children, she thinks her life could be changing for the positive.  Rose loves the children, but over time she begins to notice creepy things about the children as well as Mr. & Mrs.  Darton.  By the time Rose starts to seriously question things, it could be too late.  The Darton’s are more sinister than they appear and the conspiracy deeper than Rose could have ever imagined. 

I don’t want to give away too much in my summary.  This book was amazing!  I really enjoyed the writing style and would love to read more books by Carole Gill.  This is one book that I could not predict the ending.  There were so many twists and turns that it kept me on the edge of my seat.  The book contains so many horrors that it’s amazing that Rose could endure through the end. 

The book contains vampires, demons, fallen angels, the macabre and the sinister.  The relationship that develops between Rose and Mr. Darton is forbidden love, making it all the more interesting.  Mrs. Darton’s devil worship and drunken debaucheries gives the story a taboo quality.  The children make interesting secondary characters and they’re very likable, except for their slight creepiness. 

A word for my readers, rape occurs in this book, and let the reader beware.  

Author Bio

I wrote my first story at age 8. It was sci-fi but as both my parents were sci-fi fanatics it wasn’t a surprise.
I continued to write however life got in the way as it often does, and it wasn’t until 2000 that I turned back to writing. I joined a local writer’s workshop and was greatly encouraged to keep up with my writing and to send things out.

Shortly afterwards, I was selected by Northwest Playwrights of England for further development but found I preferred fiction writing.

Widely published in horror and sci-fi anthologies, The House on Blackstone Moor is my first novel. It is a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship.

Set in 19th Century Yorkshire, its locales include Victorian madhouses as well as barren, wind-swept Yorkshire moors. The story is a marriage of horror and gothic romance. I think it can best be described as being gothic paranormal romantic horror.

I suppose you could say I want to put the Goth back into Gothic.

Living in the area the novel is set in, was very beneficial. Also, as a great admirer of the Brontes and frequent visitor to the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, I found myself nearly obsessed with recreating the gothic romantic narrative.

Having been employed in a hospital which had been historically a workhouse and asylum in Victorian times, I was able to add great realism to the depiction of the asylums as described in my novel.

The sequel, Unholy Testament, is the confession of a demon to the woman he loves. It is nearing the end of its first draft and will be released shortly.

Website


*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*