New Fiendish Review: Dark, Deadly Love by Denise Agnew

Book:                Dark, Deadly Love

Author:              Denise Agnew

Publisher:         Samhain

ISBN/ASIN:        9781609281243

Rating:                3.5 Stars

Release Date:    July 2010 ebook/May 2011 PB

Be sure to check out Dark Deadly Love and her other fantastic titles.

Dark Deadly Love is filled with the heady atmosphere of late Victorian London, and juxtaposed with two sets of society: the mean streets of the East End and Mayfair as they converge in fear in 1888. Sinister and spooky, Denise Agnew draws on a pivotal moment in history, Jack the Ripper, as he stalks the most vulnerable of London in the cold, dead of night.

Hot on the trail of the Ripper, and of which they have no choice to hunt, Ross Havenwood and Alexandra Watson two would-be lovers suffer an uncanny connection to the murders. This dark link connects them by witnessing the slasher first-hand in their collective dreams. Together they follow the unveiled clues, with a vested interest in saving the life of an acquaintance who is in the crosshairs-as the next victim.

Dark, Deadly Love has definite presence, and a slow steady page that will keep you reading….but it struggles to maintain its identity. Is this piece a mystery? Or romantic suspense? Or is it historical romance? Dark Deadly Love is one of the most different titles that I have read from Samhain…don’t get me wrong, I liked it. Agnew has a deft hand with its brooding atmosphere and it completely drew me in…but at times I found myself wondering….was it a romance? When would Alexandra and Ross make a love connection?

Dark Deadly Love has the feel that it started as something else and morphed into Agnew’s current theme, you sense that ambivalence in the early pages. I expected more on the paranormal front from Ross and Alexandra especially within their dynamic setting. Agnew could have taken any one of numerous avenues to plump up the plot during the Rippers hold on London which at the time was a plethora of the mystical.  I suspect more is on the horizon for Agnew, she has a great writing style, and I will definitely be checking out her numerous series titles at Samhain. 

A Fiendishly Bookish Review (and one grumpy cat)

New Juicy Review: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Book:                 The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
Author:               Leanna Renee Hieber
Publisher:          Leisure Books
ISBN/ASIN:      9780843962963
Rating:               Five Stars

One of the most mesmerizing characteristics of Leanna Renee Hieber’s novel is its overwhelming gothic presence. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker might take place in Victorian England, yet its distinct voice conjures up roots of the earlier gothic period. Readers will instantly embrace this, as I did. Her language brings to mind lonely moors, and dashing highwaymen plundering in the thick of the night.

The overall feel of the novel, which places it at the height of the Ripper years, and Victorian theosophy is chock full of sinister tones, nostalgia, innocence, and the sprightly passion of its characters. Hieber’s strength is on the palpable conflict between its two main leads: Alexi and Percy and their inner turmoil. While there was no bodice ripping to be found, the sheer acute sense of longing between these two enigmatic characters fairly sets the pages ablaze. Plenty of pleasantly overwrought situations can be found within the covers of Hieber’s tale, but all are extremely fitting for such a deceptively titled story… and housed in such demure packaging. I ABSOLUTELY loved this book.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker comparatively resonates the influence of Ann Radcliffe. This fable was sweet, dangerously lovely, and at many times scintillating, as the balance for good and evil is fought at the frontlines of London. Come join the searing battle against Cerberus, a false prophet, and their minions as they lead an onslaught to break the seals of Hell beneath the ancient city. Where The Guard makes their last stand as they await the prophecy of a Seventh to be revealed at their direst hour. And the love for a lonely Professor gives an otherworldly girl the courage to face her fate, her unlikely visage, and face Hell itself. Bravo!

A Fiendishly Bookish Review