Summer Reading 2022: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

 

I took a few days of vacation to make a long weekend and was determined to finish a few books in my summer TBR list. This novel has been in my pile for a few months. I started it in May, got distracted, and put it down. Yesterday I picked it back up and got swept away pretty immediately. 

Beatriz needs to get married to escape the awful life her and her mother are in after her father is taken away in the night and murdered for plotting against the Mexican government. It's 1823 and women have limited choices. She married Rodolfo Solórzano, a wealthy man who takes her to his home, the Hacienda San Isidro. 

Beatriz isn't greeted with much enthusiasm by the servants at San Isidro, nor Rodolfo's sister Juana. She's the second Doña Solórzano, and yikes it's not the welcome she was hoping for. The first wife of Rodolfo was a horrible woman who treated the servants terribly and made everyone's life miserable. She died from typhoid a few years before. 

However, the moment Beatriz steps into the hacienda, she feels something is terribly, terribly wrong. The house seethes with bad energy; cold air sweeps through in waves; doors slam, and there are those terrible red eyes peeking through the darkness. Rodolfo leaves for business in the capitol, and Beatriz is terrified to live in the house alone. She hears voices, sees terrible visions, and is afraid to sleep. 

She attends church, and asks for a blessing. Snubbed by the older, crabby Padre, she meets Padre Andrés, a young priest who grew up at San Isidro and has returned to take care of the village outside of the hacienda. He agrees to bless the hacienda, and oh boy, what he feels and sees when he visits is exactly what Beatriz experiences: an unholy, terrible, evil force. 

Who's that force? Why, the first Doña, of course. Beatriz is frantic to fight the evil-she just isn't strong enough to do it herself. Andrés has a few surprises of his own that may just be enough to fight the evil that inhabits the hacienda. It may kill them first, though. 

There's a lot going on here with back story and the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence. Generations of people working on the same land; generations of the same land owners treating those people poorly and taking advantage of them. People who can't get away because of the class system that keeps them down. A priest who is also a witch, and must be careful to not be exposed. A woman who thought she was marrying a man who would give her a home, only to realize the home, and her husband, are awful. Cut off from any help, she only had Andrés to turn to. The folks around the hacienda know something dark is there, but are too afraid to do anything about it. 

This was a spooky story--I could feel that numbing cold rolling down the hallways. Author Isabel Cañas does an excellent job building tension and terror and ramping it up. This is evil that is vicious and nasty. Can you imagine what this woman was like when she was alive?! I raced through this horror novel, and was tense every time Beatriz had to be in the hacienda alone. 

A horror novel of a different kind, set in 1823 Mexico. The setting was well drawn and I could picture it all in my mind. Beatriz was smart, tough, and stalwart in her belief that there was something very wrong in the hacienda. Padre Andrés was a complex character torn by guilt as a priest and the power he was born to use for good. 

Rating: 5/6 for a tense, atmospheric horror novel with a historical setting. Once I got into it, I was hooked. 

A big thanks to Berkley for an ARC of the novel. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

Summer Reading 2022: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

This novel was like a little mental break for me in the midst of a busy month. I feel like I've been slogging through some of my reading choices, and not making much progress. However, I picked this up off my TBR pile Sunday morning and quickly became engrossed in it-and settled down to power read. I just finished it this morning before work. I was a bit annoyed at myself for being too sleepy last night to finish the last 30 pages before bed. So annoyed! 

I have to say, I was expecting a bit more of a ghost story similar to  Simone St. James (a favorite author of mine). While I had a very mild disappointment, it was more than made up by the romance between Alva Webster and Sam Moore, the two central characters. I wasn't expecting so much of the plot to be about their unfolding relationship, but it was, and the sparks between the two were the best part of the whole book. The ghost story had an interesting twist, for sure. Something I hadn't ever read about in any other ghost story I've come across. 

The basic plot: Alva Webster, widow and infamously known as a woman of *ahem* salacious appetites and oodles of gossip, returns to New York after living for years in Europe. Her husband was murdered, and she's come back to start over where she grew up, the only daughter of privileged parents who now have nothing to do with her. She's purchased Liefdehuis, an abandoned Hyde Park mansion that is rumored to be haunted. Her goal is to renovate the home and write a book about home decorating in the process. It's 1875; she's a widow with some money but not a lot, and has to find a way to make a living. Malicious gossip has followed her home, and even though none of it is true, she can't seem to escape it. 

Professor Sam Moore is in town, eager to test his paranormal equipment on the rumored ghostly hauntings in Liefdehuis. He's quite the genius--and hot, too. He's famous for his many inventions and his family is widely known as the "royalty" of the science world. Alva, however, is not impressed by Sam, and refuses to let him test out his scientific theories on her home. 

Unfortunately, Alva's past returns to create chaos, and she reluctantly agrees to let Sam study Liefdehuis in order to get her project moving along. Local contractors refuse to work in a haunted house, and it's costing her money she can't afford to lose. 

This is where the plot really turns to the relationship between Sam and Alva. Sam is quite appealing and he's impossible to resist. Alva finds herself falling for him hard and fast, even while fighting her despair that she's just not good enough for him, and permanently damaged from her horrible marriage. But those qualities in both Sam and Alva are what make the haunting take an interesting turn, and help them solve the puzzle of what drives people from Liefdehuis in complete fear and terror. 

This really is more of a romance than anything else, but I loved it. Sam is quite possibly the most fun character I've read in quite a while. I can see why Alva falls for him. Alva's journey from frightened, abused woman to one that is trusting and finds love again is a big part of the novel, and very satisfying. All in all, a fun novel that helped lift me out of the November doldrums. It reminded me of Amanda Quick novels, so if you like her, you will enjoy this first novel by Diana Biller. I'll be reading more, without a doubt. 

Rating: 4/6 for a delightful romance with a dash of science, a dash of mystery, and a happy ending. I wish there had been more about the haunted mansion, but I was satisfied and give a kudos to the author for the unique haunting. 

Available in paperback and ebook. 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet

The House Swap is another entry into the psychological relationship thriller. It does, however, have quite a different twist on it; one where you just don't see it coming for quite some time. 

Told in two storylines: 2013 and 2015, you would think not much could happen in a few years. You'd be wrong, especially when it comes to the relationship between Caroline and Francis, a couple who's marriage has been slowly disintegrating due to Francis' addiction to pills, and the resulting affair Caroline has with a coworker. A mess, right? It's a bit sad to see what was once a solid relationship erode over time, and neither participant seems to know how to fix it. 

Move to 2015, and Caroline and Francis are house swapping for a week to get away and continue to repair their relationship. The house is oddly bare of any personal touches; it's neat as a pin and pretty much empty of anything-more like a hotel. Making arrangements only through email, the owner of this home is staying at Caroline and Francis' home for a week. Heck, people do this all the time!

Except this one is weird. Caroline's affair may be long over, but she's still haunted by it, and odd little things around the house jolt her into remembering key scenes from two years before. Of course she can't tell Francis, since their relationship is still fragile and this whole getaway was meant for them to spend time together. Is she just projecting, or are these little things: certain flowers in the bathroom; a photo of a park that Caroline visited during her affair--are these things a deliberate poke at Caroline? Amber, a woman across the street--seems oddly determined to get to know Caroline. Is her ex-lover the one she's swapped houses with?! Is he trying to drive her mad?

There's not a huge amount of action here; it's definitely one where a lot is spent on feeling, reflecting, and remembering. Caroline is a bit of a tortured soul, and you have no idea the depths until much farther along in the plot. The big reveal is something you won't see coming at all, because there's just not any way you could--a deliberate twist out of nowhere. Let's just say Caroline's instincts that something's not right, and someone is deliberately tormenting her, are spot on. But who you think it might be--well, that's the big surprise. Francis' thoughts are also a big part of the novel, as we see addiction from his point of view; the hopelessness, the aching, the need to just take the pill and make everything okay. We see how easy it is to slip down that slide, and how it can wreck a family. 

The cover of this novel has a quote from Lee Child, saying this is a "domestic noir".  Yes it is. It's a bit dark, and all you can do is hang on and hope Caroline and Francis come out the other side still together and with a better understanding of their relationship. It's a pretty good thriller! Wow, the depth and work the person bent on revenge goes to is pretty thorough.  

Rating:  4/6 for a very different thriller that slowly unravels and gives you tidbits along the way, keeping you guessing and biting your nails. 

Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books/Viking for an advanced copy of this novel!

Available in hardcover and ebook. 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet

A Creepy Ghost Story: The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

It's been quite awhile since I've read a novel that creeped me out.  It was creepy  enough that I decided to only read it during the day, on my lunch hour in a busy hospital cafeteria. Either I'm getting soft, or it was a pretty darn good ghost story.

It was a pretty darn good ghost story.

I love Cherie Priest's writing.  Her Eden More series is about restless souls; usually from the Civil War Era.  She followed that up with her steampunk Clockwork Century novels; Boneshaker really put her on the radar of a lot of science fiction/fantasy fans.  I did read Boneshaker years ago, and did enjoy it quite a bit, but her gift, to me, lies in her ability to make you uneasy in the comfort of your own home.  And that is what The Family Plot did to me. 

Music City Salvage is on the cusp of financial ruin, and one big job will save the company.  Enter Augusta Withrow, the last member of the Withrow family.  For $40,000, Music City Salvage gets all the rights to her family's estate before it's torn down.  They have a week to claim everything they can from the house, the barn, and carriage house. 

Dahlia, Bobby, Gabe, and Brad travel to Chattanooga to the Withrow estate, up a badly maintained road on the side of a mountain.  What should be a routine salvage job is not so routine as eerie things start right from the get-go.  Is the house angry at its demise, or is there something else in the house that is really, really angry?  And why is Dahlia the center of all the attention?

One thing that annoys me about paranormal fiction is a super slow buildup in tension.  Don't get that here--it starts right away, and thankfully, Dahlia, Bobby, Gabe and Brad start comparing notes on what they've experienced pretty quickly.  Showering in any bathroom at the house is a very bad idea.  Going up to the attic by yourself?  Bad idea.  Trying to reason with the paranormal?  Bad idea.  It's a race to finish the job and get the hell out of dodge for this crew.  Things start escalating as they near the end of their time at the house and start putting the pieces together to discover what, exactly, happened in the Withrow home all those years ago that has made the place a nightmare for anyone who tries to make it a home.  

The end...well... it's one of those endings where you get to decide how it should end.  

Loved the mystery of the house; it truly was enough to make me uneasy, and I don't scare easily (Unless you're a bat. Then I freak out.  Ghosts?  No.).  Sometimes the evil that is done to people sets off emotions that don't die when our physical bodies stop.  Yikes.

Rating:  8/10 for a truly chilling story.  My appreciation for Cherie Priest's writing grows with every book she writes.  

Available in hardcover and e-book.    
 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

A Creepy Ghost Story: The Family Plot by Cherie Priest