Theodora, the new governess at Broken Oak Manor, grapples with the enigmatic secrets lurking within its walls and its winding corridors. At night, the house shifts and groans like a living thing, and soft footsteps add to its eerie orchestra
of misery. Theodora wants to believe that her little ward, Ottoline Thorne, is playing innocent pranks, but every happening is imbued with a tinge of the otherworldly. Just as she feels herself drawn to Cassias Thorne, the mysterious lord of the manor, she feels herself drawn to the attic…

The atmosphere seeps into your bones like a persistant chill; it whispers into your ear like the memory of a half-forgotten grief. The writing weaves beautiful tapestries of dark hallways and decaying, forgotten splendor, with a soundtrack of creaking walls and impossible footsteps. Oh yes, the language is beautiful, with lush settings and evocative descriptions.

The suspense smolders, it creeps through your veins at a measured pace. The mystery unravels slowly, but it makes up for it with clever foreboding and an ending that is perfect – if a bit familiar. (More on that later.)

The romance, however, feels like an afterthought. In my eyes, it's because the characters act like players in a classic haunted house story, dutifully fulfilling their roles and acting out all the usual gothic horror tropes. They all have a lot of promise – the foundations for true depth are there! But in my eyes, they are not fully fleshed out. In the end, I felt like too much was left open, and I would've liked to have delved deeper into these characters' lives.

However, I enjoyed the lush, immersive writing and the gothic setting very much, which softened the sting of the book's shortcomings. This is, all in all, a wonderful, classic ghost story – all haunting atmosphere and no gore.

The bit plot twist at the end is great, a very suitable ending to this story that only adds to the intrigue. But it's something that has been done before; I can think of at least two movies that have incorporated variations of this twist.

Quote:
«The sprawling house kept secrets and she kept secrets, and the lord of the house kept secrets — each folding them into their foundations, curling their bodies around the growing weight. The eaves creaked where the rest of the house stood silent like the bones in Theodora’s chest. Theodora cast her gaze to the window, at the dreary skies and damp fog. Everything beyond the glass slumbered, stark and bare, dressed only in early morning shadows and mist.»