Reviews

The House on Blackstone Moor by Carole Gill

eyreguide's review against another edition

4.0

This book is pretty crazy. Like take all Gothic elements - mysterious manor, gloom, blood, madness, depravities and mix them all together in a prose maelstrom of evil run amok. Because it's so crazy, it kind of reminded me of The Monk, a novel that I have always found to be one of the more outlandish Gothic novels, and quite enjoyable because of it. The House on Blackstone Moor lacks some of the depth of The Monk though, and a clear message that there is some reason to all the madness. But this novel is still so very entertaining. Jane Eyre may have provided a basic backbone to the structure of this novel - in addition to the characters named Grace Poole and Helen (now both members of Marsh Asylum) - but I didn’t feel there was a strong narrative connection between Jane Eyre and this novel. The main character Rose, has had a terrible childhood and has had to witness the aftermath of the murder-suicide her father committed on her mother and siblings. It’s no wonder she has ended up in an asylum, with fragile tender nerves. She finds a position as governess at Blackstone House where there are many sinister secrets. Followed by horrific occurrences. And yet more sinister secrets. And horror. And then some demons. It’s kind of relentless, and definitely makes for an engaging page turner.

The romance between Rose and Louis is a tad underdeveloped - innocent beauty and masculine melancholy seem to mean instant love and very little modesty, but the romance is more of a vehicle to facilitate Rose’s struggles against the evil forces that have become a part of her life. This novel is a highly entertaining dark tale with an endless procession of surprising revelations, ghosts, demons and vampires.

pebblespenguin1's review

4.0

‘The House on Blackstone Moor’ blew me away. This book is so intensely dark and twisted and will take you on a journey that will change you forever. Rose, is a young woman who goes through hell and back nearly literally, her family is brutally murdered by the hands of her own father. After years of being tortured in many ways by her demented father she loses her whole family and before she knows what is happening she is admitted to a insane asylum. She doesn’t know where to turn and who to trust. She just focuses on getting out of the hell whole she calls home for the time being. The only person she really confides in is her doctor, Dr. Bannion and he gets her a job outside of the asylum. She is to a governess to a well-established family, or so it seems.

After she moves in with this family and begins to take care of the children she slowly starts to realize things that are very strange the problem is she has nowhere else to go and she simply adores the children. What is a girl to do when she has no family left and everyone is convinced she is crazy?

This book is so intriguing and dark, it contains so many gothic elements and the story keeps taking so many twists and turns that you will have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. It is in a certain way a paranormal romance but definitely a lot different than a lot of the other ones out there. I truly could not put this book down, I finished it in three days between going to work, that it how captivating it was. It was amazing and deliciously dark, I loved it.

eserafina42's review against another edition

2.0

As other reviewers have said this book didn't actually start out that badly, despite the relatively poor writing (in addition to shaky grammar, this author has an inordinate fondness for the non-word "alright," which sometimes seemed to be on every other page). However, after Rose got to her new place of employment it just went right downhill in a mad whirl of vampires, fallen angels, demons and gypsies - not to mention rape and bloody slaughter.

hetlevenvaneenboekenworm's review

5.0

you can find my review here

http://mybookaddiction.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-house-on-blackstone-moor-by.html