I started out liking this one, but by the middle I realized that I didn't care at all about the characters. By the end, I just wanted it to be over. For all the intense and obsessive emotions the characters were supposed to be feeling, they didn't evoke any feelings in me.

I loved this book on several levels. It is an atmospheric, historical fiction novel that is also a romance. So it has the feel of Rebecca or Wuthering Heights. I adore those kinds of classics the most and love when an author can bring a new idea/plot to that sort of narrative. I definitely felt that all the way through here and would highly recommend this to anyone who also loves these sorts of novels.
#TheLostHistoryofDreams #NetGalley

I love historical fiction and this story was a beautiful one. There were lots of family secrets, a story of lost love. The characters are enjoyable. It was definitely an enjoyable read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Robert Highstead’s life took a detour when tragedy befell his new wife. He left his work as an Oxford-educated historian and turned instead to being a photographer of the dead. For three years, he has carried around his camera equipment every day from his small London room and painstakingly set up daguerreotype photos for grieving loved ones. When he gets a letter from his brother at their family home out in the country, he is surprised to learn he is being summoned to take a photo of a cousin he’s never met.

This cousin by marriage, Hugh de Bonne, was a poet of some renown, and his own tragic loss inspired his most famous book of poetry, The Lost History of Dreams. His beloved wife, Ada, died 16 years earlier, and de Bonne built an incredible stained-glass chapel, a folly, behind her family home on the moors of Shropshire to hold her body, as a testament to their love. But it’s been locked since its construction, and de Bonne’s final instructions were to have his body interred in the chapel with his sweetheart. Robert’s brother tells him he must get a photo of the body in the chapel, and then the late poet’s lawyer can officially grant ownership of the chapel, land and Ada’s home to her surviving niece, Isabelle.

Robert’s own grief haunts him, so he can’t deny the sympathy he feels for de Bonne’s last wish. But he finds that Isabelle, who is in possession of the key and is grieving still these many years later for her aunt, refuses to unlock the chapel. Eventually, the two strike a bargain: Isabelle will open the chapel if Robert will write Ada’s story as she will relate it to him over the course of five nights.

The prickly Isabelle parcels out the doomed lovers’ tale night by night, and readers learn of the full story along with Robert; they also learn more about his relationship with his wife, Sida, and what happened to her. Isabelle and Robert have much in common, but will both get what they desire from their agreement? Will opening the chapel be good for anyone?

The Lost History of Dreams is an atmospheric gothic story about love and grief, ghosts and haunting, and the way the past can keep a grip on the present, preventing it from going toward the future. This is just the type of story I love to sink into and savor, and it delivered. An impressive debut novel.

I love historical fiction and this story was hauntingly beautiful. Family secrets, lost love, Victorian England...it has it all. The characters are well defined and enjoyable. The author weaves the pages into a beautiful tapestry that you will relish long after you are finished.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed the majority of this book but was really disappointed in the way it ended. I thought that the ending was drawn out and seemed that the author didn't know how to end it so kept playing with different options. The rest of the book had the feel of the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which I loved. However, it was a bit too similar to that book in the way that it felt the author was trying to rewrite another's work. Overall this book was just ok for me and I had expected more out of it.

I am an enormous fan of Gothic romance novels – Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), and The Mysteries of Udolpho (Ann Radcliffe) are some of my favorite books. For those that don’t know, Gothic romance is defined as “a romance that deals with desolate and mysterious and grotesque events”. Gothic novels often incorporate supernatural and psychological elements within a romantic story. The book I am reviewing today ticked off every box there is for a fantastic Gothic romance in my opinion. On the surface, this is a tragic love story that spans generations… but oh, it is so much more than that! Here are my pros and cons:

Pros
- The characters in this book were spot on! They were well-developed and had great back stories. All characters had an air of mystery about them that complemented the overall story so well.
- The atmosphere of this book was also spot on! Gorgeously eerie and perfectly haunting, but not scary. The author created an incredible sense of anxiety and unease that permeated from the book.
- The writing style was incredible. The exquisitely written words effortlessly flowed from the pages and enveloped me. I almost felt like I was part of the story instead of just reading the story.
- Not 20 pages into the book and I was hit with the first, of many, unexpected revelations in this this story! Man do I love a book that just keeps hitting me with new information I didn’t expect and didn’t see coming! This book kept me on my toes and I LOVED IT!
- As with the some of the classic Gothic romances I mentioned above, this one also contained psychological and supernatural elements that were incredibly well done. With obsessive and destructive love, a whole heap of grief, and a ton of family secrets thrown into the mix, you simply have a fantastic recipe for a wonderful Gothic novel.
- As I was reading this book, I found myself noticing that this story had a bit of a fairy tale element to it as well. Two significant characters worked with birds (tamed and trained them) and that just gave off a strong fairy tale feel to me. Fairy tales, particularly as originally written, can be very dark and foreboding… and sometimes downright violent. So the fairy tale feeling in this book wasn’t distracting to me – I liked how it incorporated a dark whimsy to the story.
- I appreciated the comparison of the characters in the story with mythological Orpheus and Eurydice.
- “Every love story is a ghost story.” How can you pass up a book with a tagline like that?!?!

Cons

- None. I loved it.

I think I love Gothic novels so much because they challenge a reader by taking to you the very depths of fear and despair and then raise you back up to pure joy. They can invoke fear and foreboding just as easily as love and contentment. They can make you cry from grief and cry from happiness. They are spooky and joyous, dark and light, death and life. You get everything from a great Gothic novel, and this particular book delivered it all!

If you are a fan of Gothic romance, you really should read this book. It is surprising, unsettling, creatively written and worth a read.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Full review published on Booklover Book Reviews website: http://bookloverbookreviews.com/2019/04/the-lost-history-of-dreams-by-kris-waldherr-review-bewitching.html

The Lost History of Dreams is a terrific book. The setting is unique and beautiful, and the prose is artful.
The characters are well developed and haunting.
The book explores classical mythology and even the most knowledgeable may learn something
new. The beauty of this book is that while it is entertaining, it is also informative which is a tough task.
The story is scary at times and nerve-racking. A tremendous story
about grief and what life presents to all.

This is another title that I had been looking forward to since first hearing of it last year. And I have to admit, I just love the title! The book opens in 1850 London, from the perspective of a photographer - one who specializes in those oh-so-creepy death photographs that the era was so famous for. The writing itself is lush, bordering on the poetic at time in the prose (each section is opened up by a part of a related poem). The book quickly entrances the reader - and I enjoyed it through till the very end!

The plot holds some genuine surprises (though as a reader, it was nice to have a few correct hunches about some of the twists!), but all in all, I really liked this Gothic-inspired novel. The only thing that stopped me from completely loving is it that the ending leaves a bit too much hanging for me that goes unresolved... but I am partial to a more thorough conclusion. I can see why this ending will leave reading groups plenty to talk about (though my fingers are crossed that perhaps a sequel could be planned... I liked these characters, even when I wanted to throw them from windows/carriages/balconies). It is a unique read, with a strong start, beautiful writing throughout and some genuinely lovely images. And while I would love to read a sequel, I am equally curious to see anything at all else from Waldherr in the future!

4.5 stars

This book has been on my radar for months. I basically stalked the authors Twitter page waiting to see when there would be ARC’s available and hoping that I would get picked to be an early reader!

To say that this book has my name written all over it is an understatement. I love all things Victorian and Gothic and this book couldn’t have been more intriguing to me if it tried. It had everything I was looking for in a great Gothic read.

I was beyond thrilled to get picked as an early reader and patiently waited to start the book so that I could savor every single aspect of it! The hype around this book has been pretty real, it’s been all over social media for a while now and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of the hype!

Summary

A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.

All love stories are ghost stories in disguise.

When famed Byronesque poet Hugh de Bonne is discovered dead of a heart attack in his bath one morning, his cousin Robert Highstead, a historian turned post-mortem photographer, is charged with a simple task: transport Hugh’s remains for burial in a chapel. This chapel, a stained glass folly set on the moors of Shropshire, was built by de Bonne sixteen years earlier to house the remains of his beloved wife and muse, Ada. Since then, the chapel has been locked and abandoned, a pilgrimage site for the rabid fans of de Bonne’s last book, The Lost History of Dreams.

However, Ada’s grief-stricken niece refuses to open the glass chapel for Robert unless he agrees to her bargain: before he can lay Hugh to rest, Robert must record Isabelle’s story of Ada and Hugh’s ill-fated marriage over the course of five nights.

As the mystery of Ada and Hugh’s relationship unfolds, so does the secret behind Robert’s own marriage—including that of his fragile wife, Sida, who has not been the same since the tragic accident three years ago, and the origins of his own morbid profession that has him seeing things he shouldn’t—things from beyond the grave.

Kris Waldherr effortlessly spins a sweeping and atmospheric gothic mystery about love and loss that blurs the line between the past and the present, truth and fiction, and ultimately, life and death (summary from Goodreads).

Review

Like any good Gothic novel, this one start off a little on the slow side. It takes its time building up the creepy factor and creating uneasiness for the reader. Admittedly the first third of the book was a little slow and boring for me. I was eager for the pace to quicken, but Victorians aren’t known for their speed. The author clearly tries to maintain the classic Victorian gothic feel of this book and like a classic writer of the genre, takes her time building up to the story itself.

It had everything that a classic Gothic novel should have—a crumbling family estate, a love story, mysterious dark characters, uneasy or damaged protagonists, and of course ghosts. I absolutely loved this book. It was a thrilling read and after the first third, the rest of the book progressed nicely and the unfolding story was interesting, sensual, and creepy. I loved taking a journey into the unknown with this one!

For me, this wasn’t a fast read. There was a lot of lush prose, historic details, and elegant descriptions that made me want to slow down and enjoy as a reader rather than rush through it to see what the ending was. I like books that move, but having this one be a bit more of a slow burn for me worked.

I was intrigued by the setting, plot, and the characters so needless to say this was a home run for me! I loved it and am excited to read more by this author. What a wonderfully a live Gothic novel!

This book set in the mid 1800 shows the depths one will go to to be with the one they love even in death or is there more involved than just the simple facts? A story is weaved telling of the truths and untruths. Of love lost, living with literal ghosts of the past and the telling of lies that slowly become revealed as the true story is told reluctantly over several days. An enjoyable read and interesting to read about that time period and some of the beliefs held.

WOW. What a whirlwind of a book. I don’t know how to sum everything up because I’m just that punched in the head by it. The plot twists completely blindsided me, and Kris Waldherr weaves a damn good story with some gorgeous language. My only complaint is that there was a good deal of lagging in the middle part with a lot of unnecessary details about Ada and Hugh’s honeymoon, which just didn’t add anything to the plot or to the characters in my opinion, but other than that, The Lost History Of Dreams is a stunning meditation on death, love, grief, and acceptance. Highly recommend.

*An advanced reader ebook copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Bouncing between Isabelle and Robert’s story and Ada and Hugh’s story, the novel takes on a dreamy quality. Moreover, ghosts - both etherial and the legacies of events long ago - are ever present throughout the story as Robert attempts to unravel the mystery of Ada’s death, Hugh’s disappearance at the height if his creativity, the story behind the glass chapel, and Isabelle’s bursts of aggression and tenderness.

I found this story within a story enthralling. While I can’t say I loved any of the characters, like Robert I was fully invested in uncovering the mysteries in this book. There is a slowness to the book that’s to be expected with a Gothic influenced book but I did not mind it in the least and plowed through the book in a matter if days. Isabelle has a Miss Havishham quality about her that made her for intriguing to me. (I think I may be one of the rare people that read the entirety of Great Expectations in my high school English class!)

Although I think the ending and explanations happened a bit quickly for my liking, overall I really enjoyed the mood, setting, and dreamy setting where you’re not sure what’s real and what’s not, who’s telling the truth and who’s not. I would highly recommend this readers who are a fan of Gothic and romantic era classics!

I previously submitted a review, so I will not be reviewing again. I'm not sure why I received this book twice?

The Lost History of Dreams is a story within a story within a story. It’s told in high gothic style with a creepy manor, mistaken identities, obsessive loves, and a fascination with death and ghosts.

Famed poet Hugh de Bonne is found dead in his bath one morning. His cousin, Robert Highstead is a post-death photographer and is tasked by his estranged brother to deliver Hugh’s body to his old home in Shropshire and photograph him buried inside the stained glass folly he had built to hold the remains of his wife, Ada. Ada’s niece, Isabelle, has never gotten over her death and refuses to allow Robert into the folly, unless he allows her to tell Ada’s story over the course of five nights. Over he course of these nights, many secrets are revealed, and we discover that people aren’t always what they seem.

This book had a great deal of potential and an interesting premise. It’s very atmospheric, and has a full on creepiness factor that makes you not want to read it with the lights off. It’s also a framework story, in traditional gothic fashion, and I’m a fan of framework stories.

Unfortunately, I felt like this story tried to do too much. There are too many false leads and mistaken identities and it ends up feeling jumbled. It delivers pretty much every trope of the gothic style, and as a result, even with all the twists and turns, became somewhat predictable. I felt that the narrative was far more concerned with making sure all the boxes were ticked for a gothic novel, than on focusing on just a couple of aspects and really fleshing them out. It didn’t feel new to me, and I guessed the ending fairly early on. The style also changes. It goes from being a creepy, dark, haunted Victorian story to using more modern language and (in my opinion) far too graphic descriptions of sex. The pacing of those parts didn’t seem to match at all with the pacing at the beginning and it kind of rushed to a conclusion.

I think if you’re new to the gothic genre of fiction, you will probably really enjoy this. As a lover of gothic style, however, it didn’t work for me.

A post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future, in this captivating debut novel in the gothic tradition of Wuthering Heights and The Thirteenth Tale.
A very intense Gothic mystery that will keep you turning those pages and quite possibly looking over your shoulder.

When I heard that this book is a gothic story similar to The Thirteenth Tale or Wuthering Heights I was immediately intrigued. While I certainly understand the comparisons (and frankly, can’t think of more fitting choices), it’s not as dark and claustrophobic as Wuthering Heights nor as absorbing and intriguing as The Thirteenth Tale. It's slow to unfold but what it lacks in pace it makes up for in atmosphere. It's more or less a tragic love story told through the lens of historical fiction with a slight air of mystery (and a ghost or two). It's not one that will keep you up at night guessing or furiously turning pages (except for perhaps the tail end)... its pacing is more like a stroll through an abandonded, overgrown countryside. A worthwhile but disappointing one for me, as the two books it was compared to drew me in but left me with unrealistic expectations.

This is a beautiful gothic tale full of mystery. It seems at times a ghost story or maybe just a mystery waiting to be solved. The best part was it is a book about a book. I loved it.

4 Mesmerizing Stars.

A tragic love story set in Victorian England that will pull you in with its atmospheric and unique setting. I loved the gothic, dark, and eerie feel of this novel, and the paranormal theme added just enough spice to make this family mystery a compelling and fascinating read. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading gothic literature where the use of symbolism is masterfully intertwined in the story.

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author, Kris Waldherr, for giving me an opportunity to read this beautiful novel in exchange for my honest opinion.