When spinster Jane Lawrence's guardians decide to move abroad, she is left with a choice to make. Should she accompany them? She decides instead that she will get married. Not a conventical marriage but one where she and the man she marries will respect each other but live as separate entities. She meets and approves of a local doctor, Augustine Lawrence. Her demand is to be able to work and keep the books of his practice; his only demand is that she will never go to his ancestral home. They marry and the first days pass easily.
But an unforeseen event leads Jane to Augustine's home and she starts to learn that he isn't exactly the man she thought she had married. He is keeping secrets and she slowly starts to learn them. She also realizes that she is actually in love with him and he with her. But can she live with a man who has hidden a first marriage from her as well as the fact that his wife died during an operation he performed?

Jane meets with a group of Augustine's college friends and they introduce her to beliefs in magic and the practice of it. When Augustine disappears, Jane tries to locate and save him with the black magic Augustine was adamantly against. Will she be successful?

This novel was an NPR Best Book of 2021. It reads like a Victorian novel but seems to be set some time later. Jane is an independent women who is determined to make her own way and have a marriage that works for both of them. She changes when magic enters her life to become more dependent on others and becomes full of misgivings and fear. It felt like the novel could have been edited to be shorter and pack more punch but was still an interesting read. This book is recommended for horror readers.

This book was weird. And not really in a good or interesting way. I definitely didn't love it but I don't quite hate it either.

I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to expect .. I figured I would be getting a gothic ghost/ haunted house sort of story? I sort of got that with some occult aspects heavily thrown in. Unfortunately, I think this book was trying to be too many things.

Starling's writing is good, but still didn't really suck me in or set the atmosphere well enough for me. The small romance aspect of the book didn't feel right, no matter what era this is supposed to be in, but particularly of how Jane is written/described to be. The book also gets lost in its own craziness a little, with all the sort of explanations of the logic, math, and magic. Unfortunately, that bogs down the story and made me skim many of those parts.

This book may end up being for some readers, but I ended up not being one of them.

Just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. From the description, it should have been my style, but it was not.

I absolutely adore gothic horror so I knew I would love The Death of Jane Lawrence. And while this book does begin as gothic horror, it take a bit of turn a little after the midpoint that makes it something else entirely. Even though I wasn't expecting the direction the book took, I loved the inclusion of magic and science and the way the author blended them into a genre-defying read. Jane was also such an interesting character to follow. Like the gothic heroines before her, she makes some choices that I wouldn't, but they all made sense for her character. I would definitely recommend this to fans of dark fantasy (and fans of gothic horror with the understanding that this book is not only that genre).

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved this book. I thought it was a perfect combination of gothic and modern. The writing was modern enough for younger readers to comfortably be able to get into the story but it was gothic enough to have the slow-burn revelation of what the actual creepiness was happening.

This one wasn’t for me. I tried the audio and the print version but I couldn’t get interested in the story.



I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

The Death of Jane Lawrence was absolutely gripping! It has a very unique magic system and an unreliable plot. You truly don't know what is real or not until the very end, and even then, you question sanity. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book!

THIS IS TOO MUCH! I wanted gothic fiction, maybe some horror, maybe throw some occult in there. What I didn't expect was for it to echo a million previous novels and to try to get into every single genre ever. It is a mess.

I really wanted to love this book because it reminded me of Jane Eyre. However, it took me months to get through this book. The story started out strong but began to fizzle out. I thought that Jane was mostly a weak heroine. She doesn’t seem to stand up for herself. The story is atmospheric and has some very creepy elements. Therefore, I recommend this for fans of Mexican Gothic, The Mad Woman Upstairs, and The Shape of Darkness!

I didn’t care for this one. ilI thought it was too slow and the characters weren’t that interesting. I really struggled to finish it.

I loved The Luminous Dead and of course I jumped at the chance to read The Death Of Jane Lawrence. While the writing is still exemplary, I found myself just not getting into this one. I wish I could pinpoint why - I even put it down and waited for the audiobook to see if a different format would help. Alas.

There are lots of reviews by people who adore this book, so please still check this one out. It well written, it’s a spooky gothic tale, and well worth the time to see if you love it.

I'd previously read Luminous Dead and was excited to see a new book coming by the same author. Gothic romance? Dilapidated Victorian mansion? Narrator who is logical almost to a fault? This one checked a lot of my boxes. I also loved all of the mathematics and metaphysics involved. While I do think this suffered a bit from overwriting, I had a good time reading it!

A gothic ghost story...yes, please. And this cover...perfection.
This was my first book by this author and can say it won't be my last. This story was super original and intertwined some old-school horror with modern-day twists. The ending had a few repeated scenes but nothing that I couldn't overlook. Overall, def recommend it to those who enjoy creepy gothic historical fiction novels

Honestly, this cover is so good and I was instantly drawn to it. I am good with gore (and this book has A LOT of it! Don't eat and read this one!) and I'm good with things that go bump in the night. I love horror. But this one was. . .confusing? Yes. Gross. Sure (but not a deal breaker). But this felt gross to be gross. It was instant surgeries and holding open things that shouldn't be. It was gore from head to toe and strange things moving in it. The friend visit didn't cast a lot of information on the matter and the 6 days of none sleep and visions was even more confusing. What did she see? What's with the house? Who is Augustine and what happened before?

I'm done, and I'm still not sure I know the answers.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I forgot to say that this was literally the best horror book of last year. With school I completely forgot to upload my review but I did hand sell about 50 copies of this novel during holiday season when I worked at the indie bookstore Mojo in Tampa.

Jane Shoringfield, an orphan, finds herself in need of a husband. Jane calculates and chooses Augustine Lawrence, who agrees to her arrangement on the condition that she never spend the night in his family house. Jane agrees, but finds herself trapped in the house on the night of their wedding. The rest unfolds slowly.

Perfect for any gothic fiction lover. Perfect! Atmospheric and creepy. Highly recommended.

1.5 stars

Oh it kills me to say this but I really did not like this book and I should have stopped reading way before I did. The synopsis set up such a fantastic read but the finished product did not meet my expectations. It was boring in some places, pretentious and over written in others, and it felt like the author didn’t know how to write a complex character— the main character, Jane—and so it felt like I was reading a different person in different settings and chapters. Like I said before I’m bummed because I was excited and really wanted to like this but I found myself putting it down and taking breaks from it more than I was reading it.

ARC given by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

In terms of books that I've been looking for to give me That Crimson Peak Feeling, this one definitely came the closest out of everything else I've read thus far! Overall, the story started off very strong for me and then became slightly less engaging around 75% of the way through, and I have a very firm feeling that that might have been when the rewrites happened (at least, per the author's note that she'd had to go back and change the ending of the story due to being dissatisfied with how it was initially coming together). I think the thing I would've enjoyed more from that last quarter of the book would've been a consistent presence from Lawrence throughout. It felt as though he basically disappeared from the story altogether after a certain point, I was much more invested in the book when it followed his and Jane's relationship dynamic and was less compelled in reading each time it came down to her being alone in the house. Still, overall, a very diverting book, and it kept me reading straight through the day until I finished, so I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Caitlin Starling knows how to build atmosphere. The Death of Jane Lawrence was a fantastic gothic horror novel, with great characters and pacing. I loved the suspense building and seeing how the whole story unraveled at the end. Will definitely recommend.

This book was a fun read. At the beginning, I wasn't sure where it was going and then when magic entered into the story, I really wasn't sure. However, I felt it all wrapped up nicely and not with a predicable tale.