This is a #gothicnoir tale that keeps you guessing almost until the end. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for fans of books taking place in mysterious houses with unexplained noises. 📚📚📚 #netgalleyarc #netgalleyreads #my2023readingchallenge

This book has suspense and pace.
The novel is atmospheric and has a gothic feel. The twists keep you on the edge of your seat

Eliza Sullivan inherits an estate in England from a deceased aunt and decides to pick up and move from New Orleans to the estate. She begins to fall for the gentleman in the neighboring estate, Lord Havenwood. Everyone is town tells her to keep her distance, but she can't help falling for him. She quickly realizes that there is something sinister and dangerous at Havenwood. She is determined to uncover its secrets, but she gets more than she bargained for.

I loved the final reveal and ending of this book, but it was very hard for me to get into the rest of it. I'm glad I stuck with it. It took me many tries to get into it and even then it wasn't until the last third of the book that things really picked up. If this time period interests you and you are a fan of gothic fiction, I think this is a great book for you. It just wasn't my favorite.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

When Eliza marries Malcolm in order to secure her inheritance we're off for a gothic complete with laudanum. She's an American in the UK and it's the 1890s. There's much that's creepy about Malcolm. let alone the house. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. This has echoes of other gothics but that doesn't mean it's not an entertaining read.

“A life written by her own hand was worth a thousand cold summer days.”

Parting the Veil by Paulette Kennedy is a wonderful suspenseful gothic romance that had my heart beating & gripping the edge of my seat the entire time! Part gothic romance, part thriller, this captivating read is set in an old mansion so worthy to explore!

I devoured this book over the weekend and I honestly think it’s the perfect read for this season. And one of my favorite things about this book is that it features two siblings who decide to leave their life in America behind and start afresh in Englad. I love when books feature siblings and even more when they are supportive of each other. Lydia and Eliza are amazing and it just showed how much they cared for each other, despite their struggles and past.

Oh but this book is full of twists and it took a darker turn once Eliza marries Malcolm. She soon realizes that there is much more to him that meets the eye and perhaps she should have listened to what everyone at town was saying about him. Sometimes sweet, sometimes cold, this Viscount was a mystery to solve.

And gosh, as every mystery began to unfold, I just marveled at how well done everything was crafted. I LOVED IT.
Parting the Veil is definitely a book that will hang with my for a while!

This was my last read for the month of October. Only fitting as it had a ghostly element and was touted as a gothic thriller novel.

Havenwood Manor, the creepy, crumbling old house in Hampshire was an excellent setting for such a book. The mercurial moods of Eliza’s new husband were as unsettling as the house itself.

“It was the sort of house meant to sit in one’s imagination and take up residence.”

There was much about the writing that I liked. It flowed well, and some of the descriptions were vividly rendered.

The protagonist, Eliza, at age twenty-five seemed to have much more modern attitudes and sensibilities than a young woman of that age should have had in the year 1897. She was a conundrum as one moment she was acting like a modern woman, then the next she was relying heavily on laudanum to quench her anxieties. It just didn’t seem realistic to me…

This gothic romantic thriller was infused with many elements of the genre, and espoused themes of guilt, betrayal, avarice, and family secrets.

This is an auspicious debut novel, but one that I would have appreciated more if the characterization were truer to the time period.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A good women's fiction drama novel. Highly recommend

3.5* rounded up. There is so much going on in this book. An intriguing gothic-type read with so much potential. There is a great deal of sexual innuendo, naughty words and references to Victorian debauchery but little detailed action (it isn't needed). The book's plotting is splendid, and I like the author's style.

I look forward to reading her next book to see how her writing evolves.

The Audible narration has left me a bit mixed. The narrator does the novel an injustice with the melodramatic southern accents that veer into Scarlett O'Hara territory.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved the book, I often see the plot twists coming but in this case, I must admit it took me by surprise. I absolutely loved the disturbing atmosphere in the old manor, the confusing mood swings of the husband, the hasty marriage, the very creepy staff. And i love a tormented male main character (Hello, Mr Rochester!) totally in love with our female heroine.

Very recommended.

It's the book I wrote! Thanks to all the readers who supported me, reviewed my debut, and shared Parting the Veil with a friend.

I am a major fan of Gothic novels. Therefore, I was excited to read this novel. However, the story was very slow moving and did not pick up pace until the end. I found Eliza and Lydia to be very flat. The romances was underwhelming. Still, I recommend this for fans of gothic novels!

3.5 stars rounded up for this debut novel that was creepy, thrilling, but ultimately too ambitious.

Eliza arrives in England with her sister to inherit an estate, but her inheritance is conditional upon her getting married. Enter Malcolm, her mysterious next door neighbor. Despite the many rumors and tragedies swirling around the man and the house, Eliza quickly agrees to marry him and move in.

She quickly realizes many things are off, both with her new husband and the house they live in. She is frequently confused by his mercurial moods and strange noises and occurrences that keep happening inside the house.

Determined to find answers, Eliza keeps asking questions --- of her husband, the servants, the community, and even the house itself. Just when she thinks she's found the answers she seeks, she uncovers the biggest secret of all.

This book was atmospheric and entertaining, but the ending felt rushed and slightly unrealistic. A unique plot that combined two of my favorite genres -- mystery and regency era romance in a way that was very different from anything I'd ever read before. I will look out for more from Paulette Kennedy!

While this book wasn't for me, I'm sure there are many who will enjoy it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

The description of this book intrigues me so I thought I would give it a chance. There are some things I both liked and disliked about the story. Some aspects of the story were not to my personal taste, but the plot as a whole was intriguing. About halfway through, I wasn't sure what I thought but kept reading because I wanted to know how the story would end. The plot was excellently paced and had a few interesting twists.
I did not care for the main character, but was eager to see how her character would develop throughout the story. I especially liked how she overcame events in the past, as new challenges strengthened her. The book deals with some hard topics such as mental illness, physical and emotional abuse, drug abuse and murder. There are also some bedroom scenes and references to LGBTQ relationships that may take the reader unaware.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the author/ publisher through Netgalley. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Although I found myself enjoying the story, I didn't love it. It was maybe a bit too much detail and description. I felt myself drowning in the details and not absorbed by the story. I wish I'd liked it more.

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 have opened this book several times but it fails to hold my attention. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this ebook for review.

If you like gothic you’ll love this! the twists will have my head spinning for some time. It is deliciously gothic and I had a near impossible time putting it down. I started early Monday morning -- finished less than twenty-four hours later. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this book.

I enjoy Gothic tales, and I enjoy regency, Georgian, Edwardian, and Victorian romances. Anytime I get that combined with a Gothic tale I am won over.

This book I find myself at war with. It has all the normal tropes of Gothic stories but sadly I didn't find that it was well written enough to make them work.

- The two sisters' heritage is confusing at times. One is half Creole, is the other Creole as well? Are they witches or not? This is not really explained well enough but, I like to think they are witches. One of them touches an object and has a reaction to it. They both seem well versed in tarot cards. And, there is a seance done at one point. I totally get that seance parties were the rage at the turn of the century, but I feel like these girls and their heritage was used rather poorly and not fully developed.

- The one sister, Lydia, was very underdeveloped. Only appeared to prop the other sister up and or come in when the plot needed her there. I hated that and I felt their sisterly bond was cheapened by this.

- Eliza's romance with her beau was ... god, it was all over the place. In part it had to do with the plot, but it was written so badly that I guessed what the end-game was before we actually started getting hints of the Gothic reveal. I hate that, I shouldn't have to guess these things.

- It also felt like someone's first draft at a book. With all I said above and the overall writing, this book just didn't land well.

This is an awesome old, school Gothic novel, complete with the Victorian heroine who marries the Byronic hero (or is he the hero?) and gets more than she bargained for at his creepy house and with his family. Eliza is a great MC, although sometimes she felt a little too modern. The story flows really well, and I did appreciate her development as a character. I did have issue with the romance (or romances) and I find... keeping things in the family a little cliche. However, the love interest (second one) was nice, but I still wish it had maybe gone in a different direction. Yet I really enjoyed the story overall and am excited for more from the author.