A fantastic gothic novel. The last third of the book was so gripping and tense that I couldn't sleep until I had finished it!

Readers meet aspiring botanist Ivy Granger, a young woman grieving for her beloved mother, as she embarks on a journey to London to meet with famous spiritualist Rosetta Earnshaw only to find she has gone missing. Taking a role as a housemaid in Blackham House, the location of the last known sighting of the medium, Ivy tries to uncover the mystery of her sudden disappearance. Events quickly take a sinister turn as Ivy begins to doubt her own sanity, surrounded by the strange Blackham family and their curiously loyal servants.

I loved this novel. It was so creepily atmospheric and the characters were fantastically written. Descriptions were so vivid and realistic that I could almost see the barren gardens, the dark hallways and the attic bedroom in which Ivy has to spend her nights. A perfect autumnal read for fans of well-written gothic novels!

I'm not really into Gothic or horror books but was drawn to the description and the story.
I loved the imagery in this book..Close your eyes and your back in old London late at night with the fog closing in and who know's what else! The descriptions of places, people and flora is excellent - anyone with an imagination can place themselves inside this book.
Ivy is a likable character and you are rooting for her to escape - first from her father and then from whatever chases her, be it demons in her head or demons in the real world.
Her journey to find answers is a little drawn out but at the same time needs to be for the story to unfold and make sense.
Without giving any spoilers I feel this book is definitely the start of a series as there are some questions left unanswered. (would make a great Netflix mini series) - I will be looking out for it as would like to know what happens to Ivy next.
I would love a prequel to allow Rosetta and Lillian's stories to be told.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This is an honest review and all opinions are entirely mine.

Okay, so any book that screams: Gothic/Historic/Paranormal is always guaranteed to catch my attention.
I love a Gothic novel, what can I say? I’ve not read this author before so again, something else to get me excited.

I had some sort of expectation going into this, an idea in my head of what I look for. This?………This really delivered.
It was dark, it was creepy. Spooky, seances, ghosts it had everything. The author also did a fabulous job of setting the scene and creating that eerie atmosphere that is a bare minimum needed in these sorts of books.

The characters were fully fledged, a lot of thought clearly gone into them. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

Victorian Gothic novel - naïve young girl, dastardly father, dead mother, horrible marriage in the offing; runs away, become a maid in a "dark house" of evil collections, family and all the rest. Add in seances and spirits. Rather too drawn out and I just got tired of the main characters I'm afraid. Amateur botanist wanting to develop her knowledge was what drew me in but botany played a minor part, so disappointing. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

“Eventually I let out a sigh and then a fraction of a moment later, something else also exhales.”

This is the perfect book for a rainy day. Grab yourself a cup of tea and dive into the dark and eerie gothic atmosphere that Jennifer Renshaw brings to you.

London 1873

“We are all the same, chasing something, the elusive thread of happiness or just being able to make it to the next day, avoiding the black hole that threatens to consume us with the fear of the unknown.”

Reeling from her mother’s death and plagued by a gift she doesn’t understand, Ivy Granger, an amateur botanist, arrives in Victorian London hoping to escape the destiny that her father chose for her. Once in the city, Ivy chases after Miss Earnshaw, a mystery woman who attended her mother’s funeral and promised to give her answers to questions that had been bothering her for most of her life.

Unfortunately, things are not as straightforward as they seem, and Ivy finds herself working as a maid in a mysterious house with a dubious and troubled past.

Trying to find Miss Earnshaw and running against the clock and the supernatural forces that inhabit Blackham House, Ivy must uncover the secrets of the Blackham family before it’s too late and she becomes their next victim.


I liked this book. Séances, ghostly apparitions, voices without a body, a house, and a family full of secrets… What is reality and what is just a dream? Is there any truth about what Ivy experiences, or is she slowly going insane?

I was completely engaged from the start until the end. Those first pages helped to set the mood. It was a slow burner, but it was worth it, although somewhere near the end things went a bit through the roof… But I rode with it.

I loved to see how Ivy grew from this sheltered and a bit naïve girl to someone who started fighting for herself. I can´t wait to see what the future has in store for her and her gifts.

On the bad side, some continuity errors had me second guessing and made me re-read some passages, along with a few spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. I hope they will be corrected before the final version comes to the public.


I give this book a solid 4 stars

This is a book for you if you like Laura Purcell or books like The Séance or a House of Ghosts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. This is an honest review and all opinions are entirely mine.

1873 Ivy Granger has travelled to London to visit Rosetta Earnshaw, a stranger, who turned up at her mother's funeral. Events lead her to becoming a maid at Blackham House the last sighting of Rosetta. Can she discover the whereabouts of Rosetta and solve the mystery of the House.
A Victorian gothic story which for me took too long in the telling.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a page-turner! When I started this gothic mystery I thought it was going to be a stand-alone. I really did not want to start another series. So often the stories are dragged out unnecessarily, leaving me annoyed at having my time wasted. I’m slow, so I was about halfway through before I realized this wasn’t about to be all tidied up at the end. Ha! Instead, what we have here is a strong foundation for a supernatural ride through 19th century London and…Egypt? Maybe?

Ivy is our MC. She’s meek. She’s isolated. She’s smart and determined and, despite all she’s come to believe about herself, courageous beyond reason. After her mother dies, Ivy meets a mysterious woman who drops some heavy clues that her mother was more than she seemed. Ivy sets off to London from her country home to find out answers about who her mother really was. There are all the spooky themes one would expect in a gothic (soft) thriller. A book filled with more questions than answers paves the way for a potentially awesome series.

I read an ARC from NetGalley, so there were some unfinished aspects that I’m assuming will be cleaned up before the final is released at the end of the month. I noticed a hodgepodge of punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors that I’m sure exist in most books before their final polish. I also noticed some continuity errors that were pretty glaring. I hope those were caught prior to printing. Nothing terrible—one moment someone has fainted and the next they’re talking; another, it was 11:35 on one page and a number of pages later the clock is striking 11:00. So, not terrible, just distracting.

All told, I’d say this is a promising debut, and I look forward to reading the next one.

I jump on a new gothic mystery whenever I can. And this one has all the ingredients but I was a little lost at times. I couldn't get a feel on some of the characters but I was interested enough to keep reading.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read.

A gripping, creepy, and entertaining gothic historical novel with a pinch of paranormal.
I liked it and hope this is the start of a series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I wanted to love, love, love this Victorian paranormal mystery story. It has all the right ingredients, a spooky house, mysterious housekeeper, creepy gardener, macabre objects, black birds, etc. But something was just a little off. I liked it, but the writing held me back. Reading, it felt like the action was buried under a mountain of words, It was like reading a Dicken's tome. I admit to skimming some of the passages just to get a move on.

It's a good story and worth reading. Other readers may appreciate the writing more than me. check it out!

This book needs a prequel. I would love the history of Rosetta, Lillian and the Blackhams. I am also wondering if it is going to be a series. I think it would be marvelous.
Nothing like good freaky family history to mess up a good party. The beginning of the story with kept me reading with the Funeral for Ivy’s mom and then to the Parlour game to really get things moving.
I felt for Ivy in this story. She was trying so hard and it seemed like everything she was doing was wrong.
I got through this book pretty fast. There was a lot of excitement and things happening to keep me interested.
I do have questions. Why didn’t Miss Earnshaws housekeeper help Ivy? What happened to the help from the Vicar and his housekeeper? Some things were left open.

I’m not a big fan of going back in time, but when I read the overview for this book, I knew I had to read it! I was not disappointed and recommend this book for the historical mystery lover. You’re going to love this one and find it hard to put down.

The Parlour Game by Jennifer Renshaw is a wonderfully creppy novel which had me hooked from the start. I highly recommend this book

Stunning. Exciting, dramatic and atmospheric. This is the best book I’ve read in a while; l loved the setting and imagery, the mystery and secrets and although the final denouement and revelations were a little extreme, it worked for the style already established by the author. I couldn’t get through this fast enough and am genuinely upset to have finished it. Will definitely be recommending it.

A creepy novel about a missing spiritualist, but I will not spoil it for the reader by saying what happens next, but I would recommend it as a good read, since it kept me up late reading it. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

There's a lot going on in this book, with many questions to be answered.
The main one being, what the heck is going on in that house?
It's all very mysterious and creepy, and drew me in completely trying to get to the end.
At times it got slightly over the top, but that added a fun element to the story for me.
All threads were nicely tied together, and I enjoyed the story. .