Release Blitz, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
The Ghost of Hillcomb Hall
By Joshua Ian
Darkly Enchanted Romance, Book 2
England, 1910.
Landscape designer Jonas Laurence arrives at the cheerless and fog enswathed Hillcomb Hall, home to the Earl of Stanley and his family, to renovate their crumbling gardens. With a great storm crashing all around, his time is at the mercy of the house’s odd and mysterious occupants. Captivated by the hauntingly attractive portrait of Lord Stanley’s ancestor, which constantly seems to watch and taunt him, Jonas’s dreams become weird and distressing. And his waking moments are consumed by the strange stories and weird atmosphere of the manor estate. Ghostly visits in the night leave Jonas no choice but to accept his attraction to the otherworldly spirit from the painting. But is this affaire de coeur real? Or is it all just a trick of the mind, a sinister game being played by the inhabitants of Hillcomb Hall?
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Vita led him out of the drawing-room and as he exited he turned to close the doors behind them. The Dowager Countess and Lady Aldrange were watching and yet again he felt under inspection. As if on cue, they both smiled at him, in the exact same fashion and nodded. He turned back and extended his hand in front of him, gesturing to Vita to lead the way.
“I am glad you have come to visit, it will be nice to have some company about,” said Vita. “Mamma will have someone new with whom to share all of her medical advice and holistic theories. She does so love them, and I am afraid she thinks we only humor her. Which, in a way, of course, is true.”
“I shall be very happy to humor her as well. And I myself have an interest in herbals and their uses and applications, so we might teach one another.”
“How delightful. And I think Graham – Lord Stanley – will very much like you. I anticipate you will be good friends.”
She stopped as they came to the landing at the top of the stairwell. It was much darker here, almost as dark as nightfall. Vita reached out to one of the two small tables on the landing, both holding oil lamps, retrieved one, and reached into the drawer for matches to light the wick.
“It has been so overcast,” she said, “the servants haven’t thought to prepare the lamps so early. But not to worry, the fires have been lit in your room and all should be bright and cozy there.”
She lit the wick and in the flare of the light, the giant painting above them sprung into sight. Jonas took a sharp intake of breath and a step back. The handsome face seemed to glare down at him in the half-light, the curve of lips that had looked like a smile from below now resembling a sneer. He swallowed and cleared his throat loudly.
Vita followed his line of sight.
“It’s quite the striking painting, isn’t it?” she said. “I am so used to it now, I forget. It’s Lord Stanley’s grandfather, in fact, who helped turn Hillcomb into the grand manor it is today. Or, rather, was. He’s awfully handsome, don’t you think?”
Jonas cocked his head and blinked. When he looked at it again, the face above looked far less threatening.
“Yes,” he said. “I suppose he is rather good-looking.”
“I think devilishly so. I often remark on it to Graham and he pretends to be jealous. Which is ridiculous, of course, and we laugh.”
She turned to move up the final stairs and the full light left the painting. As Jonas proceeded, he glanced back and noticed that the eyes seemed to follow them nonetheless.
To celebrate the release of The Ghost of Hillcomb Hall, Joshua is giving away 2 prizes, 1 for a local winner and 1 for an international winner!
- US winner – a paperback copy of Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost stories & an e-copy of The Ghost of Hillcomb Hall
- International Winner – an e-copy bundle of the Darkly Enchanted Romance stories including The Harvest Moon & The Ghost of Hillcomb Hall
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
Joshua Ian can easily be captured by a witty turn of phrase or a low-bottomed electronic bassline. If you manage to combine the two, then you have his heart forever. He lives in New York City and writes mostly historical, speculative, and sci-fi/fantasy fiction but he does love a good mystery. He watches too many movies, eats too much dark chocolate, and falls into way too many Wikipedia rabbit holes- but it’s all in the name of research (or so he tells himself). One day he plans to travel the world – to see what each country has to offer in the way of movie theatres and dark chocolate, naturally.
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