Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: The Ghost of Hillcomb Hall
SERIES: Darkly Romantic Romance #2
AUTHOR: Joshua Ian
PUBLISHER: Moody Boxfan Books
LENGTH: 100 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 23, 2020
BLURB:
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?
REVIEW:
Generally speaking, I’m not a great fan of historicals. I am a great fan of ghosts. When I saw this book and that it was only 100 pages, I thought I’d take a chance. I am very glad I did. This is a highly entertaining little book filled with the nuances of polite society in the early 20th century. It was a time when coming out was social suicide, unless you were extremely discreet (and preferably very rich) at which point it was given a tacit nod provided you pretended it was something else entirely.
We are told almost immediately that Jonas has very recently broken up with his long term boyfriend, and that he is a landscape gardener. Of course, both sparked my interest very much.
I’ve never read about a landscape gardener, that I can recall, and put into a historical setting I was immediately interested on how that would play out. He is travelling to Hillcomb hall at the request of Graham Benson Grey, 5th Earl of Stanley, Viscount Nicolson, who appeared to be a distant relative of Joshua’s business partner.
It is established early on that neither Joshua, nor the female inhabitants of Hillcomb Hall care much for social niceties and they get on like a house on fire. On arrival, Joshua finds that his employer is not at home, leaving Joshua in the care of his wife, mother and mother-in-law. I’m not sure whether Joshua is particularly dim or careful but it is pretty obvious that the mother are more than friends, a matter that is danced around but never mentioned outright.
On arrival, Joshua falls in love with a painting of a long-dead family member and apparently sees his ghost on a number of occasions before having a night of steamy sex with him. The outcome of that situation was entirely unexpected, at least to me.
The thing I liked best about this book was that it caught the general feeling of genteel society in the 1900 while not trying to hard to be absolutely true to it. There is no strained language or obsession with costume. It’s possibly not entirely historically accurate, and I don’t care because that’s the part that doesn’t interest me at all. I don’t like the feeling that the author worked harder on their historical accuracy than developing the story and the characters. In this case, it’s all about the story and characters and I found it utterly charming.
This is a sweet treat that can be read anywhere. It’s short enough to read easily in one bite and satisfying enough to make you think and stay with you after you’ve read it. It’s definitely feel good and the characters very much have their HEA. The book is well written and engaging, and surprisingly complete and well rounded given its shortness. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to readers who like to dip their toe into easygoing historicals or who maybe have been put off by their general stiffness.
RATING: 
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