Monday, January 14, 2019

Sandra Byrd - Mist of Midnight

In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.
Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but her home and incomes.
That pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father's investments reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives—does he love her or does he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as everyone suspects, will she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca”? 


Comment: I got interested in the book in 2016 after seeing the cover being part of a contest and some readers commented it was evocative and mysterious, very much alike the blurb. I got curious and decided to add it to my reading list. Now, some time after, having read it at last, I must say the blurb and the cover are slightly more appealing than the overall content.

In this book we meet the protagonist Rebecca Ravenshaw,  a young woman and daughter of missionaries in India. After the mutiny that has caused so many english people to die, Rebecca returns to England after years away, to get her family's estate again and start a new life in a society that, for all purposes, is very different from what she was used to.
However, after arriving without much and with a heavy heart, she is surprised when the man in charge of giving her what she is owed tells her another woman had come before saying she was Rebecca but died in somewhat mysterious circumstances. 
Rebecca is amazed and even more so when all clues point out to captain Whitfield, the man who inherited the estate after "Rebecca's" death, being the one who more gained from the situation, The locals are't helping and it seems something strange is on going...

The premise for this story is very intriguing. Plus, the gothic atmosphere and tone certainly added to the feeling something was happening and some secrets were being kept out of our perception. 
What probably made this feel be stronger is the fact the narrator of the story is Rebecca and of course we only see thins through her eyes. I've said before this is very limitative but in thrillers and mysteries it seems it's a good tactic.

The whole story is a constant doubt. Is Rebecca who she says she is? Are the servants at the house being truthful? Is captain Whitfield a liar or a real gentleman? Did the woman pretending to be her kill herself as some say or was she murdered? Why is the room that woman used closed? Is Rebecca's new maid a good woman or not, as some indicate? 
I think the author has managed to create a great atmosphere and I confess what I liked the best was the intrigue and the curiosity over where the author would take things. Since this story is labeled gothic and mystery I expected an amazing twist somewhere and when it came I felt a little sorry I couldn't appreciate it more.

One of the problems - to me - of this book is the pacing. It's quite exciting at first, when things are slowly being presented and put into place but after a while of just suspicions and Rebecca's lack of knowing what to do (socially, I mean), it got a little tiring and because we only have Rebecca's thoughts, repetitive and boring at times.

The other problem is the romance. Or lack of. Yes, this book is also inspirational (but not preachy) which means we only have the protagonists kissing once or twice in the whole book, they hold hands and look at one another very often. I don't mind the so-called "clean" books but I have to say the lack of more romantic situations between them, the obvious need for vagueness because the hero is a suspect and the way Rebecca thinks of him made for a very poor romantic side of things. I just think the story lost some power and impact because the romance wasn't evident. The heroine kept thinking she was in love from a certain point on, but for me it wasn't something I saw.

The end of the story wasn't as amazing as I imagined although the reasons behind some actions and the how some things were done did feel well thought. The author did a good work meshing the suspense and the tone together. It's just too bad the other elements didn't feel as well done. Some details did fail to impress me, overall, and the vagueness of things is certainly a cause for it.
On the other hand, another element I enjoyed was Rebecca's recollections of her time and life in India. It was interesting to see how she adapted to the idea of having left her home there and now being in a completely different country and society.

All in all, good elements, others not so good but always a little too subtle composition that translated a little as boring at times and that is why I probably won't read another book by the author so soon.
Grade: 6/10

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