This is my second book by this author and unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as the first one (The Haunting at Hawke's Moor) and I'd give this about 2 1/2 stars. For about 30% of the book it just drags. Estelle leaves England for a lonely castle and meets her charge and gets her bearings but it just feels like nothing is happening. About halfway through the book there still isn't a hint of romance and then about 60% in it comes kind of from nowhere. The Count basically ignores her initially and then is downright rude, accusing her of having designs on him and then he does a complete 180 and awkwardly shows an interest. It's jarring and doesn't make sense and then after a few awkward kissing scenes we jump right into a quick sex scene.

The creepy scene setting was initially good but then it just became repetitive - it's a desolate place, she doesn't know anyone, bad things are happening, the forest is creepy. Repeat. I found myself skimming several parts of the book hoping it would pick up. It does pick up in the end but then it's kind of rushed.

I had my suspicions on who the bad guy was and was right but that part also just seemed kind of thrown together. And the romance part that was there for the second half was mostly awkward. She's attracted to him, he's attracted to her but there didn't feel like much chemistry between them and I actually really liked the count, even though he was grumpy. It was often uncomfortable pauses and stilted conversations, even when they were supposedly getting along.

For a longer book, a lot of things just seemed glossed over (something you could forgive in a novella). Some examples:
- The professor - is he young? old? Handsome? Tall? Anything? All we get is he has high cheekbones and blue eyes and wore a finely tailored suit. Seriously, that's all we get.
- The descriptions of Estelle and the Count are not much better.
- Weirdest of all is we NEVER know the count's first name until the epilogue!! It actually confused me to suddenly see the name Konrad; I thought it was someone else.

It's a shame because I do like the writing and the story ideas but I just had too many issues with this book.

The Governess - Likewise Book Reviews

1 Reviews