I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Fantasy/Gothic
Age Range: YA
Star Rating: 4 stars
Series: standalone
Blurb:
Following a scandal at Vauxhall pleasure gardens, Camille is sent away to her reclusive godmother, who keeps a strict watch over her and her own sickly daughter, Lucy. Camille must stay away from everything she has known until the scandal is forgotten, keeping strictly to the small farmhouse in the woods. Away from the corsetry and curtsies of polite society, Camille finds herself surprisingly…free.
She is also strangely drawn to Lucy, a pale, fragile girl who dreams of stars, but has never left the farm. Yet as Camille and Lucy grow close and cross forbidden boundaries, the fine balance of their woodland home begins to death stalks between the trees, claw-marks rake the doors and the moon rises to the song of a creature Camille has never heard before. Camille begins to realise her godmother was holding more than unladylike behaviour at bay…
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
MOONSTONE is a gothic historical fantasy about a family full of secrets and the girl who accidentally stumbles into the middle of it all.
You can really see all of Purcell’s experience writing gothic novels for adults come into play in this book. Everything is off from the very start as Camille finds herself in a house of secrets with a girl her age whose illness matches nothing she knows. It’s so atmospheric, this creeping sense of unease that begins with Camille being alien to the life (a rich girl now working on a farm!) and just grows as the odd things stack up.
As a reader, you can guess what is happening a lot earlier than Camille (the cover and marketing line really help too!) However, there is enough mystery over exactly how she will find out (and what the consequences will be) and tension to keep you reading onwards. It’s not the what but the how that is the core of the mystery.
At the same time, the book has scenes from the “present” – after everything at the house has gone down. Camille is in a bad shape and it adds to the need to know exactly how it all goes so horribly wrong – and what she is going to lose because of it all as her family is now in danger from her.
It’s quite a short book (under 300 pages) which means it’s perfect to simply sit down with and devour, racing along to find out what exactly happens.
Read my reviews of other books by Laura Purcell:
Adult:
Standalones:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 