The Bloodstained Key
By Charity Rau
Pages : 322
Book Description:
Eighteen-year-old Marianna and her family live in luxury, attending balls every night. Despite being haunted by the death of her mother and the disappearance of her fiancรฉ, Will, she tries to remain cheerful for her sister's sake. When their father falls ill, she discovers her family is in financial ruin and fears her world is falling apart.
An offer of salvation comes from the mysterious nobleman who lives isolated from the rest of the world in his extravagant, yet menacing mansion. Lord Bludington invites Marianna, her sister, and all their friends to his home for a week full of entertainment. He impresses everyone with his charm and wit, but Marianna can’t shake the feeling he is not all he claims to be. However, when her family cannot afford the medicine needed to save her father’s life, she reluctantly accepts Bludington’s proposal of marriage and moves into the manor.Now isolated from her friends and family, she no longer feels welcome in the eerie house. The housekeeper is abrupt, the maids spread gossip and fear her, and the butler appears to be spying on her. Then she discovers a secret that puts her life in danger, and unless Marianna can find the courage to fight for herself, she won’t make it out of Bludington’s manor alive.
Book Review:
The story is chilling and tragic. This book was set in crazy atmospheric and is guaranteed to raise goose bumps at any rate. This was a very quick read. It's slow going at first, but engaging and towards the ending, I felt, was rather bizarre. I couldn't do anything until I completed this.
The author is great at creating a creepy atmosphere and then wrenching it into something even darker as the page turns with such patience and brooding, quaint characters living a simple life.
The book reminds me of The beauty and the beast, but it got me gasping at the end. The second book in the series got many more surprises, can't wait to read it too.
I love Betsy the most, aside from Marianna. Some of the characters are morbidly abnormal. When the tension builds in and the real drama occurs, makes it a compulsive read. The author shows small town dynamics with her unerring writing style.
Overall, this is an enthralling, if somewhat disturbing, story . This is one of those novels that just draws you in and never lets you out.
Rating : 8/10
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