I wasn’t at all sure that Victoria Holt was my sort of author, but I had to give a gothic romance set in Cornwall the benefit of the doubt. And when I read the opening words I was so glad that I did.“There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances,” m...
Snare of Serpents is pretty much your usual Victoria Holt suspense novel with heroine in peril, etc. etc. Davina Glentyre's peaceful life in Edinburgh is rocked when her beloved governess is fired for stealing and in comes a younger, prettier governess. A governess who ends up marrying her widowe...
"Bride of Pendorric" is a novel by Victoria Holt written in 1963. Victoria Holt was a pen name for Eleanor Hibbert. Hibbert was an English author who wrote under various pen names. Her best-known pseudonyms were Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, and Philippa Carr; she also wrote under the names Eleanor...
The Queen's Confession is not like the rest of Victoria Holt's work, I think this title would be better published under her other pen name, Jean Plaidy. I've had my hands on this copy for a long time and I sort of avoided reading it because I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I do love hist...
Gothic romance for the win XD!Dunno, when I read this book, way back when (six years to be precise anyway) I was thrilled by the time period most of Victoria Holt's books took place in. Beautiful dresses and parties, eerie castle settings, English landscapes, etc, etc, etc.I don't remember this b...
You can read more of my reviews faster at my blog, The Armchair Librarian.THE ROAD TO PARADISE ISLAND had so much going for it. So much. With some more editing, and maybe about 50-100 cut pages, it could have been a wonderful book. But it wasn't, so it isn't, and that is a terrible thing.I genera...
Abandoned as a baby, her exotic beauty prompted hushed whispers of gypsy blood. But lovely Carmel March remained shrouded in mystery.... When tragedy struck her adopted home of Commonwood House, little Carmel had been bundled off to Australia. Returning to England as a young woman, she became hau...
The Mask of the Enchantress made me feel severly uncomfortable in parts. Why? The overtly sexual atmosphere, and how sex was used to characterize and establish certain characters; their respective sex life went hand in hand with their charaterization and their behavior.So, sex in books, I don't h...
I think I’m going to make it a goal to read at least one Victoria Holt book a year. While I don’t like to read her books one right after another because they all have that similar feel, every once in a while they really hit the spot. I’m always surprised how she just sucks me right in to her st...
I used to love Victoria Holt's books, so when I found The King of the Castle buried in the back of one of my bookshelves, I had to reread it to see if I would love it still. In many ways, it did hold up for me, but I suspect that this time I was more aware of the author's formula than I used to b...
Noelle Tremaston's charmed yet unconventional life as the daughter of the infamous Desiree, darling of the London stage, comes crashing to a halt when her mother takes in a struggling ingenue and disaster strikes. Noelle flees to Paris where, on the eve of World War I, a bizarre twist of fate wil...
I am a fan of Victoria Holt, one of my grandmother's favorite authors. This story is about Frederica (Freddie) who comes to live with her aunt after her mother dies. Aunt Sophie lives in a small village in England near the St. Aubyn estate. Freddie attends classes with Tamarisk St. Aubyn and anot...
KIRKLAND REVELS (Gothic Suspense-England-1800s) – G+Holt, Victoria – 2nd bookFawcett Crest, 1962-US PaperbackFirst Sentence: I met Gabriel and Friday on the same day, and, strangely enough I lost them together; so that thereafter, I was never able to think of one without the other.*** Catherine ...
My rating: 3.5/5One of Holt's better books. I really enjoyed learning more about the silk trade. The author is known for her attention to historical detail and is well-researched. The story revolves around Lenore Cleremont, who grows up knowing only that she is an orphan. She lives at The Silk Ho...
A classic Victoria Holt like “The Curse of the Kings” is a sure-fire way to dispel a reading block. Her tales of imperiled but adventurous women have aged surprisingly well since they were first published, when, like many of her other readers, I quickly snapped up each new one as soon as it appe...
Most people familiar with the Tudors will know that Elizabeth was in love with Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, her whole life and died with his last letter close. Most will also know that Anne Boleyn was her mother, and it was her cousin, Lettice Knollys, the daughter of Anne Boleyn's niece, wh...
Raised by a wealthy distant cousin after the death of her mother, Ellen Kellaway is forever reminded that she is the Poor Relation. Resigned to her eventual fate as a governess, she is suddenly taken by surprise when childhood friend Phillip Carrington declares his love and proposes a whirlwind m...
Beautiful Drusilla Delany had always been a sensible girl, the daughter of an impoverished vicar in Victorian England. But then she became infatuated with wealthy Fabian and Lavinia Framling--and inherited an extraordinary fan with a beautiful and fateful curse! A knock-out novel of mysticism and...
If you're a gothic romance enthusiast, they don't make 'em better than this. I got hooked on Victoria Holt as a high school junior. Her gothic romances actually have storylines and just enough sex to hint at but not overwhelm a sheltered teenager. Holt, also writing under the pseudonym Jean Plaid...
THE TIME OF THE HUNTER’S MOON was one of Victoria Holt’s best books but still a very good read overall. Took a while for the suspense to kick in but when it did it was a race against the clock to save lives; I think I clicked as to what was going on only a short while before Cordelia worked it ou...
From http://rominasbkreviews.blogspot.com/This is the first book by Victoria Holt that I ever read, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I had come across some interesting reviews and recommendations from readers who enjoyed gothic novels and historically accurate events in them, which I also...
Oh. My. Another shiveringly good book, of which I've no idea what to say. What can one say when a book is so good?Caroline Brandon was the black sheep of her family. She had dared to turn her nose up at archaeologists and therefore, her parents as well as her older sister, Roma. Their one comfort...
3.5 stars This is one that I had to take a break from because it was so freaking depressing. The first half of the book focuses on the heroine's childhood and all the events that made it such a sad existence. You have to read it too or you won't understand the power of events that happen in her...
Reviewed by JulieBook provided by NetGalleyOriginally posted at Romancing the Book After Anna’s parents move to India, she is sent to live with her Aunt Charlotte. This was to be a temporary arrangement, but when Anna’s mother dies it becomes permanent. Charlotte is a rigid, bitter woman that ...
Shadow of the Lynx by Victoria Holt was published in 1971. Nora's father is a dreamer. He always has some invention or scheme for vast riches that somehow never manages to come true. When rumors of gold in Australia make it to his ears, he leaves Nora at school and goes out to seek his fortune. W...
They were frightened. “We want you to come back with us, Kerensa, just until they find him.” I was cool. I have so far managed to hide my feelings; in fact one of my triumphs — the few left to me — is the manner in which I deceive them into thinking...
I had taken a short walk out of doors in the castle gardens.Looking up, I saw the Comtesse stretched out on a chaise-longue on the balcony above me.“Madame?” I said, standing still and gazing up.Her pale face looked down at me.“Could I interrupt your walk? I should like to speak to you.”“Certainl...
Miss Clavering,” she said.“All right, Hannah. I’ll come over.” As I crossed the bridge I noticed how solemn she was looking. 6x “I’ve been thinking the time has come for me to give you this,” she said.“What is it?” ( “Ifs something that was given to me to be given to you when the time came or on ...
Monsieur Necker is dismissed. This is the signal for a St. Bartholomew’s day of the patriots. This evening the Swiss and German battalions will slit our throats. We have but one resource: To Arms.CAMELLE DES MOULINS AT THE PA LAIS ROYALEStill the people spoke of the King with affection and appear...
I said.“I was telling you how much I appreciate the peaceful life. I’ve had enough adventuring. What I want now is to settle down and enjoy the visits of my family … and to know that they are well and happy.”“It seems a very noble ambition,” I said.“And how the time has flown.We must be on our wa...
It was a good substitute for the answer expected to a difficult question.“All I know is that your father died and you took his place.”“There is little else to know. Mine has been a life like many others of my class and circumstances.”“You never married. I wonder why.”“I might reply as the English...
People of my age always are, I supposed. One is always eager to throw off one’s youth when one has it and it is only when it is beyond recall that one wants it back.“Perhaps,” he went on, “seventeen was the age I wanted you to be.”“Why should my age be any concern of yours?”“Because I wanted you ...
Why did the shop catch fire?”“Something went wrong with her father’s ovens, I suppose. But it taught me a lesson which I’m passing on to you. Now. shall we look at the dresses?”There were rows of them. I found a peacock blue silk which I thought would tone in well with the sapphires. I asked if s...