"The Bride of Blackfriars Lane" by Michelle Griep

About this book:

  “The Continuing Adventure of Jackson and Kit!
   Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who’s turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother—despite Jackson’s warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and endangers her future happiness with Jackson.
   Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who’s turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother—despite Jackson’s warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and endangers her future happiness with Jackson.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Blackfriars Lane” series. (Possibly a duology as this is the sequel to “The Thief of Blackfriars Lane”, review Here!)

Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Church going, sermon, & benediction; Talks about God, hope, forgiving, & justice being in His hands; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, sermons, choirs, & vicars/reverends; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of a prayer book; A few mentions of Heaven, eternity, & eternal rest; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of the Saviour’s crown of thorns; A mention of Godspeed; A mention of spiritual counseling; A mention of a nun; 
             *Note: Phrases like: ‘saints above!’ (x1), ‘by all that was holy’ (x1), and ‘by all that was right and good!’ (x1) are said or exclaimed; Mentions of devils (regarding calling others a devil, making decisions, calling rats little devils, Jackson calling cucumbers a green demon, and making peace with a demon); Mentions of demons tormenting someone; Mentions of hellfire clubs & their rituals bordering on the occult (including a “prayer” and when they ask Jackson if he’d like to join, he says yes but thinks in his head that it’ll only be for the night and asks God to forgive him); A couple mentions of Jackson’s devil-may-care hair & Kit’s devil-may-care recklessness; A mention of questioning the devil himself for some answers; A mention of a gaze that would make the devil himself and confess; A mention of the possibility of the name of a place opening the cage of demons; A mention of a man being in the pit of hell; A mention of a branding iron being as red as the flames of hell; A mention of the ungodly weight on someone’s shoulders; A mention of a man saying that the bottle (drinking) was his salvation; A mention of making yourself a god (*Spoiler* Kit realizes she’s done this to Jackson in regards of only telling him what she thinks he should know *End of Spoiler*); A mention of a statue of a Greek goddess. 
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing (& British exclamations) including: a ‘bloomin’’, a ‘bosh!’, a ‘cod’s heads!’, a ‘fiddlesticks!’, a ‘goodness and light!’, a ‘hang it all’, a ‘heaven and earth!’, a ‘hounds a’fire!’, a ‘pish-posh’, a ‘rot!’, a ‘scab-nippity!’, a ‘stars and banners!’, a ‘stars and glory!’, a ‘what a load of balderdash’, a ‘what the blazes’, two ‘botheration’s, two forms of ‘caring a fig’, two ‘egad!’s, two ‘gads!’s, two ‘kipes!’s, two ‘pah!’s, two ‘posh’s, two ‘scads!’s, two forms of ‘stupid’, two ‘thunder and turf!’s, three ‘blasted’s, three ‘dash and rot’, four forms ‘blast it/blast *someone’s name*’, four ‘drat’, four ‘pish’s, four ‘thunderation’s, five ‘bah’s, six ‘what/why the deuce’s, seven ‘how/what/why the devil’s, and ten forms of ‘dash it all/dash *someone’s name*’; Mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; Seeing a death by a wagon wheel (blunt, barely-above-not-detailed); Lots of Fighting, Knocking others out, Being held at knife-point, Being choked, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Blacking out (up to semi-detailed); An explosion & pain (up to semi-detailed); Threatening harm against another; Close calls with alligators, a viper, & rats (up to semi-detailed); Jackson is forced to drink goldfish & is paddled on his backside (up to semi-detailed); Kit feels guilt for a making up a story in the pursuit of justice (she thinks that Jackson and probably God as well would not approve of such means to an end); Jackson later lies about his identity for a plan and doesn’t like doing so; Seeing others drinking (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of thieves, thefts, stealing, & stolen items; Many mentions of murders, accidental murders, deaths, how they happened, & finding a skeleton (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of fighting, fights, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of suicides, how they happened, hangings, & bodies/corpses (including Kit wondering if these emotions were why her mother committed suicide, *Spoiler* It’s revealed towards the end that her mother didn’t commit suicide but passed away after birth complications while being locked up *End of Spoiler*, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of the possibilities of getting stabbed, shot, or thrown into a river with your hands tied; Mentions of a brutal beating that left a young man not the same (mentally), other children being beaten up, & the bullies; Mentions of an abduction/kidnapping, ransom, deaths, & the possibility of a spouse planning it for the insurance money (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of prisons, prisoners, arrests, gangs/mobs, thugs, criminals, crime scenes, & crimes; Mentions of grave robbers; Mentions of an explosion, explosives, & a gas leak; Mentions of threats; Mentions of a men’s club’s rituals of being paddled on the bum (Kit thinks of it as perverse), being branded by a hot iron, drinking champagne with goldfish in it, & possibly drinking monkey’s blood (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks (including side characters drinking); Mentions of smoking, pipes, & tobacco (including a suggestion to smoke to keep away mosquitoes); Mentions of gambling & swindling those with money; A few mentions of a young boy slipping rat poison into his father’s drink & killing him; A few mentions of fires & deaths; A few mentions of hired killers/assassins; A few mentions of a husband beating his wife and child when drunk; A few mentions of a snake bite (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of manure, urine, & a man soiling his trousers A few mentions of dog & chicken fights; A couple mentions of evil men forcing little boys into slavery; A couple mentions of opium dens; A couple mentions of gossip; A mention of starvation; 

             *Note: Some rude comments from others towards a man who has mental disabilities; A mention of animal magnetism.
 
 
Sexual Content- An almost hand kiss, three (barely-above-not-detailed) hand/wrist kisses, two cheek kisses, two head kisses, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Recalling kisses & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Snuggling, Nearness, & Hand holding (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (including curves and muscles, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Kit wonders about their upcoming wedding night (this part mentions about Jackson removing her dress and her not being sure about “men and their needs, what should or shouldn’t happen on a first night together” other than what’s she’s heard on the streets; also a comment from Jackson that he’s looking forward to “finishing what he started” and that her virtue is safe with him until they’re married); Three men lustfully ogle Kit, stare at her body and bodice in an uncomfortable way, & try to proposition her (one keeps touching her hands and knee & gives her a hand kiss; the second touches her thigh, he says he would like to see a more of her (implied in a sexual way) and she asks if he’d like to see “bit o’ skin” and then threatens him with a knife; and the third one says that she would change her mind about men after “a tumble” with him); Mentions of men paying attention to Kit in an unwanted and lustfully way; Mentions of brothels, prostitutes/strumpets, their “services”, mistresses, & men wanting a certain woman for his “personal pleasure”; Mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of a Jackson’s desire and longing for Kit; A few mentions of chasing skirts (women) or referring to a woman as a skirt (instead of her name); A couple mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of a young girl probably being propositioned by men with lust and greed; A couple mentions of doxies; A couple mentions of feminine wiles; A mention of a possible out-of-wedlock pregnancy; A mention of a man telling Jackson to marry Kit and bed her; A mention of the weather being like “a mistress, calling seductively to lovers”; A mention of dalliances being saved for after a wedding; A mention of a married man calling his wife a cow and that she knows nothing of his dalliances; A mention of a wife lying in her husband’s arms in their bed; A mention of wondering if a man has a penchant for fine women; A mention of jealousy; Love, being in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: Kit says she won’t be dominated like a common scullery maid by her husband & does not like the “obedience card” that Jackson brings up about a wife vowing to honor and obey her husband; A few mentions of a mother passing away after birth complications (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of the Elephant Boys’ name denoting the fact they were all male members; A mention of a punch to a man’s nether region; A mention of twisted men at a hellfire club wanting Jackson to wear a pair of knickers with a red target on the backside.

 

-Katherine “Kit” Turner

-Jackson Forge
                                P.O.V. switches between them 

                                         Set in 1885 (Final Chapter set in 1886)
                                                        320 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

Like many books I’ve read lately, I have many thoughts and am not sure where to start. 

I think I could summarize that this book simply wasn’t for me because of the romantic angst. I never thought I would say that about a book—especially the sequel to a book I mostly enjoyed, but here we are. 
Content wise, it was about the same as the first book (with a lot less noticing of the other’s physical attributes but about the same with men propositioning Kit), but the murders and crimes felt heavier to me. Perhaps that’s because it was and there were more sensitive parts regarding those elements to play on my heartstrings. 

If you read and enjoyed the first book tremendously, you would probably be okay with the content found it this one. 

I, however, was quite frustrated with the lack of communication between Kit & Jackson. They are to be married and are so in love, but an important element for the first third of the book is them trying to understand the other and what a marriage-life will be like for them. The first bit of the story, I was finding the difference enjoyable. They weren’t falling back on the oh-so-common “we’re in love, so our differences don’t matter” thread I see often between two characters of very different upbringings and viewpoints in books. It was fascinating to see, for the first third of the book. But then harsh words are spoken and I was full of angst for nearly the entire rest of the story. This was my main problem with this book. And I’m really quite sad about it. I honestly wanted to lock the two of them in a room and make them talk and quit being petty towards the other! Their pride and stubbornness took over the story and honestly ruined this sequel for me, sadly. 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Barbour) for this honest review.

"Lost in Darkness" by Michelle Griep

About this book:

 

  “Travel writer Amelia Balfour’s dream of touring Egypt is halted when she receives news of a revolutionary new surgery for her grotesquely disfigured brother. This could change everything, and it does. . .in the worst possible way.

   Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he’s gone into practice with, but he can’t stop him from operating on Amelia’s brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man’s death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo?”

Series: As of now, no. A stand-alone novel.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, quoted, & thoughts over; Bible reading; Prayers; Talks about God, Him being with us, & His plans; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; When something good happens, Amelia says that she was finally good enough for God to notice (this could be stemming from her not thinking her earthly father cared for her); Amelia crosses herself when thinking of someone that passed; Amelia reads a psalter in the beginning of the book and after having more questions that solace, she stops reading for the day; Going to church (Amelia) & hearing a Scripture in a sermon; Graham says he’s not certain that God would welcome a heathen such as himself to church (Amelia replies that a true heathen would not acknowledge a God who may or may not welcome him); Mentions of God; Mentions of Bibles, devotions, & reading them both; Mentions of churches/chapels, church going, vicars, & sermons; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of miracles & miracle workers; Mentions of saints & women being called a saint because of their personalities; A few mentions of those in the Bible; A few mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of blessings & seeking blessings before traveling; A few mentions of sins & sinners; A mention of Godspeed; A mention of a blessing over food; A mention of a woman’s glower that could make a saint cower behind a crucifix; A mention of Eve and the snake; A mention of a child being named Sodom by a master (and that the boy had been groomed to do as he was told and that only God knew what it was);

             *Note: Graham says that it is God who numbers a man’s days and that a surgeon is not God, but when Mr. Peckwood asks if Graham if he’s a religious fellow, he says he is not, and Mr. Peckwood says religion never helped him (the conversation started with Mr. Peckwood says that a successful doctor instills confidence in the surgeon rather than allowing the patient a “tenuous hope in an invisible unknown”); Mr. Peckwood said he begged God to help someone and that He didn’t; Peckwood plays God with the patients at the asylum; ; Amelia is superstitious and carries around a lucky feather she calls a talisman (she also tosses spilled salt over her shoulder, mentions the thought that when a gathering of ravens is seen that portends death, and a couple other ones, but *Spoiler* she gives it all up at the end and asks God for forgiveness *End of Spoiler*); Colin sees phantoms after the treatments start & hopes they go back to whatever hell they came from; Mentions of ghosts, haunting tales, people saying a place is haunted, & an area with a ghoulish history; A few mentions of luck, bad luck, & folklore; A couple mentions of a man being called the devil & a contact with him; A couple mentions of people having a demon in their eyes; A mention of someone escaping their demons; A mention of roaring like a demon; A mention of an injury hurting like the devil’s fire; A mention of devilish torment; A mention of an animal being sneaky devils; A mention of a man’s devil-may-care hair length; A mention of doing something or there will be the devil to pay; A mention of Amelia saying that if houses had souls, her childhood home would be bound for Hades; A mention of if there was a portal to hell, a certain place would be it; A mention of someone running like a hound of hell; A mention of a godforsaken path; A mention of another country with veiled ladies with their turbaned sheikhs; Phrases like “God knows”, “Thank God”, and “pray God” are said by those who believe in God & others who they (and the readers) aren’t sure about their beliefs; Other phrases are exclaimed:  three forms of “sweet, Blessed Saviour/sweet blessed mercy!’ and seven forms of ‘sweet mercy/sweet heavens!’; “Great God!” is exclaimed in a quote from “Frankenstein”. 

 

 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: (if you’re unfamiliar or unsure how one of these was used, most were exclamations and are noted because in today’s society, minor cussing or cursing would take its place) a ‘botheration!’, a ‘criminy’, an ‘egads!’, a ‘lawks-a-mercy’, a ‘scads!’, a form of ‘stupid’, two ‘claptrap’s (‘what a load of claptrap’), two forms of ‘hang it all/snag it all’s, two forms of  ‘oh, my stars!/by the stars’, two ‘what the deuce’s, three ‘mercy!’s, four forms of  ‘dashed/dash it’, four ‘thunderation!’s, five forms of ‘pish-posh’, five forms of ‘bah/pah’, seven forms of ‘blast/blast it’, and nine forms of ‘what the devil’; Other phrases such as a ‘grimmety grouse!’, ‘to the dogs with…’, ‘curse *name* and their ideas’, ‘thunder and turf!’, ‘rot and bother!’, and ‘queen and country!’; Stopping a curse from leaving your mouth (Colin, once); Mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; Pain, blood/bleeding, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Being choked, drugged, hit, & injured (up to semi-detailed); Doctor actions such as giving stitches, taking care of blood and injuries, and seeing dead bodies (up to semi-detailed); Seeing people hit & bleeding (up to semi-detailed); *Major Spoiler* Colin and Mr. Peckwood go over a cliff and die, we see this in Amelia and Graham’s point of views, up to semi-detailed *End of Spoiler*; Being shot at (when someone says they saw a monster, but it was Colin); Seeing a child hit & almost run over; Seeing a bird hit a widow & thinking it’s dead; Social drinking; Many mentions of dead bodies, blood/bleeding, infections, injuries (including ones so bad you can see the bone or the muscle), seeing people pass out, & pain (up to semi-detailed): Mentions of grave robbers & those who hire them to steal bodies for dissection; Mentions of jars filled with different colored liquids and body parts; Mentions of a fence with glass at the top & someone harming themself and bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of rifles & shooting at someone; Mentions of alcohol, taverns, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of cigars/cheroots, pipes, tobacco, & smoking; Mentions of a snuff box (an older women says it’s God she’ll have to answer for and she’s fully prepare to “explain to [her] Maker how [she] never read one verse of scripture forbidding a hefty pinch of snuff”); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of trying to find two bodies in the water (barely-above-not-detailed);A few mentions of fighting, fights, being beaten, & hitting someone; A few mentions of burns from a child pulling down a pot of boiling water; A few mentions of bloodletting; A couple mentions of being accused as a thief & being beaten for it; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of hunting; A mention of someone being lost at sea; A mention of mutilated bodies; A mention of someone making rat poison; A mention of not being a wagering man; A mention of human waste;

             *Note: Each chapter starts with a quote from the classic book, “Frankenstein”; Amelia warns her maid about her brother’s deformity (at first she wonders should he say that he’s a monster or a freak of nature, but tells the maid that he suffers from a disease that causes uncontrollable and abnormal growth along with suffering a horrible burn to his face); Some people cry and scream when they see Colin; A couple mentions of a “dog-faced maid”.

 

 

Sexual Content- Two (barely-above-not-detailed) hand kisses, a forehead kiss, an almost kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and a very detailed kiss; Recalling a kiss (semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss & touch/embrace; Touches, Embraces, Warmth, Nearness, Jolts/Tingles, & Smelling (semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (including curves and a man’s chest hair and muscles, up to semi-detailed); Husky voices; Amelia tells Graham a story about two young lovers who were married in secret and according to a rumor, shared their love over in a thicket of trees (she apologizes that she got carried away in the story, but Graham thinks that he’s surprisingly honored that she would share with him an intimate reference); Graham removes his cravat, Amelia can’t look away and stares at his chest hair peeking out; Mr. Peckwood does animal magnetism (hypnotism) on a woman, but it includes him outline the shape of her body with his hand, Amelia thinks that it’s too intimate and too indecent to be doing in public, though when she believes that it worked on the woman, Graham tries to explain that it isn’t real, attempts to do it on her, and they end up kissing; Graham is a doctor and sees Amelia’s barefoot (which she didn’t want to do because of propriety, but did due to an injury); When Graham is brought up in a conversation or he does something slightly scandalous, flirty, or looks handsome, Amelia gets hot, fans herself, and wonders why it’s so hot in the room; Mentions of a woman that was brutally abused (implied sexually); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of chaperones; A few mentions of a scandalous pair living together & being unsure if they are married; A few mentions of trollops; A few mentions of flirts; A few mentions of winks; A mention of a ship’s crew going ashore for women and rum; A mention of jealousy; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: When an unmarried woman says she’s pregnant, Amelia wonders if she should offer congratulations or condolences, but says she looks forward to meeting the little one someday; A few mentions of a women’s feminine curves; A mention of ill breeding; Graham says that “other than a passing glance at a well-curved skirt”, he didn’t dwell on females; The Historical Notes at the end of the book mentions Mary Shelley (author of “Frankenstein”), her baby’s death (born prematurely), her lover having an affair, and another baby being conceived out-of-wedlock.

 

-Amelia Balfour, age 27

-Graham Lambert

                                P.O.V. switches between them & Colin

                                          Set in 1815 (Final chapter set in 1816)

                                                 320 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Not for those sensitive to death or have recently lost a loved one.}

After reading “The Thief of Blackfriars Lane” by this author and mostly enjoying it, I decided to look more into her other books. I read “The House at the End of the Moor” in the last few months and was so enthralled with the plotline, I gave it four stars.

So, I had decently high hopes for this book.

I think the major parts that affected my ratings were certain comments (such as Amelia noticing Graham’s chest hair when he removes his cravat and then her telling him a story about a couple being intimate together in a thicket of trees), but also that the last 40% of this book I was so Stressed. Yes, with a capital ‘S’. Very, incredibly stressed about how this book was going to end. And I have to say that I’m not a fan of how it ended. Some may like it, and while the faith content at the end made it a bit better, I’m coming away from this book sniffling and more than a bit sad. (Which apparently Frankenstein and stories inspired by that famous book are all typically sad. I did not know this and will be avoiding such topics from now on. Meanwhile my heart is ☹ )

It was heartbreaking in many regards, but mainly in Colin, Amelia’s younger brother, and how he is treated because he has a rare form of acromegalia as well as severe burns. We see his point of view and he was truly the only one I really liked in this story (more on that in a minute). He his called a monster by many and has lived secluded, not seeing anyone. It truly broke my heart to see the fear others had for him and the name-calling he was subject to. While it can be true for many in his shoes, I hate that happening so much. He is the only reason I’m giving this book two stars because I liked him as a character and found him to be the best one in it.

I had a really hard time connecting to Amelia and Graham, but mostly her. I found her to be somewhat selfish and she never endured herself to me. Graham’s faith content was interesting in this book, but again, overall, I never really liked him either. He never went with his any of the feelings in his gut on Mr. Peckwood and that bothered me a lot. Maybe I just have trust issues, but I would hope I wouldn’t be so hung up on someone’s accomplishments and avoiding the warning signs of something being wrong. (Hello, Graham, the wad of cotton?! And you’re still trusting this wack-a-doodle?!)

The book had a very melancholy and almost depressing feel, which isn’t helping my thoughts on it. I like my fiction books to end where everyone is happy and justice is served. This wouldn’t be a book for those sensitive to death or someone who recently lost a loved one. It’s pretty sad and while the faith content shown helps some, it was still a hard book for me to read.

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Barbour) for this honest review.

 

"The House at the End of the Moor" by Michelle Griep

About this book:

  “What Can a London Opera Star and an Escaped Dartmoor Prisoner Have in Common?

   Opera star Maggie Lee escapes her opulent lifestyle when threatened by a powerful politician who aims to ruin her life. She runs off to the wilds of the moors to live in anonymity. All that changes the day she discovers a half-dead man near her house. Escaped convict Oliver Ward is on the run to prove his innocence, until he gets hurt and is taken in by Maggie. He discovers some jewels in her possession—the very same jewels that got him convicted. Together they hatch a plan to return the jewels, clearing Oliver’s name and hopefully maintaining Maggie’s anonymity.”

Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- Many Prayers & thanking God; Talks about God, faiths, forgiveness, & justice; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & praising God; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of faiths; Mentions of churches & preachers/vicars; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of sins & sinners; A few mentions of Heaven & eternity; A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of Godspeed; A couple mentions of a sainted glass of the Good Shepherd at a church; A couple mentions of saints; A mention of someone being a miracle worker; A mention of a rider of the apocalypse; A mention of a threat of sending someone to their Maker;

             *Note: An Officer (Sebastian) at a prison spouting Scripture incorrectly (missing a word or adding a phrase, we see this a handful of times (Maggie corrects him on one he said to her)) and he also tries to “help” children get on the “right path” via “God’s grace and [Sebastian’s] hand”, more about that in the Negative Content section; He thinks he is trying to atone for his sins *Spoiler* towards the end of the book, he realizes that what he has been doing is not right and that he needs to know God better *End of Spoiler*); Phrases are said (“by all that was holy” and “this godforsaken planet” (the latter said by Sebastian) up to twice each); A man calls Maggie a she-devil; Mentions of calling men devils and demons & their appearances devilish; Mentions of a hellhole, calling a prison cell hell, a pit of hell, and a life and other things hellish; Mention of superstitions, ghosts, & pixies around a moor; A few mentions of hell, the lake of fire, & burning; A few mentions of hellhounds; A couple mentions of a someone’s soul being possessed by a demon; A mention of a man being the spawn of Satan; A mention of a man working for the devil; A mention that assumptions are the devil’s handiwork; A mention of a man having the heart of a demon; A mention of a man’s eyes that are almost demonic; A mention of someone riding hell-bent after another; A mention of bring justice to the world is a calling and a curse; A mention of a man looking down on people like a god; A couple mentions of a man looking like Adonis and a Greek god.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: (if you’re not familiar with any of these, they are used as an exclamation or when frustrated) an ‘idiot’, a ‘not caring a fig’, a ‘pish’, a ‘what the skip-nippity’, a ‘whoever the blazes’, two ‘caw’s, two ‘for the love of God and country!’s, two forms of ‘hang it’, two ‘la!’s, two forms of ‘shut up’, three ‘Egads/Gads’, four forms of ‘drat’, four ‘thunderation!’s, six ‘stupid’x, six forms of ‘what the devil’, eight forms of ‘who/what the deuce’, ten ‘bah/pah’, eleven forms of ‘sweet blessed heavens!/sweet mercy’, and twenty-five forms of ‘blast’; Many mention of curses (said, not written, one called a “belch of damnation”); Sebastian curses (not written) and smokes; Almost drowning in a swamp (up to semi-detailed); Pain, Being shot, Being hit/slapped/hurt, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Being in a prison & punishments (semi-detailed); Sebastian is a bully and harms children under the pretense of “showing them the right way to live” (this includes knocking a boy’s food over that he was trying to sell, seriously hurting a teen boy’s wrist, and almost burning a boy’s cheek with a cigarillo); Sebastian also aims a gun at a guard dog; Many mentions of pain, injuries, being slapped/hit, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of thieves/criminals, stealing, & stolen items; Many mentions of prisons/jail, prisoners, punishments/torture, & arrests; Mentions of having to identify a body & death (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a man enjoying harming others to do what he wants (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a man and boys bullying and physically harming a girl who is mute (also a mention that “not many women of means would look so kindly on a defective maid” from Oliver, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of knives, guns, gunshots, & being shot at; Mentions of threats; Mentions of gambling & debts; Mentions of pubs, alcohol, drinking, & drunkards; Mentions of smoking, pipes/cigars/cigarillo, & tobacco; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, guilt, & deceit; Mentions of manure; A few mentions of killing a man & the blood (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of violence; A few mentions of an injured dog that was beaten by its prior master; A few mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of murder; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of starting a war; A mention of slitting someone’s throat; A mention of embezzlement; A mention of eavesdropping;

             *Note: Mentions of classic books & their characters.

 

 

Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lip touch (barely-above-not-detailed), a fingers kiss, a cheek kiss, a forehead kiss, an almost semi-detailed kiss, four semi-detailed kisses, and a detailed kiss; Wondering about kissing someone (barely-above-not-detailed); Hand Holding, Touches & Embraces (up to semi-detailed); Winks & Blushes; Nearness, Noticing, & Smelling (barely-above-not-detailed); *Minor Spoiler* A man threatened Maggie to warm his bed or he’d ruin her reputation, she chose to runaway *End of Minor Spoiler*; A comment about worshiping a spouse with your body at a wedding, making a woman yours in every way, & the desire in a man’s gaze (all with a married couple); Maggie watches Oliver shaving and thinks about how intimate this scene is and that she as an unmarried woman, should not be watching (but is unable to pull herself away from the scene); A man closes close to smell Maggie’s hair, but she says her virtue is not in danger with him (it’s more of a threat, then sexually motivated); Mentions of affairs & a wife aware of her husband seeking affections from other women (including a mention of his infidelity not only being physical pleasures); Mentions of Maggie dodging pinches, stolen kisses, and other untoward advances from men and their wicked intents; Mentions of winks & blushes; A few mentions of a man’s sister being sullied by a man & killing the man; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A couple mentions of wanting to be one with another (with the intent of marriage); A couple mentions of women of ill repute/fallen women; A couple mentions of innuendos/assumptions about someone; A couple mentions of reputations/virtue; A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of Oliver saying he admits to a keen study of the fairer sex; A mention of men calling Maggie’s character in question because of her profession; A mention of guilty men being notorious for their wiles; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: Oliver notices Maggie’s curves (“though curved in all the right places, she was a slender woman”); Sebastian comments on different women’s appearances in a negative and judging way (also comments on women’s subordination to men); A mention of a knee to the groin stopping a man from bad intentions; A mention of a scandalously low-cut gown; A mention of a mother and child dying in childbirth; A mention of breastfeeding.

 

-Margaret “Maggie” Lee, age 25

-Oliver Ward, age 30

       P.O.V. switches between them & Sebastian (Maggie in 1^st, Oliver and Sebastian in 3^rd)

                                            Set in 1861 (Final chapter set in 1862)

                                                        320 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

Well, well, well. While I was hoping to enjoy it, I ended up enjoying this book much more than expected.

I have read “The Thief of Blackfriars Lane” by Michelle Griep and I liked that one, but I would totally believe that this book and that one were not written by the same author. I mean no ill-intent when I say this, it just that “The House at the End of the Moor” had so much more depth and emotion in it. Not that the 2021 book didn’t, this (2020 published) novel, however, had it on an entirely different level.

The poetic style of writing—especially in Maggie’s point of view parts—pulled me in instantly to the story. It was beautifully written and in a style I absolutely adored. Maggie was brilliant and how the author wrote her lines *all the heart eyes*. The pacing of the sentences when something is revealed (big to small, someone’s appeared, somethings happened, etc.) was phenomenal. Not even just the reveals, but also the conversations about God and how they were worded and discussed. It’s like the author knew how to make the sentences to hit the reader with the most impact and it worked flawlessly. Mic drop moments, if you will, again and again.

Both Maggie and Oliver were great. I loved her parts the most, but oh boy, he was a charmer. But in the best way, he had so many moments that I went, “He’s just a nice guy.” “He’s a good guy.” Because of little things he would do. (Also, please do not get me started on the “Who hurt you? I’ll kill him.” trope (not exactly in this book, but very close) because I will become a blushing mess, be forewarned.) They had their little moment of instant attraction, but they both pushed those thoughts to the back burner for the time being because of the important things at stake. (Thank you! Finally a couple in a “romance book” that’s on the run/in a dangerous situation and not looking at each other’s lips at the worst moments! They pushed (most of) their feelings to the side and I appreciated that so much.)

Now, to go into what I wasn’t a fan of: At first, I was incredibly disappointed to see a villain’s (who was twisting Scriptures) point of view. I could easily do without that. However, the ending. Okay, I really didn’t like him. At all. Not even in his last P.O.V. chapter. (To be as safe as possible from spoilers, I’ll be vague: There was hints of it happening, but it felt a little off to me until the very final chapter. And then there was another mic drop moment and I was in stunned silence, once again. So all that means, is that while seeing his P.O.V. bothered me a lot at the beginning and I was ready to strangle him, it bothered me less because the ending and very final chapter.)

I’m putting this book at four stars for my personal rating, though, I think I could have easily given it a five star had a few suggestions not been included. I think those said suggestions may go over younger readers’ heads, but I would still say this book is better for Older High School aged girls and over because of such content. Nothing felt over the top or utterly scandalous, but still, there was mentions of girls/women being ruined by men, affairs, some of the I’m-in-love emotions (which albeit those parts being a little *more* than I would have liked, there wasn’t many in total at all), punishments/being attacked, and the villains (one more evil and one more blinded by his thoughts of atoning for his sins).

So, overall? I’m buying a copy of this book for myself and adding about ten quotes I loved to my Goodreads. I’m eagerly awaiting her next book (to be released on the first on November) and will be checking out the author’s other books in the meantime. Because of some content/comments, I can’t recommend it for younger readers, but, personally, I will be marking it as one of my favorites books from this year.

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.