Michelle Griep brings a emotional gothic tale with her latest Regency romance, Lost in Darkness.
Book Blurb
Even if there be monsters, there is none so fierce as that which resides in man’s own heart.
Enchanting Regency-Era Gothic Romance Intertwined with Inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
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?
My Thoughts
I don’t quite know where to start with this book. My emotions are still swirling inside me and have not settled. Not that Lost in Darkness isn’t good. This novel is exquisite. And I don’t use that adjective lightly. In fact, I think the fact that my emotions haven’t settled yet is due to the fact that this book is so wonderful.
With this novel, Michelle Griep delves into the human condition, specifically our desire to be loved and cared for. In a way I can only deem ironic, she takes three characters who long to find their place in the world and lodges them deeply into the reader’s heart. Or at least that’s how it felt for me. Because the moment I was introduced to Amelia, I felt for her. I understood her. When I was introduced to Graham, I was drawn to him. And when Colin stepped onto the page, my heart broke.
In a unique twist on Beauty and the Beast, Griep brings us a story about a beautiful sister and her deformed brother. But what strikes me is that Colin is beautiful on the inside, even if he’s considered beastly on the outside.
I wasn’t prepared for the ending in more ways than one. Yet when I finally turned the last page, I found that the characters stayed with me. That the spiritual arcs about God’s love and our place in His hands resonated with me in a way I hadn’t expected. And while watching Graham and Amelia’s relationship bloom was both beautiful and satisfying, it was Colin that really gripped my attention.
Overall, Lost in Darkness is a poignant story that gothic and Regency romance fans will love.
(Note: I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.)
Further Information
To purchase your own copy, click the book cover link.
And for more on Michelle Griep, visit her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
You can also check out my reviews for her novels The House at the End of the Moor and The Thief of Blackfriars Lane, as well as her Christmas collection Once Upon a Dickens Christmas.
