Book picks similar to
Whistle at my window by Helen Arvonen
gothic
wants-pulp
wishlist-gothics
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Ruby Chadwick
Anna King - 1995
She spends hours playing happily with her two brothers outside their father’s pub. But Ruby’s world is turned upside down when a moment of disobedience results in a tragic accident, and she must learn to come to terms with the consequences.When the Chadwick family’s circumstances unexpectedly change they relocate to salubrious surroundings in respectable Brixton. As Ruby comes of age, she dreams of a future that allows her independence and a chance to find love, though her stern father has other ideas.Her fortunes change when she accepts a job as companion to a cantankerous old lady and crosses paths with a charming Irishman named Michael. Yet before long Ruby must once more choose whether to defy her family and make her own choices – whatever the cost…An absorbing and atmospheric London saga,
Ruby Chadwick
is a must-read for fans of Jean Fullerton, Lindsey Hutchinson and Rosie Goodwin.
The Visitor
Mark Lawrence - 2018
The only thing you need to know is that Wild Cards is set in our world, and an alien virus has been infecting people in rare outbreaks. It kills 90% of victims, makes ugly monsters of 9% (Jokers) and gives 1% random superpowers (Aces).A very personal short story that I'm proud of and want to find a wider audience for.There is a sequel story free on the Tor website, The Visitor: Kill or Cure.
Falconridge
Jennifer Wilde - 1969
When lovely, young Lauren Moore arrives at Falconridge, a mysterious mansion with many hidden secrets, to live with relatives, she becomes caught up in the house's dark mysteries and falls in love with a man who might be the evil force behind it all.
The Secret of Studborne Abbey
Emmanuelle de Maupassant - 2021
Pretending she's still a wealthy catch, she sets out to ensnare the Duke of Studborne. The only spanner in the works? Her growing attraction to the duke's very proper, very honourable and very penniless nephew, Benedict.The duke seems enchanted, but his motives for courting her are not what they seem, and Rosamund is caught in a trap. She must uncover the truth, and only one person in the abbey can help her. The annoyingly principled Benedict!
The Lady's Guide to Scandal
Before archaeologist Ethan Burnell can return to his exploration of the Mexican jungle, his sister insists he attend her Christmas houseparty, filled with eager debutantes. A fake engagement for the duration of the festivities sounds like the perfect plan.With her name mired in scandal, Cornelia Mortmain's marriage prospects are nil. Wild adventurer Burnell is exactly the sort of 'dangerous man' she's sworn off, and posing as his fiancée can only spell trouble. Or, make her so notorious she'll become irresistible.But convincing everyone they're madly in love isn't the only challenge facing the ill-matched pair. Exploring the Abbey's hidden passageways, they discover its crypt, and the secret of its chilling past.Heat level : PassionateDiscover more in 'The Lady's Guide' series: historical romance brimming with adventure, mystery and intrigue.
Available now
The Lady’s Guide to a Highlander's HeartThe Lady's Guide to Mistletoe and MayhemThe Lady’s Guide to Escaping CannibalsThe Lady’s Guide to Deception and Desire
Releasing through 2022 and beyond
The Lady’s Guide to Havoc in a HaremThe Lady’s Guide to Tempting a Transylvanian CountThe Lady's Guide to Egyptian CursesEach can be read as a 'stand alone' and in any order.
The Dark Regency Boxed Set
Chasity Bowlin - 2015
The Haunting of a Duke Communing with spirits has been both gift and curse to Emme Walters. Now it's made her a killer's target. Emme knows why the Dowager Duchess of Briarleigh invited her to a house party--to investigate whether the duke, Rhys Brammel, murdered his wife years ago. But Emme never imagined she would fall in love with the brooding duke. Branded by society as a possible killer, Rhys is suspicious of Emme and her alleged "gift." Then a late night encounter creates awareness of her other, more attractive, aspects. When Emme's life is threatened, Rhys becomes her protector. Emme and Rhys find passion and peril as they join forces to solve the mysteries at Briarleigh. She made him believe in spirits, but can she make him believe in love?.The Redemption of a Rogue Lord Michael Sutherland, Viscount Ellersleigh, is infamous amongst the ton for his powers of seduction and his prowess as a lover. Running from his own ennui and a lover who fancies herself his future wife, Michael retreats to the country and a crumbling, haunted castle won in a game of chance... a castle occupied by an innocent and oh so tempting young woman, Miss Abbigail Barrows. But country life proves to be anything but quiet. At a debauched house party, Michael finds himself confronted with an unfortunate quandary, marry Abbigail, an innocent, or hang for murder. Residing at Blagdon Hall, Michael's faced with the dilemmas of seducing his new wife, who seems to be impervious to his charm, and unraveling the mystery of Blagdon Hall's resident ghost and the nefarious goings on at the neighboring estate. The Enticement of an Earl Spencer, Lord Wolverston and newly named Earl of Kinraven, intended to find peace in the wilds of Scotland, far from the torment of wanting the one woman he believed he could never have. But his inheritance has come with a price he had not foreseen... a curse that is slowly driving him mad. He sends a desperate plea for help to his friend, the Duke of Briarleigh, but that plea is intercepted by the last person he wishes to see... the Duke's sister-in-law, Miss Larissa Walters, the women he left England to escape. Larissa has struggled to put her past behind her and to overcome the abuses she suffered at the hands of Lord Moreland to whom her stepfather had owed a gambling debt. Spencer had saved her then, and now, she knows it is time to return the favor. She sets out on her own to show him, and perhaps herself, that she has the courage to face her fears... and to love him as he deserves. But all is not as it would seem at Kinraven. There is darkness there—plotting, lurking, waiting in the shadows to destroy whatever happiness they may find. Can love truly conquer all, or will the darkness consume them both?Read the complete Dark Regency series:The Haunting of a Duke (Book 1)The Redemption of a Rogue (Book 2)The Enticement of an Earl (Book 3)A Love So Dark (Book 4)A Passion So Strong (Book 5)A Heart So Wicked (Book 6)An Affair So Destined (Book 7)
Rainsong
Phyllis A. Whitney - 1984
Old fans--and new ones--can dig in with total confidence."THE KIRKUS REVIEWSHollis Sands has never gotten over her husband Ricky's death. She cannot believe he took his own life and wonders if it wasn't really murder. Trying to escape her memories, she seeks peace at Windtop in Cold Spring Harbor. But strange and frightening things keep happening--voices sing the song she wrote for Ricky and guitars play from nowhere. Windtop has become a trap, but Hollis Sands will not leave, until she discovers the truth, no matter how close to death that takes her....
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
R.A. Dick - 1945
Upon discovering the rumors to be true, the young widow ends up forming a special companionship with the ghost of handsome former sea captain Daniel Gregg. Through the struggles of supporting her children, seeking out romance from the wrong places, and working to publish the captain's story as a book, Blood and Swash, Lucy finds in her secret relationship with Captain Gregg a comfort and blossoming love she never could have predicted. Originally published in 1945, made into a movie in 1947, and later adapted into a television sitcom in 1968, this romantic tale explores how love can develop without boundaries, both in this life and beyond.
Silver Nutmeg
Norah Lofts - 1947
Evert Haan, grown wealthy on black-market trading, sent to Holland for Annabet. When she arrived racked by rheumatic fever, he ordered her killed. But Annabet lived to recover her health and beauty and to find a dangerous love with an Englishman.
The Vanished Bride of Northfield House
Phyllis M. Newman - 2019
Times are hard. Anne Chatham is a clever, modest young woman with little money, no prospects for marriage, and a never-shared secret—she can see spirits. Anne finds employment as a typist at Northfield House, the grand country manor of the Wellington family. Her employer, the wheelchair-bound Mr. Wellington, is kindly. His haughty wife is not. He has two handsome sons, the wry and dashing Thomas and the dark and somber Owen. Anne feels sure her prayers have been heard. Until the terrifying night she stumbles upon a tortured spirit roaming the dark halls of Northfield, a spirit that only she can see. In a search for answers, she finds herself drawn to Owen as they unearth a tragic story from the Wellington family’s past—a beautiful young bride gone missing on her wedding day. Then tragedy strikes again on the night of a glittering masquerade ball...
Six Months to Live: The Dawn Rochelle Series, Book One (Lurlene McDaniel Books: 1)
Lurlene N. McDaniel - 2010
Dawn Rochelle is about to face the toughest fight of her life—a fight she has to win. Otherwise, she has only six months to live.
Fire Will Freeze
Margaret Millar - 1944
Shelter is found by way of a dilapidated country mansion replete with a crazy old woman and her caregiver, who “accidentally” shoots at the skiers as they approach. Unlike the would-be skiers, the inhospitable situation only goes downhill from there.
Wishwood
E.B. Wheeler - 2020
The family members talk about a curse, lights move through the ruins at night, and Kate’s maid won’t spend the night in the house. Thomas is hiding something from Kate as well, but as she grows closer to him, a series of accidents makes her suspect that someone is willing to kill to keep Wishwood’s secrets buried in the past.
The Master of Blacktower
Barbara Michaels - 1966
Suddenly her fate—her life itself—was in the black silk-gloved hands of Gavin Hamilton, a man scarred and tortured by an unspoken past, whose mocking laughter echoes through his ancient Scottish estate. Damaris has heard the whispers that accuse Gavin Hamilton of his wife's death and his young daughter's crippling injury. But the pain and sadness barely hidden behind his blazing dark stare touch Damaris deeply—and a courageous heart is luring her to the estate's topmost tower in search of his dangerous secrets.