Liquid Silver Books, $4.99, ISBN 978-1-62210-245-7
Historical Romance, 2015
Benedict St John and Estelle Humphrey are getting married, but their wedding arrangements are marred by the fact that Ben’s father is being blackmailed. Curiously, the blackmailer also invites him and Estelle to the party at his place, but then again, this is a pretty good chance for Ben and Estelle (he lets her in on his father’s problem) to see if they can do something about the villain and the blackmail plot. Meanwhile, the villain goes mua-ha-ha in a typical evil overlord way and gloats in the shadows very often.
For a Gothic-style romance and light mystery, Shadowed by Sin has the atmosphere down pat. The language is purple but not in a too florid or overwrought way, there are shadows and secrets all over the place, and even a hint of woo-woo. The villain is a bit on a theatrical side, but I suppose it’s all part of the package.
Unfortunately, the hero and the heroine are pretty dull. This story is like a Scooby-Doo cartoon episode with only the boring blond dude and his girlfriend in the lead – bland, in other words. Oh, they love one another, they understand one another, she is sweet, he is capable – yeah, yeah, I know, good for them for having found one another, but surely they can be a bit more interesting in the process? The most memorable fellow here is the villain, and even that, that fellow is more of a tragic kind of interesting than anything else.
Still, Shadowed by Sin is an easy-to-read and easy-to-digest story. It doesn’t leave any unpleasant aftertaste, but at the same time, it tastes a little too much like plain crackers for my liking.
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