Beneath a Waning Moon: A Duo of Gothic Romances by Elizabeth Hunter
Two delightfully dark tales of Gothic romance from Elizabeth Hunter and Grace Draven.
In A VERY PROPER MONSTER, Josephine Shaw spends long nights filling the pages of her Gothic stories with the fantastic and the macabre, unaware that the suitor her father has arranged is one of the dark creatures she’s always dreamed. For Tom Dargin, courting an ailing spinster was only one duty in a long life of service to his sire. But after he meets the curious Miss Shaw, will Tom become the seducer or the seduced? Can a love fated to end in tragedy survive a looming grave?
In GASLIGHT HADES, Nathaniel Gordon walks two worlds–that of the living and the dead. Barely human, he’s earned the reputation of a Bonekeeper, the scourge of grave robbers. He believes his old life over, until one dreary burial he meets the woman he once loved and almost married. Lenore Kenward stands at her father’s grave, begging the protection of the mysterious guardian, not knowing he is her lost love. Resolved to keep his distance, Nathaniel is forced to abandon his plan and accompany Lenore on a journey into the mouth of Hell where sea meets sky, and the abominations that exist beyond its barrier wait to destroy them.
My Take:
Since I loved Hunter’s other Elemental series, I eagerly read the first few books in this Elemental series, all full length novels with fun, witty characters that were dark and very noir, different places around the world where they interacted with other intriguing characters.
Imagine my disappointment in finding two novellas instead, both around 100 or so pages, give or take. I felt cheated, as both stories read as rushed through. There wasn’t much development, we get cursory run downs of everyone, no one interacts, they stay in one part of the country. We get peripheral interaction that you miss if you speed read. There’s no drama about either short story, nothing really happens.
They are billed as Gothic Romances but there’s really very little romance. We get characters that aren’t fully developed going through the motions of what an idea of romance is. Very disappointed in these stories. I give 2 stars.
Brick ONeil 