Nocturnal Book Reviews

4.5/5
Egalley thanks to Grand Central Publishing
The words that come to mind after reading this book are... succulent, rich, vibrant. Yes, I loved it, but it could have been so much more.

London in the end of 19th century is a dark ugly place, where paranormals hide in plain sight. There are plenty of bad rumours and an atmosphere of fear surrounding a tortured hero - Benjamin Archer, an aristocrat and a self-made millionaire in best traditions of Gothic novels, . He is rumoured to be involved in gruesome killings, but nothing has been proved. He wears a black masque, nobody knows what he looks like, and he is always alone.

Until he pays an impoverished baron/pirate a fortune to have his daughter as his young and beautiful wife.

Miranda is no innocent Society Miss. She was raised on the streets of London, can put up a vicious sword fight, changes her accents with an ease and supports her dad by stealing jewelry in various pawn shops. She's got her own dark secrets, enjoys danger and tired of being lonely, so mysterious Lord Archer pushes all the right buttons for her to agree to their marriage.

However, she is not satisfied with the life of luxury Archer provides. Someone tries to frame him for recent brutal killings of members of a club, and Miranda is determined to help her husband to catch the killer and prove his innocence, she is also dying to know what he hides behind his masque...

The plot is full of action and beautifully descriptive. The mythology and a range of paranormals is very refreshing. You would never guess what Lord Archer is, and Miranda's power was something I haven't seen in many books. Their pairing works really well.

However, the book was lacking depth. I wanted to know more, I wanted the confrontation not to be left to the very end, the mythology should have been described better as well. The villain was very one dimensional and too simple while you wanted him to be more devious. The secondary characters haven't had the opportunity to develop...

Despite all this I've enjoyed the book immensely, and can't wait for the second instalment in the series which has an absolutely gorgeous cover as well!