Hello everyone!
What could possibly be better, I ask you?
While the previous three books could be picked up on BookSirens - the lovely, lovely online resource for readers and writers alike when it comes to exchanging ARCs and reviews - this one was only available to the people lucky enough for Ms Nash to specifically choose for her team.
I count myself extremely honoured and humble to be a part of it.
And I am LOVING this series.
Like, seriously!
When all is said and done, this is a magnificent slow burn paranormal-based romance, and I truly wish that everyone would pick up a copy to read. It's just THAT good.
So without further ado - we return to the realm of ghosts tonight, in Gray Lady.
Links to previous related posts - as this is the fourth in a series - can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual.
Madame Chalamet tells the story of how one Elinor gets embroiled in a much, much bigger political situation in her kingdom through helping the Duke, Tristan, the King's head of security. Between them, they uncover truths behind murders, abductions, ghostly possessions ... and fall in love along the way, because what else did you expect?
And at the moment, our Duke is kind of worried about Elinor, who isn't recovering as well as anyone would hope after her stint with drugs, poisons and the Beyond in the previous book.
For that reason, he procures an invitation for her to go spend some time at the seaside, at a family estate, and hopefully there won't be anyone attempting to poison anyone else in the process of that little retreat.
But there IS a Gray Lady.
Gray Ladies, as Elinor explains, are manifestations that can be connected to a place or action more than a person, and this particular one she's asked to investigate apparently pops up right before someone in the family she belongs to is about to die. Throw in the fact that said family is attempting to secure a marriage between their son and heir and a lovely girl who seem to be head-over-heels, and Elinor smells a rat somewhere in this.
More importantly, however, this little retreat gives her the opportunity and the chance to spend more time with Tristan without being surrounded by the ton and gossiped about, as well as judged, which leads to some truly heartwearming scenes (and, well, some rather warm ones, though she kinda-sorta faints once right after he REALLY gets going, which I suppose would put a damper on anyone's mood, to be honest).
And it seems she might be investigating a couple different cases at the same time: the appearance of the Gray Lady - what actually happened that she's there - why do the family matriarchs not want the young couple to marry - why is the Duke's sister acting so sketchy - and why is her friend apparently coercing her into something?
This last is what I found particularly poignant, because Valentina - Tristan's sister - has never really liked Elinor, but that doesn't stop Elinor from preventing an act that would be very devastating to the family as a whole, and taking matters into her own hands when it turns out the friend? Well, she's not so much a friend as she is a blackmail-er, and Elinor gets a hold of incriminating evidence, sending it off to her mortician friend to return to the King.
Moving on to the two matriarchs?
Well, they have their separate reasons for pretending the Gray Lady is after the girl, but one is more noble than the other; the guy's mother wants to protect her from the sins of her husband - who, jovial as he appears, is apparently always into younger girls which makes me want to clobber him over the head - while the girl's mother wants to ruin her so that she can still have control over her finances when all is said and done.
And the Gray Lady?
Well, after interrogating the ghosts at the family cemetery, they learn this tragic story from the guardian who just so happens to be family originator - and the one who started the curse to begin with:
he married a woman he adored and who loved him, but then circumstances arose that caused him to doubt her and doubt whether or not the baby she carried was his. She swore up and down that it was the truth, and he still didn't believe her, so he tossed her off the widow's walk to her death, only to die himself shortly afterwards, and the Gray Lady (his wife, in case it isn't obvious yet) now appears right before a betrayal occurs, rather than a death, which seems to just be a consequence of said betrayal.
And on their way back from the cemetery, Elinor and Tristan find their host - the one with the love of young girls - dead. Stabbed right through.
Turns out he was blackmailing his son's bride-to-be, regardless how his wife and son (who isn't even his natural son because I don't think he can have kids, but his wife got pregnant by an earl's stable master, rather than the earl as everyone thinks, who was a bore and a half) both tried to protect her and keep him away from her. And the girl, while trying to scare him off, ended up actually, well, off-ing him.
Things go from bad to worse when they arrive at the house to find one of the most annoying characters I've ever had the chance to read about, and who investigates and questions things on behalf of the King without half of Tristan's resources or charm.
He pushes Elinor too far, too, and she - exhausted, as well as finally understanding why she isn't healing as she should, because she's carrying the souls of the four deceased girls within her - lets loose, much to Tristan's chagrin and amusement. Because, you know, while you're busy attempting to pin treason on the Duke, my guy, you have a murder mystery there in the backyard.
Now armed with some new knowledge, not to mention the Duke's affections, Elinor returns to the city with Valentina, thinking about what Tristan had told her that all his sources say there aren't any ghosts because someone's been stealing bodies and playing with keeping them alive (just like one of their guests during this misadventure, who was kept alive by a combination of drugs and literally disintegrated once he missed a dose), tying everything back to the mysterious 'Big Bad' we seem to be hurtling towards, who also had a hand in the death of Elinor's father.
But we don't know anything much there yet, and we leave Elinor to clear up some dramatic infatuation of a woman who keeps spreading rumours about the Duke and what happened at his house, much to my amusement, and the amusement of the girl's mother.
The end!
OHMYGOODNESS FINALLY THOUGH!
The slow burn in these novellas is something else - but now we're starting to see the more human side of Tristan and Elinor both, though particularly Tristan, and digging a bit more into what happened with his wife (which ... honestly, some women take the cake) and why, exactly, he dragged Elinor to his house back in Ghost Talker.
This is how that went inside my head.
The slow burn in these novellas is something else - but now we're starting to see the more human side of Tristan and Elinor both, though particularly Tristan, and digging a bit more into what happened with his wife (which ... honestly, some women take the cake) and why, exactly, he dragged Elinor to his house back in Ghost Talker.
This is how that went inside my head.
The Duke in book 1: You're coming with me so you don't spill any secrets.
Me: You're protecting her from something, know something about her dad's murder, something something, you're the intelligence person, you'll figure it out!
The Duke in book 4: yeah no you're giving me way too much credit here, I just wanted her.
Me: ...
Also me: fair enough.
I love the way they keep getting closer and I can't wait to see how this continues. The Gray Lady mystery was also really well done, I thought (and amusing that BOTH matriarchs wanted to use the legend in their own way, and for their own reasons, some good, some less so), though I'm now very keen on exploring just how Elinor's powers ... soul? ... work.
I also want to know about this betrayal. I honestly can't believe that it would be Tristan or anyone of her inner circle, so I'm giving the Morpheus Society the gimlet eye here, particularly as the Duke warns her to write to her former apprentice often, to keep in touch. There's so much more happening behind the scenes now that the episodic ghost mystery feels sort of like a side quest along the main mission of figuring out the backdrop of all this (honorary mention to the King's prosecutor or whatever the heck he was, because poor man was NOT prepared whatsoever).
Something wicked this way comes, and I have a feeling it'll be a huge banger when it's revealed what it is!
10/10 recommend.
xx
*image not mine
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