Haunting Violet , by Alyxandra Harvey

Paperback, 344 pages

Published July 9th 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (first published January 1st 2011)

ISBN

1408811316 (ISBN13: 9781408811313)

edition language

English

original title

Haunting Violet

 

Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.
Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother's scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she's known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?

 

My Review

I use to hate the idea of watching shows like most haunted merely because I didn't want to believe in the existence of ghosts being in my personal space. Yet no one has been able to prove whether they do or do not live, so why should we not write about it in the form of a story. I loved the old victorian style that this book seemed to carry that made it appear stronger in many senses and engaging in others. Like her other novels, the book called for the reader to relate and connect to the piece so that they could not only read it but experience it for what it was. The characters were well presented though a little predictable. It was easy enough to see and guess that something was to bloom between Colin and Violet from the word go, and as soon as you knew what Violets mother did, you knew she was the fake and that Violet however, was a girl of skill. There were some mysteries though within the book that did keep you hanging on. Had this not been the case then I fear that perhaps the book would have been dull and rather uninteresting.

In many ways the book was more a crime mystery rather than a fantasy one. It was almost like cludo. Who did it and why? When Mr Travis is suspected, there is this strong incling that actually it could not have been him. After all the first suspected person never ever turns out to be the criminal in the case, so it wouldn't make sense for someone to change that theory now. I suppose in many ways the uncle was not to be suspected merely because he didn't seem to have all that big a roll in the novel, so you didn't reallyt get to see his personality or really get to identify and understand his character. Although the book was rather simplistic, it was an ok read. I prefer the authros drake chronicles though, merely because this seemed to be lacking something, though I am not sure that I can quite put my finger on it.

Some of the main characters, like tabitha and elizabeth for example, didnt seem to have as big as a roll as they should of had. They were there in the story but you didnt really get to know them as you did with violet, colin and the mother. But that does not make it a bad read. In my opinion it was an average one. It wasn't serious but it wasn't entirely all that. Im not sure that its one I would pick up and read a second time, but at the same time, I am not going to say ugh I wish I never read that at all because there were parts which I enjoyed.

My rating