Happy Publication Day Isobel!
So in the next few months you might see this lovely author appearing on my blog as I have a couple of Isobel’s books to read and I also will be highlighting another one of her books due for release! So hope you will all show a lot of love! <3
Today it is publication day for Isobel, with her book Clarissa’s Warning, which is noted as a classic gothic mystery! My kind of thing! Haunted houses too!
Published by Creativia on November 30 2018
Genres: Gothic, Mystery
Pages: 257
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: Clarissa's Warning, A Matter of Latitude
A lottery jackpot changes Claire Bennett’s life.
She buys an ancient stone ruin on the island of her dreams. Her mystic aunt Clarissa warns her of danger, but Claire pays no heed.
Soon after moving to the idyllic island, Claire is confronted by a mystery. As the sinister story of her home slowly uncovers, Claire enters a world of inexplicable events and ordeals. Someone or something doesn't want her there.
But is it really a curse, or is there something else behind the events?
Ooooh right! Sounds good doesn’t it. So what has been said about it already
Goodreads reviewer says
The novel soars as a classic story of love, passion and a promise to protect the places that hold our civilization’s history within it. With a heavy focus on character development with light doses of horror and thriller elements, this is a story readers will thoroughly enjoy.
I liked how the author has wriggled in the supernatural creepy stuff into the story with things getting shifted, doors opening on their own, workers harmed. There was a sense of impending doom, of things gathering up to raise its storm. That spiked my interest and pages turned almost constantly till the end.
Awesome!!! I am excited already! Okay so let us check out the excerpt from the book!
Everyone has their price. It is my father’s favourite saying. He is a used-car salesman turned property developer. I am neither of those things. But when I read in a local newspaper that the owner of the house of my dreams was intent on demolition I took swift action. I tossed sanity into the Jetstream and, in a single if complicated move, threw my all into saving that house.
In truth, not a house, it was nothing that could be called a home, the building – not much more than sections of stone wall and roof – holding on through its own tenacity, little left to brace against a relentless wind. For the ruin was located not among the folds of green in my home county of Essex, nor in any other quarter of bucolic pasture, but on a flat and dusty plain in desert dry Fuerteventura, an island I had been visiting each year for my annual holiday.
I wasn’t entirely devoid of common sense. My ruin was situated in the inland town of Tiscamanita, a safe distance from beach-crazed revellers yet not so far off the beaten track as to be isolated and remote. The island was desolate enough without secreting myself away in one of its many barren and empty valleys. In a well-established village, I would have everything I required for a comfortable life, secure in the knowledge that there were others nearby if I needed them. As a single woman used to living in a bustling English town, one had to think of these things.
The troubles began the moment I decided to act. The former owner of my beloved ruin, the gentleman poised with his wrecking ball, had not been difficult to identify. His name was mentioned in the same newspaper article, the Fuerteventura journalist at pains to detail some of the recent ownership history. The various genealogical details meant nothing to me. I could read Spanish well enough—I’ve been learning for years—but I had no understanding of Spanish nobility, and I lacked a deep knowledge of Fuerteventura’s colonial history. In the age of information technology, when business deals could be conducted remotely with a few mouse clicks and the odd signature here and there, nothing might have been simpler than purchasing a property overseas. There were websites talking prospective buyers through all the legal requirements, pitfalls and traps. Were it not for the fact that the possessor of my coveted dream home resided somewhere in mainland Spain and had he not been bent on using the property for whatever development aspirations he may have held dear, the purchase would have sailed through to completion in a few months.
The first complication was locating the owner’s address. Entering the name in a few online searches revealed his business interests. With those scrawled in my notebook, I hired a lawyer to make the initial contact and establish my credentials: I, Claire Bennett of Colchester, a humble bank teller by profession until my fortunes turned on the numbers of a lottery ticket and I found myself astonishingly well-off.
Possessing all that wealth had taken possession of me, given me the will to leap, to take a chance. The greater part of me remained shocked I had the courage to go through with it.
Much to my chagrin, the owner, Señor Mateo Cejas, responded to my inquiry with a cool and firm refusal. The ruin was not for sale. Well, I knew that. The local government, in a fit of guilt over letting so many old buildings fall into ruin, had deemed the dwelling of special interest and already made an offer and it was declined. A full account of the frustrations of various officials and the local community were felt by the writer of the newspaper article who shared their view.
I suspected Señor Cejas opposed the building’s transformation into yet another island museum, the restoration of a traditional windmill in Tiscamanita already serving the purpose. Or perhaps he had in mind the construction of holiday lets on the substantial parcel of land. It was the sort of plan my father, Herb Bennett of Bennett and Vine, would have had in mind. Demolish and rebuild. Sell at a premium to investors keen to rent out to holidaymakers; developers couldn’t lose. They were an inexorable breed, prepared to play a long game. No doubt Cejas would have waited until the walls collapsed to rubble then the government would have given in and granted a demolition permit. That Cejas may have had a deeper, more complex reason for wanting to erase the structure didn’t enter my mind.
My father tried to talk me out of my plans. He took to phoning me in the evenings when he knew I was watching Kevin McCloud, and he would go on and on about how there were a million better uses for my winnings. I would hold the phone away from my ear and let him rant until he ran out of advice.
I can not wait to get stuck in this book! Hope you have a fab day too Isobel!
Until next time x
Shalini says
Oooh I just read hers and reviewed it
Shalini says
Yayy… One of the goodreads reviewer was me!! Thanks Zoe for the shout out
Zoe says
ha ha I know your post went live after mine, but I will update it with a link to your page now 🙂 my pleasure
Shalini says
Thank you. ❤️you are awesome
Zoe says
aw thank you nice of you to say lol. It is my pleasure!
Shalini says
Thank you
henatayeb says
Sound interesting.
http://www.henatayeb.blogspot.com
Zoe says
It does doesn’t it! Thank you for stopping by?
Theresa says
Great book & Twerk too. 1 of my faves of this year
Zoe says
I have Twerk to read too I can’t wait. They both sound so good!
jenchaos76 says
This sounds really good as well!
Zoe says
I have this to read so shall keep you posted