A review by darthsansa
The Parlour Game by Jennifer Renshaw

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I gravitate toward dark and gothic books, and that is what drew me to The Parlour Game. The protagonist, Ivy Granger, leads a sheltered life in the country studying botany with her beloved mother. She has a strained, almost nonexistent relationship with her father, half-brother, and overbearing aunt. She has also been haunted by voices and shadows since childhood, which her mother has helped keep at bay. But when her mother dies, Ivy’s father forces her to choose between marriage to a brutish man or committal to an asylum…and the voices and shadows return.  At her mother’s funeral, she is approached by the beautiful and mysterious Miss Earnshaw who claims to have known Ivy’s mother. She offers Ivy a home and the chance to continue her botanical studies in London. Initially,  Ivy is stunned to learn her mother had a life in London before marriage to her father, but when her situation becomes desperate, she steals away to seek refuge with Miss Earnshaw.

Upon arrival in London, Ivy learns that Miss Earnshaw is a spiritualist and has disappeared. She was last seen conducting a seance in the foreboding Blackham House, home to the seriously creepy and dysfunctional Blackham family. Determined to find out what happened to Miss Earnshaw, Ivy goes undercover as a servant  to the Blackham family and is plunged into a dark and dangerous world.

The sinister atmosphere in the book is dialed up to 11. Blackham House is incredibly creepy, and the author does an amazing job of setting the scene. I could picture each room of the house in all its horrifying detail. Toward the end of the book, there is one specific part of the house that mirrored a childhood nightmare of mine, and it seriously freaked me out. 

I did find myself occasionally getting annoyed with Ivy due to her sheltered and naive nature. The pace is very slow, and it often feels like Ivy isn’t making any progress. But in the last quarter of the book all hell breaks loose. The ending is satisfying, but leaves the door cracked for book 2.

While I am a big fan of the dark and gothic, I don’t like straight-up horror, especially anything gory. For me, this book hit the right spot….it delivered on the foreboding, while never crossing the line into horror. I rated it 4-stars, and I look forward to the next installment.

Thanks to Net Galley and BooksGoSociall  for this ARC edition.