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A review by readundancies
The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This read has a gothic feel, a fast pace, and is historical but not heavy handed at all. It’s easy for a historical novel to feel bogged down by world-building for me, but there’s a sense of minimalism to St. James’ writing when it comes to establishing the setting that just works for me.
The writing in general works for me, its very fluid and engaging and the paranormal angle is definitely one that lends itself very easily to this author’s writing style. But the execution is where things start to fall apart for me though, because I was constantly struggling with how the ghost story itself and the romance and character arcs never seemed to complement one another nicely. It’s like they were two pieces from differing puzzles trying to be smushed together but it just was not working. Which is a shame because as separate entities I was enjoying them. The ghost plot line was mysterious and gothic if rather predictable since the cast of characters provided was so limited. Then the character backstories and relationship dynamics had some solid depth to them that was definitely worth exploring but they just didn’t seem to mesh well with one another the way I wanted them too.
I think this story could’ve benefited from being a bit longer too. Because while the faster pace worked for the ghost story, I would’ve felt a lot more comfortable being rooted in the characters and their interactions with one another over a longer period of time so I could get to know them a lot more intimately. I wanted more time with them because I appreciated the character work that had been presented thus far and getting to explore them in a more thorough manner could only have heightened that feeling.
The more I think about it, the more I believe that the pacing was probably what ruined it for me. Because the pace I needed was going in two opposing directions when it came to the major plot points. Also I feel like the title could be workshopped some more. As it stands, for a title it’s a bit too on the nose for me and not terribly inspiring from a creative standpoint.
I think this story could’ve benefited from being a bit longer too. Because while the faster pace worked for the ghost story, I would’ve felt a lot more comfortable being rooted in the characters and their interactions with one another over a longer period of time so I could get to know them a lot more intimately. I wanted more time with them because I appreciated the character work that had been presented thus far and getting to explore them in a more thorough manner could only have heightened that feeling.
The more I think about it, the more I believe that the pacing was probably what ruined it for me. Because the pace I needed was going in two opposing directions when it came to the major plot points. Also I feel like the title could be workshopped some more. As it stands, for a title it’s a bit too on the nose for me and not terribly inspiring from a creative standpoint.
But I still enjoyed myself, so that's an overall win.