Yesterday's Lost by Sam Cheever

by Sam Cheever
reviewed from Kindle

A truly horrifying nightmare of a well-described old history home from start to finish. Ghosts? Yes, there are, but not so much the type that just hang around for who knows what reason, but terrifying with no outer appearance to speak of nor floating around minding their own business. What would that business be? It's hard to say. A whole neighborhood is wary of the goings on. An older couple and their children live in the house, so what can be so terrifying?

Two detectives arrive on the scene when a call has been made. Neighbors are gathered outside, descriptions of the chaos within, only in the evening, are confusing and blood-curdling screams are heard within. What is happening? Our two detectives tentatively enter the house simultaneously front door and back door and find nothing but signs of strife, heavy air, fog and stench of death. So where are the family? What was making the screams? And who is the old-fashioned girl in the window?

This was a good story of haunting, serious damage, and broken-spirited investigators who have tragic results of their investigation. I shouldn't have read this one when I went to bed!

Psychic Surveys Book One: The Haunting of Highdown Hall by Shani Struthers

by Shani Struthers
reviewed from e-reader

A story all too often heard, particularly in the times of the event. It's Christmas Eve, 1958; it is also Cynthia Hart's 31st birthday. It was a time of big movies in colour, and wannabees drawn to the studios like flies to honey. Cynthia is already a huge star, but tonight she will die. How? Why? We'll follow along the search for these answers with the Psychic Surveys group.

The Psychic Surveys group are devoted to helping the dead into the light, but this will be no easy feat. Where most calls come from people who have purchased houses that were built on land where "Britain's most notorious mental asylum" once was, and could very easily have activity terrorizing them, the group attends them all and has very informed, dedicated and sensitive members, usually explaining and helping these spirits into the light, then performing a house-wide cleansing.

The group consists of Ruby, Theo, Ness and Corinna, all with different abilities. They will have a difficult task ahead. They have been called in by a very rattled homeowner, reporting what appeared to be a very angry spirit. Theo, first on the scene, has felt the strong presence herself, strongest in the master bedroom and ballroom. It seems that Cynthia has never passed on although she died many years ago. Somewhere in her last decades she has been led to believe her soul has been taken, hence the probable feeling of loss end of life, and whoever told this information will nullify it and punish the sender.  I will take care of the other errors.  Her estate had been willed to her maid Sally, and subsequently Sally's nephew Alan Kierney moved in, he is the one who called the group.

Of ghost stories, this one is a bit unusual to say the least. She is not willing to leave. Her death was recorded as a heart attack. What from that night could have caused such a thing at the top of her career? She appears to be terrified and no one could convince her otherwise. What is holding her back? The secret will have to come out soon so she can escape.  In the meantime, a ghost dog has been found at the last house barking and disturbing the neighbours, add it to the pile of queries. While checking the neighbourhood, she meets a young man who strangely is reading the same book "Drive Like Hell" seems a fitting book for the circumstances.

Questioning what Ruby did, she is always thrown off, fortunately she doesn't fall back on her usual wording, but explains she is a psychic surveyor. Of course Cash is confused, but she manages to explain her part of the rescues. This, of course, brings questions re a ghost hunter, no, she is not a ghost hunter but a psychic surveyor, there's quite a difference. She is intrigued by him, but wary. Dressed casually, she wondered what he did. "I'm a website designer, freelance." Wow! This is something helpful or so she hopes. She is needing a website for her business but knew very little about such things. Of course this requires a lot of time between them to a) learn about website control and b) teach what would be needed in her particular work. Her training coming mostly from her Gran, they must be sure everything is precise. Cynthia is terrified to leave and spends most of her time hiding, believing in a small compartment in her room. Oh, Cash has a lot to learn, and fast! The next day is going to be a wild one. He is willing to learn though, especially learning from Ruby.

Cynthia appears to be severely traumatized. She is in complete terror about what is ahead for her. Nothing seems to calm her. The group tries very hard to reason with her but for some reason she is sure that someone from her past sold her soul to the Devil. What? Much as they try to soothe her and reassure her, it will take at least one more visit from them. This was a great read, I loved it and could not have imagined the ending, with suspense building up to a crescendo, I really didn't see it coming. Great story-telling! I would happily read more of this series.

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

Review based on Advance Reading Copy

A fairytale within a fairytale.  This book was a wonderful surprise to me. The inner fairytale took me back to my childhood, but it did not leave me there once the outer fairytale began.  The Rosenthals had been a very close and loving family, but after the sudden death of her husband Jude, Meg discovers an alarming amount of debt that she will be unable to deal with in present circumstances.  Their teenage daughter Sally is not dealing with the loss of her father well, which is creating a rift between herself and her mother.

Meg is a folklorist and has entertained her daughter with some of her favourite fairytales as she grew up.  In particular, she has followed and studied fairy tales written and illustrated by two women who created a school of fine arts. The school was originally opened in Arcadia Falls to women only at a time when women were expected to marry, have children and stay home.  Meg is thrilled when she is hired to teach at Arcadia, now a co-ed boarding school a few miles from the town of Arcadia Falls. As isolated as the school is, it is here that she feels Sally will finally begin to heal.

Carol Goodman has a wonderful descriptive flow in her writing.  The story of "The Changeling Girl", a favourite tale of both Meg's and Sally's, was written in this location.  On their arrival, they see many parts of that fairy tale in the surroundings, in particular the copper beech tree, central to "The Changeling Girl" tale. Thus begins a new chapter in their lives which quickly takes on the flavor and nuances of a new fairy tale, or perhaps better said, an entwined tale of past and present.  Upon arrival at the school, the reader feels a sudden shift of reality.  Meg has been offered free use of the very cottage the original story-tellers had lived in, but Sally has chosen the dorm, leaving her mother to live in the cottage alone.

In flowing prose, Ms. Goodman has written side by side the original story and the current happenings at the school in parallels. It doesn't take long for Meg to realize that the atmosphere is heavy with strange events and a feeling of evil lurking in the background. There are many secrets, pagan holidays are celebrated by the students and  the woods are said to be haunted by the ghost of Lily, the original partner, who died in a fall... or was she murdered?  Her death left Vera, her partner, devastated.  A brilliant setting for fairy tales and an enjoyable read.  This is a winner, and is the seventh novel by Carol Goodman.  From the description of her previous book, "The Lake of Dead Languages", I will definitely want to read it too. 4 ½ stars.