In ‘Invitation To Darkness’ sea captain Jamie Thames meets wealthy heiress Elizabeth Leavenworth and the two women quickly fall in love. Of course, it’s never that simple in a Gothic story. Leavenworth Manor is haunted, but ghosts are the least of the lovers’ troubles.Writing about her An Invitation To Darkness, author Hailey Piper said about her protagonist, Jamie Thames: “I love her. She’s … She’s confident, caring, and entirely in the wrong genre. She’s just come off a life of adventure on high seas, pretending to be a man, and thinks she’s now settling into a romance. When it’s clear something’s wrong at Leavenworth Manor, she takes to it as if she’s still in the adventure stories of her old life. There’s something charming about that level of headstrong bravado.”
(Cover by Adrian Baldwin)
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I finished this last night with no solid idea of what to say about it. I think this is mainly because it’s a book that appears to be very self-conscious in delivering the point across that the main character Capt Jamie Thames is a lesbian pirate. She decides to retire, instantly meets a wealthy heiress who just so happens to also be widowed and a lesbian (what are the odds eh?) And we are heading down the road towards a somewhat familiar and stereotypical happy relationship and marriage and found that the whole love story aspect actually distracted from the rest of the story.
Regarding the remaining story I think it’s fair to say that it was as if I was reading two different stories at the same time, with the Gothic horror story component being not only incredibly strong but also well written, which is why I have not been sure what to say about this book as a total experience. The evil presence, simply known as ‘husband’ is one of the best and most distinct creations I’ve read in a long time, and the whole situation surrounding him is flawless.
Overall I’m going to have to give it three stars because it’s an exceptionally rare book that will get five from me, and a four has to hit all of the right notes, which this book would have done admirably if it had left the love story element out of the book entirely. Is it a dealbreaker? Hell no! What I saw as a distraction others may see as a strength, what I saw as powerful writing will be obvious when you read it.
This Hailey Piper short-short (In my collected edition, it is 28 pages long) AITD, Hailey swaps modern-day settings for the late 1800s. Central to the main theme of the story is a same-sex love story, lovingly rendered and set against a paranormal background.
The story here is pretty straightforward, told almost as a mystery, the exact nature of the paranormal threat is revealed around three-quarters of the way through this short, and the remaining third deals with the main character’s goal of ridding herself and her new wife of the paranormal menace.
So – I have to say that the voice here was well done, I think I was swayed enough by the language here to say that Hailey showed the historic time placement well enough, and I was pre-disposed to like the love story between the two women. I do have to say that the “monster” when revealed, failed to threaten me – it felt very much that the ending was always going to be in a location revealed earlier on in the book, so I wasn’t overly surprised by the way things ended. That said, the novel time-set change here impressed me, Hailey is showing her diversity in both characters, historical voice, and novella-length here, making this piece so restrictively short is actually quite impressive.
It’s a nice enough read, and whilst it is the shortest and, in my opinion, less developed of the four pieces, it deserves a 4 out of 5 ’s.
An Invitation to Darkness is a chilling tale of lovers haunted by the evil of a past life. Hailey Piper wrote vividly descriptive scenes that swept me away to Leavenworth Manor, the estate by the sea. This short, sharp story is sure to shock readers.
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This Gothic ghost story set in 1881 and featuring a retired female sea captain captured my attention from page one.
The prose is rich but not too flowery. The atmosphere is dark and spooky. The main character, Captain Jamie, and her beloved, Elizabeth, are lesbians, and that plays into the haunting in a unique fashion.
The way the male ghost talks is gimmicky but effective and comes across as creepy.
Piper uses the Gothic trope of the elderly relative in the attic to full effect. And the creepy, old manor, too, and darkness and secret passages!
I have one quibble, and it’s that I got confused about the graveyard. I couldn’t tell what had been going on all these past years, apparently in cycles. Still, it’s a fabulous story, so only half a star off.
Overall, this novelette is a fresh take on the classic Gothic haunting. 4.5 spooky stars.