Dates: July 26th - 30th

Genre: Gothic Suspense
Subgenre: Victorian Ghost Story

 
Blurb:

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡-𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭.

𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.

Arriving back at her home estate, the first thing Rose does is visit her stepsister Sarah’s grave, taking her younger sister, Maggie, along. After a forced retreat at the cousins', Rose looks forward to some normalcy and a return to routine. Not to mention the unexpected upcoming ball hosted by their elusive neighbors to introduce their son Henry, who has been away. Perhaps this mysterious Henry may become interested in Rose. Or most likely he would become her younger sister's fourth suitor and Rose would endure more “old maid” banter.
 
With the oppressive heat and unpredictable weather, Rose and Maggie are caught in a sudden severe thunderstorm. Maggie makes it back before the sky unleashes its fury, but Rose is caught behind. She really doesn’t mind, however, because she loves the rain and the wind and the gardens and could stay outside their stuffy mansion forever. Away from the wardrobe.
 
In the midst of the storm, Rose is cut by a briar and becomes caught in the mud. She sees a woman on their front porch. 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘦?

“Help me, Maggie!” But the woman is gone.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐀 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧.