Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Spirit Legacy (The Gateway Trilogy #1) in Books
Dec 10, 2019
These cryptic words wake college student Jess Ballard from a terrifying dream into an even more terrifying reality. Jess' life has never been what anyone would call easy; doing damage control in the wake of your nomadic, alcoholic mother doesn't exactly make for a storybook childhood. But now her world has fallen apart just when it should be coming together: her mother gone—dead under mysterious circumstances; her life uprooted to stay with estranged relatives she’s never met; and there’s something odd about some of the people she’s been meeting at school:
They’re dead.
Aided by Tia, her neurotic roommate, and Dr. David Pierce, a ghost-hunting professor, Jess must unravel the mystery behind her hauntings. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger shadows her every move. An ancient secret, long-buried, is about to claw its way to the surface, and nothing can prepare Jess for one terrifying truth...
...her encounters with the world of the dead are only just beginning.
Spirit Legacy is the first of three thrilling novels in The Gateway Trilogy by E.E. Holmes.
I really enjoyed this book! It popped up on Facebook recommend by a friend. I'm glad I went with it. A touch of ghost whispering mixed with college like. Jess not only loses her mum the has to live with an aunt she doesn't know while starting a new college but she also gets landed with spirits and a twin sister she knew nothing about! This could easily have turned into one of those whiney teen books but it was far from it and Jess being a character you can get along with.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
ClareR (6037 KP) rated The Lady of the Ravens in Books
Jan 7, 2020
Joan and her mother are taken in to the care of Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII’s mother, during the end years of the Wars of the Roses. She becomes a good friend to Princess Elizabeth in the time before she marries Henry, and goes on to be a Lady in Waiting and eventually the Lady Governess to the Princesses Margaret and Mary.
I really enjoyed all of the historical detail and what life was really like in Tudor England: the preoccupation with death and the many ways that a woman especially, could die, and the precariousness of children’s lives.
I had never really thought about the Ravens in the Tower of London (you’re never interested about the places that are on your doorstep as you’re growing up, I fear 🤷🏼♀️), assumed they’d always been there and that they’d always been seen as important to the realm. But in this novel, we learn that they were actually seen as vermin by the nobility and soldiers stationed there, until Joan and her servant looked after them, convincing others - royalty especially - of their significance to the safety of England and the Royal Family.
I haven’t read Joanna Hickson books before, but I really enjoyed the characters, the insights into the royal family, the uncertainty around the possible sons of York (Perkin Warbeck for one), the descriptions of everyday life - and just the evocative styled her writing.
Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for my copy of this great book to read and review.
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