Monday 29 February 2016

Cursed Once More by Amanda DeWees (2015) Narrated by Elizabeth Klett (2015)


Publisher's Summary
The thrilling sequel to With This Curse, winner of the 2015 Daphne du Maurier Award for historical mystery/suspense!
She went in search of her past...and found danger in the present.
Former seamstress Clara Blackwood seems to have found happiness at last. Having defied the Gravesend Curse, she is a blissfully married baroness and mistress of a grand estate. But now a mysterious summons shatters her contented life.
Clara grew up believing that her mother's family had disowned them. But the grandmother Clara never knew is now entreating her to visit Thurnley Hall, the family seat in Yorkshire. The old lady is on her deathbed and anxious to disclose vital family secrets before it's too late - for Clara's unborn child may be cursed with a horrible fate.
Accompanied by her devoted husband, Atticus, Clara arrives at Thurnley to find intrigue brewing. Her boorish uncle, Horace Burleigh, is greedy for her wealth and desperate to protect the family's mysteries. Superstitious fear of Atticus torments the hulking Romanian servant, Grigore, and even the soft-spoken young ward, Victor Lynch, may have secret motives for getting close to Clara and her husband.
When her grandmother dies under suspicious circumstances, Clara feels compelled to investigate. And when Atticus vanishes mysteriously, she must draw on all her strength and determination to find him before his time runs out...before her life can be cursed once more.


Review 5 stars
Another exciting adventure for newlyweds, Clara and Atticus.
'Cursed Once More' takes place in Clara's ancestral home. Clara is invited to stay and meet her family and she is determined to find out as much as possible about them and her parents. However, there is more to this family reunion than meets the eye. Her grandmother alludes to a terrible family secret but is murdered before she gets the opportunity to divulge any useful information.
Clara's relatives are stranger than Atticus's family and it isn't long before Clara seriously considers certain members of the household of being a cold blooded murderer.  The killer has to be caught before they strike again.

There is a rich cast of spooky and strange characters in 'Cursed Once More.' The crumbling, dreary old mansion and the local people's fear of Clara's Romanian relatives, heavily influenced by vampire lore, lend a moody feel to the story.   

Again Elizabeth Klett, the narrator, does a fabulous job of performing the story. Listening to the audio version certainly heightened my enjoyment of the novel and I will be looking out for her name when considering buying audiobooks in the future.
I loved 'Cursed Once More' just as much as the first book, 'With This Curse,' and, without a doubt, I would recommend both books. 

Buy here Kindle version £2.99

I bought the Kindle version and I was gifted the audiobook from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

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