Okay, internet braintrust–book recommendation time!

I am in the mood for a Gothic romance.

I don’t mean "heroine wears a lot of black and listens to the Cure," I mean…oh, you know. Serious young woman hired as governess in dark brooding castle on the moors, grumpy servants making dark hints, pitying looks from the townsfolk, until she falls madly in love with the dark brooding owner of the dark brooding castle, who then turns out to be a were-yeti.

I’m flexible on the bit with the were-yeti.

The problem is that I read a fantasy novel recently that tried to do it, and suffered some serious problems of pacing, so that the heroine took half the book and a failed romance to get to the brooding castle in the first place and then only had ten minutes to fall in love with the brooding owner of said castle, who thus had the character development of lichen. I found myself mildly annoyed, particularly since I suspect it’s gonna be one of those exceedingly complex politically thrilling vaguely steampunk trilogies, which species I’ve pretty much lost all patience with.

The end result was that I wanted to see it done WELL. So, O readers–suggest a Gothic romance! Or even a horror novel that fits the general parameters–if she has set the were-yeti on fire and escape older, wiser, and somewhat saddened, I will happily read that as well. (Please,though, no vampires. So very tired of vampires. Unless it ends with her setting the vampire on fire and escaping, in which case I might give it a whirl.)

So! Any recommendations? 

3 thoughts on “

  1. Dottie says:

    It’s not Gothic, but I highly recommend Stephen Donaldson’s “Mirror of her Dreams” and “A Man Rides Through.” (One story, two books.)

    It’s fantasy romance done right; a serious young woman gets dragged into another world where she has to deal with the crazies there and the super alluring villain (who is dark and brooding!)

    The romance bit isn’t cheesy, either, but genuinely touching and realistic and the magic is really unique.

  2. Rathe inh says:

    I recommend the Abhorson trilogy by Garth Nix. Gothic (well, dark and interesting) with fantasy and some romance. I highly recommend his collection of short stories, Across the Wall, but the first story won’t make sense unless you read the Abhorson trilogy.

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