*Review* : Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey

Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey

Series : No

Released : 9th July 2011

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format : Paperback
Source : Publishers (Thank you!)

Finished : 8th July 2011

Overall rating

Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.

Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother's scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she's known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?

When l opened Haunting Violet and saw that it was written in past tenses (around 1870s if l remember right!) l was a bit nervous about whether this would ruin it for me. It didn’t!

Haunting Violet has the perfect balance between enough historical information for me to understand the story but not too much to the point it bored me. I actually found l enjoyed the descriptions which Alyxandra gave of the surrounding area and how she didn’t describe them too much but added to the images in my head by describing it some more at a later point.

Violet is a great character who just wants to live a simple existence and be happy. This made me warm to her straight away as well as chuckle at her a few points in this book at some of her complaints. It was great to know Violet had someone there to guide her through everything, Colin, even though she is a strong character you can see at times she just needed someone who she could be herself with.

I found myself constantly picking this book up to quickly read what happens next but l was never quite satisfied as there was always some other twist being added just as something is revealed. The speed in which everything happened felt perfect, it didn’t go on too long that anything became unrealistic or boring but things were discovered in a way which kept me gripped. The ending really got my heart racing, l never knew what was going to happen next and how the characters were going to react.

I loved how Haunting Violet also offers much more than Violet trying to uncover the murderer. The romance in this book is very interesting and sweet, l found myself learning a lot of how marriages used to work in the 1800s as well as other relationships, especially the relationship between Violet and her mum. 

One thing l will say is that l was sometimes confused as to who was who. There was a lot of ‘Lords’ and l think my brain just clicks off after the ‘first name’ so everyone was lord to me!

Overall Haunting Violet is a great book written in the 1800s which is much more than you can imagine! It has a bit of everything including ghosts, romance, humour, murder, as well as characters that are evil, good, rich and poor. Every character l met was unique and l found it interesting to see how money seemed to play a bigger part in life in the 1800s then now. At least l felt so with how the money depended on who you could talk to, marry and what you could do.  

******************************************

Ratings :

Plot : 4/5

Cover : 4.5/5

Page Turner : 4/5

Characters : 4/5

Ending : 5/5

******************************************

Series -

No

2011 Books Challenges -

No

******************************************
Buy your copy

Amazon (UK/USA) 

Book Depository
Alyxandra talks about Haunting Violet!
Also check out this video, Alyxandra talks about all things paranormal