The Ghostly Screams of Stormhaven

"Don't go up there alone!"

Elizabeth Stevens knew she had been lucky to obtain a position with the wealthy Earl of Chesham at Stormhaven. She was awed by the magnificence of the manor house, and even more so by the master himself-the dark and brooding Derek Vanderworth. But it was his golden-haired daughter, Amy who attracted Elizabeth's attention with her sad, sorrowful eyes. The little girl had not spoken since her mother's death a year ago, and Elizabeth was determined to befriend her and discover more about the tragic past…even if it meant braving the fierce resistance of the arrogant Earl. Yet, it was not until she saved Amy's life that Derek began to provide answers and admit to this love for Elizabeth. But by then it was too late. Mysterious crying in the night and strange noises from the fourth floor had aroused Elizabeth's suspicions and her fear. There was a madness lurking in the shadows of Stormhaven, and Elizabeth wondered if the ghostly screams she heard might soon be her own.

Original Publisher: Zebra
Original Year of Publication: 1992
Page Count: 286

Good grief, this book is bad. It started off just being so-bad-its-funny, but ended up being just plain ridiculous.

First, there is the setting: this basically takes place at the Biltmore estate, if said estate had been built, owned, and lived in year-round by an English lord who had no concern for society or propriety. He treats everyone in his household as an equal, from the lowliest servant to his own grandmother. In 1895. Yeah, right.

Our heroine is, of course, a blatant Mary Sue: beautiful but somehow unaware of it; beloved by animals and small children alike; the apple of every man's eye; hated only by shrewish women who are her rivals for men's affections. She is also dumb as a box of rocks, but that fits into this weak ripoff of Jane Eyre, which sometimes remembers its supposed to have a Gothic twist. I sped-read through the end just to figure out what the big mystery was, and it turned out to be pretty much exactly as telegraphed by the author's blatantly-showing outline.

This reads like a pre-teen's first attempt at a full-length novel: its filled with immature characters with no signposts of reality and not enough fantasy to make that not count. It is bad. Laughably bad. I'm sorry I spent $1 on it at the secondhand store, and that I wasted 3 days attempting to get through it.

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