Title & buy link: Dark and Stormy
Author: Deirdre O’Dare
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Allure
Amazon buy link: Buy Link Dark And Stormy
Genre: M/M historical
Length: Novella (21k words)
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
A guest review by Leslie S
Review summary: Light-hearted Victorian romp with a Gothic setting.
Blurb
Gently reared Martin FitzHugh finds himself adrift without means when his uncle goes bankrupt from gambling debts. Martin seeks a livelihood by taking a post as tutor to the young children of an earl on a remote Welsh estate. Arriving on a dark and stormy night that sets the tone for his whole adventure, he falls into intrigue, mystery and powerful new loves–for the three traumatized children and their enigmatic guardian.
Dylan Davis was called back from military service in South Africa after his elder brother supposedly found his wife with another man, killing the pair, then himself. Now, Dylan has to assume the title of earl as well as care for his nieces and nephew. He hires a young man, sight unseen, to become their tutor while he sets out to uncover the roots of the scandalous tragedy that tore apart his family. Both matters reveal surprising results, however…some tragic and some delightful…
Review
In the spirit of Victorian melodramas, it’s a dark and stormy night when young gentleman Martin Fitzhugh nears his destination of Ravensrawn. He’s on his way to his new employment as tutor to the heir of an earl when the coach comes to a halt and Martin is spirited away by a mysterious masked rider. At first afraid, Martin soon realises the masked man is aware of who he is and why he’s bound for Ravensrawn, and is actually helping him on his way—the bridge collapsed during the storm and the only way into the estate is on foot or by horse.
Safely ensconced at the house, the next day Martin meets the three children he’s tutoring: Emmaline, Donovan, and Charlotte. Donovan, the heir, is mute. Martin learns from the children that they’re orphans. He was orphaned himself at the age of fourteen and was raised by his uncle, so he feels a good deal of empathy with the children and determines to do his best as a tutor and perhaps also become a friend. Finally he meets the children’s guardian, their uncle Captain Dylan Davis, who has returned home from fighting in the Boer War to settle family matters.
Dylan tells Martin that his brother the earl discovered his wife with another man and killed the cuckolding couple and then himself. Although he seems distant and preoccupied with other business, Dylan cares for the children. Martin is intrigued by his new employer, but Dylan’s absences make it difficult for Martin to express his concerns regarding his charges’ welfare. All three children enjoy painting, but Donovan’s pictures depict gruesome scenes with dead bodies. Martin thinks at first that the boy is working through his grief, but the intensity of Donovan’s artwork makes him wonder if that’s all there is to it.
When Martin next sees Dylan, he reports on the children’s progress and mentions the violence in Donovan’s paintings. Dylan admits that he hasn’t told the whole truth about his brother’s death—there’s a third brother, Merlan, who is illegitimate. Merlan is older and hoped to inherit the earldom despite his illegitimacy. Dylan believes that Merlan orchestrated the deaths of the earl and the countess in the hope of gaining control of the estates while Dylan was in Africa. Now Dylan fears that Merlan might be lurking around Ravensrawn with intent to harm the children.
Martin immediately thinks of the masked rider. Can it be Merlan in disguise? And can he and Dylan keep the children safe?
This was a fun short read that’s light and undemanding. The opening chapter is probably the best, with all its moments of properly Gothic melodrama and over the top purple prose as we’re introduced to Martin and the masked rider. At 21k there’s not a lot of space to manoeuvre a plot and a romance, and although the author gamely tries her best with both, it’s the romance that founders. I did actually stop reading when Dylan propositioned Martin – I think in a longer book that had space for stronger characterisation, it wouldn’t have been quite so curt and lacking in any sense of attraction, longing or romance. Because of this, I never really believed in the connection between Martin and Dylan and was more interested in how the dastardly uncle plot would pan out.
The book is formulaic – the identity of the masked rider is obvious from the get-go, the children are adorable, the servants speak in an odd accent that bears no resemblance to Welsh, the setting is vague enough to be anywhere, the characters are more archetypes than real personalities, and there’s so many holes and outright illogical things going on… but it’s fun. It doesn’t seem to take itself seriously, and it reminded me of those old Hammer films where the sets wobble and everyone hams it up.
Was it a sterling piece of fiction that moved me? Not a chance. But it was a really light way to spend half an hour and I had fun with it.
