Review: Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt

Bride of Pendorric is one of those classic romantic suspense novels that my mom and grandma read years ago and loved.  I love these kinds of books.  I really, really do.  More for the entertainment value that the writing.  These books to me are very comforting, much in the same way I love and reread Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier whenever I need a no-brainer read and am in a downer mood. 

This is the story of Favel, an English girl who has spent her life (except for some years in school) on an island near Italy.  Her father is an artist.  Her mother died a few years ago and Favel has taken her place ever since.  The family isn't doing well financially.  The a handsome, mysterious man comes to the island and takes an interest not only in her father's artwork, but in Favel herself.  Soon, they are married.  Right before Roc Pendorric and Favel are to leave for Cornwall, English, where the family estate is located, Favel's father dies.  She is devastated, and a little bit nervous about the weird events surrounding his death.  When Favel arrives at Pendorric, she is met by an eccentric but loving family.  Soon though, weird things start happening.  Is the story about the Pendorric ghost true?  And if so, is she the next Pendorric bride to fall victim to the famly curse?  As her new husband becomes more and more distant and creepier things start to happen, Favel realizes that her life is in danger.  Someone is trying to kill her, and not a ghost. 

For pure entertainment value this book is pretty awesome.  It had me captivated through most of it, though in the beginning I was really annoyed with how quickly Favel was swept off her feet and suddenly in love with Roc.  While it's nice to daydream about, I don't really like the whol idea of falling in love as soon as you set eyes on someone and marrying them.  Because seriously, you don't know them.  Heck I've been with Boyfriend for 4 years now and I can't fathom marrying him yet.  So that part of it was kind of annoying, but the rest was great.  The writing was pretty good too.  The descriptions of the Pendorric estate and the moors were beautiful and really thorough.  I could easily imagine all the locations in this story because of Holt's descriptions.

As for the story itself, it was a lot of fun to guess who the ghost really is.  I thought for a long time that is was one certain person (who I shall not name because I don't want to give things away), and then I thought, "hmm, maybe it's this other person.."  And then all of a sudden it all came together, and I knew who it was before Favel did and I was like, "Favel!  This person is trying to kill you!!". It was intense towards the end, let me tell you.

I do wish that I had been warned about the twin stuff in the book.  I have a twin sis and I try not to read anything where one twin is dead.  However, this book actually is an exception to that rule because of the great way that they were portrayed.  The living sister was so sentimental about her dead twin and for some reason because of it I felt okay with it. 

Despite a few flaws (or maybe just my feminist beliefs on relationships and marriage, lol), I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the other book I have by Victoria Holt soon.  I had a few qualms with the very end of the story, but if I explain them, I'll give a lot away.  If you want to chat about it, I'm on Twitter ;)



Title: Bride of Pendorric
Author: Victoria Holt
Date of Publication: 1963 (original)
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Source: Personal Copy