A Review for Immortal Eclipse by Sherry Soule

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Release Date: April 30th, 2013
Finished Date: May 1st, 2013

Publishers: Disenchanted Publishing, Inc
Source: For Review 

Format: Kindle 
Pages: 360

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

ENTER A SINISTER, CHILLING WORLD FILLED WITH DARK SECRETS.

A devoted fashionata and practical New Yorker, Skylar Blackwell doesn’t believe in the supernatural—until she inherits Summerwind Mansion. . . . 
When her uncle is brutally murdered, and the cops seem uninterested in following up the case, Skylar journeys to California to seek answers. Her search for clues is soon overshadowed by haunting nightmares of a young woman also murdered in the house. 
Now the inhabitants of Summerwind are mysteriously dying, leaving no evidence as to how or why, and Skylar finds herself in a deadly race against time to expose the killer—before they strike again. 
Armed with only wit and Pradas, Skylar begins questioning the servants, but the growing list of suspects includes the sexy and brooding caretaker, Dorian Delacroix, a man desperately trying to forget his tragic past. And a major distraction for Skylar.
Determined to play detective—instead of the fashion police—and unravel the dark history of the mansion, Skylar is plunged into an otherworldly mystery that not even she can explain away. As the boundaries between reality and dreams blur, Skylar’s greatest challenge is to stay alive long enough to learn the truth.

The Review: Immortal Eclipse was an enjoyable read… 3.5 Stars!

We begin with Skylar Blackwell whose life is sliding downhill fast, after the recent death of her dear uncle Gerard, Skylar also loses her job as a fashion photographer….. with options running out for her, she decides to go and settle her Uncles estate on the other side of the country. She plans to sell it and move on with her life but the mystery surrounding her Uncles death draws her to the home he had lived in until his death – the spook-tastic Summerwind mansion. The staff don’t exactly welcome her with open arms but this is her inheritance and she is their employer so she’ll tough it out, she’s a New Yorker, she can handle disgruntled employees – they’re probably just worried about their jobs, right?

The more she thinks about the circumstances surrounding her uncles death, the more questions pop up and upon asking the staff, is warned off at every opportunity & told to leave it alone but how can she? Her uncle was the only remaining family she had left and she wants answers! Then the weird stuff starts to happen, the house already has a dubious history but someone is surely messing with her, trying to force her out? But murder? There seems to be danger at every turn – just what on earth is going on? And what is that chanting? Strange things are afoot at Summerwind…. Let’s hope Skylar can survive.

So, I found this book enjoyable. It is a classic haunted house story with a sinister background that fuels the danger and spookiness of Skylars situation. Skylar was a likable character, she was fun but I got frustrated with her for not working things out sooner, sometimes she was proactive in her search for answers but there were times that even when they are staring her in the face, she wasn’t willing to accept them (even though she referred to herself as a PI). I liked her relationship with Dorian, it created some softer moments throughout the book and I was glad for the bit of romance it brought but I would have liked even more interaction between the pair. There is a possible rival for Skylar’s affections and I thought that could have been used more to fuel the storyline and add a bit extra to the romance aspect.

I really enjoyed the storyline and I would gladly watch a movie with this type of plot. I love books with spooky old mansions because they always seem to have some history or unexplained deaths and Summerwind is no exception. It’s quite hard to explain the appeal of the storyline without giving anything away, obviously the mansion and its history are involved in a big way but it isn’t as cut and dried as it would appear to be and although it was predictable at times, there were still a few twists and turns along the way. There are also some really spooky moments to give the whole story an eerie feel and I found it easy to imagine these happening. As I said the romance aspect was a welcome lift in a quite sombre storyline but they jelled well together, the book really did give off a spooky atmosphere. When events start to unfold and we find out some solid information, there are certain things where I wished the author had gone further into detail about. I felt the history & background could have had more depth, we get snippets but it was begging to be a bigger part in the plot but never the less it was still a good read.