The House of Light and Shadow by Lauren Westwood ~ Review

An atmospheric and captivating old-house mystery, layered with romance and secrets.

Secrets lurk in the shadows at Rookswood House…

When Kate goes to look after her estranged sister’s children in their creepy old house, she takes a photo of what seems to be a ghost. Frightened yet intrigued, Kate undertakes to uncover the secrets of the house and the two mysterious sisters who lived there over a hundred years before.

But like the illusions of light and shadow in the sisters’ strange and disturbing Victorian post-mortem photography, Kate discovers that all is not what it seems. Someone – or something – has their own plans for Rookswood House – and for Kate.

With a potential developer circling around, her teenage niece in danger from an unseen force, and new love on the horizon, Kate must unravel the secrets and lies of her own and Rookswood’s past before she loses everything she holds dear.

If you like historical mysteries by Eve Chase, Rachel Burton and Harriet Evans, you’ll love Lauren Westwood.

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/LightAndShadows

Paranormal books are my favorite! The House of Light and Shadows is about estranged sisters, a haunted house, and relationships to mend – both in the present and in the afterlife.

Kate was a very relatable character and I liked her right away. Her sister, Emma on the other hand, just irked me! I’m not quite sure if we were meant to sympathize with the struggles that led her to where she found herself in this book, but I didn’t sympathize with her one bit. I felt like she often acted out of pure selfishness and never considered the people around her that she was affecting, and at times even traumatizing, with her poor decisions! Thankfully Emma was a minor character and our main story revolved more around Kate and her journey in the aftermath of what Emma had done.

I loved the slow reveal of the story behind the old haunted Rookswood house that Kate found herself exploring. We see throughout the book that Kate’s own challenges closely relate to the history of the former residents of Rookswood. The healing journey Kate has navigate brings about a supernatural exploration as well.

There were moments when I felt like there was almost too much going on at once. I loved Kate’s story and the history and haunting of Rookwood House, but there were other layers of the plot that started coming out of the woodwork and in my opinion they detracted from each other instead of adding depth. I would have loved more focus on the haunting and the estranged sisters and less about some of the surrounding characters.