Reviews for House of Shadows

The average rating for House of Shadows based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-12-22 00:00:00 Captain AM I love that in this book the heroine is wealthy, strong, bold and ready to defend herself and others. She rarely needs rescuing but in fact does the rescuing both of her young cousin from the pretensions of his mother and also of her hero, despite his persistent pride. Of course the one area in which she does need help, finding her faith, is the most important of all. In that she is helped by both of those that she is later able to help in more material ways. I read this one before and I have to say that I always feel bad for Helen Foster whom we never meet but she is referred to a number of times and not usually in flattering ways.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-02-14 00:00:00 James Rose Rating: 5 / 5 One of the longer of Hill's works that I've read so far, The Strange Proposal, I think, makes the best use of gender dynamics and turns things around a bit. In most of Hill's stories that I've read so far, one consistency that I've noticed is that, if there is a religious lesson or "rebirth" taking place in the story, it's initiated or inspired by one of the main couple that has a religious background. Either that, or they're both good and religious people trying to make their way in the world, or at least they're both virtuous or inspire virtue in one another. In other words, there is this consistency of virtue through many facets and different plot dynamics... BUT the gender dynamic of assertive-male-who-proposes/kisses/pursues is usually in place throughout all of them. This is a product of its day more often than not, and I have nothing against it, but I have come to expect it when I read older books like this. Man asks first, woman answers--the old-fashioned stuff, you know. Which is why Mary Elizabeth's frank "you haven't even kissed me goodbye" took me completely by surprise, like a breath of fresh air that I didn't realize I needed. Yes, it's John Saxon who does the lovemaking and proposes and admits his love first and all that, but the rest of the novel is of Mary Elizabeth's pursuit of living up to an ideal inspired by him, and also with a hungry heart to see and be with him again. It's she who's taking the assertive action, she who's setting things up for them to live comfortably together, and it's she who will more or less provide for them until John Saxon's career takes off, but there's absolutely nothing improper in how this is viewed by everyone. There's truly that sense of equality regardless of rank and whose money is whose, such that I was quite impressed that it wasn't all up to John to get things going in their relationship when Mary Elizabeth was taking on such an assertive role. It starts off with "A Strange Proposal", it's true, but what's even more worthwhile is the responding actions to the proposal, all wrapped up in a drawn-out, satisfying ending. I truly enjoyed this reading as my first Grace Livingston Hill novel this year!