I received a free ARC from NetGalley.

I honestly didn't remember requesting this galley book, but apparently it did. I was a bit confused when it arrived in the mail (but really, who's complaining about a free book showing up, who cares where it came from?). It just happened that when it arrived I was finishing another historical fiction novel and was in the perfect mood for this book, House of Shadows. So I got started reading almost immediately after it arrived in my mailbox.

And then couldn't put it down. Such a great book! It features three storylines that tie together three fabulous women from three time periods. All three were interesting and extremely well told. I felt there as just the right about of reference between all three time periods - enough that they obviously tied together and you could easily see the cohesive whole, but not so much that you didn't get a great sense of each time period, and each major character, as they're own stories.

They mystery elements were exactly my cup of tea, especially with hints of the supernatural thrown in. It wasn't the biggest part of the story, in my opinion, however, so I wouldn't let it turn anybody off from reading the book if that's not their thing. I felt the story was just an extremely effective tale of strong women, the men in their lives, and how they lived and dealt with the situations presented to them. Of course, the romance elements weren't too shabby either. Again, nothing harlequin-esque in my opinion (intimate encounters do happen but they're not overly explicit and certainly aren't the driving force of the story) but the love stories were just well done. The historical sections were so heartbreaking and wonderful!

I especially loved how the story of Elizabeth Stuart was so based in fact. I found myself constantly researching her online while reading this book; finding paintings of her that are described so well in the book, looking up portraits of the people she encounters, finding pictures or paintings of the houses she lived in, going through the timelines of her life to get a better sense of when and where everything was taking place outside the confines of the story. It just added a fabulous sense of realism to the entire book that I found so interesting. As if everything in it could so easily have happened, because so much of it actually did!

Overall, this was a fabulous read that I'm so glad to have received from NetGalley. I'll most certainly be checking out other books by Nicola Cornick.