Marcus and Will together are sweet, endearing, and funny…Will thinks Marcus is beautiful, Marcus loves how safe he feels with Will… if readers like mystery that’s more like suspense, actually, with a lot of Gothic thrown in, with their romance, they’ll probably jump all over this. Grade B- Sarah F at Dear Author
And now for the bad news: Sarah doesn’t like mysteries, and had some issues with the characters:
it felt to me like the characters were being pushed to act in or even to BE certain ways in order to fulfill the Gothic conventions and requirements
If I’m totally honest, I think this credits me with more knowledge of the Gothic novel form than I in fact possess, at least consciously – although I’ve never actually studied the Gothic novel (having frittered my time at university away studying physics) I’m a huge Ann Radcliffe fan, and have read and re-read all her books. The Italian is my fave, because of its complex villain. So I guess Wight Mischief owes its Gothic tendencies to Ms Radcliffe.
Still, so far the comments to the review have been universally positive about the book! 
![locknut_200x300[4]](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/904/40247243490_3a97895e2a.jpg)
You know, I wrote my undergrad thesis on Mysteries of Udolpho and was thinking as I read WM that it felt more Radcliffean than modern-Gothic, so to have that confirmed is just SO cool. 🙂
I really loved the characters. And I pretty much adore everything else you’ve written. It’s just that this book didn’t work so well *for me* because of my particular reading preferences.
*g* I think it’s fascinating how early influences show themselves even when the author herself isn’t aware of it!
I think a lot of readers prefer their romance unadulterated with other genres, but unfortunately for my bank balance, that’s not always the way my muse leads me. 🙂
Thanks for your review – thought-provoking as always!
I think just having the exposure on DA is pretty awesome. 🙂
Oh, absolutely! 😀