Of Monsters and Madness (Of Monsters and Madness, #1)

by Jessica Verday

A romantic, historical retelling of classic Gothic horror featuring Edgar Allan Poe and his character Annabel Lee, from a New York Times best-selling author.

Annabel Lee is summoned from Siam to live with her father in 1820's Philadelphia shortly after her mother's death, but an unconventional upbringing makes her repugnant to her angry, secretive father.

Annabel becomes infatuated with her father's assistant Allan, who dabbles in writing when he's not helping with medical advancements. But in darker hours, when she's not to be roaming the house, she encounters the devilish assistant Edgar, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Allan, and who others insist doesn't exist.

A rash of murders across Philadelphia, coupled with her father's strange behavior, leads Annabel to satisfy her curiosity and uncover a terrible truth: Edgar and Allan are two halves of the same person - and they are about to make the crimes detailed in Allan's stories come to life. Unless Annabel stops them.

• ISBN10: 1322074852
• ISBN13: 9781322074856
• Publish Date: 1 January 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 29 April 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Egmontusa
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Sadly this was a DNF for me, while aspects were interesting and I enjoyed the Gothic vibe I was ultimately bored and found myself struggling to continue. With a tbr pile the size of Mt. St. Helen I decided to set this one aside.

[limabean74]

I find the 1800 rather spooky, I am not sure why but I just do. The cover of this book is haunting and I thought the book itself was nicely told. At some points I thought the story may have needed a bit more explanation or a little more detail but over all I really enjoyed this book.

If you love Edgar Allan Poe and are familiar with his poem Annabel Lee, that’s wonderful because Edgar is one of my all time favorite authors, take all you know and just put it aside and try very hard not to judge this book by what you know of him or the poem, she takes a lot of liberties but I think in my opinion it works.

Now take Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and Jack the Ripper, mush it all together and you have Of Monster and Madness. Annabel Lee arrives in PA to live with her father, her ways are much different then life in PA and she has a lot to learn. Annabel meets the mysterious Allan and the dangerous Edgar with her feeling growing for Allen but Annabel is about to realize that the house she is now living in holds a lot of secrets and with a murder on the loose her life might be in serious danger.

I liked Annabel a lot, she was a little naive but I enjoyed her story. I actually really like her handmaid Maddy, she was really cute and such a great friend to Annabel. Annabel was feeling so alone and I thought Maddy and her had a great friend connection. It made a spooky story have a little bit of light moments. Allan and Edgar were very interesting characters, I really liked them and wanted more of there story. We get a bit of there background but I was hoping for a bit more.

The Story was interesting but at time I felt it had a few holes in the story. I think I just wanted more details on the world and life. I also felt it was wrapped up rather quickly, I was hoping for a little more but I honestly enjoyed it even with what it was. I am hoping this is a first in the series since the end made it seem like the story continues.

I gave Of Monster and Madness 4/5 stars. As much as I felt the story might have lacked just a bit I still enjoyed it and loved the spookiness of it and the mix of different stories it made for a very interesting read. I recommend to YA and Adult looking a bunch of stories mushed together into one and in my opinion worked pretty good together :)

PS I think the synopsis of the book is very misleading and I believe you should just go into it with a fresh look and avoid the synopsis saying it’s a retelling because in my opinion it is not.

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