The Vanishing by Wendy Webb [A Ghost Story Perfect for Snowmagedon]

Bring the covers closer and add another log to the fire. Take another sip of hot coffee or better yet, you better grab the whiskey. The Vanishing by Wendy Webb is a book that will make you glad you are safe and warm in your own home instead of inside the haunted mansion of Havenwood.

Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, Julia Bishop is eager to start anew. So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired . . . and who the world believes is dead.

When she arrives at the Sinclairs’ enormous estate on Lake Superior, Julia begins to suspect that there may be sinister undercurrents to her “too-good-to-be-true” position. As Julia delves into the reasons of why Amaris chose to abandon her successful writing career and withdraw from the public eye, her search leads to unsettling connections to her own family tree, making her wonder why she really was invited to Havenwood in the first place, and what monstrous secrets are still held prisoner within its wall.

“He stood and picked up his overcoat. “Please Julia, take the night to consider my invitation. I’ll be back at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. If you decide to take me up on my ofer, I’ll be delighted to take you to Havenwood with me and make all of this” – he gestured to the dining roomtable, which was full of bills, foreclosure notices, and other legal documents I hadn’t had the courage to open – “go away.” – excerpt from The Vanishing

Setting means a lot to me, and the setting for The Vanishing was rich and vivid. It made me feel like I was walking the hallways of the mansion right alongside Julia. Plus, and this mansion named Havenwood consisted of an expansive library and I practically drooled over the eBook reading the description of the space and the character, Julia, seeking out titles.

The visions of ghosts and strange occurances that happened throughout the book were done very well. I could “see” a lot of them happening and the fear that Julia experienced, I experienced too.

Without revealing too much, I thought the reason why Julia was brought to the mansion was intriguing and mysterious. Plus, there is a final scene in the ending that gave me such a thrill, like when you think you are reaching the end of a scary ride and you suddenly are thrown into another loop-de-loop.

“I was compelled to move closer and closer until the image seemed to engulf me and then I saw what it was about the painting that mesmerized me so.
“The woman’s face. It looked exactly like mine.” – excerpt from The Vanishing

I am also excited to say that I can giveaway a copy of this book to one of my readers!

Leave a comment below answering this question –

Would you stay in Havenwood if you were invited? 

To earn an extra entry, sign up to receive my blog posts by email (make sure to leave a comment as to which email you signed up with). To earn another entry, follow me on Twitter (@BeingTheWriter). Earn another entry by following author Wendy Webb on Twitter (@wendykwebb). Make sure you leave a comment every time you earn these extra entries!

Contest ends March 15th.


**CONTEST IS OVER! Winner of the contest is commenter named “The Desert Rocks.”