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Poppy Farrell Mysteries #1
The Shadows
Your Shadow Follows You Everywhere.....!From the moment she enters the world of her new boarding school, Blight's Academy, 14 year old Poppy Farrell, finds sinister forces at work. From a horrifying encounter on a train platform, to evidence of a murdered student in the woods that surround the ancient, gothic buildings, life at Blight's Academy grows more horrific by the day. Poppy and her friends, Clair and Georgie, must outwit their Shadows, older girls assigned to mentor them by following them wherever they go. There is a dark secret at the heart of Blight's disappearances, deaths, and occult conspiracies pervade the wooded grounds, flicker in the stained glass windows, tinkle like a music box lullaby through the turreted halls....Scroll up and grab your copy now!
271 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 20, 2014
2 people are currently reading
145 people want to read
About the author
Alyne de Winter
25 books36 followersScribbler of dark fantasies exploring the ancient folk memories, night religions, psychic transformations, in historical, mostly European settings.
Gothic Faery Tales, Gothic Romance and Occult Thrillers are her preferred genres.
Though she always loved to read Gothic Mysteries and ghost stories, it wasn't until she unwittingly moved into a haunted house in London that Alyne began writing supernatural fiction. Her loves are castles, ruins, cathedrals, forests, Grimm's fairy tales, Shakespeare, folk ballads, ancient cultures, mystery religions, the British ghost story and mystery writers.... All things eerie and spooky.
H
Gothic Faery Tales, Gothic Romance and Occult Thrillers are her preferred genres.
Though she always loved to read Gothic Mysteries and ghost stories, it wasn't until she unwittingly moved into a haunted house in London that Alyne began writing supernatural fiction. Her loves are castles, ruins, cathedrals, forests, Grimm's fairy tales, Shakespeare, folk ballads, ancient cultures, mystery religions, the British ghost story and mystery writers.... All things eerie and spooky.
H
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 10, 2015
Find the full review on http://thebookishfoodiereviews.wordpr...
This book begins with an introduction. For those readers who have not had the pleasure of reading one of Enid Blyton’s books about boarding school, get an idea about the British schooling system and the various grades and their names. I found this very friendly and I hoped that this would enable the readers to envision the students, their ages and hence their personalities.
The book introduces the reader to one of the most likeable characters I have read in a book, conspiracy theorist, lively and perceptive Poppy Farrell, who is starting out as a junior in Blight Academy.
The author does a great job of describing Blight Academy. You end up getting the chills as you recreate a creepy, very Adams Family like house which is scary to look at.
The author’s lucid and sparkling description of the Headmistress, Mrs. Wick, the disciplinarian, Mrs. Grimshaw and Poppy’s roommate Clair, instantly connect the reader to them. It makes you feel as if you are right with them.
Things aren’t altogether that right at Blight Academy. Poppy gets accosted by a student at a lone station and is warned to not go to Blight Academy. For some reason, every teacher at Blight’s is against Poppy. There are dark forces around. Sixth Form students shadow the First Formers and they take it quite far. Is there dark magic involved? Are lives of students taken for not being a part of the game? When souls are slaughtered in the name of the Devil, is even Britain’s foremost academy a safe place?
This book has all of this and more! It is a perfect accompaniment on a day when you want to take a trip down memory lane. Reading about school will make you remember your own school days, but the paranormal thriller that it is, it will snap your attention and hold on to it, until you finish the book!
I absolutely loved Poppy!! She is such an amazing character! It made me wish there were a lot more books in this series so I could have more of her. She is one of those characters from books, who you end up liking instantly and who stays with you for a while after you read about her.
At some point, I was actually a little scared. The book makes such a vivid world open up in front of you, it takes you into that world where there are so many unanswered questions and characters are so layered.
This book begins with an introduction. For those readers who have not had the pleasure of reading one of Enid Blyton’s books about boarding school, get an idea about the British schooling system and the various grades and their names. I found this very friendly and I hoped that this would enable the readers to envision the students, their ages and hence their personalities.
The book introduces the reader to one of the most likeable characters I have read in a book, conspiracy theorist, lively and perceptive Poppy Farrell, who is starting out as a junior in Blight Academy.
The author does a great job of describing Blight Academy. You end up getting the chills as you recreate a creepy, very Adams Family like house which is scary to look at.
The author’s lucid and sparkling description of the Headmistress, Mrs. Wick, the disciplinarian, Mrs. Grimshaw and Poppy’s roommate Clair, instantly connect the reader to them. It makes you feel as if you are right with them.
Things aren’t altogether that right at Blight Academy. Poppy gets accosted by a student at a lone station and is warned to not go to Blight Academy. For some reason, every teacher at Blight’s is against Poppy. There are dark forces around. Sixth Form students shadow the First Formers and they take it quite far. Is there dark magic involved? Are lives of students taken for not being a part of the game? When souls are slaughtered in the name of the Devil, is even Britain’s foremost academy a safe place?
This book has all of this and more! It is a perfect accompaniment on a day when you want to take a trip down memory lane. Reading about school will make you remember your own school days, but the paranormal thriller that it is, it will snap your attention and hold on to it, until you finish the book!
I absolutely loved Poppy!! She is such an amazing character! It made me wish there were a lot more books in this series so I could have more of her. She is one of those characters from books, who you end up liking instantly and who stays with you for a while after you read about her.
At some point, I was actually a little scared. The book makes such a vivid world open up in front of you, it takes you into that world where there are so many unanswered questions and characters are so layered.
January 10, 2015
Find the full review on http://thebookishfoodiereviews.wordpr...
This book begins with an introduction. For those readers who have not had the pleasure of reading one of Enid Blyton’s books about boarding school, get an idea about the British schooling system and the various grades and their names. I found this very friendly and I hoped that this would enable the readers to envision the students, their ages and hence their personalities.
The book introduces the reader to one of the most likeable characters I have read in a book, conspiracy theorist, lively and perceptive Poppy Farrell, who is starting out as a junior in Blight Academy.
The author does a great job of describing Blight Academy. You end up getting the chills as you recreate a creepy, very Adams Family like house which is scary to look at.
The author’s lucid and sparkling description of the Headmistress, Mrs. Wick, the disciplinarian, Mrs. Grimshaw and Poppy’s roommate Clair, instantly connect the reader to them. It makes you feel as if you are right with them.
Things aren’t altogether that right at Blight Academy. Poppy gets accosted by a student at a lone station and is warned to not go to Blight Academy. For some reason, every teacher at Blight’s is against Poppy. There are dark forces around. Sixth Form students shadow the First Formers and they take it quite far. Is there dark magic involved? Are lives of students taken for not being a part of the game? When souls are slaughtered in the name of the Devil, is even Britain’s foremost academy a safe place?
This book has all of this and more! It is a perfect accompaniment on a day when you want to take a trip down memory lane. Reading about school will make you remember your own school days, but the paranormal thriller that it is, it will snap your attention and hold on to it, until you finish the book!
I absolutely loved Poppy!! She is such an amazing character! It made me wish there were a lot more books in this series so I could have more of her. She is one of those characters from books, who you end up liking instantly and who stays with you for a while after you read about her.
At some point, I was actually a little scared. The book makes such a vivid world open up in front of you, it takes you into that world where there are so many unanswered questions and characters are so layered.
This book begins with an introduction. For those readers who have not had the pleasure of reading one of Enid Blyton’s books about boarding school, get an idea about the British schooling system and the various grades and their names. I found this very friendly and I hoped that this would enable the readers to envision the students, their ages and hence their personalities.
The book introduces the reader to one of the most likeable characters I have read in a book, conspiracy theorist, lively and perceptive Poppy Farrell, who is starting out as a junior in Blight Academy.
The author does a great job of describing Blight Academy. You end up getting the chills as you recreate a creepy, very Adams Family like house which is scary to look at.
The author’s lucid and sparkling description of the Headmistress, Mrs. Wick, the disciplinarian, Mrs. Grimshaw and Poppy’s roommate Clair, instantly connect the reader to them. It makes you feel as if you are right with them.
Things aren’t altogether that right at Blight Academy. Poppy gets accosted by a student at a lone station and is warned to not go to Blight Academy. For some reason, every teacher at Blight’s is against Poppy. There are dark forces around. Sixth Form students shadow the First Formers and they take it quite far. Is there dark magic involved? Are lives of students taken for not being a part of the game? When souls are slaughtered in the name of the Devil, is even Britain’s foremost academy a safe place?
This book has all of this and more! It is a perfect accompaniment on a day when you want to take a trip down memory lane. Reading about school will make you remember your own school days, but the paranormal thriller that it is, it will snap your attention and hold on to it, until you finish the book!
I absolutely loved Poppy!! She is such an amazing character! It made me wish there were a lot more books in this series so I could have more of her. She is one of those characters from books, who you end up liking instantly and who stays with you for a while after you read about her.
At some point, I was actually a little scared. The book makes such a vivid world open up in front of you, it takes you into that world where there are so many unanswered questions and characters are so layered.
November 4, 2014
I always feel lucky when I discover hidden gems like ‘The Shadows’. This is a story well written, in a smooth and mellifluous style, and with an interesting plot that makes you read as fast as you can to find out what happens next. I liked the Harry-Potter-style world the author created. I loved the idea of the old fashioned British boarding school placed in the middle of nowhere, full of mysteries and hidden secrets, as I loved Alyne De Winter’s writing style. That was the prefect Halloween read for me.
April 1, 2015
I was not at all impressed by this book. Other reviewers talked of its likeness to Harry Potter... boy were they way off base.
Several story possibilities were hinted at, but never seemed to be explored beyond a quick mention.
Glad it was free!!!!
Several story possibilities were hinted at, but never seemed to be explored beyond a quick mention.
Glad it was free!!!!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews