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The Looking-Glass Portrait
When Thomasina Ryder inherits her grandmother's house, she expects to quickly arrange for the sale of the estate. She soon learns the disposal of her legacy will be a more complicated process than she expected. And nothing could complicate matters more than the return into Thomasina's life of a forbidden love from the past.
The further she delves into the secrets of that past, the more she is made aware of something sinister and hidden, never to be spoken of even in whispers. She begins to suspect this secret is connected to the silent forms she has seen moving in the old house, from the corner of her eye or in the distorted reflection of a mirror. Then, as her investigations bear fruit, the shadows in the mirrors become more threatening.
The further she delves into the secrets of that past, the more she is made aware of something sinister and hidden, never to be spoken of even in whispers. She begins to suspect this secret is connected to the silent forms she has seen moving in the old house, from the corner of her eye or in the distorted reflection of a mirror. Then, as her investigations bear fruit, the shadows in the mirrors become more threatening.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 18, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 25, 2019
Well I do love a good Gothic mystery. Though this is set in contemporary times, Hilton does a great job of evoking the mood of many a Gothic novel. I definitely know that at times I wanted to shake the heroine in this one (Thomasina Ryder known as Tom to her friends and family) because she does some things that must be written down in a Gothic novel that every female character must do. We of course have the warning signs about the love interest, a dark and spooky house, and a mystery that threatens to tear the lovers apart.
"The Looking-Glass Portrait" has Tom returning from Seattle to settle her grandmother's home. One wonders why Tom was left the home since her mother, brother, and sister still live in her hometown. When Tom eventually starts to see and feel things while at her grandmother's home, she starts to become scared the house is haunted. On top of that, Tom starts to fall for an old love (Steve Angelotti) as well as wonder about the events that led to her father being murdered and how those events are what kept Steve and Tom from being together when they were younger.
I thought Tom was a bit hard headed and I also gave Steve way too many benefits of the doubt while the story progressed. I do think that Hilton did a great job developing her and the other characters in the book. As another reviewer said though, there was a bit too much character development that ends up dragging the story down at times. I can say though that I could picture Tom's family very well and you end up sympathizing with her when you see what she has to deal with regards to her mother.
I felt kind of meh towards Steve though. Will say I often feel that way towards a hero in these type of books. It's because the author has to write the hero as possibly bad, so you don't know which way the story is going. I will say though that Steve felt kind of there after a while. I didn't know what he saw in Tom, but I saw what she saw for him. I just think it needed to be more even.
The writing was very good though the pace could have been improved. I think at the 50 percent mark the book started to drag for me. Probably because we have Tom being freaked out by the house and having her investigate her father's death while dealing with her family was a lot to work through in this book.
The setting of the old home was great though. I could picture the house, the bedroom that Tom slept, and every corner of the home.
The ending was very strong and you get some mysteries resolved. I saw a lot of reviewers noting this writing was similar to authors such as Barbara Michaels. I don't know how true that is, since I haven't read a book by her before, but I have to say this book does remind me of some of the Gothic romantic suspense books my mom read when I was a kid.
"The Looking-Glass Portrait" has Tom returning from Seattle to settle her grandmother's home. One wonders why Tom was left the home since her mother, brother, and sister still live in her hometown. When Tom eventually starts to see and feel things while at her grandmother's home, she starts to become scared the house is haunted. On top of that, Tom starts to fall for an old love (Steve Angelotti) as well as wonder about the events that led to her father being murdered and how those events are what kept Steve and Tom from being together when they were younger.
I thought Tom was a bit hard headed and I also gave Steve way too many benefits of the doubt while the story progressed. I do think that Hilton did a great job developing her and the other characters in the book. As another reviewer said though, there was a bit too much character development that ends up dragging the story down at times. I can say though that I could picture Tom's family very well and you end up sympathizing with her when you see what she has to deal with regards to her mother.
I felt kind of meh towards Steve though. Will say I often feel that way towards a hero in these type of books. It's because the author has to write the hero as possibly bad, so you don't know which way the story is going. I will say though that Steve felt kind of there after a while. I didn't know what he saw in Tom, but I saw what she saw for him. I just think it needed to be more even.
The writing was very good though the pace could have been improved. I think at the 50 percent mark the book started to drag for me. Probably because we have Tom being freaked out by the house and having her investigate her father's death while dealing with her family was a lot to work through in this book.
The setting of the old home was great though. I could picture the house, the bedroom that Tom slept, and every corner of the home.
The ending was very strong and you get some mysteries resolved. I saw a lot of reviewers noting this writing was similar to authors such as Barbara Michaels. I don't know how true that is, since I haven't read a book by her before, but I have to say this book does remind me of some of the Gothic romantic suspense books my mom read when I was a kid.
September 5, 2017
This was a fun romantic suspense/gothic romance novel by our own Linda Hilton!
Things I liked:
The writing is impeccable, and the book is edited to a "t." The setting of the book is quite modern, but it definitely shares some of its elements with the old-fashioned gothics from the 1960's & 1970's. Tamsin, our heroine, is likeable, and her return to her old hometown proves the old saying "you can't go home again."
Things that I struggled with:
The pacing drags a little bit in the middle. There is quite a lot of character development, but sometimes that seemed to bog the story down a bit. Tamsin's stubborn insistence on remaining in the house regardless of the danger seemed foolish at times, although it was necessary to move the story forward. The romance felt a little bit insta-love/abrupt to me, even thought it was a rekindling of an old flame.
The ending:
The ending was great. I don't want to accidentally spoil, because the mystery is really well-plotted and the solution, while it doesn't come out of left field, was neatly done.
This one works for: ghost, haunted house, romantic suspense, & gothic. I would recommend it to fans of old-fashioned romance, especially fans of gothic romance like that written by Barbara Michaels. If you enjoyed last year's bingo buddy read of Ammie, Come Home, I think you would like this one!
Things I liked:
The writing is impeccable, and the book is edited to a "t." The setting of the book is quite modern, but it definitely shares some of its elements with the old-fashioned gothics from the 1960's & 1970's. Tamsin, our heroine, is likeable, and her return to her old hometown proves the old saying "you can't go home again."
Things that I struggled with:
The pacing drags a little bit in the middle. There is quite a lot of character development, but sometimes that seemed to bog the story down a bit. Tamsin's stubborn insistence on remaining in the house regardless of the danger seemed foolish at times, although it was necessary to move the story forward. The romance felt a little bit insta-love/abrupt to me, even thought it was a rekindling of an old flame.
The ending:
The ending was great. I don't want to accidentally spoil, because the mystery is really well-plotted and the solution, while it doesn't come out of left field, was neatly done.
This one works for: ghost, haunted house, romantic suspense, & gothic. I would recommend it to fans of old-fashioned romance, especially fans of gothic romance like that written by Barbara Michaels. If you enjoyed last year's bingo buddy read of Ammie, Come Home, I think you would like this one!
August 17, 2016
Ah, this was an enjoyable book. The protagonist, Tom is a school principal who returns to her home-town after 17 years away because she unexpectedly inherits her grandmother's house and needs to deal with selling it. Of course it comes with a number of mysteries. And she runs into the boy she loved as a teen. And there's a bunch of old family baggage, like murder. All the right ingredients here. Sort of a forbidden romance mixed with a mysterious, suspenseful ghost story in which the house is basically another character.
I don't read much scary fiction, so maybe I'm a light-weight, but... I usually sleep in an expansive environment where all the interior doors are open. By the time I got a one-third of the way into this, I was closing and locking the bedroom door before settling down in my corner to read each night. Yeah, Ms Hilton's gently rising creepiness factor started to work on me by Chapter 10.
The writing is pretty much excellent throughout, and I found nothing to quibble about. This book is self-published and represents a career revival because, while Ms Hilton is an experienced author with many novels under her belt, this is her first publication since 1998.
For the record, I do not know the author personally. And I paid full retail price for the book.
I don't read much scary fiction, so maybe I'm a light-weight, but... I usually sleep in an expansive environment where all the interior doors are open. By the time I got a one-third of the way into this, I was closing and locking the bedroom door before settling down in my corner to read each night. Yeah, Ms Hilton's gently rising creepiness factor started to work on me by Chapter 10.
The writing is pretty much excellent throughout, and I found nothing to quibble about. This book is self-published and represents a career revival because, while Ms Hilton is an experienced author with many novels under her belt, this is her first publication since 1998.
For the record, I do not know the author personally. And I paid full retail price for the book.
May 2, 2026
Rating: 3.5 stars
Disclaimer: I am internet buddies with the author, who sent me a copy of her book... because I was complaining about ghosts stories without real ghosts being a complete let-down... and this novel has real ghosts! And since Linda doesn't read reviews of her own novels, I can write an honest review without worrying about offending anyone. :) And if Linda does end up reading this, well... it's still my honest opinion of her work.
Caveat: I do not read romance novels. I do not particularly like romance in my novels. I am not the intended target audience for this book. I'm here for the ghosts, not the lovey-dovey stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an entertaining contemporary romantic suspense with gothic-flavour novel. It is not a horror novel. Thomasina Ryder returns to her small hometown on inheriting her grandmother's house. There she has to face the past she run from, not to mention her teenage crush (that "Angelotti boy" who killed her father)... and a few other family mysteries that probably have something to do with those mysterious figures seen flitting into shadows and lurking in all those mirrors cluttering up her grandmother's house.
I liked the mystery aspect of the novel, the feeling of creepiness of the unknown presences felt in the house, and the concept of linking the ghosts with the mirrors. The best part is that the ghosts are real! No humans in disguise or playing pranks or some perfectly rational explanation. I suppose I could complain about the lack of ectoplasm, but this is a ghost story not a horror novel. 😉 I also appreciate the lack of cringing sex-on-page scenes, even if the two post-adolescent characters act like hormone sloshed teenagers that somehow skipped the 17 years of no-contact and just carried on as if nothing had happened.
The middle of the novel meanders a bit and the pacing drags as all the questions are asked, answers searched for, people interviewed, documents consulted, characters are developed, that sort of thing. On the other hand, as written by Dr. Woodly in 'The Gangsters and the Ghosts *': "It is the nature of ghost stories to dwell almost entirely in the past, for the ghost's life is over and it has no future other than its own past." So, all that digging into the past is a necessary part of the story. The pacing picks up in the last quarter of the novel as mysteries start becoming clearer. The ending proved to be a nicely satisfying, and well constructed, conclusion to a well-plotted mystery.
An entertaining and satisfactory ghost story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Dr. Woodly's 'The Gangsters and the Ghosts' is a fictitious book that features in Linda Hilton's current Work in Progress, so you can stop searching the internet for it. You won't find any reference to it (yet).
2 May 2026
Disclaimer: I am internet buddies with the author, who sent me a copy of her book... because I was complaining about ghosts stories without real ghosts being a complete let-down... and this novel has real ghosts! And since Linda doesn't read reviews of her own novels, I can write an honest review without worrying about offending anyone. :) And if Linda does end up reading this, well... it's still my honest opinion of her work.
Caveat: I do not read romance novels. I do not particularly like romance in my novels. I am not the intended target audience for this book. I'm here for the ghosts, not the lovey-dovey stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an entertaining contemporary romantic suspense with gothic-flavour novel. It is not a horror novel. Thomasina Ryder returns to her small hometown on inheriting her grandmother's house. There she has to face the past she run from, not to mention her teenage crush (that "Angelotti boy" who killed her father)... and a few other family mysteries that probably have something to do with those mysterious figures seen flitting into shadows and lurking in all those mirrors cluttering up her grandmother's house.
I liked the mystery aspect of the novel, the feeling of creepiness of the unknown presences felt in the house, and the concept of linking the ghosts with the mirrors. The best part is that the ghosts are real! No humans in disguise or playing pranks or some perfectly rational explanation. I suppose I could complain about the lack of ectoplasm, but this is a ghost story not a horror novel. 😉 I also appreciate the lack of cringing sex-on-page scenes, even if the two post-adolescent characters act like hormone sloshed teenagers that somehow skipped the 17 years of no-contact and just carried on as if nothing had happened.
The middle of the novel meanders a bit and the pacing drags as all the questions are asked, answers searched for, people interviewed, documents consulted, characters are developed, that sort of thing. On the other hand, as written by Dr. Woodly in 'The Gangsters and the Ghosts *': "It is the nature of ghost stories to dwell almost entirely in the past, for the ghost's life is over and it has no future other than its own past." So, all that digging into the past is a necessary part of the story. The pacing picks up in the last quarter of the novel as mysteries start becoming clearer. The ending proved to be a nicely satisfying, and well constructed, conclusion to a well-plotted mystery.
An entertaining and satisfactory ghost story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Dr. Woodly's 'The Gangsters and the Ghosts' is a fictitious book that features in Linda Hilton's current Work in Progress, so you can stop searching the internet for it. You won't find any reference to it (yet).
2 May 2026
May 3, 2026
This contemporary gothic romance offers up a second chance for love plus intertwined mysteries and spectral apparitions that tick the boxes for many tropes readers of the genre will appreciate.
While I found it reasonably entertaining and only partially guessed the resolution of the mysteries, I felt the writing was a bit uneven and the pacing lagged in places. A couple of plot points also required some suspension of disbelief, and other niggles —a continuity error; withholding an innocuous detail; the odd phrase or metaphor; scenes that went nowhere— did occasionally take me out of the story.
Overall it’s a decent read if you’re in the mood for some suspense, chills and the anticipated HEA.
While I found it reasonably entertaining and only partially guessed the resolution of the mysteries, I felt the writing was a bit uneven and the pacing lagged in places. A couple of plot points also required some suspension of disbelief, and other niggles —a continuity error; withholding an innocuous detail; the odd phrase or metaphor; scenes that went nowhere— did occasionally take me out of the story.
Overall it’s a decent read if you’re in the mood for some suspense, chills and the anticipated HEA.
September 28, 2019
I really enjoyed this ghosty love story. There was plenty of mystery, strange apparitions, freaked out little kids, family tension, and of course a rocky romance featuring a guy I’d certainly fall for and a main character who is smart, sensible, and doesn’t have hysterics over miscommunications.
eBook version, via Kindle.
I read this book for the Booklikes Halloween Bingo 2019, for the square Gothic: any book with significant: a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. It’s on the Gothic book list, and it features all the usual gothic elements – dark & spooky atmosphere, mood, characters, mystery, romance, and supernatural elements – but in a modern timeframe. No bustles or corsets.
eBook version, via Kindle.
I read this book for the Booklikes Halloween Bingo 2019, for the square Gothic: any book with significant: a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. It’s on the Gothic book list, and it features all the usual gothic elements – dark & spooky atmosphere, mood, characters, mystery, romance, and supernatural elements – but in a modern timeframe. No bustles or corsets.
February 3, 2019
It's been a long time since I read a gothic romance. I consider this one a great 21st century gothic romance, with a very high creepy factor. It took me longer to read than usual because of the very high creepy factor, I couldn't read it before bed! The author does a great job with all of the creepiness, from the sightings to the characters' reactions, lots of chills with this one. There are a lot of little subplots going on, which can slow the pace but I didn't find them boring or distracting. There are also a lot of characters to keep track of; a few mentioned family members that never materialize and feel unnecessary afterwards; and so many family relationships that I stopped trying to keep track. In some ways all those details were just examples of the questions Thomasina - Tom, Tamsin, she has a few names here - has when she returns to her hometown after the death of her grandmother. Besides the creepy house that she inherits, Tom has to confront the issue of the boy she left behind but didn't forget, Steve. Tom and Steve pick things up pretty quickly, despite a host of obstacles and a lot of intervening years. Steve didn't forget her, and helps her solve the mystery of her house (plus other spoilers I won't give away). I really enjoyed it and expect I'll probably even reread this one, and try to twist out the complicated family tree at some point. A great contemporary gothic-style romance.
September 8, 2017
Wow, this story was amazing. I have spent a lot more money on books that were no where near as good. I´m so impressed! I will definitely be reading any future books by Linda Hilton. The story was so well thought out and every part was carefully crafted right down to the perfect ending. It had many different facets to keep things interesting. There were the ghosts, the physical repeat intruder and saboteur who could some how get in when the house was locked up tight, the forbidden love story small town drama and family secrets. Combine those elements with the detective work that went into figuring out the details and I was hooked. This book also got me wanting to get back to my own family research although it can´t be nearly as exciting. I´d love to find a few ghostly ancestors.
October 12, 2018
To be honest, I starting skimming a fourth of the way in. It's a sweet book with some scary moments, but it could have been a lot shorter. Plus, the plot was very convoluted. In fairness, I went in expecting Barbara Michaels or Phyllis Whitney. This is a good read, but it's not in the category of the gothic romance queens. So many loose ends!
September 12, 2016
Captivating
I truly enjoyed this story I will tell you tho it's a little slow in the beginning and some references are made that don't fit for several chapters makes you wonder if you missed something but once the pieces fit it all makes sense ... I always figure out the endings of mysteries but not this one ....
I truly enjoyed this story I will tell you tho it's a little slow in the beginning and some references are made that don't fit for several chapters makes you wonder if you missed something but once the pieces fit it all makes sense ... I always figure out the endings of mysteries but not this one ....
September 19, 2016
Fair
I began reading but the more I read the more I felt like the book was going around in circles. The ending was good
I began reading but the more I read the more I felt like the book was going around in circles. The ending was good
November 26, 2016
Too wordy.
The plot was good but I actually skipped through the book. Whole paragraphs I just did not read. No need to.
The plot was good but I actually skipped through the book. Whole paragraphs I just did not read. No need to.
November 27, 2016
Loved this book!
I loved this book. It was a great mystery with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and well rounded characters that were very believable. Well written.
I loved this book. It was a great mystery with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and well rounded characters that were very believable. Well written.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews