Life after her high school graduation sucks for Mads Bland—her foster mother has died, her boyfriend has broken up with her, she can't afford community college, and it seems she'll work in a grocery store forever.
However, everything changes when a mysterious invitation to Usher House arrives at her door. Mads soon learns that her real name is Madeline Usher and that she has inherited the crumbling mansion in a remote part of Georgia. In addition, she discovers she has a twin brother, the quick-witted and devil-may-care Roderick Usher. At first, things seem excellent—Mads meets a beautiful guy, Liam Delaney, who operates his father's farm down the road, she has inherited the rest of the Usher fortune, and she now has a sprawling home, a place of her own.
Mads soon discovers that she's a pawn in a deadly game—her narcissistic brother is jealous of her romantic relationship with Liam, so he gaslights and imprisons his newfound sister within the haunted confines of the manor. Mads must battle against the inherited insanity that every Usher family member has succumbed to and embrace the hidden strengths she didn't know she had to survive the madness of Usher House.
It appeals to gothic romance and horror fans of Twilight, Crimson Peak, and Dark Shadows.
Gorgeous cover, and I love the allusions to the original House of Usher. I wanted to love this book.
The ebook, however, needs some editing. Many sentences were stated again just two lines down from where they were first said; page 255 occurs twice; and if I never see the word “hun” at the end of a sentence, it will be too spins
A modern gothic story for a new generation of readers. With reflections of novels such as ‘Mexican Gothic’ and Poe’s own ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. Mads and her best friend follow an ominous letter calling Mads to a run down manor where she discovers a long lost brother who was given up for adoption as she was. They are in contrast to each other as he has grown privileged and Mads suffered through foster care for most of her life. The siblings discover they are inheriting the Usher Home as the descendants of the blood line. But with all gifts, the house comes with a dark toll.