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Smoke and Mirrors
Caroline Blake is a young reporter with a past almost as cryptic as her future. She never put much stock into her late aunt’s eerie tales of monsters and demons until she takes an assignment to cover the elusive Ashdown family’s Harvest Festival. As part of her assignment, she must live at the family’s mansion for six weeks and help prepare for the event.
No one has seen the family since the tragedy that occurred at the last festival almost thirty years prior. As the only female reporter on-site, Caroline must hold her own while uncovering why the family closed their doors all those years ago.
Perhaps the most challenging part of her assignment is dealing with her working partner, William Ashdown. The handsome lord of the house seems bent on testing her patience every time they meet. Still, there is something intriguing about him that she can’t ignore.
Caroline is soon swept into a world of generational secrets, unsettling mysteries, and unexpected romance. Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is sure: in the shadows, nothing is ever what it seems.
No one has seen the family since the tragedy that occurred at the last festival almost thirty years prior. As the only female reporter on-site, Caroline must hold her own while uncovering why the family closed their doors all those years ago.
Perhaps the most challenging part of her assignment is dealing with her working partner, William Ashdown. The handsome lord of the house seems bent on testing her patience every time they meet. Still, there is something intriguing about him that she can’t ignore.
Caroline is soon swept into a world of generational secrets, unsettling mysteries, and unexpected romance. Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is sure: in the shadows, nothing is ever what it seems.
409 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 25, 2021
5 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 1, 2021
I'm sorry but I had to DNF this book. I really hate doing this! I just couldn't get into it. Don't let my review stop you from reading.. The other reviews I saw were good. What I didn't like, someone else will love. Until next time Luv's💋💞
September 22, 2021
A young reporter must uncover the mystery surrounding the Ashdown family but something eerie lurks in the shadows. Caroline is a young reporter trying to make a name for herself. When she gets the opportunity to do a story on the reclusive Ashdown family and the upcoming Harvest Festival, she jumps at the chance. It’s been thirty years since the last one and there are rumors abound on what happened. Part of her assignment is that she must live at the Ashdown mansion for weeks and help prepare for the festival. As she investigates the mystery, she continues to butt heads with William Ashdown. While he is lord of the manor and very handsome in a gothic sort of way, there’s a darkness that follows him. She can’t deny her feelings for William but there’s a foreboding presence stalking victims in the shadows. What’s going on? Caroline is committed to unearthing the truth. Is it smoke and mirrors or is Caroline in real danger?
Smoke and Mirrors is a modern-day gothic paranormal mystery I couldn’t put down. I was drawn into the story by the swirling mists of the mystery partnered with descriptive narration. The plot was so well-written, I was under its spell. I contemplated the characters and story when I wasn’t reading. I wondered what was going to happen next and I even dreamed about it. Elise Nelson is a gifted writer who plunged the reader into the world she created. The world-building is impressive and has a few twists. The gothic and paranormal themes are classic tropes, but the author adds her own spin on it. The plot moves at a nice easy pace with plenty of suspense and a bit of romance. Fans of the paranormal will love Smoke and Mirrors. Fans of gothic romance, pick up Smoke and Mirrors. I couldn’t get enough of Smoke and Mirrors and look forward to more from this author. Highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author in the hopes I'd review it. My thoughts are completely my own.
My Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
This review first appeared: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/po...
Smoke and Mirrors is a modern-day gothic paranormal mystery I couldn’t put down. I was drawn into the story by the swirling mists of the mystery partnered with descriptive narration. The plot was so well-written, I was under its spell. I contemplated the characters and story when I wasn’t reading. I wondered what was going to happen next and I even dreamed about it. Elise Nelson is a gifted writer who plunged the reader into the world she created. The world-building is impressive and has a few twists. The gothic and paranormal themes are classic tropes, but the author adds her own spin on it. The plot moves at a nice easy pace with plenty of suspense and a bit of romance. Fans of the paranormal will love Smoke and Mirrors. Fans of gothic romance, pick up Smoke and Mirrors. I couldn’t get enough of Smoke and Mirrors and look forward to more from this author. Highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author in the hopes I'd review it. My thoughts are completely my own.
My Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
This review first appeared: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/po...
May 26, 2021
Steamy, dreamy supernatural fun! Atmospheric, moody and compelling!
June 27, 2021
Full Disclosure: Received this digial copy via GoodReads Giveaway.
This may not be one of my more elegant reviews, but I hope to effectively convey what I thought of Smoke & Mirrors.
1. Writing was solid. Sometimes the use of similies & metaphors were a bit odd or shakey; but overall it did not detract from the story. As the story moved along, Nelson found her footing and the story became so engaging, I couldn't put it down.
2. In the genre of the old TV series Dark Shadows, this book harkens back to a form of Gothic literature that was so popular, it helped launched Stephen King, Vincent Price & a host of other authors & artists. This was a Master study that I couldn't put down. To have taken all the best elements of literature & the genre, mix them anew & produce a modern take on a classic is nothing short of exciting. Older readers will thrill at the familiarity of a Dark Gothic, while younger readers will identify with choices & emotions of the various main characters.
3. Despite knowing the book was 'about vampires'; the author does a spectacular job of slowing building tension, offering discreet clues at strategic points to insure the story is far from predictable. I LOVED it!!
4. The cast of characters were so well-constructed (including backstories), that I was easily able to visualize the scenes in my mind. Despite the story's focus on Caroline & William (No, I didn't miss the connection to the Cambridges), the H/h did not dominate the plot. Details were judiciously employed to great effect allowing the story to flow effortlessly.
5. The greatest failing of many 'clean reads' is their inability to focus on the critical elements of their tale making them outright boring. They get bogged down in unnecessary details or focus on superficial behaviors while letting the meat & potatoes of a story get away. That is NOT the case with Smoke & Mirrors. The story simply transcended all expectations by bring all the elements together in story that starts somewhat 'normal' and slowly builds the tension, until you simply can't put it down. It is tense without being gory. Romantic without being sexy. Most readers won't even miss the over-the-top writing.
6. I wish, I could predict this would result in a series; however, my impression was that this was a Stand Alone read. Still, I could hope, perhaps, Nelson would give some of the supporting cast, especially Evelyn, a try. I will definitely be following Nelson in the hopes of additional stories from her.
This is definitely a book a could re-read, which leads me to five solid stars. I look forward to more stories from Nelson.
This may not be one of my more elegant reviews, but I hope to effectively convey what I thought of Smoke & Mirrors.
1. Writing was solid. Sometimes the use of similies & metaphors were a bit odd or shakey; but overall it did not detract from the story. As the story moved along, Nelson found her footing and the story became so engaging, I couldn't put it down.
2. In the genre of the old TV series Dark Shadows, this book harkens back to a form of Gothic literature that was so popular, it helped launched Stephen King, Vincent Price & a host of other authors & artists. This was a Master study that I couldn't put down. To have taken all the best elements of literature & the genre, mix them anew & produce a modern take on a classic is nothing short of exciting. Older readers will thrill at the familiarity of a Dark Gothic, while younger readers will identify with choices & emotions of the various main characters.
3. Despite knowing the book was 'about vampires'; the author does a spectacular job of slowing building tension, offering discreet clues at strategic points to insure the story is far from predictable. I LOVED it!!
4. The cast of characters were so well-constructed (including backstories), that I was easily able to visualize the scenes in my mind. Despite the story's focus on Caroline & William (No, I didn't miss the connection to the Cambridges), the H/h did not dominate the plot. Details were judiciously employed to great effect allowing the story to flow effortlessly.
5. The greatest failing of many 'clean reads' is their inability to focus on the critical elements of their tale making them outright boring. They get bogged down in unnecessary details or focus on superficial behaviors while letting the meat & potatoes of a story get away. That is NOT the case with Smoke & Mirrors. The story simply transcended all expectations by bring all the elements together in story that starts somewhat 'normal' and slowly builds the tension, until you simply can't put it down. It is tense without being gory. Romantic without being sexy. Most readers won't even miss the over-the-top writing.
6. I wish, I could predict this would result in a series; however, my impression was that this was a Stand Alone read. Still, I could hope, perhaps, Nelson would give some of the supporting cast, especially Evelyn, a try. I will definitely be following Nelson in the hopes of additional stories from her.
This is definitely a book a could re-read, which leads me to five solid stars. I look forward to more stories from Nelson.
January 2, 2022
Smoke and mirrors.
The author is local to Saint John, NB and I met her at the book signing she was doing for this book. I had really high hopes for it.
It did not live up to the hype. It did not live up to the promise “but these vampires aren't lame.”
Lame vampires were sadly not the book's major fault. The part I disliked the most was how slow the story was. It was so hard to get into, I never got to a point where I was interested in the story at all. I got to the point where I could see the end and I very badly wanted to stop having to read the book.
I have a lot to say about this book:
I'm going to start with the characters:
Caroline:
I hated Caroline, every page she was on I just wanted to skip past and she's the main character.
She is awful as a character, unrealistic as a person, and atrocious as a guest.
The woman does not stop blathering, at any point in the book. Most of her thoughts are inane and she keeps going over the same ones again and again and again and again. She is very judgmental and quick to condemn people that she does not know.
The character acts very high and mighty when she has nothing to back it up with and is constantly jumping into conflicts to give everyone involved a piece of her mind whether she is part of that discussion or not. Having a strong-minded female character is a good thing, but not for a character that was raised to be scared. If a character is given a back story, keep the back story in mind and how that would impact how the character thinks. This character does not follow that.
She was raised in poverty, but she is very entitled. Everyone should always show her special treatment. It doesn't matter that that is not how things were done then, or she has not earned that reaction, she just expects everything to be as she wants it.
If I was the host of the event I would have slapped her and dismissed her very early on in the story. She causes nothing but problems. She starts fights at the dinner, shows up when she wants, does not take part in any of the activities, is not a team player, roams where she is not allowed to be, she caused a fire and no one ever gets upset with her. On top of that, she has no work ethic to speak of.
Before she and William are so 'madly in love' she is constantly ill or shirking her duty. The book spends precious little time talking about her doing anything for either of the jobs that she has. She does not write for her paper, and she does not seem to do much for the actual planning, she just makes kissy faces. She goes so far as to create a lot more work and unneeded stress for her hosts by telling people from the town about a ball they are holding, but not confirming it with the hosts.
Overall the main character is a very unlikeable person. The only positive thing that I can say about her is that she is not a Mary Sue.
William:
He is a very pale version of Edward Cullen (I have no interest or like for Twilight, but the author assured us that this character was nothing like Edward before we bought the book).
Most of how he pales has to do with his Vampirism, which I will get into later.
The character has exactly two emotions: broody and super sappy. I can't even begin to describe the broody. I suppose it's supposed to be better because he cried and shared his emotions. He didn't do anything wrong. Not one bit. He asked to go to the festival everyone else was attending and that his family put together and then he spends the next 30 years and way too much of the book crying and moping.
But don't worry, there is something even more annoying than the broody, there is the super sappy puppy love that poisons the majority of the book. It's not even a cute love. It's a mind-numbing page bogging love that completely ends any momentum that starts to build. Forget the mysteries, forget the work, forget anything that you are supposed to do at all, just spend every page looking at each other going 'I'm broody, but I love you and that love with not make me broody anymore', except it never stops the brooding.
Within moments of meeting her, he was her lap dog, aware of all of her faults but ignoring them completely. It wasn't cute or romantic, just hard to read.
The Family Extras:
Evelyn (was that her name?) and Charles. They were flat and interchangeable. They did little for the story and they were so boring. Worst, they even simpered over Caroline.
Maggie:
Caroline's aunt Maggie was dead, and somehow she was still the best character.
She had an understanding of what was going on. It was interesting how she tried to teach her, without telling her something that would just make her life harder.
Maggie found a way to be interesting with little or no time to do so.
Molly:
Have you ever heard of the Bechdel test? (two or more women talking to each other about something other than a man.). Molly is the perfect example of why that test was created. Molly's only just in the book was to make sure that Caroline had someone to talk to about boys and clothes. She also dressed Caroline so the main character would know that she looked good in these clothes that weren't hers.
Molly's other claim to fame is being so obsessed with boys that she is tricked into doing something stupid for a guy.
Mrs. Wells:
She loves the vampires more than she does her own family.
Mrs. Wells stole the end of the diary, the half that would have been helpful and would have shown Caroline that Cassius was the bad guy, the part of the diary that vindicates Mrs. Wells's son.
Mrs. Wells's son, one of the only good male characters in the book is obviously a shame to his mother because she desperately doesn't want the main character to know that A. Mrs. Wells and Caroline are related. B. That He did something kind and actually romantic.
All Mrs. Wells wants to do is belittle his importance.
Other than belittling her son and stealing from the guests, I'm not sure what the woman does.
Cassius:
Supposedly he's a master manipulator. He screamed and told very obvious lies to a little boy and lied about who he was to Caroline. He outright attacked the love of his life Claire and killed her husband. Hardly seems to be a manipulator at all, more like a spoiled child.
So, I'm done complaining about the characters, now I want to talk about Vampirism in the story.
In Smoke and Mirrors, a vampire becomes a vampire when their mortal soul goes to the shadow realm (inside a mirror). They live forever, the sun makes them cranky (how is that better than sparkly) rather than hurt them.
Vampires can control their temperature, but not their tempers and emotions. They cannot taste food anymore (which is the only real drawback that I can see) and they only fall in love once.
Similar to Edwards waiting 108 years or so to kiss a girl, William waited until he met Caroline to fall in love.
So these terrible creatures of the night have no real drawbacks, but they are stronger now, and even stronger at night.
The plot of the story is everywhere.
As previously mentioned the mystery gets thrown out the window once William and Caroline meet as they are too busy sucking face to do anything else.
By three-quarters of the way through the book when most books are building towards the climax this story is going on about how the life-shattering tragedy of William and Caroline having to part after the festival is all the plot is now. Ignoring the fact that the manor is in the town Caroline lives and works in and that Cassius made the trip a few times a day to visit Claire with no effort. They could see each other daily, and then Caroline would have days off work that they could spend the whole day together.
Instead, the book is “OMG we can't be joined at the hip any more angst, angst, angst. Our lives are horrible and not worth living anymore. OMG”
I also was put aback that Evelyn is now a hero at the end when all she did was get everyone to run and hide in the woods while the men did everything, but the townspeople now love her and claim she is the hero. It was her festival they were at when they were attacked in the first place.
Lastly on the topic of the plot. It's not a major plot point, but why in the heck were they supplying clothes to the reporters? That's creepy.
This story did not seem to know what genre it was going for. It tried to be a mystery, which fell through. There was no mystery, no real clues or trying to find anything out because there was romance.
What little mystery there was, was made up of bad red-herrings and no real conclusion. We were able to find out about her parents, but that was lacklustre with the theft of the journal, and by the time we found out we didn't care. The mystery of what happened 30 years ago was forgotten about until the end because of romance, and then we were never told, just left to assume it was the same as what happened this time, but bloodier.
This is kind of a Romance story, but the romance is shaky at best. The meet-cute was not cute at all and there was no breakup or relationship trauma at all. The only example of that was the part where they were going to have to live in different houses.
It was too sappy and cloying. The 'romance' took over everything and made reading the story like walking through hip-high, sticky mud. Exhausting.
The writing was in places difficult, especially the action scenes.
The author just wrote the action lines she like and wasn't very concerned if they made sense.
The leap from one good action to another was not often linked. For example, when Caroline was fighting Cassius she was on the ground then she jumped over him. Or when he bit her and then was confused. Or when she was supposedly bleeding from wrist to elbow with no issues. Or when she was fighting the night bat thing and they were in the air but she just jumped onto his back.
Many of the scenes I had to read twice to get the order of the action and to figure out how things went.
I don't know if Shattered glass press is a publishing company or the author's company but there were many places that a word was wrong or missing.
'I pushed her into me'
'I jumped onto his back' while in mid-air.
I usually record the errors that I find but I forgot to for this book, they are small and start about half to three-quarters of the way into the book. I didn't want to underline it in case someone wants to borrow it.
Since this book was written by a local author, I will recommend it to people despite the issues I had with the book. We even bought a copy for the person in our Secret Santa book exchange group.
The author is local to Saint John, NB and I met her at the book signing she was doing for this book. I had really high hopes for it.
It did not live up to the hype. It did not live up to the promise “but these vampires aren't lame.”
Lame vampires were sadly not the book's major fault. The part I disliked the most was how slow the story was. It was so hard to get into, I never got to a point where I was interested in the story at all. I got to the point where I could see the end and I very badly wanted to stop having to read the book.
I have a lot to say about this book:
I'm going to start with the characters:
Caroline:
I hated Caroline, every page she was on I just wanted to skip past and she's the main character.
She is awful as a character, unrealistic as a person, and atrocious as a guest.
The woman does not stop blathering, at any point in the book. Most of her thoughts are inane and she keeps going over the same ones again and again and again and again. She is very judgmental and quick to condemn people that she does not know.
The character acts very high and mighty when she has nothing to back it up with and is constantly jumping into conflicts to give everyone involved a piece of her mind whether she is part of that discussion or not. Having a strong-minded female character is a good thing, but not for a character that was raised to be scared. If a character is given a back story, keep the back story in mind and how that would impact how the character thinks. This character does not follow that.
She was raised in poverty, but she is very entitled. Everyone should always show her special treatment. It doesn't matter that that is not how things were done then, or she has not earned that reaction, she just expects everything to be as she wants it.
If I was the host of the event I would have slapped her and dismissed her very early on in the story. She causes nothing but problems. She starts fights at the dinner, shows up when she wants, does not take part in any of the activities, is not a team player, roams where she is not allowed to be, she caused a fire and no one ever gets upset with her. On top of that, she has no work ethic to speak of.
Before she and William are so 'madly in love' she is constantly ill or shirking her duty. The book spends precious little time talking about her doing anything for either of the jobs that she has. She does not write for her paper, and she does not seem to do much for the actual planning, she just makes kissy faces. She goes so far as to create a lot more work and unneeded stress for her hosts by telling people from the town about a ball they are holding, but not confirming it with the hosts.
Overall the main character is a very unlikeable person. The only positive thing that I can say about her is that she is not a Mary Sue.
William:
He is a very pale version of Edward Cullen (I have no interest or like for Twilight, but the author assured us that this character was nothing like Edward before we bought the book).
Most of how he pales has to do with his Vampirism, which I will get into later.
The character has exactly two emotions: broody and super sappy. I can't even begin to describe the broody. I suppose it's supposed to be better because he cried and shared his emotions. He didn't do anything wrong. Not one bit. He asked to go to the festival everyone else was attending and that his family put together and then he spends the next 30 years and way too much of the book crying and moping.
But don't worry, there is something even more annoying than the broody, there is the super sappy puppy love that poisons the majority of the book. It's not even a cute love. It's a mind-numbing page bogging love that completely ends any momentum that starts to build. Forget the mysteries, forget the work, forget anything that you are supposed to do at all, just spend every page looking at each other going 'I'm broody, but I love you and that love with not make me broody anymore', except it never stops the brooding.
Within moments of meeting her, he was her lap dog, aware of all of her faults but ignoring them completely. It wasn't cute or romantic, just hard to read.
The Family Extras:
Evelyn (was that her name?) and Charles. They were flat and interchangeable. They did little for the story and they were so boring. Worst, they even simpered over Caroline.
Maggie:
Caroline's aunt Maggie was dead, and somehow she was still the best character.
She had an understanding of what was going on. It was interesting how she tried to teach her, without telling her something that would just make her life harder.
Maggie found a way to be interesting with little or no time to do so.
Molly:
Have you ever heard of the Bechdel test? (two or more women talking to each other about something other than a man.). Molly is the perfect example of why that test was created. Molly's only just in the book was to make sure that Caroline had someone to talk to about boys and clothes. She also dressed Caroline so the main character would know that she looked good in these clothes that weren't hers.
Molly's other claim to fame is being so obsessed with boys that she is tricked into doing something stupid for a guy.
Mrs. Wells:
She loves the vampires more than she does her own family.
Mrs. Wells stole the end of the diary, the half that would have been helpful and would have shown Caroline that Cassius was the bad guy, the part of the diary that vindicates Mrs. Wells's son.
Mrs. Wells's son, one of the only good male characters in the book is obviously a shame to his mother because she desperately doesn't want the main character to know that A. Mrs. Wells and Caroline are related. B. That He did something kind and actually romantic.
All Mrs. Wells wants to do is belittle his importance.
Other than belittling her son and stealing from the guests, I'm not sure what the woman does.
Cassius:
Supposedly he's a master manipulator. He screamed and told very obvious lies to a little boy and lied about who he was to Caroline. He outright attacked the love of his life Claire and killed her husband. Hardly seems to be a manipulator at all, more like a spoiled child.
So, I'm done complaining about the characters, now I want to talk about Vampirism in the story.
In Smoke and Mirrors, a vampire becomes a vampire when their mortal soul goes to the shadow realm (inside a mirror). They live forever, the sun makes them cranky (how is that better than sparkly) rather than hurt them.
Vampires can control their temperature, but not their tempers and emotions. They cannot taste food anymore (which is the only real drawback that I can see) and they only fall in love once.
Similar to Edwards waiting 108 years or so to kiss a girl, William waited until he met Caroline to fall in love.
So these terrible creatures of the night have no real drawbacks, but they are stronger now, and even stronger at night.
The plot of the story is everywhere.
As previously mentioned the mystery gets thrown out the window once William and Caroline meet as they are too busy sucking face to do anything else.
By three-quarters of the way through the book when most books are building towards the climax this story is going on about how the life-shattering tragedy of William and Caroline having to part after the festival is all the plot is now. Ignoring the fact that the manor is in the town Caroline lives and works in and that Cassius made the trip a few times a day to visit Claire with no effort. They could see each other daily, and then Caroline would have days off work that they could spend the whole day together.
Instead, the book is “OMG we can't be joined at the hip any more angst, angst, angst. Our lives are horrible and not worth living anymore. OMG”
I also was put aback that Evelyn is now a hero at the end when all she did was get everyone to run and hide in the woods while the men did everything, but the townspeople now love her and claim she is the hero. It was her festival they were at when they were attacked in the first place.
Lastly on the topic of the plot. It's not a major plot point, but why in the heck were they supplying clothes to the reporters? That's creepy.
This story did not seem to know what genre it was going for. It tried to be a mystery, which fell through. There was no mystery, no real clues or trying to find anything out because there was romance.
What little mystery there was, was made up of bad red-herrings and no real conclusion. We were able to find out about her parents, but that was lacklustre with the theft of the journal, and by the time we found out we didn't care. The mystery of what happened 30 years ago was forgotten about until the end because of romance, and then we were never told, just left to assume it was the same as what happened this time, but bloodier.
This is kind of a Romance story, but the romance is shaky at best. The meet-cute was not cute at all and there was no breakup or relationship trauma at all. The only example of that was the part where they were going to have to live in different houses.
It was too sappy and cloying. The 'romance' took over everything and made reading the story like walking through hip-high, sticky mud. Exhausting.
The writing was in places difficult, especially the action scenes.
The author just wrote the action lines she like and wasn't very concerned if they made sense.
The leap from one good action to another was not often linked. For example, when Caroline was fighting Cassius she was on the ground then she jumped over him. Or when he bit her and then was confused. Or when she was supposedly bleeding from wrist to elbow with no issues. Or when she was fighting the night bat thing and they were in the air but she just jumped onto his back.
Many of the scenes I had to read twice to get the order of the action and to figure out how things went.
I don't know if Shattered glass press is a publishing company or the author's company but there were many places that a word was wrong or missing.
'I pushed her into me'
'I jumped onto his back' while in mid-air.
I usually record the errors that I find but I forgot to for this book, they are small and start about half to three-quarters of the way into the book. I didn't want to underline it in case someone wants to borrow it.
Since this book was written by a local author, I will recommend it to people despite the issues I had with the book. We even bought a copy for the person in our Secret Santa book exchange group.
September 5, 2025
While I like the concept and think this story has potential, there's a few things I would have wanted to be a bit different. I kept forgetting that this story was technically set in western Europe. It wasn't exactly clear where she was supposed to be from or where she was since all the names of towns and people all sounded British or American. Depending on where they were, the culture of the country and other cultural things going on in that area could have been a really cool element to add to the characters interaction with the world. Etc. I also would have preferred more of the history of that time to be more represented since that also could have added something.
I'm also not sure reporters have ever been asked to assist in putting on events even if it's for publicity. Even back then. So, given Caroline's ties to the place, I wish the whole her assisting with the festival because she's a reporter thing was replaced with something more to do with her wanting to discover who her mother was or to learn about her father. There are quite a few reasons for her to be there even if she didn't know it until the end and would have made a bit more sense.
Overall though the characters were interesting and made for an easy read.
I'm also not sure reporters have ever been asked to assist in putting on events even if it's for publicity. Even back then. So, given Caroline's ties to the place, I wish the whole her assisting with the festival because she's a reporter thing was replaced with something more to do with her wanting to discover who her mother was or to learn about her father. There are quite a few reasons for her to be there even if she didn't know it until the end and would have made a bit more sense.
Overall though the characters were interesting and made for an easy read.
March 2, 2025
🌖1800’s vampire romance
🌗reporter fmc
🌘feminism
🌑generational trauma rep
🌒touch her and 💀
🌓broody mmc
🌔mysteries & twists
🌕standalone/hea
I highly enjoyed this book, I thought it was very captivating and as with all of Elise’s books very beautifully written. The fmc Caroline is a strong independent woman who gets back up every time life knocks her down and the mmc William is a tortured broody vampire 🥰 Both of them are living with pain of their past but as they fall for each other they learn to open up and start healing from all the secrets they’ve been keeping inside. There’s lots of mystery throughout the story and a few twists I didn’t see coming at the end, I definitely recommend reading this one!
🌗reporter fmc
🌘feminism
🌑generational trauma rep
🌒touch her and 💀
🌓broody mmc
🌔mysteries & twists
🌕standalone/hea
I highly enjoyed this book, I thought it was very captivating and as with all of Elise’s books very beautifully written. The fmc Caroline is a strong independent woman who gets back up every time life knocks her down and the mmc William is a tortured broody vampire 🥰 Both of them are living with pain of their past but as they fall for each other they learn to open up and start healing from all the secrets they’ve been keeping inside. There’s lots of mystery throughout the story and a few twists I didn’t see coming at the end, I definitely recommend reading this one!
July 2, 2021
Very Enjoyable . . .
I really enjoyed this story line. Caroline Blake, a young reporter, goes on assignment to cover the elusive Ashdown family’s Harvest Festival, requiring her to live for 6 weeks in the family’s mansion to assist them in preparing for the festival. Her “partner” is William Ashdown who can be frustrating while still intriguing to her.
There are secrets to be uncovered, some of which should probably be left alone. What will Caroline discover about what happened 30 years ago? And what are William’s intentions for Caroline? Grab your copy and enjoy this clever story line with its personable characters!
I really enjoyed this story line. Caroline Blake, a young reporter, goes on assignment to cover the elusive Ashdown family’s Harvest Festival, requiring her to live for 6 weeks in the family’s mansion to assist them in preparing for the festival. Her “partner” is William Ashdown who can be frustrating while still intriguing to her.
There are secrets to be uncovered, some of which should probably be left alone. What will Caroline discover about what happened 30 years ago? And what are William’s intentions for Caroline? Grab your copy and enjoy this clever story line with its personable characters!
June 22, 2021
This was a transportive read! Loved getting lost in this world so intricately crafted that you can hear, taste, smell and feel what’s happening in the book. The ability of Nelson to build the story up layer by layer creating intrigue and romantic tension keeps you turning the pages. It’s steamy but not to sexy, just right;) As well, the author creates characters with depth that I can relate to. Overall, I was very pleased with Smoke and Mirrors! Looking forward to more fantastical reads from Nelson.
July 16, 2024
I read this years ago, but the bookstore's push about earning extra ballots made me review it. I don't remember when I read it, so I'm trying to get the dates as close as possible.
It wasn't a bad book, but much of the story confused me.
I hope this was the author's first book because she has talent, but she needed a developmental editor to smooth out some of the confusion.
I liked the book and bought three copies within a week to give to people in mystery book swaps that Christmas. I hope the readers enjoyed the book.
It wasn't a bad book, but much of the story confused me.
I hope this was the author's first book because she has talent, but she needed a developmental editor to smooth out some of the confusion.
I liked the book and bought three copies within a week to give to people in mystery book swaps that Christmas. I hope the readers enjoyed the book.
July 1, 2021
This was a very well written vampire suspense romance between Caroline Blake and William Ashdown. There is a villain, drama, danger, twists, turns, magic, and romance. This is a new author to me and it looks like this is her debut book. I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
August 17, 2021
Fantastic Book! This was a very pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was since this isn’t the genre I usually read.
The book is a great blend of suspense and romance with the perfect amount of vampires.
Well written and kept me in suspense. Great job Elise Nelson!
The book is a great blend of suspense and romance with the perfect amount of vampires.
Well written and kept me in suspense. Great job Elise Nelson!
June 16, 2021
This was an interesting twist to a vampire story.
August 4, 2021
Such a fun read! I hope she writes a sequel
October 16, 2021
Was unable to even finish this book....and I'm a finisher
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