Eldrith Manor By Leigh Rivers and Avina St. Graves
Eldrith Manor by Leigh Rivers and Avina St. Graves - A standalone paranormal romance
Tropes: Paranormal Romance, Demon x Ghost, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Forced Proximity, Haunted House, Gothic Romance, Monster Romance, Dual POV, Co-Written Standalone
Summary:
One ghost. One demon. One haunted manor. Eldrith Manor is what happens when Leigh Rivers and Avina St. Graves join forces, and the result is exactly as atmospheric, unhinged and slow-burning as that pairing suggests.
BOOK REVIEW
A ghost and the demon who killed her, stuck in the same house for eternity. I'd have read that premise from anybody. From Leigh Rivers and Avina St. Graves together, it was never going to be a question.
What genuinely surprised me is how funny it is. Sable is dead, she is furious about it, and she has absolutely no intention of being gracious. Lynx has several centuries of misery behind him and no idea what to do with a woman who simply will not stop talking. Their bickering carried the entire first half for me. I laughed out loud more than once, which is not what I was expecting from a book about damnation.
And then it turns. Both of their backstories are properly tragic, and the book takes its time letting you understand exactly how each of them ended up here. Sable didn't reach for that spell book out of curiosity, grief did that. Lynx wasn't born a monster either, he was made into one by people who had already decided that's what he was. Once you have both halves, every scene before it lands completely differently.
The forced proximity here is about as literal as it gets. They cannot leave, cannot avoid each other, cannot take a single night off from it, and the slow burn does precisely what a slow burn is supposed to do. It's spicy when it finally gets there, too. And there's a happy ending, which after everything these two go through felt like being handed something I hadn't earned.
Two authors, one seamless voice, and a book that is gothic and funny and quietly devastating in roughly equal measure. Perfect for spooky season, and perfect if you want your paranormal romance with real feeling underneath the haunting.
“Well, ghost girl, when I catch you, you're mine. Death was never going to save you from me. You're bound to me for eternity, and I'm going to make it worth every moment.”
If you love your romance haunted, gothic and just a little bit feral, Eldrith Manor is a perfect autumn read. Leigh Rivers and Avina St. Graves write a demon and a ghost who are stuck with each other in the most literal sense, and the forced proximity does exactly what forced proximity is supposed to do. Atmospheric, slow-burning, and impossible to leave behind.
