Monday, October 3, 2011

The Lost Lady of Hathaway Manor, a little bit of Sexy WTF & the best author picture ever! - The return of Women Running from Houses

The Lost Lady of Hathaway Manor
by Anne Knoll
published by Zebra Gothic
Copyright 1992

"You'd best trust me, Katherine.
You may need my help.
"

Forced to flee America or land in debtors' prison, India
Chantelle found herself on a ship bound for London where
her actor father could put gambling behind him and make a
fresh start. India enjoyed her shipboard friendship with
orphaned heiress Katherine Hathaway, on her way home to
Cornwall to await her eighteenth birthday and her
inheritance. Then Katherine made an impulsive proposal:
that the two young women, who looked much alike,
exchange identities for six months. Katherine craved the
excitement of the London theatre, and wouldn't India just
love a long vaction at a stately British mansion, especially
since Katherine insisted on paying off her father's debts ...

But Katherine had another reason for not wanting to await
her inheritance within the walls of Hathaway Manor. Upon
arriving at the gloomy, fogbound house, India was
immediately aware of a scarely concealed hostility toward
"dear Cousin Katherine" who would soon be chatelaine of the
vast estate. And though handsome, brilliant Jordan Hathaway
always appeared just in time to rescue her from the small
accidents that kept occurring, it wasn't long before India
realized that something shocking had happened to Katherine
as a small child - something they all feared she might
remember and reveal - and that someone was trying to
frighten her away ... or silence her forever.

The
Lost Lady of
Hathaway
Manor

As many of you already know a rather complicated pregnancy has kept me from blogging regularly for sometime but with that four months behind me and finally feeling like myself again, I wanted to kick off the return of WRFH right.

Truth be told The Lost Lady of Hathaway Manor holds no real charm for me. Perhaps it is the insipid look on India's face that awakens the conflicting desires to both not care as well as smack her. Of course it might yet again be the idea of fleeing over impossible terrain in a floor length gown. Does no one ever learn? (Though I must give her credit for getting as far as she has.)

But what really attracted me to this book was the killer book club offer sandwiched between page 128 and 129. Zebra Books really looks to have it all going on in this bizarre illustration where it seems that an amorous couple is well on their way to nakedness in front of one of those church pamphlets given out door-to-door.

And there's a riverboat!


Oh, and they also really, really, really want to give you four free books. At least they really want to give you something.


He has quite the round bottom!

But still the best of all is the awesomeness that is the author photo on the back of "The Love Pirate" by Barbara Cartland. Yes, yes, the title is fantastic, seeming to offer an untold number of inappropriate images, but before you head off to Abebook or Amazon just check out the very posh Barbara herself. This pictures looks to have been taken in one of the bedrooms from 1973's Legend of Hell House. Nice!



If I ever write a romance novel, and I totally should being an expert in the field of all things steamy, I want a picture just like this. Except it would have my dachshund Vincent (Price) and I'd be wearing far more fur!

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7 comments:

  1. Welcome :-D
    I missed your funny posts.
    I'm glad you're well.
    Aris.

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  2. Thanks for the entertaining post. Have to say, though, that Lost Lady of Hathaway Manor sounds like a good story. May have to search this one out!

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  3. Aris: Thanks!

    Susied: It really doesn't sound half bad. Perhaps if handsome, brilliant Jordan Hathaway had been dark and brooding, maybe even horribly scarred from a tragic car crash I would have been all over this bad boy!

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  4. Is Barbara Cartland still alive? If she's not, I bet we can guess who inherited all the moolah.

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  5. rob!: No doubt!

    What I find really disturbing is her fur. Not even because she's wearing one (Do people actually do that anymore?) but because it looks like it may have been pieced together from her dog's hair clippings.

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  6. Is it just me, or does that look like the photo was taken while she was shopping for a casket?

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  7. It does have a slight Dr.Phibes-ish vibe to it.

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