His Wicked Sins

by Eve Silver

Book Overview

Determined to help her impoverished family, Elizabeth Canham accepts a position at Burndale Academy, an isolated girl's school filled with secrets and shadows. There she meets mysterious widower... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821781294
• ISBN13: 9780821781296
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Zebra Books
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Eve Silver delivers again!!

Henry Pugh has been called to a gruesome murder scene. The owners of a local pub are killed in a very bloody manner. Upstairs he finds the maid Ginny, with her hair scalped from her head and her fingers cut off... And the horror doesn't end there. Years later Elizabeth travels to Yorkshire to attend a teaching position on a local boarding school. She needs the job to help her family survive. But when she gets at the village, it appears that they have forgotten her. Luckily for her, Griffin Fairfax is on his way to the school to visit his daughter. His nearness evokes feelings in Elizabeth she hasn't felt before. But once at the school rumors about the handsome gentleman makes her apprehensive. He seemed to have been the one discovering the dead bodies of several of the serial killers victims. When Beth is wandering on the grounds of the school, she gets the uncomfortable feeling of being watched... and most of the times she runs into Griffin right after that.. But she doesn't dare to confide in anyone, since she has secrets best kept to herself... Is she attracted to a coldhearted killer, or can she trust her heart to make the right decision? Eve Silver has a way with words that makes me reading her books and forgetting all around me... That is what happened with this one too... Elizabeth has had a terrible experience in her past, thus making her an oddity in her town. Her mother taught her to deal with her fears and anxieties, but she never really gotten over them. When she attends a new position as teacher and odd things happen, she must face her fears since she can't afford to loose the income she is providing. When she is near Griffin Fairfax, her fears seem to vanish, only to be replaced with other feelings. But can she trust the one man who understands her, but also seem connected to each murder.... Griffin is a gentleman and rumors claim he killed his own wife in front of his daughter. The child refuses to speak, and it takes another bruised soul like Beth's to break down Isobel's walls. Griffin recognizes Beth's fears and knows how to handle them. Both have their secrets, but who will reveal them first? But while they deal with their feelings, the serial killer has set his eye on Beth. I just loved His Wicked Sins... Mrs. Silver takes you out of your daily life and pulls you into her world. I confess, there were moments Beth was being watched and I felt the shivers creeping over my back. Telling myself not to be foolish and not to look over my shoulder. The tension is tangible, the surroundings well described and the sensuality much more present than previous Dark Gothic books of Eve Silver. I'm so glad I got the occasion to read this in advance, and I suggest you all look out for this book when it hits the shelves. It will give you some nice hours of entertainment.

Excellent Gothic Romance

This is the first book I have read by Eve Silver and initially my expectations were rather low. The information on the back suggested it would be yet another run-of-the-mill historical romance. I was very pleasantly surprised, however, to find myself reading a well-crafted gothic romance. Beth Canham's family have fallen into poverty and so she has taken a position as a schoolteacher to try to supplement the meagre family income. However once she arrives at Burndale School she discovers it's a rather gloomy building. This might not usually matter but Beth is hiding a rather large secret - that she is terrified of the dark and has very bad claustrophobia. However, Beth knows it's vitally important that she keeps the job to earn money for her family and despite having no experience of teaching she sets about trying to do a good job of it. Right at the beginning Beth notices the pupil Isobel, a mute girl whose father Griffin Fairfax, one of the major benefactors of the school, has rather intruded upon her notice. Beth is immediately attracted to Griffin and yet he's an enigmatic man who rarely smiles and whose relationship with his daughter is clearly strained. As Beth settles into the school she begins to hear the rumours - that two previous blonde-haired schoolteachers have been murdered and that Griffin Fairfax killed his wife. Can Beth make sense of these rumours? Can she hide her attraction to Griffin? Can she keep the secret of her phobias? And is the murderer of the other women after her? This story is quite slow-moving but written in a very pleasing style so that it was never boring. The author had rather a tendency to use the word 'likely' instead of the English 'probably' in her characters' speech which marked it out as American-authored, as did the use of 'fall' for 'autumn', but these are common errors and didn't particularly detract from the story. Eve Silver delves deep into the character of Beth so that we understand how she feels when she has her panic attacks. Griffin is harder to understand, perhaps, but the slow-building romance between the two of them is excellently portrayed. The murders play a lesser part in this book than I might have thought and I wasn't ever seriously worried about the identity of the villain, although there were a few options offered, but the underlying message of the book, that of people coming to terms with events in their past once they have the strength of someone else to lean on, was very successful. I enjoyed this book so much that I will look out for others by Eve Silver. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Another winner!

I love this book! When I read Eve Silver's first book, I was thrilled to find a "gothic" type story with spice. Each successive book of hers has gotten better, and she's now an automatic buy for me. The plot has been described in other reviews, so I'll just say that the story definitely holds your interest, the romance is very satisfying, and there are some very emotional scenes. I LIKED the hero and heroine. (That is SO important.) And the damaged child tugged at my heart. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, and can't wait for her next one!

Haunting, Beautiful Gothic Romance

It's been a long time since I've picked up a Gothic and with the paranormal load I've been hefting lately, it was a refreshing read, yet not too off the dark and deadly path from said paranormals. In that I mean the ill wind/foreboding tone that unfurls from the moment this book starts. It was great! This author knows how to set an eerie mood and keep a reader in suspense. And bonus, it came with some of the most hauntingly beautiful prose I've read in a while too. In Yorkshire, at the Burndale school for young girls, residents are menaced by an unseen evil, one that sets its sights on the pretty teachers there. A series of murders has haunted them and it's this unwelcoming atmosphere that heralds Elizabeth Canham's arrival. Set to take a teaching position herself, she feels the not-quite-right air about the school. More importantly, she endeavors to contain the memories it rouses, of a time of pain and fear. Even as she struggles to control the ghosts of her past, they're coming to life again, right before her very eyes. Griffin Fairfax can't help but be fascinated by the woman that is somehow able to get through to his troubled daughter. Elizabeth has no doubt been through something terrible herself, yet he admires her quiet fortitude and haunted strength. When more murders crop up, his disreputable younger days come back to haunt him. He can see the new young miss is wary of him, as she should be. For Griffin is a terrible man, capable of dire things and culpable in so many ways. The most terrible of all, that for which he can never forgive himself has even torn a chasm between him and his daughter. There's something in her new teacher though, something that gives him hope...and a desire he cannot deny. His Wicked Sins drew me right in from the very first page, as we travel with Elizabeth, or Beth as she's called for most of the book, on her way to her new life as a teacher. Beth has within herself an innate sense of self, though it is somewhat buried too beneath those memories that haunt her. It's almost as if we're getting to watch that sense of self unfold and blossom into a spirited and strong young woman. Her past has made her observant and careful, instilled within her traits that will actually save her in the long run. It wasn't hard at all for me to admire her for her compassion with Griffin's daughter, Isobel, or for her determination to make her own opinions about him rather than relying on rumor. His was a woman I could very well see all the things within that Griffin does. Griffin himself is not without his secrets and silent self-condemnations. In fact, I loved and loved how he's drawn out as this unapologetically depraved man, seemingly capable of horrible misdeeds and travesties. Granted, a lot of the rumors about him are encouraged by his mocking silence whenever the subject is brought up, but Griffin's reasons aren't without merit; he truly feels responsible for the very things these rumors accuse him of. Throw in the stra

another delightfully eerie Gothic Romance from the incredible Eve Silver

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques Elizabeth Canham desperately needs her new job as a teacher at the Yorkshire boarding school Burndale Academy. Her family desperately needs the income this job will provide. When rumors abound about a serial killer who targets blonde haired woman killed two teachers at the Academy, old fears that have plagued Elizabeth her entire life coming rushing to the forefront ever more frequently. Is it just nerves or does she really have cause to be alarmed? Griffin Fairfax is a mysterious man who has his own shadows following him. His young daughter, Isobel, is one of Elizabeth's pupils. The child has not spoken a word since her mother died a few years back and Griffin is overwhelmed with guilt over what happened to his late wife. Isobel gives Griffin a reason to come calling at Burndale Academy frequently, but when he meets Elizabeth, he can't help but be drawn to the beautiful teacher with shadows in her eyes. Now, Elizabeth is stalked by strange occurrences and feelings of being. When it appears the serial killer has targeted Elizabeth, she needs all her strength and the haven of safety and calm Griffin provides. As the passion smoldering between them begins to erupt, danger grows ever closer. Why is Griffin in the middle of it all? While all of the previous Gothic Romances written by Eve Silver have had dark tones, His Wicked Sins outdoes them all. The mood is pervasive and we can't help but be drawn into the story, feeling the fear of the serial killer's victims, and Elizabeth's panic as she becomes more and more convinced something is after her. The added perspective of the serial killer's thoughts when we get into his head will make goose bumps break out at the pure evil in His Wicked Sins. Elizabeth suffers from a paralyzing fear of the dark and enclosed spaces after a traumatic event as a child. As her feeling of being stalked grows stronger, so does her terror. Yet she cannot let anyone know what is happening to her since she so desperately needs the income her job provides and is afraid they'd let her go if they knew the truth. Each time her panic rises, she feels the need to escape yet oddly enough, when Griffin is near, he gives her the strength to fight her fears and overcome them. I cheered Elizabeth on as I watched her push back the fear time and again to do what was necessary. There is one particular confrontation scene near the end that really puts into perspective how this fear has affected Elizabeth's life. Griffin has his own demons to face before he can be deserving of Elizabeth's love. He suffers immense guilt over his wife's death and the role he played in it. This is magnified by the fact he is convinced Isobel hates and blames him for losing her mother. It is only through Elizabeth's steadfastness in her feelings for him, and the special bond she shares with Isobel that Griffin finds is way out of his self-imposed prison. When Griffin and Elizabeth admit to themselves and each other the