Book Review: The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart by Leanna Renee Hieber

Pages: 332

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: November 1, 2012

Source: Publisher for review

Series: Darker Still (Magic Most Foul #1)

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "I'm coming for you. The whispers haunt her dreams and fill her waking hours with dread. Something odd is happening. Something...unnatural. Possession of the living. Resurrection of the dead. And Natalie Stewart is caught right in the middle. Jonathon, the one person she thought she could trust, has become a double agent for the dark side. But he plays the part so well, Natalie has to wonder just how much he's really acting. She can't even see what it is she's fighting. But the cost of losing her heart, her sanity...her soul."

In Darker Still, it ends with Jonathan (Lord Denbury) and Natalie on a train leaving New York City.  They are pretty much on the run along with the help of Mrs. Northe, who is staying in New York.  Just as in Darker Still, all three are still trying to solve the mystery. Natalie and Jonathan are running away from the evil that still lingers in the city; however, once they get to Jonathan's friend's house, they find something disturbing there as well.  They decide to regroup and Natalie to heads back to the city. Jonathan makes an executive decision: to pretend to be on the dark side in order to figure out what is going on, including the mystery surrounding his murdered family.  The Twisted Tragedy of Natalie Stewart is book two in the Magic Most Foul series by Leanna Renee Hieber and although it is deliciously gothic and entertaining, I didn't find it quite as absorbing as Darker Still.  

One of the best parts of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart is the relationship between Natalie and Jonathan. Although I definitely wanted more of this in book two, I still really liked them together as a couple. Another thing I enjoyed about The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart is Hieber's writing. She really creates such a spine-chilling atmosphere that I was thinking about long after the story was over.

I am not big on horror stories and was afraid that this series might push me to the edge, but I think it's more gothic than a horror story.  But don't get me wrong! In The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, there's still a demon running loose, a creepy doctor, a scary hospital, and an evil society; so, there's plenty of eerie parts to this novel.  However, what I find most enjoyable are the gothic elements and the Victorian time period.  Hieber does a really good job bringing it all to life. 

Although The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart wasn't as good as Darker Still, it was still an entertaining read with gothic undertones truly as the star of the show.