The Splendour Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

From Amazon: Can love last beyond the grave?

Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can’t dance. A broken leg ended her career, but Sylvie’s pain runs deeper. What broke her heart was her father’s death, and what’s breaking her spirit is her mother’s remarriage—a union that’s only driven an even deeper wedge into their already tenuous relationship.

Uprooting her from her Manhattan apartment and shipping her to Alabama is her mother’s solution for Sylvie’s unhappiness. Her father’s cousin is restoring a family home in a town rich with her family’s history. And that’s where things start to get shady. As it turns out, her family has a lot more history than Sylvie ever knew. More unnerving, though, are the two guys that she can’t stop thinking about. Shawn Maddox, the resident golden boy, seems to be perfect in every way. But Rhys—a handsome, mysterious foreign guest of her cousin’s—has a hold on her that she doesn’t quite understand.

Then she starts seeing things. Sylvie’s lost nearly everything—is she starting to lose her mind as well?



I found myself immersed in this story from the first page. I really enjoyed the character Sylvie and found myself connecting to her straight away. I really liked her voice - she came across as strong yet vulnerable and I loved the fact she questioned everything that happening, including her sanity! I also found myself really drawn to Rhys - I even missed him when he wasn't in the story And I completely adored her dog Gigi!

The story itself is an intriguing one. There was a lot of detail included - at times it felt every conversation and action was documented - but I really liked this. It felt as if I were putting all the pieces of the puzzle together to solve what was going on at the same time as the characters. I did find myself getting impatient toward the end - I really needed to know what was happening. The ending was really good - very exciting and I wasn't sure what direction the story would take. I really liked that I found it completely unpredictable and I loved the way all the information collected throughout the story made perfect sense by the end.

I appreciate though, that at over 500 pages, this is a long book. And although I found it a refreshing change to some of the really quick and fast paced books I've read recently, it is slow paced. If you are after a rollercoaster ride of action this probably isn't going to be the book for you. But, if you fancy a really well written mystery with a supernatural edge this is a great story. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more books by the author.