Meme - Blast from the Past: Lady Languish: An Irish Vampire Novel by SCD Goff

It's so easy to get caught up in the new books, ARC arrivals and general buzz of book promotions. We're all in a hurry to read the new thing, the new story.
So, this Meme is remembering some of the great books of the past that deserve another mention.
Here's one from June 2012. Enjoy!

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Lady Languish: An Irish Vampire Novel by SCD Goff

Publishers: Self-Published
Published Date: March 20th 2012
From: Author
My rating: 5 out of 5

Thanks to SCD Goff for allowing me to read this book and give my honest opinion

Synopsis:

After her Uncle Malachy terrifies Evangeline Languish on her 16th birthday, she is abandoned at a boarding school by her parents. But when Evangeline discovers a strange young man, injured and alone, she is forced to change her mind about everything she knew.
Could Malachy's stories be true? Evangeline must face her uncle once more ... can she get to him before he kills everything she loves?.

Review:

As many of you know I'm not a big fan of vampire books, I've read so many and after a while they all read more or less the same. But I was honoured to be asked to read Lady Languish and after being told it was more in the same vane as the great Dracula I happily obliged. But nothing could have prepared me for the most beautifully written piece that should surely go down as proper YA literature. SCD Goff has such a way with creating imagery that once I was into the story I felt my world around me dissolve and I was actually in the story as an observer. Not many authors have this strong writing ability but if that isn't recommendation alone to read this wonderful piece then I don't know what is!

Lady Languish is the story of a young girl, Evangeline Languish. Her privileged upbringing and doting parents have kept her away from all forms of society, even denying her the pleasures of shopping or visiting the local village except once, which caused a family uproar.
She lives in a castle on a huge estate and has yet to make any friends. Sad? Not really. At no time do you get the impression that Eva is lonely, or pining for an escape. She's content and happy with her life and truly loves her parents. An incident on her 16th birthday throwing everything into the open. An uncle, Malachy, arrives. An uncle she has never met before and one that makes her queasy when he's near. He seeks an opportunity to get her on her own and then makes her drink a red liquid that she's never drunk and almost instantly she feels awakened. The uncle gets sent from the castle immediately but shortly after, and without any explanation, Eva is sent to St Rita's boarding school.

Sooner after she hears about the death of her parents and after arriving back at her family castle strange events start to occur. The mysterious Lorcan shows up, injured beyond measure and she takes taking him back to the castle to get proper care. Soon she realises that he's not normal and he in turn predicts that her life is in incredible danger. A vampire hierarchy going back to the first vampires is now under the leadership of Slane, a young power-hungry woman whose second in command is none other than her uncle Malachy. And Slane wants Eva dead.

This isn't a story that has been rushed in any way. The pace doesn’t canter along losing your perspective and instead you get to savour the different characters, all well thought out and that spring to life in the story at opportune moments. Especially Eva's friend from school, Sive. I have a soft spot for her. Sive's father was a close friend of Eva's parents but little did Eva know this until their terrible death. Sive doesn’t shirk at the sound of danger; she helps Eva unravel the conspiracies occurring with the aid of Ann, the housekeeper who enlightens Eva to her past.

Another great character was Lorcan that I loved. His history is undeniably horrid, and he's tortured by his past life. But slowly he begins to open up a little with Eva and there's a connection that neither of them expected.

And the bad guys? They are really bad and nasty. I even felt scared just reading about them!

The book is set in Ireland which helped create such a stunning, almost Gothic, backdrop inviting in the beautiful descriptions that take you to another place entirely, and Eva has to be one of the loveliest heroines I've ever read. And if you think she's had her fair share of heartache then just wait till you get to the end. An ending that will lead you to desperately wanting the second book!

It isn't often that I gush about a book but there aren't enough good words to say about Lady Languish. This is definitely one of my books of the year so far.

-CB x

 About  SCD Goff
 I work in the publishing industry by day, but at night I join the legions of YA writers and fans online to talk about books, writing, What the Industry Wants, the day that's in it, vampires, banshees, and how I want to be a writer and not just talk about being a writer..

Want to know more? Just ask!
 
You can reach SCD Goff here:

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