I would like to thank Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley and Wendy Webb for the ARC of "The End of Temperance Dare" by Wendy Webb for my honest review.
The genres of this novel are General Fiction (Adult), Women's Fiction, Para Normal, Mystery and Suspense.
I like the way that Wendy Webb describes the setting at Cliffside Manor, a former Tuberculosis Sanatorium, now a place for Artists and Writers to retreat to. Between the beauty of the grounds, and the dark and weird descriptions of the large mansion, I get a feeling of good and evil. The Tuberculosis Sanatorium used to have the reputation as a "waiting room for death"
The characters can be described as complex, complicated, strange, quirky, good and evil. The story takes place mostly in the present with references to the past.
Eleanor Harper,is a former crime reporter and has come to "Cliffside Manor" to be the director of the Artist's Retreat. This retreat was set up by the Dare family. Despite the dark past of Cliffside Manor, Eleanor has a strange and haunting feeling that something is not what it should be.
The former Director is found dead, and things seem more sinister and evil. There are accidents and strange incidents, that Eleanor finds herself dealing with.
This is a unique and unusual read, and I appreciate that the author has used so many genres. I like the way the author weaves this dark story. There are twists and turns, and surprises.
I would highly recommend this intriguing story.

I was capture from the first page of this book and could not put it down. It was filled with mystery and intrigue. The language used gave me a vivid picture of Cliffside and I could almost imagine being there. The characters were colorful and lively, the twists and turns kept my interest throughout.

A dark Gothic style horror. I didn't find it too scary but I'm not easily frightened! For me it was an OK read, I've read better. Not really my type of book.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

I usually don't read scary books so this was a change for me. I really enjoyed it. I will be checking out Wendy Webb's other books. Eleanor Harper becomes the director of an artist's retreat that used to be a tuberculosis sanitarium in the 1950's. From the moment she starts working there she has a lot of bad feelings. When the artist's show up for their session, the secrets of the house are exposed and Eleanor needs to save herself and the artists. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Wendy Webb for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Check reality at the door and fall into this ghost story - it won't disappoint! Just make sure to keep the lights on!

Eleanor has just obtained a new job as director of Cliffside Manor, an artist retreat in an old TB sanatorium (yes, cue the creepy music). When she was first starting out in journalism, she investigated the case of a death of the founder of the retreat and his daughter from a semi-suspicious car accident. She finds herself back 20+ years later as director.

But from her first day, everything seems to go wrong and Eleanor is faced with protecting the artist fellows who arrive for their stay as well as her own life.

A true ghost story that really keeps you glued to the book until the final page. This is the first book I've read by this author - certainly makes me want to go back and read more!

Cliffside Tuberculosis Sanatorium - waiting room for death. "When Death takes hold, he seeps into the very foundations.”

Eleanor Harper used to be an investigative journalist until she was overcome by an overwhelming sense of dread and doom and ended up getting fired. So when she sees that Cliffside Manor, an artist's retreat that used to be a TB sanatorium, is advertising for a new director, she feels immediately drawn to apply for the job. She had been at Cliffside Manor 23 years ago investigating the deaths of the current director's father and sister. The current director, Penelope Dare, remembers Eleanor from 23 years ago and hires her to fill the position she is retiring from.

This book brought back memories of younger years to me. I used to read a lot of gothic romances and mysteries many, many years ago and this is definitely a gothic mystery.

Creepy things start happening almost immediately upon Eleanor's arrival at Cliffside. Not long after she arrives, the five recipients of the fellowship endowment for the current session - artists and writers - get to the Manor and events start spiraling out of control.

Ghosts and mysteries abound in this atmospheric chiller. It was a nice change of pace and the characters were detailed and believable and the story was well done, scary without melodrama.

I received this book from Lake Union Publishing through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

If you frighten easily at all, do not make my mistake and read this book in the dark in an unfamiliar house. Wendy Webb's latest Gothic style mystery is set in a repurposed tuberculosis sanitarium in the North Woods, where Eleanor Harper has just begun her new position as the director of Cliffside's artist retreat program. Very quickly, she finds herself out of her league as the new challenges of the position compete with a sense that something is very much so not-right at the house. The tension in this book builds slowly, letting the reader experience growing discomfort and distrust along with Eleanor, until the dramatic conclusion. The influence of stories like Rebecca and The Haunting of Hill House is clearly evident, but Wendy Webb continues to show that she is one of the modern masters of the style.
Seasonal style readers, take note of this one and save for the fall! It is a satisfyingly eerie read.

I gave up after about 20% of this. The premise was excellent, but the writing was so bad. Too many icy shivers down the spine.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publishers Lake Union Publishing and netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review.

This book reminded me of those made for tv horror films of the 70's and 80's (like Crow Haven Farm and the ilk) and was deliciously creepy and crazy. The End Of Temperance Dare has a repurposed sanitarium cut off from the world, foggy weather, a mysterious sister, deaths and ghosts and a decades old mystery to solve. It hooked me right from the get go and kept me reading into the early hours.

The story starts fairly benignly, but strange occurrences, eerie noises in the night and a link between the inhabitants of Cliffside Manor soon started to ramp up the tension. My spine was tingling and at one point I had to check under the bed!

The ending was fantastically over the top, and I mean this in a good way. The tension by this point had reached such a level, that it could only explode out in the way that it does.
Thankfully it also meant that I could turn the light out and sleep soundly that night!

I will definitely be seeking out other books by this author.

I have really enjoyed Wendy Webb's previous gothics, and her newest page-turner did not disappoint! The End of Temperance Dare is a true ghost-story about a haunted TB hospital that is now operating as an artist's retreat. Eleanor Harper, a former journalist, arrives at Cliffside Manor to take over the reins from the longtime director, Penelope Dare, whose family founded Cliffside in the 1950s. Before Eleanor has been in the house for 24 hours, she discovers that her predecessor is dead of mysterious causes. Despite some grave misgivings about remaining in such a forboding dwelling, Eleanor decides to stay and investigate Penelope's death. The plot thickens when she finds a letter from Penelope that closes with the ominous statement, "My nightmare is over." When the five fellows arrive for their retreat, the group joins forces in an attempt to figure out exactly what is happening at Cliffside. The reader must be willing to suspend some disbelief and just go with it; if you are willing to do so, you are in for a fun and exciting ride! Highly recommended for fans of gothic mysteries and horror.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the preview copy!

A well written ghost story set in a former TB hospital. Just imagine the ghosts.

I really enjoyed this gothic mystery set in a tuberculosis sanitarium. It is now a retreat for writers and artists and Eleanor Harper has just been hired on as the new Director. From her very first day on the job she realizes that things are not as they seem at Cliffside Manor. This book has a cast of creepy characters and they are all assembled together to unravel the mystery. This book was a great spooky story to read with all the lights on .

I received an advanced copy of this title via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks!
This is a true ghost story in the vein of the Victorian style- think Wilkie Collins and the modern Susan Hill series. Atmospheric and engaging, I could not put it down. I loved how it reminded me of Clue and even The Westing Game: a group of individuals invited to a spooky place to figure out 'the game.' How are they linked? Will the mystery be solved?
This was a fun read. I was all up for a 5-star review until the end which dissolved into silliness that was accepted fully by all of the characters, which, I felt, was out of character for many of them. It almost felt like the author had an image in her head of what she wanted the ending to be and almost worked backwards. It was a shame because it was a truly fantastic horror yarn. I would still recommend it for the story, even if the ending was lacklustre.

2.5/5*s
I was given an e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. I liked the ghost aspects of the book and found them to be entertaining but the beginning of the book was rather boring. I also thought the ending was a little silly and I was uninterested at what was going to happen at the end. If you like ghost stories this may be a book for you as we all have different tastes in reading.

THE END OF TEMPERANCE DARE is the best kind of ghost story. Truly spooky without being truly terrifying. The writing style and setting reminded me of Agatha Christie. Six authors and the Director of an artist's retreat are plagued by strange noises and happenings that lead them to believe that the ghosts of the past have come to haunt them. The story becomes more and more intriguing as it unfolds. Good read and thoroughly enjoyable!.

Eleanor Harper is heading for her first day as the new director of the Cliffside Arts Foundation. The previous director, Penelope Dare, was the last of the family who set up the retreat for people to work for a set period on a particular arts project be it writing, painting, photography or anything similar. As Eleanor settles into Cliffside House she becomes aware of a few strange goings on - noises in the night, time that goes without her realising it, a spooky dolls house and so on. Once the six fellows arrive it all becomes a little more heated and events take quite a sinister turn. Who are the children running in the attics and who is wreaking destruction - is it someone mortal or a ghost?

I very much enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. The book seemed to be reasonably well written with a good structure to the plot. I was interested in the characters and how they were reacting though became quite aware that Eleanor wasn't the sharpest spark in the bonfire and she didn't pick up on some early, obvious clues. As the action started to hot up I felt that the book started to disintegrate. There was a terrible demonic exorcism which just wasn't credible. I didn't find it believeable that a demon being exorcised would calmly sit in a chair without screaming or fighting. At least they could have tied her down for effect! Up until this point the information had been unravelling nicely as the story progressed and I was happily fitting everything together. However, during this rather odd exorcism scene there were several pages of information given as a speech by one person, Nate Davidson. Where is the fun in having the rest of the puzzle spoon fed in a hurry?

The last third of this book piled in a vast amount of information in a great rush. I did start to wonder if the author had an impending deadline! It really spoiled the tension for me. I don't like being spoon fed large amounts of information especially when it got more and more inplausible as the story progressed. The author really did not do themselves or the book justice with this ending.

This had the makings of a good, solid four star book. Not exceptional & a little predictable & obvious in places. However the last section just didn't live up to this and was a disappointment.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I've loved Wendy Webb's other books, but this one just didn't feel very thought out. It started out strong, and I loved the atmosphere, but the end just felt rushed and thrown together.

“Death lived within these walls; she could feel it hanging in the air, as tangible as the fog outside.”

Eleanor Harper, as fate would have it, has become the director of an artist’s retreat at Cliffside Manor. That the place and it’s grounds were once ‘a waiting room for death’ (a sanatorium housing adults and children infected with tuberculosis) may well be the reason this ‘peaceful manor’ is anything but. Is it possible suffering clings to the surfaces or is it something more malevolent? Nervous about her inexperience, this change in career is what she needs, as is the escape from her former life as a crime reporter, dealing with the most heinous, viciously murderous crimes. She is beyond burned out and run down, could that be the reason she feels uneasy? Maybe her mind is playing tricks on her?

Nothing could prepare her for what happens to the woman that hired her, nor is she in command when the artists arrive. Eleanor isn’t sure what’s solid, her imagination must be running rampant, seeing things differently than they are, as they would be in the past, an uneasy feeling consuming her from the moment she stepped through the doors of Cliffside Manor. It’s on her now, and she cannot fail. There is an instant attraction to one of the men, a photographer named Richard, but something about the manor’s resident doctor whom she meets prior to the arrivals has her mystified. A wicked force begins to torment the group immediately. As she learns more, she soon realizes everyone chosen, including herself wasn’t random, but just what was Penelope Dare up to? Did she set them up, have nefarious intentions? Why did Penelope have faith in her and leave so much to her, a veritable stranger really? The author plays with a fascinating subject of tuberculosis and sanatoriums then sprinkled in a bit of horror and romance for good measure creating this strange concoction of a thriller. While I enjoyed it, I really wanted more focus on the tuberculosis patients as a haunting and while they have a part in the story, I just didn’t like the evil seed so to speak. I was sold on the terrible heavy sorrows of a place people went to die, all of that would be foreboding and haunting enough but the child… well… that’s my one sore spot here.

Now, the romantic interests… it was creative but the reactions any living person would have would be less ho hum. The revelations were passed over much too fast for my tastes and accepted a bit too easily. But I don’t want to give away the story-line. It’s strange because it’s a thriller, romance, horror, supernatural story and yet not fully any of those things. Any fan of ghost stories and investigative haunting knows hospitals, sanatoriums, and mental asylums have such breathtakingly heavy stories that it seems if there were a place to house tormented ghosts this would be prime real estate. Such abandoned places stand as foreboding shells of their former lives, and what scarier setting for activity and terror? The author picked the perfect atmospheric setting and for whatever reason, throw a lake in and it’s raises the spook factor. Water and ghosts just go together. Creepy children always raise of few hairs on the arms don’t they?

It’s a good little story, while I wasn’t horrified, it was fun. It takes a lot to scare me though and I nitpick horror stories. I think when you have seen too many horror films and know too many ghost legends you scoff at everything. There was just enough to keep me reading to find out what the heck was going on.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

Lake Union Publishing