FINALLY got around to finishing this one (it's not you, book, it's me) but I'm glad I took the time to go back and really give it its due on my TBR. A delightful adult debut, and one that doesn't hesitate to lean into the spookiness of its subject — it speaks to how deftly the story was woven that I wasn't at all expecting the twist, though perhaps I should have given how often the book references circumventing the supernatural. Would have liked a little more romance, especially towards the end, but that's mostly my own sensibilities talking and it certainly didn't prohibit me from enjoying the book whatsoever. I feel like this one might very well be asking for a sequel, though, and I would love to see it become an ongoing series!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A very good Gothic mystery.  It was a quick read with excellent character development.  I will definitely read more of this author's work.

In A Dreadful Splendor, con artist Miss Genevieve (Jenny to friends) Timmons keeps a roof over her head by holding seances for the wealthy as cover for burglary. This time, when she's caught, it seems there will be no escape. Until help arrives from an unlikely source. She is hired to hold a seance for a man whose fiancee died (her last one, she promises herself) so that he can find peace. Shuttled off to his country manor, Jenny has no intention of seeing the job through. Mr. Gareth Pemberton has other ideas. He demands not a seance for peace but one for justice. Pemberton wants to use the theatrics to call out a murderer, eliciting a confession. With his threat of a return to jail and eventual hanging, Jenny has no choice but to start investigating the suspicious death, uncovering details she can use in her act to unmask a killer. Unfortunately for Jenny, a nonbeliever in the supernatural given her own methods, things start to get alarmingly spooky the deeper she digs (to be clear-- Jenny's alarmed, but I was not).

My first gripe with this book is the unnecessary romance. Early on, Pemberton gets upset when Jenny assumes he'd only care if she died because she couldn't finish her job-- a job he's blackmailing her into doing with her literal life on the line. He frequently reminds her of his threats while otherwise showing her disdain and distrust in every interaction. I'm not sure how she's supposed to intuit some level of care for her person from that. That kicks off their infatuation between plotting together and snooping for clues. Because it was so inexplicable from a character standpoint and yet somehow predictable from a trope and narrative standpoint, I found the romance superfluous and uninspiring.

In terms of the mystery, I saw many reveals coming due to more reliance on tropes. Some of the plot devices were exactly the same as those used in another Gothic vibes mystery I read this very month. The one twist that eluded me relied on a woman's unanticipated cruelty (cool) and unhinged madness (le sigh), so it left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. I'm tired of mad Victorian women. Also, Jenny starts the book living in a brothel, and her distaste for the sex workers isn't unpacked at all to examine social mores and biases. It's perfectly reasonable for her to fear being forced into that position herself, but a particular interaction where she acts disgusted and ashamed of someone else's choices is a step past that. She regrets her vitriol but not necessarily what it represents on a deeper level, and I think that required more self-reflection on her part.

From both a mystery and romantic standpoint, I was underwhelmed by this attempt at Gothicism. All the same, thanks to William Morrow for my copy to read and review.

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

Really well thought-out book with amazing characters and excellent setting.

I originally requested this book because of it's pretty cover, I just couldn't resist! A Dreadful Splendor is a YA gothic murder mystery novel involving con artest Genevieve who's facing murder charges. There's murder, romance, and a pretty standard mystery story. I felt the story was a bit slow for me, I put it down several times and just couldn't vibe with it all too much but that's probably more on me than the author. Overall I probably wo't ever read this again but for the girlies who love murder/mysteries I'm sure they would enjoy it.

Thank you so much to William Morrow for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Dreadful Splendor is a wonderfully evocative gothic mystery romance by B. R. Myers. Released 23rd Aug 2022 by HarperCollins on their William Morrow imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a very well written and deliciously creepy fable featuring a young orphaned heroine making her way in the world as best she can. Much of her existence revolves around spiritualism, being a fake medium, and conducting seances for rich patrons. Her plans go awry and when she's caught and jailed, her prospects seem quite hopeless. In a plot twist worthy of a Brontë, she's sprung from jail to perform a (fake) seance to comfort a nobleman; but she finds him much different than expected, and he's quite sure his deceased wife was murdered and wishes her to help him prove it.

The mystery itself is fairly well wrought, but it was the atmospheric writing that took the starring role. The author manages to conjure the period without being clunky or difficult to read and the scene setting and dialogue are precise and immersively written. The whole has a very YA feel, and there are parts of the plot arc which are moderately trope-y, but as previously stated, the writing is superlative.

Four stars. Worth a read, especially for fans of YA(ish) gothic mysteries.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

This book wasn’t what I thought it would be and that made it much more enjoyable. I have been reading a number of (fiction and nonfiction) accounts of spiritualism and this one is one of the top books I’ve read. It definitely had a fair number of twists and turns that kept the reader guessing. If you enjoy books that are focused on this era of time, you’ll enjoy this.

This novel is a historical mystery featuring a fake psychic. I really loved Genevieve! I found her to be a really fun character! She was very independent, spunky, and clever! Therefore, I found her to be a very engaging heroine! I also loved the romance, and I thought it was well-developed! I loved how it was a slow-burn romance! The mystery itself was very compelling! It was filled with many twists and turns! I did not know who the killer was until the end! The only thing that I did not like about the book was that the beginning was very slow and was hard to engage myself in tel he novel. However, the middle picked up and led to a fantastic conclusion! Thus, A Dreadful Splendor is very haunting, atmospheric, and mysterious! I recommend this for fans of The Other Side of Midnight, Tiffany Blues, and The Widow of Pale Harbor!

It gives Peaky Blinders meeting Enola Holmes and every second was simply AMAZING. You can really tell that the main characters have sizzling chemistry and the adventure makes it even hotter. I would totally recommend this to all the historical romance lovings girlies!

A Dreadful Splendor by B. R. Myers Is a gothic Tale of secrets and blackmail that I wasn't able to really get into. The book started out very slow for me and while there were some compelling scenes. It didn't really keep my interest. Genevieve was a good character but I felt like she could have been fleshed out a bit more. She also kind of annoyed me. The love story was boring and All in all, I felt like this book was just a compilation of the less interesting parts of other Victorian mystery types.

This book reminded me a lot of Rebecca which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.  This one was a lot of fun.

I loved this authors other story but this one was a rollercoaster of feelings. I felt like the pacing was off. It would speed up and slow down and was really just ok.  I think that if you check this one out I would try it from the library first before spending your money.  I really didn't care about the characters so that made the story hard to enjoy.

A Dreadful Splendor got me through a (dreadful) reading slump. This book was a delight-- very Miss Fisher by way of Enola Holmes with a smack of spookiness.  I look forward to more books by this author!

A stunningly spooky whodunit! I loved every bit of this story and honestly never guessed who did it until the very end… such a shocker! Highly recommend this read!

🔮BOOK REVIEW🔮

A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Meyers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5


Genevieve Timmons got caught. The fake spiritualist swindled the wrong family and she finally got caught. But in a very lucky moment while being hauled in to jail, she meets a man who is in need of her services. He is the manager of the estate of one Lord Pemberton, who has been absolutely distressed since the passing of his fiancé, Audra. If Genevieve can pull of a seance that can put the Lord’s mind at ease, this man will fight for her freedom. Upon arrival to Somerset Park, and after meeting Lord Pemberton, she realizes that he is not the man he was made out to be. He is not a heartbroken man, but rather one out for the truth. He believes his fiancé was murdered and he intends to use Genevieve to find out the truth. In this spooky murder mystery, join this group in Somerset park and find out what truth lies in the walls of this cursed estate.

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

I love love loved this book. I am here for all the spooky murder mysteries. This book was so unique to me. A period piece about a girl faking being able to communicate with ghosts, a curse on a wealthy family, and an investigation that will keep you on your toes until the very end. Once again, with my lost ability to predict what was going to happen, this ending got me. I was completely shocked. Didn’t see an inch of it coming and it was AWESOME! Go and check this one out and I’m sure you will NOT be disappointed. 

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

✨Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC!✨


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It doesn't get any more perfect than a Victorian Gothic novel this time of year! A Dreadful Splendor is mysterious and spooky with a dash of romance. After Genevieve a fake spiritualist is arrested for stealing from her clients she is taken to a country estate to perform a seance for a Lord grieving the tragic loss of his fiance. 
 I love gothic romances and this was well done. You get a little bit of everything out of this. Ghosts, murder, mystery and a slow burn romance. 

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Creepy and mysterious but still missing that little extra something that would make this novel a gothic suspense. Somerset Park is filled with secrets, lies, and legacies some people would die to protect.

A long build up to an ending that was dramatic and surprisingly sweet. A good fall read with lots of blankets & candles!

A Dreadful Splendor is a story about Jenny Timmons, a fake spiritualist living in 1800s London. She gets roped into preforming a fake séance at a spooky old mansion after the unexpected death of the heiress. I love a good gothic story and thought the spiritualism aspect would be fun!

I thought this book was fine. I got kind of bored about a quarter into the book and really struggled to keep reading. The setting was definitely fun and I liked how Jenny manipulated situations using spiritualistic techniques. I think it could have leaned a little more into the atmosphere of the setting because it was such a fun setup. 

The characters weren't really memorable for me and I had a really hard time keeping the names straight. I kept confusing Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Lockhart and they were VERY different characters! I think this is just a me problem, though. I was kind of expecting the twist at the end but had a good time with it anyway.

Overall, I thought this book was fine and recommend it if you're really into the time period or want a book for spooky season. 2.75 stars rounded up to 3 from me. Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Fans of historical fiction will definitely enjoy this!  I really liked the hints of pride and prejudice too! I must say the cover of this book is so beautiful too. This book wasn't on my radar at first, but I am so glad I got a chance to read it.

"A Dreadful Splendor" is different take on the spiritualist novel. In this case, Myers tells us outright that the main character Genevieve Timmons is a fraud. In the Victorian world, there were relatively few ways for a single woman to survive, and Genevieve is doing what she does as a means to an end-making enough money to leave London and settle somewhere new, Coming into contact with the police is an unfortunate side effect of her occupation, and when she's arrested at a seance for attempting to steal some valuable jewelry from her client, Genevieve (or Jenny) believes she's doomed. A chance meeting with an elderly solicitor for a wealthy family gives her the opportunity for an escape by conducting a seance for the recently deceased Lady Audra in exchange for legal representation. Little does she know that nothing at Somerset Park is as it seems, with dark passages and even darker secrets to be revealed. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and one especially well suited for spooky season!