Blurb:
He once said the Devil was within him and stayed all his wicked life. No one knows how many lives he’s taken. But I’m certain one of our stories will end… in Hell.
Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell have arrived in America, but the city of Chicago has dark secrets. When the two attend the spectacular World’s Fair, they uncover the sickening truth – that the once-in-a-lifetime event is tainted with reports of missing people and unsolved murders.
Audrey Rose and Thomas find themselves facing a serial killer unlike any they’ve encountered before. Identifying him is one thing, but capturing him – especially within the infamous Murder Hotel, a terrifying torture lair – is another.
Will Audrey Rose – who is together with her true love at last – see her final mystery to its end? Or will she fall prey to her most cunning adversary yet?
Rating: 5/5 stars
Side Notes:
- Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery and Thriller
- Highly recommend for 14 years and above
- Empowering female protagonist/feminist
- Fourth book in the Stalking Jack The Ripper Series
- TW: Death and Violence
Book Quotes:
- “Beyond life, beyond death, my love for thee is eternal.”
- “It is a sad truth that we do not live in a world where differences are accepted.”
- “The world needed to be better. And if it wasn’t possible for it to be better, we, its inhabitants, needed to do better.”
- “We needn’t complete each other, we complemented each other. He and I were whole on our own, which made us stronger when combined than two symbolic halves coming together to create one.”
- “My love for you will be a constant in a sea of unknown variables. We may fight or be cross with each other, but our love will never fade or wilt. Trust in that. Trust in us. Forget the future. Forget worry. The only thing that terrifies me is the possibility of living with regret. I don’t ever want to wake and wonder what life could have been like with you in it. I don’t ever want to regret holding myself back from loving you as fully and openly as possible.”
- “When I was adventuring between the pages of a book, I wasn’t sad over things I was missing outside.”
- “Love is immortal. Death can neither touch nor steal it.”
- “Men are keen on blaming women for the rise in sin. It’s been something plaguing humanity since the Bible first accused Eve of tempting Adam. As if he had no mind to taste that forbidden fruit before she offered it to him. Everyone seems to forget God told Adam the fruit was forbidden. He created Eve later.” “Honestly?” I snorted. “I didn’t realize you were so well versed in religion.” Thomas placed my hand in the crook of his arm, steering us toward my uncle, who’d just exited the station. “I enjoy causing discord when forced to attend parties. You ought to hear the arguments that break out from uttering something so supposedly blasphemous. The one question no one can answer is always, if Adam had been warned, why didn’t he pass the message along to his wife? Seems he was more to blame than she was. Yet Eve is always the villain, the wicked temptress who cursed us all.”
- “Thank you for the shoes, Thomas.” I looked at the stack of boxes, teetering precariously close to the edge of the settee now. He caught my stare and nudged them back to safety. “All of them. It was very sweet. And highly unnecessary.” “Your happiness is always necessary to me.” He tilted my chin up and kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll find new ways of navigating the world together, Wadsworth. If you can no longer wear heels, we’ll design flats you adore. If you ever find those no longer work, I’ll have a wheeled chair made and bejeweled to your liking. Anything at all in the universe you need, we will make it so. And if you’d prefer to do it on your own, I will always step aside. I also promise to keep my opinion mostly to myself.” “Mostly?” He considered that. “Unless it’s vastly inappropriate. Then I’ll share it with gusto.”
- “At some point, we’re all someone’s hero and another’s villain. It’s all a matter of perspective. And that changes as frequently as the cycles of the moon.”
- “Promise me to wake each day and find joy wherever you can, no matter how small it may be. There will always be hard times and trying times and times for sorrow, but we won’t let those days destroy the here and now. Because right now? I’m here… And you’re here… And the present is more glorious than the future and all its unknowns.”
- “Nothing in life comes with a guarantee, Wadsworth.” Thomas took a deep breath. “Outside forces will always be out of your control. One thing you can control is how you choose to live. If you wake up fearful of every bad thing that might happen, you miss out on the good. Death will come for us all one day. Worrying about tomorrow only accomplishes ruining today.”
- “You fight. You fight for what you want. You do not wallow or surrender. The lesson in not in lying down and allowing yourself to be stabbed, child. It’s in pushing yourself up and battling back.” Her eyes flashed. “You fell down. So? Will you stay there, weeping over skinned knees? Or will you brush off your skirts, adjust your hair, and carry on? Do not relinquish your grasp on hope. It’s one go the best weapons anyone possesses.”
- “I long to live in a world where equal treatment is not something in need of commending”
- “You are my heart, my soul, my equal. You see the light in me when I’m lost within darkness. When I’m cold and distant, you’re as warm as autumn sunshine, bathing me in your glow. If I am the night, then you are the stars lighting up my endless dark.” His voice broke, wrenching my heart. “My best friend, the absolute love of my life, now until forevermore, I call you my wife.”
- “I despise being the one having an emotional dilemma. It’s much more enjoyable being the one consoling you. You haven’t even offered to let me sit on your lap. You’re terrible at this.”
- “Thomas Cresswell couldn’t die. If he did…a darkness so complete as to truly be terrifying welled up inside me. I did not know who I’d become, should I lose him. But Satan would tremble at my approach.”
- “Beware of trusting beautiful creatures. They hide the most wicked surprises.”
- “Men prided themselves on aging. They might lose their hair and expand their bellies and still be deemed a wondrous catch, marrying twenty years their junior. Yet heaven forbid a young lady grow into old age and be proud of the lines on her face; the very lines that told a story of a life well lived. The nerve of us to live happily and without apology.”
- “You’d discover your morals aren’t defined in terms such as black or white, good or bad. Most shy away from that level of introspection. It makes us realize we’re villains. At least in part. We also all have the capacity to he heroes.”
- “Do not relinquish your grasp on hope. It’s one of the best weapons anyone possesses.”
- “A heart was a curious thing. So contradictory. The way it ached in both good and bad ways. The way it leapt with joy and ceased with sorrow. It could beat madly and wildly during both pleasure and pain.”
- “If the world thinks we’re heading straight to Hell, we might as well enjoy the journey there. I’d rather dance with the devil than sing with angels.”
- “Tell me having a cat’s affection and a good book doesn’t sound like an ideal evening.”
- “We humans could not help loving our monsters.”
- “I wasn’t frightened of corpses–those I found strangely comforting.”
- “He and I were two stars in the same constellation, destined to shine brightly together each night of forever.”
- “I wondered at the darkness swirling within me — the secret part that couldn’t muster up an ounce of disgust. Perhaps I needed to take up a new hobby. I feared I was becoming addicted to blood.”
- “No matter how far I traveled or how hard I pushed it from may mind, Jack the Ripper stalked me, invading every aspect of my life.”
- “Part of growing older means letting go. You can’t move forward if you never take those first few steps onto new ground. Now’s the time to be brave, Daughter. Walking into the future means trusting in yourself even when you can’t see around the bend. As long as you’re certain this is what you want, all will be well.”
- “She’s a person who deserves to have her story told. What does it matter where she was born?”
- “Promise me to wake each day and find joy wherever you can, no matter how small it may be. There will always be hard times and trying times and times for sorrow, but we won’t let those days destroy the here and now.”
- “Determination — not fear —settled in my chest like a raging lion. I had been stalked and hunted and had escaped harm thus far.”
- “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. —ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT 2, SCENE 2 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE”
- “Shall we see about solving another gruesome murder, my love?”
- “How silly of me to believe in happy endings when I lived and breathed in darkness.”
- “Vices versus morals; the ultimate struggle of this city.”
- “I now knew monsters were never satisfied.”
- “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow. —ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT 2, SCENE 2 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE”