Overview

Soft Hearts are Easily Swallowed No one in Boston hires mad workhouse girls suspected of murder. So they've packed me off to the mountains of North Carolina to serve a house full of secrets. Here, ghost lights flicker through tall trees. Voices whisper from empty corners. Children walk into the woods and never return. And the master of the house? They say he's man with coal for eyes. A devil in a banker's suit. And ... he'll be home soon. ........................................... 'A Vow For Breaking' is a forbidding, standalone novel steeped in Appalachian lore, inherited curses, and a backwoods mansion brimming with otherworldly terror. Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, this dark fairy tale follows Sloane McIntyre, a Boston-born workhouse girl and suspected murderess, who is sent away to serve a rich man and his ailing wife. But what begins as a promising new start curdles into something far more sinister. Sloane soon finds herself drawn into a labyrinth of horrors only a demon could survive. Gothic, eerie, and emotionally sharp, A Vow for Breaking will appeal to readers of Appalachian folk horror, historical gothic fiction, and haunting fables where nothing is as it seems ... and almost everything is hungry. With lyrical menace and atmospheric depth, author L.M. Riviere delivers a chilling story of suspicion, confinement, and the monstrous things we keep locked inside.

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9781914152269

Table of Contents

Reviews

""I absolutely loved this author's last book, A Dark Most Fair, but after reading this one, L.M. Riviere will be an instant buy for me from now on. ""A Vow for Breaking had me hooked from the first page. The reader is foisted into the dark and unfortunate world of Sloane McIntyre, a resilient and determined young woman, plagued not only by circumstance, but a supernatural inheritance she cannot be rid of. At the bleakest moment of her life, she is given the opportunity to work as a lady's maid in the home of a wealthy gentleman in North Carolina--a job simply too good to be true for someone from the Boston slums with little to no experience. It doesn't take long for Sloane to see not only the cracks in the job offer, but the home's foundation, with the looming arrival of its owner, a spectral lady-of-the-house, a suspicious housemaid, ravenous entities lurking in every dark corner, and a list of past maids who had left their employment under mysterious--and perhaps diabolical circumstance. Gorgeous prose. Spot on atmosphere. Enticing plot twists. Strong characters. Lasting imagery. I cannot say enough. If you enjoy dark and haunting historical fiction with a twist of horror, this read is for you. L.M. Riviere just gets better and better."" -- Rae Harding ........................................ ""A Vow For Breaking might be Riviere's most unsettling tale yet (and my favorite!) and that's saying something. From its cold horror open in the slums of an industrial revolution era Boston, this story centers a cursed young woman and her mysterious and compounding misfortunes as she manages to move from workhouse to manor life to the depths of hell. Sloane's family curse has left anyone to cross her--and all hope at supporting her starving younger siblings--dead in her wake. When her only prospect takes her deep into the NC wilderness, she finds the demons of her new estate home may be more powerful, more haunting, and more deadly than the one bound to her. Here is a complex dissection of class, history, folklore, and Appalachian tradition, all tightly packaged in a fast-paced horror. This story has deep roots you can feel, with subtle nods to familiar folk tales recast in a landscape as alive as its monsters. Highly recommended to those who want to be entertained, unsettled, and in the end, haunted by what hides beneath the veneer."" --K.M. West .....................................

Author Information

L.M. Riviere grew up on 80's flicks and twisted fairy tales and it shows. Her stories flirt with the inherent darkness of the human condition, blending fable, mythology, and pseudo-historical narrative-in an effort to seduce, mystify, and unsettle readers. She'd be overjoyed to learn anyone lost sleep over one of her yarns. She is most influenced by the works of Peter Beresford Ellis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Frank Herbert, Anne Rice, and Juliet Marillier. Her favorite book of all time, is Herbert's 'Dune'. Riviere is also a Photographer, Editor, and Marketing Professional. When she isn't writing, she's battling the elements for the perfect shot, hiking any and everywhere, or playing in myriad bodies of water.L.M. Riviere is the author of three full-length works of literary fantasy in 'The Innisfail Cycle' series: Books One through Three are available anywhere books are sold. She is also the author of three folk horror and dark fairy tales, 'A Dark Most Fair' (2025), 'A Vow for Breaking' (2026), and 'A Devil for Delilah Winter' (2027)

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