Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl - Book Two of Tales of Goldstone Wood

Dear Readers,

Heartless, the first book in this series was good. You can find my review of it here in my blog. However, Veiled Rose was even better! Way to go Anne Elisabeth Stengl! Veiled Rose stands alone extremely well, but also has bits and pieces that tie back into Heartless. I have to go re-read Heartless to see what I may have missed.  The write up below doesn't come close to doing this book justice, and frankly is very lacking in enough description if you ask me.

Off in a remote location is a place called Hill House, which sits at the foot of a mountain. This is where young Leo spends his summers coping with his brainiac cousin, Foxbrush. Leo and Foxbrush are about as opposite as two cousins can be, and this leaves Leo lonely and bored. Being young and seeking adventure he decided to find the rumored monster that lives in the mountain next to his Aunt's estate. What he finds instead is a girl!
Leo has very little use for girls, obnoxious delicate creatures that he doesn't care to be around, but this girl is different. She is clothed in veils from head to toe, and only has red scarves or accents, and she has some quite unique talents that the word stealth just doesn't quite cover. She lives almost alone on the mountain, with the exception of her Nanny Beana, who is actually a nanny goat. Yet, in many ways she is less alone than Leo.

They become friends, Rose Red and Leo, and even though Rose Red doesn't want to, Leo is on an adventure to find the fabled Monster. Leo thinks he has found where the Monster lives, but he winds up in a great deal of trouble. This trouble is enough to keep him banished from Hill House for five long years, leaving Rose Red deal with her dreams that speak to her, the Monster, Beana, a bird that talks to her which she calls her Invisible Friend, and her Old Dad. Gone are the days of spending time climbing the mountain with a real friend, Leo. No more leaf boats to be built and sunk, and life for both Rose Red and Leo is rather miserable.
Now no longer 11, Leo is of the age to find him a match. He isn't interested in girls, but he manages to get his Mother to let him return to Hill House for the Summer, since there will be an eligible girl present. Now things really start to speed up, for Daylily is beautiful, but Leo wants to talk to Rose Red again. The mountain is not the same as it was 5 years prior. Things are about to take giant twists that I rather hate to give away.
You just must read them!

Dare Rose Red trust Leo again? There is more at stake than just hearts.
Trust and sacrifice, loyalties and longing are all being put to the test in this tale.
Monsters must be found out of they are real, or if they are real, banished, before lives perish or are forever altered.

A wonderful book! I am so glad I got to read it, and I do recommend this one!
Carol

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Veiled Rose Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she enjoys her profession as an art teacher, giving private lessons from her personal studio, and teaching group classes at the Apex Learning Center. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. Heartless is her debut novel.





ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Red trusts no one with her secret. She hides in the forest, her face veiled in rags, shunning the company of all save her old father and her nanny goat. Her life is bleak and lonely.

Until she meets a privileged young man sent to spend his summer in the mountains. Leo, a lonely lad, befriends Rose Red, and together they begin hunting for the Mountain Monster which, rumor says, stalks these lands.

But the hunt which began as a game holds greater risk than Leo supposes. Rose Red can scarcely guess at the consequences should he insist on continuing his search. Dare she trust him with her secret? Or tell him what dwells at the top of the mountain in the cave only she can find?

Above all, when Leo asks Rose Red to leave the mountain and follow him to the low country, dare she agree and risk the wrath of a Monster that is all too real?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Veiled Rose, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0373442726