The gardens are strange places full of deceptive beauty and tempting forms that lead only to death. This is where Silas is forced to work since the house won’t let him live inside with Lily. Outside there are three gardens – the White Garden, the Shadow Garden and the Labyrinth.

It’s in this house that Lily finds herself trapped after her uncle steals her away, because only females of the Blackwood line can hold back the evils that Nightfall holds, keeping the rest of the world safe from the horrors. The manor is full of traps for the unwary, where every closed door hides a murderous intent and rooms not only move around the house but change size and shape as well. If you like imaginative and fantastical story of strange realms that exist within touching distance of our world, then you will find plenty to like in this dark Gothic tale. Lily is vain and largely unlikeable while Silas is quiet and watchful, but both characters pale into insignificance beside the monstrous glory that is Nightfall Manor and Gardens.Ĭlosed behind gates that open for a few days once a year, Nightfall is a dark and twisted place where monsters and terrible nightmares are waiting.

Source: Review copy provided by the author While she deals with malevolent ghosts inside the house, Silas is put to work in the gardens, where one wrong step means death.Īlong the way, they search to unlock the secrets of the house and to stop the creatures in the gardens before time runs out and the world is destroyed. If she doesn’t, the evil trapped there will be unleashed and bring on a new dark age. Lily must take over as protector of the house and three haunted gardens that hold mythical beasts, fairy-tale nightmares and far worse. The two are kidnapped to Nightfall Gardens, the family’s ancestral home, a place shrouded in ancient mystery, where they meet their dying grandmother and learn of an age-old curse placed on Blackwood females. When a mysterious stranger arrives claiming to be their uncle, they discover their parents have been hiding a secret that turns their world upside down. Vain Lily Blackwood and her shy brother Silas wonder if their family will ever settle in one place long enough to lead a normal life.

Nightfall Gardens by Allen Houston