TBT #36 - Review: The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz

★TBT #36★

The Headmaster by Tiffany Reisz is on this week's ‪#ThrowbackThrusday. Tiffany is an amazing storyteller, for such a short story it had various surprising elements. I loved the banters, the boys were so adorable and characters lovable making this a captivating story. In short a total PAGE TURNER!!

Title: The Headmaster
Author: Tiffany Reisz
Series: none
Genre: romance, paranormal

A fever dream of desires fulfilled…
Nestled in the shadow of the Appalachians is where Gwen Ashby stumbles upon the William Marshall Academy, and she's given a trial position as a literature teacher. The gothic boarding school seems trapped in time yet it feels like home the moment Gwen arrives.

She's charmed by the lovely buildings, bewitched by the eager students…and utterly seduced by the headmaster. Edwin Yorke is noble, handsome and infuriatingly proper. But his tweedy exterior and courtly manners conceal a raw sensual power that Gwen longs to unleash.

It's strangely thrilling to be the only woman on campus—save one other. An eerie white-clad figure roams the grounds by night. She never speaks. She leaves no trace. But this ghostly blight on Gwen's new dream life is the key to the Marshall Academy's mysterious allure.

RITA® Award nominated title from International Bestselling Author Tiffany Reisz.

Amazon US | Amazon UK

SANDY’S REVIEW

"4.5 tea stars"



TR did it again!!!! apparently she can write any genre and excel in it, this woman has a way with surprising her readers with her 'WTF ending' because this was a complete unexpected unpredictable shocking ending for such a short story and I loved it!!

Gwen Ashby left behind her old life in Georgia after her long term boyfriend dumps her to teach in a village school in Africa, with no family and friends, she packs ups everything she owns (which is nothing much) and leaves to Chicago in search of a new job but she stops at a diner and learns about the job vacancy for teaching position in Marshal School situated in middle of the woods at Appalachian Mountains, she wants to try her luck there as she doesn’t have a planned schedule ahead of her and drives to the mountains, expecting to see a industrial school she is taken aback by sight of English Castle rising over moss-covered stone walls, enchanted by its beauty she gets distracted and crashes her car to avoid knocking down the deer.

Gwen wakes up finding herself in a strange old-fashioned room and there she meets a tall, broad-shouldered black haired Englishman wearing eyeglasses in other words Edwin Yorke, Headmaster of “ The William Marshal Academy”. A school so unique with breath taking view where students are well mannered, highly intelligent and very humble. So when Gwen is offered a temporary job of teaching English literature she gladly accepts it.

“This school was weird, but it was a good kind of weird. Her kind of weird.” 

Once she becomes a part of the Marshal academy she starts loving the peacefulness of the institution which has no connection to the outside world and no trace of modern technology where students and teachers share a strong bonding and respect for one another, and then there’s the handsome Headmaster she can’t stop thinking of, his very enigmatic demeanor stirs a buried passion within her.

“When he was glaring, he looked very handsome. When he wasn’t glaring...well, he probably should start glaring again or Gwen was going to have that sex-on-a-desk fantasy again.” 

Edwin being a gentleman denies her advances but he too falls for her witty charm, a woman who penetrates the walls he built around his stoic personality. In matter of two weeks Gwen is living a life she dreamt of, a man who loves her, students who adores her and place so beautiful that she soon decides to stay there forever.

“You’ll stay, won’t you? No matter what happens? You’ll stay here with me? I shouldn't ask you to stay. You don’t even know what you’re giving up. But please...”
“I’ll stay.” 

Though she loves the place and people residing in it, she can’t ignore the strangeness lurking in every corner of this place. She’s adamant on getting to the bottom of this mystery. Edwin tries very hard to protect the secret from her; the very secret if revealed changes the course of their lives and they might lose Gwen forever.

“What was he hiding? And why was he hiding it?” 

Tiffany Reisz is an amazing storyteller, even if this was a short read there's great amount of information making it a perfect story and it was hell of a perfect story with great description of the places and characters whom you connect so strongly you keep missing thinking about them long after you’ve finished it. She weaved the story with her usual signature of overbearing chivalrous fluent in gazillion language Hero and sassy, witty and smart heroine with great amount of passion and lot of references to the Classic English literature's of all times.

I loved the banters, the boys were so adorable and characters lovable making this a captivating story and the mystery leading to the ending, a total PAGE TURNER!!

P.S: If it was not for my bestie Eda (Whom I love even more now :p), this book would've gone unnoticed in my ever growing TBR pile, So Thank you babe for rec’ing and providing me with the copy. muahhhhhh! :D