Blood and Roses
By Clara Mae Shadows of Harmony Creek - Book Three
Some love stories never die. They just learn to feed in the dark.
When Clara Bellamy inherits her family's crumbling mansion on the outskirts of Harmony Creek, she expects peace, not prophecy. A literature professor escaping scandal and heartbreak, Clara wants only solitude among the overgrown gardens and rose-choked walls of Rosewell Estate. But the house has been waiting for her-and so has something else.
In the attic, she finds journals written by her great-grandmother Isadora Rosewell, a woman whispered to have danced with death and lived to tell about it. The pages speak of a mysterious man known only as the Red Gentleman, a lover who came to her under moonlight and promised eternity at a terrible cost. Locals say he still walks the woods when the fog rolls in, searching for the one who bears Isadora's blood.
Then the dreams begin. Roses blooming overnight, their petals slick with dew that looks too much like blood. A voice whispering her name from the tree line. A figure watching from the lake-always just out of reach. When Clara discovers letters written in her own handwriting dated over a century ago, she's forced to confront an impossible truth: history isn't haunting her. It's repeating itself.
As passion and terror intertwine, Clara finds herself drawn to Lucien, a stranger whose eyes seem to remember her long before they meet. His presence is magnetic, his secrets darker than night. When he reveals the truth about Rosewell's curse, Clara must decide whether to destroy the bond between them-or surrender to it completely.
In a town where beauty hides rot and every heart beats with borrowed blood, love becomes the most dangerous ghost of all.
Told in Clara Mae's signature lush, haunting prose, Blood and Roses is a spellbinding descent into gothic obsession-a story of inheritance, identity, and the thin line between desire and damnation. Set against the fog-soaked backdrop of Harmony Creek, this novel weaves together southern gothic mystery, romantic horror, and timeless supernatural allure.
Fans of Rebecca, Crimson Peak, and Interview with the Vampire will fall under its dark spell.
Because in Harmony Creek, the past never rests. And every rose has a memory that bleeds.
Praise for the Shadows of Harmony Creek Series:
"A haunting blend of beauty and decay-Clara Mae writes like a ghost with a heartbeat." "Each book feels like stepping into a candlelit dream that refuses to fade."
Autorentext
Clara Mae grew up in Harmony Creek, a small town with deep roots and deeper secrets. The daughter of a pastor and a homemaker, she learned early to live within the quiet rhythms of community life while observing the subtle tensions most overlooked. To many, she appeared gentle and reserved, but beneath her calm exterior stirred a sharp mind and an unshakable curiosity.
Drawn to history and folklore, Clara became a teacher's aide and part-time town historian, spending hours in archives, libraries, and the woods that seemed to whisper stories of their own. Yet, her life was never untouched by the strange. From recurring dreams to unexplained visions, Clara felt the shadows of Harmony Creek pressing closer, hinting at truths her neighbors refused to see.
While Mabel Rose?the beloved Knitting Detective?relied on logic, intuition, and community ties, Clara found herself called down a darker path. Her instincts led her to the abandoned paper mill, a place avoided by most, where the boundary between the natural and the supernatural seemed perilously thin.
Now in her early thirties, Clara stands at the edge of two worlds: the familiar, where she is the dutiful daughter and quiet townsfolk, and the hidden, where danger and darkness weave themselves into the fabric of Harmony Creek. Compassion anchors her to those she loves, but courage drives her forward into mysteries that demand to be faced.
Clara Mae is more than an observer of secrets?she is a seeker of them, even when the cost is steep. Her story threads through the shadows of Harmony Creek, where betrayal, mystery, and the supernatural converge. For Clara, every answer brings not only clarity but also a reminder that some truths were never meant to remain buried.