Restoration

NOW AVAILABLE!

Publication date: September 27, 2021

Bronze Award winner for the Reader Views Literary Awards in horror

Finalist for horror in the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards

Taking refuge in a cabin deep in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cliff Phillips tries to come to terms with the breakup of his marriage. First soothed by the natural unspoiled beauty of his surroundings, then disturbed by the eerie desolation and marshy decay, he soon finds himself facing something he never could have imagined.

Reader Views Bronze Award
Restoration by Sharon Mikeworth is a deliciously horrifying thriller. You’ll sleep with one eye open long after you finish the book!
When Cliff Phillips’s wife Tricia leaves him for another man, he not only loses her but also his job in her father’s company. He takes the last of the money she left him and rents a lake front cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains for a month. Cliff needs time to rethink his lifeand decide what his next steps will be. A fairly isolated area at this time of the season, only a few locals and a couple of vacationers remain. This should provide him with plenty of time to relax and reflect. It should, but it doesn’t. Shortly after arriving, Cliff notices that there is something wrong with the lake. He sees lights and odd movements coming from the depths. One lodger flees because he saw a strange creature trying to get inside his cabin. Then people start disappearing. The first is a neighbor’s overnight guest. Next is someone very close to him for whom he is suspected of doing something horrific. Cliff makes some shocking, out of this world discoveries as he desperately tries to solve the mystery of the lake and prove his innocence.
Restoration is a horrifying thriller that will take you for a ride. I could not put this book down! Initially, I got hooked on the   protagonist’s story because he had really been devastated by his wife’s total betrayal. Then I found myself getting caught up in the mystery of trying to figure out what was going on. Just when I thought I had the answer, Mikeworth threw in a twist that completely caught me off guard.
The author’s ideas are uniquely refreshing, and I really enjoyed being surprised. While I appreciated that the hero has depth in his character, I also enjoyed meeting the local eccentrics. The settings and the scenes are vividly described, so the story really came to life in my already overactive imagination. I look forward to reading more books by this amazing author. I highly recommend that fans of horror and thriller check this book out!” — Paige Lovitt for Reader Views
“Restoration by Sharon Mikeworth is a thriller/horror novel that will have you holding your breath until the end. Cliff Phillip’s world was shaken to its core when his wife Tricia left him for another man. Devastated by the end of his marriage and the loss of his job, Cliff packed his bags, booked a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains, and took that as an opportunity to rethink and restart his life. At first, everything was perfect, until it wasn’t. It didn’t take too long for Cliff to witness something strange in the lake. As if the strange movement and lights in the lake weren’t enough, people started to disappear. Before he knew it, Cliff was stuck in a horrible circle of suspicion, tragic accidents, and intense drama that he could not shake off. Everything led back to the lake and the mystery it held in its depth. It would take everything Cliff had to solve the mystery and get out of the Blue Ridge mountains alive.
Reading Restoration was a roller coaster ride with unending twists and turns. The story had me hooked from the very beginning, and it has a lot to do with Cliff. Cliff had my sympathies right from the start, and I was interested in how he would reshape his life after Tricia’s betrayal. However, author Sharon Mikeworth added in just the right twists and turns to make the story interesting. The mystery about what lived beneath the lake, why people started to disappear, and why they were targeted had me hooked. The descriptions were goosebump-inducing, the imagery created was perfect, and the dialogues were fantastic. There was never a moment when I felt something was missing. I was looking for answers and hoping that Cliff got those answers before it was too late. Fans of Joe Hill will enjoy this novel. Entertaining and terrifying at the same time!” — Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite
“A taut horror thriller marked by an air of otherworldly…
Mikeworth delivers an intrigue-laced horror thriller about a man trying to come to terms with his failed marriage finding himself in the middle of otherworldly intrigue. Trying to move over his wife’s deception, Cliff Phillips books a month-long stay at a cabin in an isolated campground in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But when strange happenings lead to a neighboring lodger fleeing and another one vanishing without a trace, Cliff knows something is not right at the place. Mikeworth’s writing is deft and believable, tensions are high, and the setting of the remote campground in the Blue Ridge Mountains is ominous. The profound and gradually building sense of dread throughout is heightened by a whisper of the otherworldly. Tension abounds, right up to a satisfying, heartening denouement. Throughout, Mikeworth offers keen observations on marriage, relationship, isolation, regret, and redemption. Ominous scares and eerie darkness make for a page-turning, thoroughly engrossing, and well-crafted horror thriller.” — The Prairies Book Review
alternate cover image by Fotolia
cover image by Shutterstock