80) Better Homes & Hauntings by Molly Harper

The Blurb :

When Nina Linden is hired to landscape a private island off the New England coast, she sees it as her chance to rebuild her failing business after being cheated by her unscrupulous ex. She never expects that her new client, software mogul Deacon Whitney, would see more in her than just a talented gardener. Deacon has paid top dollar to the crews he’s hired to renovate the desolate Whitney estate—he had to, because the bumps, thumps, and unexplained sightings of ghostly figures in nineteenth-century dress are driving workers away faster than he can say “Boo.”

But Nina shows no signs of being scared away, even as she experiences some unnerving apparitions herself. And as the two of them work closely together to restore the mansion’s faded glory, Deacon realizes that he’s found someone who doesn’t seem to like his fortune more than himself—while Nina may have finally found the one man she can trust with her bruised and battered heart.

But something on the island doesn’t believe in true love…and if Nina and Deacon can’t figure out how to put these angry spirits to rest, their own love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

My Thoughts :

I have never read a Molly Harper story that I didn't like and Better Homes & Hauntings may not be the best of her work so far but it was still an enjoyable and fun read.  With the usual witty and lovable style, this stand alone book was a pleasure to listen to due to the narrator who reads all of Molly Harper's books.  I am not sure if the book would have been as good just to read but the Audio book version was definitely a winner and I loved every minute of it.

No vampires or werewolves are involved in the making of this new release and it is the ghostly variety of paranormal that the author offers us this time around in the form of a good old haunting.  The characters are brought together on an island to renovate an old mansion belonging to the Whitney family.  The premise was a good one and it worked and didn't seem stupid while the location had the makings of a good horror movie.

There are a few scary moments in this book but the characters are fun and interesting enough to keep the goosebumps away but have you giggling as the story progresses.  The whole story flows nicely even if I did get slightly confused about the amount of time the book covers.  There are references to weeks passing and there is an obvious time lapse due to the work done/finished but it was hard to feel it as the story progressed and it felt like everything took place in a couple of weeks.

Of course there was a romance angle to this novel and it was pretty obvious from the start.  There was no doubting who was going to end up with each other but the mystery of how it would happen was what keeps you reading.  Also the ghostly mystery of the house and family was intriguing enough to keep me going till the end and I have to say I really liked the way it all played out.

All in all a great read or in this case listen that any Molly Harper fan will enjoy.  It is a stand alone so anyone who hasn't read anything by this author may want to try it and she if they like the style.  However this isn't the best representation of Molly Harper's work but it still earns a huge applause from me.  I enjoyed it and would listen to it again and would even like to meet some of the characters again sometime.

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