BOOK BY: Julie Klassen
What an excellent read by Julie Klassen!
The narrative in the beginning has a similar feel to her Ladies of Ivy Cottage series – development of time period, characters, and place is firmly established giving the reader a sense of the serenity and slower pace of life. By mid-novel, she returns to the narrative style of her earlier works, which is what hooked me on her books in the first place – mystery upon mystery builds excitement and keeps her readers turning the next page.
A sense of foreboding is delightfully created in the opening chapters as we discover the childhood connections of our hero and heroine. Fast forward several years to where our heroine returns to help her younger brother, only to be thrust into the one place that haunted her childhood. What a sister won’t do for a brother she loves, and whose illness she feels responsible for!
And our hero finds himself thrust out of his home with the visit of his younger brother and extensive bothersome renovations that cannot be tolerated for any period of time. Newly renovated hotel, allegedly haunted, Swanford Abbey is just the place for the well-healed to find respite.
Rebecca Lane is all sweetness and duty. Sir Frederick is proper.
Throw in a proper sleazy, slimy, backstabbing antagonist, a beautiful, secretive actress, and a murder mid-novel, for a suspenseful, romantic read.
I look forward to more of Julie Klassen’s books.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.