I tend not to read ghost stories, but there are a few I read solely for Halloween Bingo that I have enjoyed. One is Blue Dahlia (In the Garden #1) by Nora Roberts - the ghost in this storyline is in each of the three books. I haven't read the other two books in the series, but I am hoping to get to book two with this year's game. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol is a quick graphic novel for MG and up reading levels. I liked The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving but it honestly read more like a foodie travel blog. 

I bombed out on doing this part of the Dewey Read-a-thon. I just don't do well with daily challenge prompts. So I figured I group them in tens and make three posts.

Day 30 Favorite Book - Public Secrets by Nora Roberts

Day 29 Short Book - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Day 28 Red - Vision, Volume 2: Little Better Than a Beast by Tom King et al

Day 27 Snacks - Pretzels for salty snack, as they are not greasy like potato chips but have the same crunch factor. Starbucks' London Fog (venti, cause go big or go home) for sweet.

Day 26 Short Stories - An Encounter at Hyde Park by Various Authors

Day 25 Comics craze - Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka et al

Day 24 Drinks - My newest favorite drink is Kraken Black Spice Rum and Coca-Cola. All time drink is still a cuppa tea.

Day 23 Space - A Slight Miscalculation by Deb Marlowe

Day 22 Cozy - The Christmas Child by Linda Goodnight

Day 21 Blue - Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts

In the Garden
by Nora Roberts
Book #1: Blue Dahlia | Rating:  4.0 Stars
Book #2: Black Rose | Rating:  4.0 Stars
Book #3: Red Lily | Rating:  3.5 Stars

Average Series Rating:  3.83 Stars


If I had to choose a favorite Nora Roberts book, based on all the books I've read of hers so far, I think I would choose the second book in this trilogy.  Truly, Rosalind Harper stands out as an amazing heroine, both wise, strong, and flawed in her own ways.

In comparison to the very first Nora Roberts book I read for Halloween Bingo of last year (2016), this is definitely a step up; though I know these were written before The Dark Witch trilogy.  They've both got the same kind of set up for the romance, and a lovely, supernatural premise, but I feel this In the Garden trilogy is superior to the latter series, with an interesting mystery to boot.  The writing is wonderful, and the characters are real, even in spite of the sometimes awkward dialogue, and the "made to be perfect" personalities they seem to present.

I especially love the friendships and the bonds that form throughout this series, especially between the women--you don't get to see those too often in any kind of media, literature or not, so I'm extra appreciative of it.

And yeah... this review took me way too long to get posted.  It's actually been written for a week now, but my motivation had been zero in the blogging front...  Hopefully that changes in the coming weeks.

I'm sure if I'd read Blue Dahlia during a specific time of day, like maybe late at night in a quite house, I might have felt a chill from the ghostly happenings.  But I didn't really feel a chill, and the main focus of this book isn't even really on the mentioned "Harper Bride" who haunts Harper House.

Still, this book was extremely enjoyable, if only because I loved all the character interactions.  Nora Roberts undoubtedly has a way with her writing, with her characters, and with the atmosphere of her books, that makes it feel so down-to-earth, even when her characters are too pitch perfect to be true, and we're settled in a supernatural ghost story.

There's no argument from me that the characters are all readily likable and good, and whom all have their unique personalities, even when they don't stray far from the standard romance novel characterizations.  But I won't deny that I DID enjoy all the interaction between each and every character present.  I loved the sisterly affection between Roz, Stella, and Hayley.  I loved the mother-son bonding between Stella and her two boys, Gavin and Luke.  I loved the strange hero worship between the boys and Roz's housekeeper/cook David, as well as between the boys and our main hero, Logan.

The romance felt a little awkward, to be honest, and Logan was the usual pushy alpha hero who makes a point to prove that he knows exactly what his heroine wants with her life.  I'm not fond of the pushiness, and could have done without, but since Stella was rolling with it, I suppose there was little I could complain about--after all, she tried to put up her fights and her resistance, but apparently Logan is too irresistible for that... *cue melodramatic eye roll and sigh*

At least we can give him props for bonding with the kids.

I love the southern setting, and all the descriptions of the garden nursery, the landscaping projects, the plants that are being grown and sold through In the Garden nursery.

Really, there wasn't a whole lot to complain about with this book.  I might have wanted more about the ghostly hauntings and happenings.  I might have liked a little less pushy alpha male.

But otherwise, I liked the book overall; and I especially loved the scenes where our main characters are all crowded in the mansion's library doing historical research on the house's resident Harper Bride ghost, whilst nibbling on cheeses, crackers, various other snack foods, and enjoying glasses of bubbly wine!  It makes me want to curl up with the next book and join them in that setting, with my own cheeses and crackers and various snack foods and bubbly wine.

I think that I liked this second In the Garden book more than the first... except I couldn't quite pinpoint why.  It could be that Rosalind Harper is such an intriguing, kick-butt main heroine.  It could be that Dr. Mitchell Carnegie is such a perfect, yet perfectly flawed beta hero.  It could just be that I had already fallen for the setting and the characters of this series and am simply basking in the continuation of light, docile ghostly mystery.

It could be the setting, it could be the writing...  It could be a whole number of things, really!  It could just be that Nora Roberts just has a way with her characters, her writing, and her story.

I don't really know.

But the story line in this second book is not entirely different from the first, with similar elements pertaining to the Harper Bride's hauntings, as well as her tantrums, and our characters' need to investigate her identity as well as what might have happened to her.  Obviously, the readers already know who the Harper Bride is, since each book gives a prologue that takes place in a time three generations previous to the series' time frame.  But we still never really find out what happened to cause the Harper Bride to become so furious, so sad, so vengeful, and make her linger for over a century in Harper House.

Black Rose is simply a continuation of this ghostly mystery--very light-hearted, with a few phantasmic happenings that don't really amount to much of scary or eerie.  I admit, while this book is about a ghostly haunting, it doesn't in the least give me goosebumps.

What makes these books so enjoyable, I believe, really has to do with the characters and how readily likable they are, despite being a set of perfect, good people.  Still, I enjoy the interactions, and the little nuances in each and every individual character that DOES make them differ from one another.  I enjoy the descriptions of the gardens, of Rosalind's business, of the Harper House mansion...

What else is there to say about Black Rose, except that it's a very enjoyable read, probably one of my more favorite Nora Roberts reads so far, even despite not really being able to give much else in terms of thoughts on this book.

While I have a few quibbles about the first book, Blue Dahlia, and while I'm sure I had a few regarding Black Rose while I was reading it... the truth is, I can't seem to readily conjure up anything I disliked, or would have liked to change.  I can't really think of a whole lot at all to complain about.

This was an excellent reading experience!

No doubt, this is probably the weaker of the three In the Garden books, if only because, as main characters, Harper and Hayley both fade in comparison to Roz and Mitch, or even Stella and Logan.  Upfront, I'm going to be honest and say that it will be hard for me NOT to compare and contrast each couple, as well as each book, within this trilogy.  After all, the three books are connected, and I'm going to make references.

Mainly, Harper and Hayley were great characters in the previous two books.  I liked Harper's science-geek behavior when it came to his grafting house, and the business with In the Garden.  He's also a great son to Roz, protective; although, he DID start getting on my nerves in the second book when he went behind his mother's back to interrogate and make assumptions about her new love life--that was uncalled for.

Hayley was always the fun, free-spirited, random trivia geek; I loved her drive and determination to prove herself, and her weird way of spouting little known facts at all the strangest times.  I loved how she was the driving force behind both Stella's and Roz's rekindled love lives, supporting them and pushing them to take that leap.

What I DIDN'T like was the personality I got when Hayley ended up front and center, if only because I never expected her to be the cynical, naive romance heroine I love to hate.  She knows she pretty, but she keeps doubting her own allure towards Harper.  She's always encouraged Roz and Stella to have fun, have sex, be free... but she turns around and slut-shames herself, which got super annoying.  She spends a lot of this book trying to convince everyone, mainly herself, that just because she had sex and got pregnant doesn't mean that she's "that kind of girl"--the kind who would just jump into bed with anyone.

The thing is:  NO ONE had made any of that kind of comment or critique about her.  It was all Hayley, being self-conscious about being the "wrong sort of girl" or whatever she called herself.  In turn, twice over, both Stella and Roz had to berate her for even thinking that of herself, and I appreciate that the two of them were so straight and blunt with Hayley.

Harper... he was never really present in the first book, and he came off annoyingly caveman-ish in the second book.  I hate to admit that he doesn't change all that much in this third book, and his "You'll do as I say because you're my woman" behavior started rankling... a lot.  I'm not even sure Logan's broody, irrational, rude, alpha male attitude was this bad in the first book.

But outside of all of this, to be honest, Hayley and Harper have a pretty sweet romance.  I certainly DO love the relationship interactions between Hayley and Lily, Harper and Lily, and the three of them together, in general.

In fact, all the kids were great, and I'm actually quite surprised that Stella's boys took to Lily so well, especially at their age, when playing with girls was usually not cool.  But hey, Lily held onto her toy truck and toddled her way out to play with the boys and hold her own, so that's kind of cool.

The concluding story in the Harper Bride haunting, I will admit, was the creepier of the three books.  The scene in which our ghost shows up on Hayley's terrace doorway holding a rope and a scythe in her hands, with an insane smile and crazy eyes, while outside is all lightning and wind and rain... is quite vivid in my mind.  It wasn't scary, per se, but I had a hard time sleeping without seeing that image in my mind after reading the scene.

The ending was sad, that's for sure; but the truth is, you kind of saw it coming.  I DID like this new twist where the Harper Bride begins to possess Hayley in her attempts to tell her side of the story.  And again, while it's an ugly, disturbing story, with a depressing end for the Amelia Conner, pre-haunting... well, we all kind of had an idea what had happened to her that turned her into the lingering, vengeful Harper Bride, right?


All-in-all, Red Lily made for a well-rounded wrap up for In the Garden.  I wish the main characters weren't as frustrating, but I'm also wondering if that hadn't been deliberate on the author's part.  I wouldn't put it past her, since, despite my annoyance with Hayley and Harper, I can't help but see how real the characters are portrayed, and how some of Hayley's thoughts and doubts about herself might have had something to do with the ghostly possession.

Of course, that doesn't excuse Harper's neanderthal-like behavior.

Halloween Bingo 2017

So, obviously, instead of finishing up books I'm currently reading, I've spent the past two days looking for book possibilities for all of my Halloween Bingo squares.

I've already been making a tentative listing of books I'd like to read for my own customized Bingo card above, courtesy of Moonlight Reader and picmonkey!  Thanks Moonlight!

Tentatively, this is what I'm planning on reading, four books of which are from my 2017 Reading Assignment list, and most of the other books are pre-owned TBR, and seriously just need to be read.

Please excuse my drawn out ramblings.


Magical Realism:  Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan
-- I have had this book for a very, very long time and have never read it.  As I read through the summary, it struck me that this particular book could count as magical realism.  I had considered reading this book for the Diverse Voices square, as well, so if it doesn't seem at all like magical realism, I might shuffle it off onto some other square.

Other possibilities:  Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen; The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker


Classic Noir:  Undecided
-- I've never read books in this genre before, but am open to trying something new.  Also, keeping this square allows me to cut out some of the 'horror' squares, and I'm more partial to mystery anyway.  The first group read for September will hopefully find me a nice book I can read for this square!


Ghost:  Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts
-- There are a lot of possibilities for this broad category, but I have recently acquired a lot of Nora Roberts books and would like to get through them.  I read something by Nora Roberts for last year's Halloween Bingo (Dark Witch), so it wouldn't hurt to read another something (or three somethings) for this year's bingo.

Other possibilities:  Devil May Ride by Wendy Roberts; Haunted by Heather Graham; An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James; This House is Haunted by John Boyne


Supernatural:  The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett
-- The Nightmare Charade is a book off of my Reading Assignment list, and this, unfortunately, is the only square it will fit on the card (unless I use the Free Space, of course).  And yes, I DO want to have it read, as I've been planning to read it in either September or October for the longest time now.  Otherwise, there are many other possibilities to pick from.


Diverse Voices:  The Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin
-- This was the next book I thought about after the Amy Tan book listed above.  In fact, if Saving Fish From Drowning does not actually work for Magical Realism, then I may just shuffle it back down here.  But, in the meantime, I AM quite interested in reading The Lotus Palace, a book written by an Asian author, that takes place in historical China, and is a mystery novel as well!

Other possibilities:  Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan


Cozy Mystery:  Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
-- Oh, the possibilities for this game square!  There are any number of cozy mysteries that I am quite interested in, so the above may not be my final choice.  It is just the first book that popped into my mind when I thought of cozy mysteries.

Other possibilities:  Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris; Die Buying by Laura DiSilverio; The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; Frozen Stiff by Annelise Ryan; Shadowland by Meg Cabot


Witches:  Undecided
-- I am not a hundred percent familiar with witch books, but I think I should be able to find something.  If all else fails, I think Nora Roberts has a few books about witches.  There are two books in particular that I own that have a witch, so I may just pick one of them.

Possibilities:  Jaxson by Alisa Woods; Protecting His Witch by Zoe Forward; Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman


Vampires:  The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn
-- I'm not big on vampire books, so I had considered doing a Dracula reread via the full-cast audio that I own.  Then, while I was going through my shelves, I stumbled upon this little gem by Deanna Raybourn, of which I had just purchased with an Audible credit not long ago.  The book takes place in Transylvania, and there is talk of creepy castles and charming vampires.  I'm totally reading this one for this square!  And to think, I almost decided to exclude it from my choices!


Country House Mystery:  Undecided
-- The truth is, I'm not sure I know what a 'Country House Mystery' is, but I'm willing to find out.  Recommendations are welcome!  Though one of the books I found that was listed as a popular country house mystery was Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles.  I'd been meaning to get some more of Dame Agatha's work read.  What does everyone else think?


Haunted House:  Black Rose by Nora Roberts
-- Once again, the possibilities are endless.  But I'm starting a trilogy, and I'll be damned if I leave another series unfinished for a long time.  Black Rose continues the the trilogy, In the Garden by Nora Roberts, following behind Blue Dahlia, and there is talk of a ghost being present in the setting of the book's house for over a hundred years.  I'd call that a haunted house!

Other possibilities:  This House is Haunted by John Boyne; Ghost Horse by Patricia Rosemoor; Haunted by Heather Graham


Aliens:  Undecided
-- I don't know why I kept this square, however, I DO have one book that will definitely fit, if nothing else will.  For the meantime, I'm going to keep my options open, but chances are, I'm going to read my one and only possibility for this game square so far:  The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa.  You wouldn't think that this book would fit, but one of the characters is an alien, even if not the creepy weird aliens of space invaders and horror.


Genre: Horror:  Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
-- Halloween wouldn't be complete without a book by Neil Gaiman.  Smoke and Mirrors is a short story collection that is tagged as 'horror,' so I'm going to go with that.  The summary gives a great description that comes off kind of horror-like anyway.  Again, this is a tentative pick, I might change my mind later if I stumble upon something else.  But I own this in audio, so the chances of me changing my mind is a bit slim.


Free Space:  Red Lily by Nora Roberts
-- I can't find another spot to place this book so that I can finish off the trilogy.  So it will go here unless I can find a different place for it that I don't already have another book lined up for.


Monsters:  Undecided
-- Okay... this is another square I'm not entirely sure why I kept.  I thought I'd be able to find something to fit, but I can't come up with anything outside of dragons (mythological creatures), which there are plenty of books for.  Do random animal shifters count?  Feline shifters?  Bear shifters?  Unknown animal, possible monster shifter?  I suppose I could always read something about Bigfoot...

One possibility:  His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik -- because, dragons.
Another possibility:  The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett -- because giant turtles, and dragons.
Last possibility (that I can think of):  Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
-- because, fantastic beasts and mythical/magical creatures... which probably include dragons.


In the Dark, Dark Woods:  On the Night of the Seventh Moon by Victoria Holt
-- I picked up about three Victoria Holt books from a library sale a long time ago and have been looking for a chance to introduce myself.  Ever since my first Gothic romance, I've been paying more attention to author names that come up in connection with the genre.  On the Night of the Seventh Moon's summary mentions something about the significance of a forest.  I'm going to go with that.


Amateur Sleuth:  Just Past Midnight by Amanda Stevens
-- I have a feeling that this category was created probably for a cozy mystery of some sort, where the protagonist is often times NOT in law enforcement.  But as the description isn't entirely restrictive, I decided to go with another Reading Assignment selection, wherein there is a mystery, there is a murder, and the protagonist is a psychologist.


Werewolves:  Undecided
-- I probably have the same love for werewolf books as I do vampire books, but if I were honest, I'd be more likely to pick up a werewolf book than a vampire book.  So this square remained in my choices, and now I'm trying to figure out which of my wolf shifter books I want to read... if wolf shifter = werewolf, that is.

Possibilities:  In the Company of Wolves by Paige Tyler; Jaxson by Alisa Woods


Gothic:  The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
-- There are a number of books that I'm considering reading for this space, if only because I'd recently been drawn to Gothic romance and the genre appeals to me.  I've been shuffling around possible books by Mary Stewart, Susanna Kearsley, Simone St. James, and maybe even Kate Morton.  On the other hand, I DID pick up three Victoria Holt books at a library sale, and having already chosen one for one of my game spaces (see Dark, Dark Woods), I have two more I could try.  So this is a tentative selection.

Other possibilities:  Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart; Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels; The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley; The Visitor by Amanda Stevens; Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt; The Black Opal by Victoria Holt; An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James; The Secret Garden by Kate Morton


Romantic Suspense:  Hit and Run by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin
-- Frankly, this is a 'Free Space' for me since romantic suspense is my go-to genre.  I have so many possible picks that I my biggest problem is figuring out which book I want to read for this category.  So, to make life easier on myself, I went and chose one more Reading Assignment book, one of the books that I kept telling myself I wanted to read during the summer, but because of REASONS, I never got to it.  I'm not even going to give myself other possible reads, because I'd just end up becoming wishy-washy in my choices.

How much we want to bet that I'll end up changing my mind and reading something else anyway?


Darkest London:  Undecided
-- I had a few books I was interested in reading for this space until I realized that the books I'd been choosing were set in England, but not in London.  Well, that ended up being a problem I figured I could easily remedy, so another search had to be done.

And would you look at that?  Goodreads has a nifty list I decided to peruse:  Books Set in London.
However, since that list has anything from contemporary romance to Paddington Bear, I decided to do a more narrowed search of 'mysteries set in London' and came up with this list:  Best London Mysteries.

Possibilities:  Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick; Mistress by Amanda Quick; What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris; The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle; London Falling by Paul Cornell; And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander; The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry; A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas


Murder Most Foul:  Every Secret Thing by Emma Cole (a.k.a. Susanna Kearsley)
-- So I'm not entirely certain if this book fits--the summary mentions a murder, the book is tagged 'mystery.'  I really DO want to read this book (or rather, listen to it since I have it on audio).  But I'm not entirely sure that this is a murder mystery, per se, because some parts of the summary hint that this is a death that occurred in history.  Nonetheless, I obviously have a lot of books to choose from considering how broad a category this one is, requiring only that we read a murder mystery, any murder mystery.  So I might just include a few alternate options.

Other Possibilities:  Hit and Run by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin; Chasing Evil by Kylie Brant; The Prey by Allison Brennan; In the Woods by Tana French; Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh; The Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin; The Jade Temptress by Jeannie Lin; The First Victim by J.B. Lynn; A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas


Serial/Spree Killer:  Dear Maggie by Brenda Novak
-- Another category that has a lot of possible books I could read.  But to keep things simple, I'm inserting another Reading Assignment book on this space.  Dear Maggie's summary mentions the presence of a serial killer--that's good enough for me.

Other Possibilities:  Chasing Evil by Kylie Brant; The Hunt by Allison Brennan;


Classic Horror:  Undecided
I don't know what to pick.  Maybe a reread of Dracula, although, the truth is, I'm sort of waiting out for the October group read and will probably just use it to fill this square since the group reads are wild cards.


Terrifying Women:  Undecided
-- Amanda Stevens has written a book that I recall being tagged as 'horror.'  Then again, I can always pick up another Shirley Jackson book, or maybe something by Barbara Michaels... Daphne du Maurier...

Possibilities:  The Lottery by Shirley Jackson; Houses of Stone by Barbara Michaels; The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart; The Devil's Footprints by Amanda Stevens


Locked Room Mystery:  Undecided
-- I've only done a cursory search of the books that would fit this category and narrowed my choices down to a few, though I'm not entirely sure what I want to read.  All of these titles I found at the Goodreads Locked Room Mystery list.

Possibilities:  The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux; The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle; The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins; The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie;  Cover Her Face by P.D. James; The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada

Nothing really to say except that I love this series. After trying to start the inn series by Nora Roberts, I ended up seeing so many similarities to "In the Garden" that I happily DNFed the first book in the inn series and decided to re-read this one.

I love gardening and the outdoors so this series was always fun to me. We have some romance and some characters that I actually enjoyed enough to revisit through three books.

"Blue Dahlia" is the first book in the series and follows single mother and widow Stella. I actually enjoyed how Roberts sets this book up. When the book begins we have Stella enjoying her life with her husband Kevin and their two boys who she loves, but who drive her up the wall at times. When an accident occurs leaving Stella widowed she honestly doesn't know what she's going to do. The book moves on a few years later, and Stella has relocated to Tennessee to be near her father and her stepmother. She wants to settle down in a new place that doesn't remind her of her former live and give her boys something strong to latch onto. She goes and works for Roz Harper in her home and takes over as manager running her "In the Garden" nursery that is onsite. Throw in a ghost and a romance she was not looking for, and "Blue Dahlia" may satisfy your need for a romance with a light mystery.

Stella's love interest in this, Logan, is a bit much. I honestly at first found him annoying. Him finding Stella rigid because she likes things organized and wants items inputted into a spreadsheet (oh the horror! The horror!) made me want to brain him. But, he does grow on me. I think I liked it because you get to see Stella not change the way she's made up to fit Logan, but you do see Logan adjust more for her. Which I loved. Most romances this days seem to be about uptight women who just need a man to remind her to let her hair down. I liked that Stella thought first and foremost about her sons and how any changes she makes in her romantic life would impact them. And I loved that there were honest conversations about her first marriage (Stella was happy and her husband loved her and vice versa). Thank goodness where was no third hour retconning of their marrirage to make any love she had with Logan be the best thing ever. And thank goodness that Logan gets it (about Stella's marriage) and being an adult about that (looking your way Virgin River book #1).

Due to the first book having to lay a lot of ground work we do move around to other perspectives. We get Roz's, her son Harper's and Roz's cousin Hayley included in this first book. It is pretty easy to see who the other couples will be in this series. And besides Hayley, I enjoyed everyone. I always found Hayley's whole backstory to be a bit much and I actually kind of loathed what she did and why. I probably will skip re-reading "Red Lily" this time through cause I recall going eh okay when I read it years ago.

The main part of the book is full of Stella getting used to Roz's business, but also the three women and some of the men trying to find out what they can about Roz's ghost, called the Harper Bride. I kind of shrugged about Stella and Hayley wanting to investigate the ghost more until you get towards the middle and end of the book and realize that the ghost is at times dangerous to be around and the whole family wants to put the spirit to rest.

Can I say that Roz is my favorite character though? She really is. I loved that this woman had a lot to deal with (she's also a widow and she raised three boys) and then when she gets older marries a POS man and manages to rebuild again.

The book makes for a relaxing day at the beach or sitting in your garden if you have time.