I'm busy but trying to squeeze in a book or few. One of the things that I noticed on this reread is that Ruth and pat are only in their 40s and 50s and I have always pictured them as older. Not sure why unless it was how Michaels had Ruth describe herself. She made her sound much older than she is or maybe we just see 40 -something as not that decrepit now?

I read this as the September buddy read. This is one of those good old fashion ghost stories. I had to keep reminding myself that it was written in the 1960s and some of the actions and reactions of the characters were definitely old fashion. 

This was the first book I read of Barbara Michaels, I believe. She is a very good writer and kept my interest throughout the book. 

I did enjoy the fact that the main couple in this story were in their 40s/50s even if the author did remind the reader a few too many times of them being grey and over-the-hill. :) 

I would definitely be open to trying another one of her books maybe written a bit later though to see how her character development differs through the years. 

Checked off another square for the Halloween Bingo! 

Read With Booklikes Friends : Ammie, Come Home, Barbara Michaels

These are my spoiler-free impressions. I'll say more in the the discussion group. 

FIrst off, I'm glad I read this mostly during daylight hours because I would definitely have felt a bit spooked at times if I'd read it at night. And I frequently found myself muttering, "don't go into the cellar!" First rule of scary ghost stories - never ever go into the cellar.

I wish there was more information about each of the characters. They all felt a bit flat at times, so bit more backstory to round them out would have been good.

I did enjoy it though. Yes, it's very coy and dated, but that adds to the charm. And I loved all the detailed descriptions of the fashions. I kept having to break off and go and do an Internet search to see exactly what they were talking about.

However I had to laugh at the time the protagonists spent preparing elaborate food and drinking sherry and cocktails. If I'd have been there, I'd have been eating bags of Cheesy Puffs and swigging brandy straight from the bottle. 

Where to start?

I've been hearing my mom rave about how much she loved this book for ever, which in the way of such things between mothers and daughter sometimes, had the perverse effect of making me disinclined to read it.  This is spite of my enjoyment of ghost stories and Barbara Michaels' other work.  (N.B. I love my mom, just stupid vestiges of teenage stubbornness I suppose.)

In the lead-up to the 2016 Halloween Book Bingo, Person of Interest suggested a buddy read.  I'll admit to trepidation though; my mom always talked about how scary this book was, and I've known her to read the Amityville Horror without flinching.  But nothing like a spot of good natured peer pressure to push a girl through!

When I first cracked it open I got up to chapter 3 and nothing much had happened; a bad dream, a bit of foreshadowing.  This was somehow worse; I knew it was going to get creepy, it was going to happen any page now... But all the (necessary) setup made it easy to put the book down until the next day.

I was right; everything starts hitting the fan soon into chapter 4 - and that's where the trouble started for me, because this is a buddy read, and I should be pacing myself, reading small sections to savour and discuss with friends, and I can't put the book down, I have to find out what happens next!!  Hot tea was brewed in vain, only to go cold and neglected; by chapter 6 I was firmly of two minds about this book - it was creeptastically gripping and unbelievably condescending and dated in its tone.  

As others have noted, Patrick was ...unlikeable.  Add to this his behaviour in at least one scene and way too much vagueness pertaining to Ruth's past and I was... unimpressed with our protagonists.  Bruce was mostly a pompous git, and Sara was rather vanilla.   So while I as still enjoying the story it could go either way for me at this point.  I pried myself off the book at the end of chapter 7 and swore I'd not go near it again for at least 24 hours.

I think I made it the 24 hours and I'd like to say I was able to only read a bit more the next day, but that would be crap - I grudgingly went through my to-do list and then sat down with this book and wild horses were not going to part me from it until I finished.  I had to know how it ended.

Oh, Barbara Michaels, you crafty, crafty lady.  I see what you did there.  You never did explain Ruth's past clearly, but you did explain Patrick's behaviour ever so neatly; I didn't have much justification beyond his name for disliking him after that.  I especially liked how you sneaked a bit of sophisticated theology in too when you thought nobody would notice.  Clever, and it added a tiny bit of heft to the story without beating the reader over the head.  Nice.

There's no way anyone who has ever read any ghost story couldn't divine at least some of the ending, but I'll admit my sub-conscious predictions fell short: it was more complex than I had foreseen, which of course made it all the better.  As to what finally felled the evil, well, that showed a complexity of theological belief that I don't see much in my spooky reads and I respect Michaels all the more because of it.

All in all an excellent ghost story and one I wouldn't want to read - or re-read - after dark; I'm fairly certain it would scare the bejeezus out of me.  

I jest, but the worst part of the book is probably the part where I have to call mom and say:  you were right!  ;-)

I'm using this book for my Genre: Horror square in Halloween Book Bingo

I've finished Chapter 7 and the characters have grown on me.  Bruce is shaping up to be a descent sort and not the player Ruth assumed he was.  Pat is still a hard sell, tho.  To be fair, a couple of the scenes where I wasn't crazy about his behavior probably weren't entirely his fault. But his attitude and aggressive tendency don't sit well with me. Ruth's backstory was illuminating.  And despite several chilling incidents from where I last left off, I haven't been scared witless. :-D  Only 24 hours left now for our foursome to track down the dark secrets of the house.