Title: Haunted Heart
Author: Carolyn Rosewood
Description: All Rowena Sommers wants is a quiet life away from Hollywood gossip and her vicious Oscar-winning ex-boyfriend Brett Fontaine. Her career and reputation in a shambles, thanks to Brett, Rowena returns home to restore her ancestral home and soak up some familiar, hometown sympathy. But having won a twenty-million-dollar defamation suit against Brett hasn’t endeared her to the hometown fans, and the man she’s hired to restore the old home is none other than the ex-jock who used her cruelly in high school to win a bet. And now a paranormal investigator is telling her the place may be haunted.
Van Whitney is no stranger to gossip. He's been struggling to keep his family's restoration business afloat, and when he agrees to restore Rowena's home, he vows to keep their relationship professional. His childhood friend has become a beautiful, sexy woman, but she attracts gossip like flies to honey. When strange things start happening at the house, Van discovers secrets upon secrets, and a plot that may be other than it seems. But his attraction to Rowena might be more dangerous than anything from the past…
My Thoughts: The name “Haunted Heart” fits this story perfectly. Rowena Sommers had left her hometown to escape old hurts and bad memories when she was just out of high school. She only returns to her roots after her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a movie star, leaves her career and her life in the lime-light in shambles. Rowena wants a normal, quiet life and to be finally recognized for her own talent, not just because of her ex. So, she takes up in the house left to her by her beloved Aunt Looney. Rowena wants to have the home restored, as she re-establishes herself in her small hometown. Her first day back she gets a huge surprise when she pulls up and sees Van, childhood family friend and the boy she had loved. Van also happens to be one of the memories still haunting her and of all things, is in the restoration business. He too is taken aback, seeing the new client is Rowena, after all these years. I will say the story starts out kind of slow with a lot of background, though personally this didn't bother me. Each bit of detail helps evolve the story as it goes on making it much more than just suspenseful and passionate. The characters fleshed out into three dimensions showing that you can overcome your past and start anew. I loved how Carolyn could take us back in time highlighting what Rowena must have gone through in high school, using that hindsight to see she could look past those experiences once she learned to let it go and embrace the future with Van. Both Rowena and Van are haunted by past mistakes and hurts, but with trust and love they reach past it. The passion between the characters gets very steamy at times, but the mystery of the house tames it to leave you intrigued and turning the pages to see who is behind the goings on. Personally, the book kept me guessing, though some readers may catch on sooner. Carolyn wrote all the characters so vividly that they came off quite real as if their spirits flowed through the pages themselves. I loved reading this suspenseful romance that kept me on my toes with all kinds of Bumps in the Night. Are you ready to possessed by the spirit of the “Haunted Heart”?
5 out of 5 stars
You can buy Haunted Heart by clicking the link below:
Costs: 6.99
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