Ann Kerns

Nora's family has recently moved into a beautiful old house previously Eleanor Hays, a famous author. Although her younger siblings make some odd comments and several items go missing, Nora doesn't realize there's anything odd about her new home until she's home alone one evening and meets a ghost. It initially scares her, but Tom, the ghost, doesn't seem all that bad - he returns the stuff he took and just asks that Nora's family not remove the house's grandfather clock. However, he's not the only ghost haunting the house, and a couple of the others aren't nearly so nice.

Eh, this was okay. Apparently I read it back in 2012, but I didn't remember a thing about it, not even as I was reading. Nora and Tom fell in love very quickly (I suppose it's tough to properly develop a romance when one half of the couple can't leave the house), and it was clear that falling in love with a ghost probably wasn't going to end in a happily ever after for poor Nora. I wonder if all the other entries in this series involve the heroine having to come to the realization that they can't stay with their supernatural boyfriends? I mean, Nick seemed nice, but hopefully there are at least a few cute paranormal HEAs in the mix.

The artwork wasn't necessarily bad but wasn't really to my taste. A bit too busy. My ARC is in black-and-white, which doesn't necessarily mean that's what the final publication looks like, but the "Look Inside" portion shown on Amazon doesn't look any different.

Will I ever read more of this series? Well, I've had this ARC for at least 10 years, read it at least once before, and never felt the urge to try another one, so probably not. It looks like each entry is handled by a different author-illustrator pair, though, so it could be interesting to see how they vary in appeal and quality.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)