A Spirited Romance by Alana Clayton

Read For:
RYOB Challenge
ROR Summer Challenge
1000 Regency Challenge
Countdown Challenge

Synopsis:
WILL THE SEARCH FOR SPIRITS TURN OF LOVE INSTEAD?

Clearing Ellery Lawford, Lord Trent's country home, of ghosts is just another job for Miss Vanessa Grayson. After all, her ability to communicate with spirits is her only means of income--and with her missing sister's infant left in her care, she needs funds post haste. But the task at hand is more complicated than usual, because Trent's soon-to-be fiancee seems to be inventing menacing spirits everywhere. Even more disturbing is the fact that Vanessa finds the young nobleman dangerously appealing. 

Lord Trent can't believe that skittish, demanding Cornelia Burnett is the woman he is about to marry--especially with level-headed and inexpressibly pretty Miss Grayson in attendance. But can he trust his attraction to a woman who talks to the dead? A woman whom he suspects might be linked with a nefarious London club and his own brother's disappearance? When the tangled threads of proof become a frustrating knot, Trent knows that he needs Vanessa's help to sort out the whole mess--almost as much as he wants the lovely spiritualist's love.


My Review:


A Spirited Romance is one of these storylines where a mystery keeps the hero and heroine from being entirely truthful with each other for a period of time. While that in itself is not a problem, the duration the "misunderstandings" go on can make or break the book for me. In this books case, they went on far too long, pretty much the entire book till the last 5-10 pages. Because of the misunderstandings, the hero thought all sorts of bad things about the heroine-from being a fake, to being a member of the Hellfire Club, to having a child out of wedlock and involvement in his brother's disappearance. All this was concluded in those ten pages WAY too conveniently , and the heroine just blithely accepts his apology. How are we supposed to feel any romance for a guy who pretty much thinks the worst of the heroine the entire book?


Finally-for a book that was supposed to be about a "ghost whisperer", that takes place way too little in the book as well.


I'd give this book 3 stars, but wouldn't recommend it.