Guest Book Review: Ginny’s impression of Abigail’s Window by Susan Lynn Solomon
Hi, readers! Please welcome Virginia, our guest book reviewer, to ILRB! She’ll be hanging out with us today, taking the time to give us her take on a cool romance novel! Let’s give her a hand…
Woo hoo! ♥
Ginny, take it away and show us what you have for today.
Thanks!
I normally read fantasy romance, but once I started this story, it began to grow on me. I was not wanting to put it down.
Kaitlyn and her friends were going to have a girl’s weekend, just to get away and unwind, but things quickly changed when they arrived at the Bed and Breakfast where they were to stay. Kaitlyn’s uneasy feeling starts from the moment she steps out of their rental car. When she notices a window of the second floor, there is a woman, peering at her through a pulled back lace curtain. All her years of law school could not prepare her for what was going to take place at this retreat with her friends.
Although Abigail and Kaitlyn both have pasts that intertwine, it wasn’t until her mother-in-law noticed the photograph sitting on the table that Kaitlyn knew just how their lives were connected.
Does Kaitlyn really encounter the ghost of Abigail Bender, or is her mind playing tricks on her? You will have to read the book for yourself and find out.
Categories: Paranormal Romance, Romantic Fantasy
Book blurb:
Abigail Bender lost her only love at Gettysburg in 1863. One hundred and fifty years later, Kaitlyn Novacs, teetering on the edge of a breakdown after the loss of her one love, encounters Abigail’s spirit in a quaint Canadian inn. There’s a connection between these women; Kaitlyn feels it the first moment she sees the ghost, but refuses to admit it. She is forced to accept how closely her fate mirrors the ghost’s when through Abigail’s window, she witnesses the ghost’s life and death. Still, there’s a secret Abigail withholds from Kaitlyn. Will discovering that secret come too late to save Kaitlyn from Abigail’s fate?
Universal Reader Link: https://books2read.com/u/m2QG2d
Here’s a short teaser from the book…
Everyone must have heard my sharp intake of breath. Our trek through the snowstorm had briefly knocked Richard Slattery from my mind. Ronnie’s slip brought everything back. Richard. What he wanted. I tried to twist off the engagement ring he’d given me. It still wouldn’t budge. Outside, the wind hissed with laughter.
Ronnie rushed to my side. “Hey, hey, none of that. It’s gonna be okay, I promise. You’re here to forget for a while.”
“As if I could.”
“Katy-”
“I’m… trying.” I gave her a weak smile.
She stroked my arm. “Yeah, I know. Your imagination has you all wound up. A couple of days of being pampered, you’ll get back to yourself. Then you can go home, marry Richard, and-”
“I won’t do that! I… can’t.”
“Listen to me,” Ronnie said. “Richard isn’t your ex. He loves you and you love him. It shows in your face when you’re together.”
“What if I do? Doesn’t matter. Not when-”
The windows shook. The laughing wind stopped me.
In the quiet that followed, I opened my mouth to continue the argument, but closed it when I heard footfalls on the second floor. My head bobbed up.
Mrs. Hughes peeked at me from the corner of her eye. “We… um, ought to get you ladies settled in. Leah,” she called toward the kitchen, “would you come here please, show our guests to their rooms?” In a softer voice, she explained, “Leah Campbell is our housekeeper. If there’s anything you need, ask her.”
A very thin woman came through the kitchen door, drying her hands on a dish towel. Her black dress and sweater looked like old widow’s weeds. She even wore a black apron. From the creases on her forehead and cheeks, I thought she must be in her late sixties.
While Leah Campbell approached, a stirring above again drew my attention. Not my imagination. I definitely heard someone pacing. The footsteps went back and forth. Constant, driven. But ours was the only car in the lot.
“Is there… another guest here this weekend?” I asked.
Mrs. Hughes’s smile tightened. She rubbed her hands on her gray skirt. “Everyone else cancelled when they heard about the storm.”
“Somebody’s walking up there,” I said. “Is it another staff member?”
Leah Campbell’s head swiveled to me.
Mrs. Hughes’s ample chest expanded with a deep intake of breath. As she slowly released it, her eyes flicked in the housekeeper’s direction. “No. Only Miss Campbell and I work here.”
The pacing continued. Leah Campbell looked toward the stairs.
I stared hard at her. The woman had her hair pulled back into a severe bun which emphasized a hawk-like nose and a sharply pointed chin. Her skin was so pale, it might have been frostbitten. As the pacing became more persistent, she seemed to shrink back towards the kitchen.
She hears it, too.
Her head cocked, Andrea said, “I don’t hear anything.”
“Me either.” From the way Ronnie’s eyes narrowed, I knew she wondered if she’d been right to bring me to this place. When she glanced down to her purse, I thought she might be ready to pull out her cellphone and call Dr. Carver-the psychologist I’d seen during the seven years since my marriage fell apart, and then I did.
The footsteps came closer. They seemed to reach the top of the stairs, then started to descend.
I backed away. “I don’t want to go up there.” I held my ears. When I released them, the footsteps had stopped. “I’m sure I heard-”
Andrea clapped her hands. “Maybe it’s a ghost. I’ve always wanted to meet one.”
Ronnie signaled her with an urgent shake of the head.
“It’s her-the one that-” The housekeeper stopped abruptly when Mrs. Hughes shot a glance at her.
My hand went to my mouth.
“What you hear is just the house settling under the snow,” Mrs. Hughes said. “You know how beams groan in these old places.”
“See? Everything’s explained if you’re willing to be rational,” Ronnie said.
“It’s more fun to think it might really be a ghost. Is there one living here?” Andrea seemed so excited by the idea, she almost panted.
Ronnie smacked her arm.
The housekeeper opened her mouth. Before she could speak, Mrs. Hughes said, “Groaning beams. Of course that’s what you heard.” She turned her eyes briefly to me, then glanced at the ceiling. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, ladies. I have to finalize the arrangements for dinner. Leah will show you to your rooms.”
The housekeeper watched Mrs. Hughes’s retreating back, as if she desperately wanted to follow her. Face pinched, lips tight, she muttered, “Only the old wood settling in the house… So she says.”
Leah Campbell stood, unmoving, on the bottom step, gnawing at her lip. I’d have bet all I owned that she didn’t want to go upstairs any more than I did. After a minute, she sighed. Pulling at the waist of her skirt, she said, “All right, then, follow me, please.”
I backed further away. “I don’t want to stay here, Ronnie. Please. Let’s go home.”
“Roads are all closed ’cause of the snow,” the housekeeper said. She grabbed for the banister, as if her arms might pull her in a direction her legs didn’t want to go.
Ronnie pushed me toward the stairs. “We’re staying!”
Lugging our bags, we climbed behind Leah Campbell to the second floor. Each stair tread groaned underfoot.
“Only an old house settling in the snow,” I muttered, willing myself to believe it.
AUTHOR: Susan Lynn Solomon
TITLE: Abigail’s Window
GENRE: Paranormal Romance, Romantic Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2019
PUBLISHER: Solstice Publishing — Solstice Shadows Imprint
ISBN/ASIN: B07R449D8G
OUR RATING: ♥♥♥♥♥
REVIEWED BY: Virginia Frick
Guest Blogger/Reviewer Bio: I am a military wife, a mom, and a Gigi. All of which I would never change. I have a deep love for reading. and if I was given the opportunity. I truly believe I could do it all day. I decided to start reviewing books one day while I was reading some posts and thought, I can do that. So I commented on a few posts and next thing I know, I am reading some pretty amazing books. My cousin and I started a review blog ( www.cuzweread.wordpress.com) and a bookstagram (@cuz.weread.books).
Thanks for reading our latest book review on ILRB! ♥ Have a great rest of your week, everyone!
Originally published at http://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com on April 12, 2023.
