The House on Persimmon Road / Jackie Weger

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Romance / Ghost Story

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Jackie Weger “…began writing romance novels in the 1980's while living in a small farming town in Texas and is an award-winning contemporary romance writer. She published sixteen novels with Harlequin Books and is now bringing her five-star favorites to the e-book community.”

To learn more about Ms. Weger visit her blog and/or her Facebook page, she loves to chat with readers.

Description:

“Lottie Roberts is restless and lonely. She's been sitting on her bones for decades, waiting for her ticket to heaven until... Justine Hale and her family take up residence in Lottie's two-hundred-year-old plantation house.”

Trying to make a fresh start after her husband leaves her Justine moves her family to Alabama. Which include not only her eleven year-old son and eight year-old daughter, but also her bankrupt mother and sharp-tongued ex-mother-in-law.

Justine needs help and Lottie is of a mind to provide it. But before Lottie can say squat and Justine even unlocks the front door, Tucker Highsmith shows up to steal her thunder. His dark eyes, lazy grin, and sexy Alabama drawl coupled with the dern braggart's Mr. Fix-it talents just might be the answer to all of Justine's problems. Or maybe not...”

Appraisal:

With Ms. Weger's easy going writing style you are able to get a clear picture of the characters in this story from the onset. Justine is overwhelmed with the responsibility of raising her children and refereeing between her two mothers who nitpick at each other constantly. I found it easy to sympathize with Justine, she is smart, level-headed, and practical. She has her work cut out for her. 

Her mother, Pauline, was pampered high-society until the death of her husband and her livelihood is now tied up in bankruptcy court. In all of her aristocratic ways, she too is trying to find her place in the world. Now in her sixties, she wants to learn to drive a car and get a job. While Agnes Hale, Justine's ex-mother-in-law, sets her sights on a couple of different prizes.

Tucker Highsmith is their closest new neighbor. He lets himself get pulled into helping this eclectic family move in and settle against Justine's wishes. Tucker is drawn to Justine more than any woman he has ever met, but has enough responsibility of his own to deal with so he has no intention of getting involved with Justine. However both find themselves expertly manipulated by Pauline. 

Lottie, our resident ghost, wants her body back.  Her dearest wish is to be alive once again, to be whole, and be able to be seen and heard again. She is pretty sure she is not all the way dead because no one ever found her bones and she was never properly buried. She concocts a harebrained plan she is sure will work to bring her back from betwixt and between. 

This story is an enjoyable three-ring circus. The human characters in this story are believable, the conversations and the dilemmas ring true. It was fun to watch Tucker and Justine work through and break down the barriers each had constructed to protect themselves from further heartbreak. The plot moved smoothly and had a good pace. Ms. Weger's stories seem to have a different sort of flavor to them than your typical romance novel that I have found I enjoy.

Format/Typo Issues:

I do believe this story would benefit from another round of proofing. I found a small number of proofing errors.

Rating: **** Four Stars