Debbie A. Heaton

I like the cover of Night Stalks the Gray House, but it's very misleading. The gray house is only one story -- if one doesn't count the attic -- and it's made of adobe. We have a young couple, a psychiatrist named Randy Curran, and his wife, Skye. They've moved (again), and are looking for an affordable house. Mr. Hawkins, a real estate agent, describes the house as 'less than twenty years old' on page eight and 'just twenty years old' on page nine. As anxious as he appears to be to sell the place, he admits that renters have never stayed long in it. Skye is suspicious about the low price the owners are asking for it, but her husband (whom I disliked almost from his introduction), is enthusiastic.

One of the neighbors and his father tell the Currans their new house is haunted. Mr. Hawkins had told them that the current house was built on the foundations of a previous house that had burned down, but not about the reputed ghost or ghosts (big surprise there). I was going to complain about Mr. Hawkins saying that for all he knew no one had died in a fire [there] on p. 37, but a close rereading of what Randy said that Mr. Hawkins had told him on p.11 and Mr. Hawkins' reply to Skye's question about the Bracket family on p.35, showed me that the real estate man could get away with that. Sneaky wording there, Mr. Hawkins!

By chapter four, we readers learn that there was a murder and a disappearance. Was it a vengeful ghost or one of the neighbors? Accepting invitations from their neighbors may have given the Currans valuable information about their house, but after the second unpleasant evening, I'm beginning to wonder if they have any neighbors worth knowing. Well, Robert Frake and his disabled wife, Leslie, seem nice.

The plot itself isn't that bad, although the real culprit was easy to guess long before the big revelation. The dialog is stilted, which is unfortunate. Perhaps I'd have been less tolerant of the book's defects if I'd read it in one sitting instead of three days. It was easy to put down.

The author really should have consulted a dictionary. She keeps using 'compliment' for 'complement' for example. She describes the meadow where the gray house is set as 'covered in flora and fauna,' leaving me wondering what kind of animals were so numerous that they appeared to carpet the land. If you care about proper American English and have a larger vocabulary than the author, this book will make you wince.

I did plenty of wincing at sentences that were missing words, had the wrong forms of words, such as saying that some person's hair 'shined' instead of 'shone' (What did it shine? Shoes?), and the wrong word altogether, such as 'expounded' when the speaker obviously meant 'exaggerated'. Where's an editor when one needs one? (On the other hand, I had just finished listening to Jane Eyre, so when Skye dreamed about the house being on fire and someone crying, 'Jane!, Jane!,' I smiled.)

If I'd paid more than fifty cents for a used copy, I'd probably have felt cheated. As it was, I was mildly entertained.… (plus d'informations)

I overall did not enjoy this book. When I first read about it on LibraryThing I had thought that it would be an interesting read. I wanted to know why she had felt the need to flee from her husband that she obviously loved. I thought that it would be a lot like The Parent Trap without the kids. It wasn't.

I like a few things about the book. The author showed that she could work in even the smallest detail and make it seem natural. Then there was the flash backs. These were the only reason that I knew what was happening during the book. I thought that these things were well done.

Then there were the things that I was less excited about reading. The book was not that long to begin with and yet I felt that there were many scenes that were pointless. They should have been cut out during the editing process. The little details that I at first loved so much began to grate at my nerves as they were repeated in every possible way. I still don't really understand why Riley, the female lead, married Tristan, the male lead. Throughout the first half of the book all you hear about is how horrible he is how she only married him because she was young. Now is the place that I take personal offense to. Riley never admits that anything is ever her fault. She blames her age and the people around her but never herself. Being young does not mean that you can't take responsibility for your actions or that you don't have to. She also can't blame Tristan for marring him after knowing him for a few hours. It may be three days after meeting each other but they had only been in close proximity for a few hours on the first day.

I could tell that the book is meant to have a Gothic novel feel to it yet randomly the author would put modern phrases in. It made both the dialogue and the narration awkward for me to read. Especially the female characters because they acted very much the stereotype of Victorian ideals.

The entire book just did not work for me. Tristan hates Riley for betraying, the reason that she left and something that I can't blame him for no matter how much I dislike him, for the first half of the book and then randomly on page 176 he calls her his love.I swear I thought I was reading a different book.

To me this plot could have worked for me more if it was set right after they got married and Glenda was trying to steal Tristan from Riley. I would have been able to feel actual sympathy for Riley that way. Also than it would have seemed more of an outrage that no one believed Riley.… (plus d'informations)

The problem with The Haunting of Wolfe Haven is that it doesn’t know whether it’s a Gothic romance, a supernatural romance, or a crappy paperback romance.

Heaton is a master at creating atmosphere: there are long passages of the book that are deliciously like reading Rebecca. But then a character will come along and say or do or think something that seems like it was lifted directly from daytime TV. Heaton is shockingly inept at creating characters with realistic feelings and motivations.

Ultimately, The Haunting of Wolfe Haven is a disappointment because it was so close to being a great book but wasn’t.

Recieved via Member Giveaway.… (plus d'informations)