Customer Reviews

Haunting Olivia

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For thirteen years, Olivia Sedgwick has been haunted by a vision of two children. She presumes it is due to the fact that she never knew whether her stillborn child was a girl or boy, but after her estranged father's death, ghostly visions are the least of her concern. According to the terms of his will, she will inherit quite nicely if she lives in Blueberry, Maine for one month and goes to town daily to buy two items. Only to help her mom out of a financial jam is Olivia willing to do so. Immediately, strange incidents designed to scare her into leaving begin plauging Olivia. She also meets the father of her child again, and the child herself. It seems that her father had arranged to have Olivia be told her baby was dead, then gave Baby Kayla to Zach Archer. Once the mix up is cleared away, there is hope for the little family to have a new chance, however, there is definitely a psychotic person after not only Olivia, but after all the teen-aged beauty contestants, including Kayla, in town.

**** This is a decidely convoluted, but delightful mystery. The paranormal element is so slight that the minority of people who avoid anything that hints at weird will not even be bothered by it. Though a bit soapy, it's a great thriller with an absorbing, character-driven plot. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore for Huntress Reviews.

Thirteen years ago in Blueberry, Maine Olivia Sedgwick gave birth to a stillborn child. She never saw her offspring and was so distraught she never learned the sex of her baby. She left Maine vowing to never return as even the father of her child Zach Archer was not there for her. However Olivia is haunted by dreams of a boy and a girl, whom she assumes is a subconscious memory of her lost baby.

When her father dies, his will contains a stipulation if she and her mother are to inherit anything. Olivia must live in his summer cottage in Blueberry for one month and everyday during her stay she must buy one item each at two local stores everyday. She wants to say no, but she knows her mom needs the money so she agrees to the terms set forth by the dad she never met and quits her job at Glitz Magazine.

In Blueberry, accidents begin to happen as if someone wants Olivia to leave town. More haunting is seeing Zach with his daughter Kayla, whose age would be the same as the child they lost. Olivia soon realizes that her father lied about his granddaughter as her baby is now a young teen raised by Zach. As they try to clear up misunderstandings fostered by Olivia's late dad, someone wants Olivia and seemingly all the teen-age beauty contestants dead.

This is a fascinating complex romantic mystery with a touch of the paranormal. Olivia is a terrific protagonist who finds herself stunned to learn her daughter lives and that she still loves Zach. He feels the same way, but has problems trusting his beloved though he realizes her father manipulated everyone. Though the beauty pageant killer subplot seems over the edge (Miss Congeniality aside) the sequel to Watching Amanda (Olivia's half-sister) is a wonderful second chance at love thriller.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this series about three sisters, same father, different mothers. I liked each having a separate story but the other making appearances in them. Too bad authors get slammed for the copyeditor's bad work.

Olivia has not been back to Blueberry, Maine except for an occasional weekend visit since her father sent her to a home for pregnant teens and forced her to give her baby up for adoption, only to believe that the child was stillborn. In reality, her father gave the baby to her boyfriend who was unsuitable for his daughter but not his granddaughter. Zach was told Olivia wanted nothing to do with them and given a $25,000 stipend to stay out of their lives.

The unusual will her father drafted requires her to stay in Blueberry for a month and purchase two items per day from area businesses. When she happens upon Zach (who returned to Blueberry eight years earlier), she is shocked to see him with a child that could be theirs, and soon discovers the deception of her father. Zach is not sure he wants her back in his life, since he just started seeing someone new. As Olivia slowly becomes a part of Kayla's life (a pretty grounded kid all things considered), she and Zach realize that their dormant passion has taken over again. But someone is hell-bent on seeing that Olivia is not able to collect her inheritance, and soon sabotages Kayla's chance to follow in her mother's footsteps in an "inner beauty" contest.

Despite the baddie being obvious, and the over the top shenanigans of Zach's girlfriend Marnie, it's actually a sensitively written story with a realistic teen for once. Though I thought it a bit odd how forgiving all the characters were of the deceptions that tore them apart, particularly Olivia not being more angry with her father and Kayla being so accepting (and receptive) of a stranger taking time away from her father.

I found the story both interesting in parts and lacking in others. For one thing, Zach did not seem to have any empathy for Olivia and her situation. Another, he was not in touch with his feelings for Olivia at first, even after knowing she was the injured party. There was one instance where he treated her brutally (sexually). I would liked for Olivia to have a lot more backbone than she had. It seems that the author could have made the child a little younger than 13. Also, the author does not have the knack for sex scenes. She needs to read one of Linda Howard's books for guidance in that area.

This felt like a badly written book for tweens with so much of the novel concerned with the daughter's pageant. I was expecting pat moral lessons to slap in the me the face the entire time. The book was boring, labored and unbelievable, and there was no chemistry between the romantic leads. Telling us that there is chemistry is not the same as having it. If I could give this zero stars I would.

A woman is reunited with her first love and meets her long lost daughter for the first time when she returns to her hometown. All is not well, however, when someone begins stalking her and doing their best to scare her away. 3 stars

The back of the book, in a couple of paragraphs, tells you the whole story in a nutshell. If you read the back of the book then you have read the book. Very predictable story. You know how it's going to end after reading a couple of chapters. No surprises, here.
Thirteen years ago a pregnant teenager (Olivia) gives birth in Maine and is told her baby was born dead. Her estranged rich father is behind the lie and drives the couple apart. The baby is given to Olivia's boyfriend to raise & he tells him Olivia never wants to see him again.
Fast forward thirteen years, a large sum of money and a summer cottage in Blueberry, Maine is bequeathed to Olivia after her father dies. To "earn" the cottage she must live in it for a month and buy a couple items each day at the store and hand her receipts over daily to the caretaker(Olivia's father old girlfriend).
As expected, Olivia meets up with her old boyfriend (Zach) who is the father of the baby (Kayla) she thought was dead. The little family reunites. Olivia gets to know the child she thought was dead for the first time. The chemistry between Olivia & Zach is still there after all these years. There are several explicit and graphic love making sessions described in the book, I suppose to make the story more interesting.
There is someone who doesn't want Olivia around and trashes her cottage & makes threats. This just makes her & Zach closer. She moves in with Zach and Kayla. The "inner-beauty" pageant for Kayla & her 13 year old friends also has a stalker. You spend most of the book trying to figure out who the stalker(s)is.I find that this takes away from the love story that redevelops for Olivia & Zach. (I was much more interested in that part of the story).I was quite distracted by the stalker storylines and didn't care about it at all.I just wanted to "get on" with the rest of the story.
This is a sappy love story that sounds too good to be true. Who wouldn't wish they could be Olivia? Not only is this guy Zach who's a architect gorgeous and still single but very rich, too. She will never have to work another day in her life. It doesn't seem like Zach works that much, either. These people are rich with tons of free time on their hands!
To make a long story short, at the end they move away to a beautiful mansion built on a cliff overlooking the ocean that Zach built in upper Maine and everyone lives happily ever after. They even bring Olivia's pain in the neck mother along.
Olivia puts the cottage up for sale (she had no ineterest in it to begin with.We never do find out what the sum of money was that was included with the cottage that Olivia's father leaves her. Perhaps the author forgot all about it?
This story is just too good to be true & would probally never happen in real life. It's a fairytale story.