Customer Reviews

Night Echoes (Signet Eclipse)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Artist Emma Beck discovered a folder after her father died. In it was a record from a detective who was detailing the circumstances of Emma's adoption and the death of her birth mother.

Up to that moment, Emma had not realized she'd been adopted.

When she visited her birthplace, Emma found an old derelict house that both said 'home' to her and nearly frightened her to death. She'd been painting bits of this house in her art throughout her career. Then she discovers that Mike, her contractor, had also figured prominently in her illustrations.

As the story unfolds, Emma hears strange sounds in the house, finds her paints messed with while she's been sleeping, etc.

All in all, "Night Echoes" is a fast-paced, hard to put down thriller that could well defend a place with mainline thriller novels. It's also a paranormal that doesn't count on lycanthropy, vampires, or any similar character to keep it fresh.

I regretted when Holly Lisle left writing fantasy for the romance novel field, yet, I have read almost every romance she's written and enjoyed them. This comes from someone who doesn't particularly care for romance novels. Lisle so seamlessly blends the romance in with the storyline that it's a natural part of the flow.

Lisle has a way of creating sympathetic characters that pull you in because you care about their lives and want to see them survive--if not succeed and be happy. Emma and Mike, and to a lesser extent, Cara, are more than just constructs.

And the house itself became a being in this story. Lisle's scene setting really takes you there even if you've never seen a Southern Gothic style home before.

I'd definitely consider her as someone to study if you are interested in learning how to pull in and hook a reader with subtle foreshadowing. Lisle's a pro and she's a pleasure to read no matter what she writes.

Holly Lisle started out her writing career with fantasy novels. However, lately she's turned her hand to paranormal suspense novels and become quite successful and quite well-known at them. She also manages her personal web site [....]

Her first novel paranormal romance, MIDNIGHT RAIN and her last, I'LL SEE YOU, had more violence inherent in the plot than the current book does, but her fourth book, NIGHT ECHOES, is more a southern gothic and ghost story. In all of her books, Lisle manages to present interesting characters in challenging situations, all with an economy of language that keeps readers turning pages. Lisle has such an easy touch with prose that it's hard not to just keep reading way past bedtime. The pages seem almost to turn themselves.

In NIGHT ECHOES, commercial artist Emma Beck buys an old Civil War-era house in South Carolina that she has ties to she has no explanation why. When she sees the house, she realizes that she's dreamed about it and painted it several times in her artwork. The author works this story with a slow burn, layering in character and building tension at a steady pace.

Emma was adopted by her parents. Before he died, her father gave her the name of her birth mother. Her father had hired a private detective to track the information down in case Emma ever needed to know. It was that search for the background on her mother and why she was given up for adoption that led Emma house that she buys almost on impulse.

The story picks up after Emma has been living in the house for a few days and is still moving in. She's also met Mike Ruhl, the contractor who did minor repairs on her house before she moved in. There are immediate sparks between Emma and Mike that leave no doubts about who the romance will concentrate on.

Lisle presents her character and a very human fashion and gives her a detailed background that allows the reader to get to know her very well. But it isn't long before Emma becomes embroiled in trying to find out more about her birth mother. The story she gets almost breaks her heart. Her mother was sixteen when she gave birth to Emma. The father betrayed her and left her alone and pregnant and at the mercy of her cruel father.

However this isn't the only story that Emma is told. The prevailing story is that the baby died, which means that she can't be that baby. But everything she finds leads her to believe that she is, and she feels that she is.

The book doesn't really offer anything new to the experienced gothic/ghost story reader. Those who have read in the genre before will easily keep pace with Lisle's twists and turns. Still, this is a well-crafted novel and the characters are pleasure to explore and journey with. The first three books Lisle wrote offered action and surprises. NIGHT ECHOES jogs along at a comfortable pace and delivers a satisfying ending that doesn't really come as a shock or surprise. While the novel may not build on the momentum of the previous three, it offers a diversion into a different style of writing and an old style ghost story that most of today's readers haven't seen in some time.

Readers who want something to take to the beach and vege out with will enjoy this novel a lot. And Holly Lisle's growing fan base will enjoy yet another winner.

Artist Emma Beck was adopted as a baby. She is now alone since both her adopted parents are dead. She travels to the town she was born in and intends to search for her birth mother, she knows her name. But almost as soon as she arrives she sees an old house and her heart and mind say she has found her home. She quickyly buys the old house and hires someone to start renovating it as she returns home to pack for the move to the old pre-civil war farmhouse in Benina, SC.

Arriving with a U-haul and her old truck she is again welcomed by the old house. All of the work has been done and she intends to restore the old place. There is something warm and homey about the house but also mysterious. She finds the familiarity comforting.

Mike Ruhl, the carpenter, worked on the house but felt very uncomfortable in it. Now when he comes to check for a leak he meets Emma and with her presence the old place feels like home to him and Emma feels like the one woman he has been searching for forever.

Mike and Emma are pulled into the mysteries of the old house, mysterious leaks, footsteps, and a cat only Emma can see. Then Emma discovers her birth mother is dead, she was only 16 when she had Emma and died in a hospital where she was being treated for mental problems.

As death follows Emma to Benina, it seems she and Mike are caught up in two different mysteries. One of which is over 100 yrs old. The discovery of a civil war saber and other items allow more memories and revelations.

I loved the dark moody ambiance in this book, it will keep your attention and the two stories are fasinating, they lead to a final confrontation. I enjoyed it and hated to put it down. Do not miss it.

I must admit I had to stop reading this book a time or two or three because the creepy factor got to me. LOL! This is the story of love between Emma Beck and Mike Ruhl and it's excellently written and really draws the reader into a sensual plot of hate, love, revenge, loss and reincarnation. This is a must read. A+++

Emma Beck learns she's adopted after her mother dies. Five years later, her father dies, leaving her a sizable amount of money and an old folder containing information about her birth mother. Emma heads to Benina, South Carolina to learn more and ends up buying a rundown farmhouse. What she's not aware of is the house is haunted and the contractor she's hired is somehow connected to the house. The closer she comes to finding answers about her birth mother and the house she's living in, the closer she is to danger.

NIGHT ECHOES is part paranormal, part romance, and part suspense. Though some might argue this isn't an original ghost story, the author's voice stands out as unique. It's a light, fast read that can be gobbled up quickly.

I read this book in a single sitting. It was light and fun enough for me not to stop, but it was predictable, simple and felt like a hundred other stories I've ever read. There is nothing new to it, nothing surprising or original, and I cannot understand five star reviews.

When Emma Beck's adoptive father died, he left her with information about her birth mother and the town she was born. After traveling to Benina, South Carolina and seeing the house where her mother lived, Emma knew that she had to buy it. Not only was it the house where her biological mother grew up, it was also a house she had been painting since she was five years old. Feeling drawn to the town and the house in a way that she can't explain, Emma packs up her belongings and leaves Wisconsin.

Mike Ruhl was hired by Emma Beck to make the house livable before she got there. The house has always given Mike the creeps and it was all he could do to stay on the grounds and supervise the renovations. When he meets Emma for the first time, their attraction is instant and powerful. Too powerful to explain.

When strange things start happening in the house, Emma thinks that mental illness may run in her mother's family. When she realizes that Mike is hearing the same unexplained sounds and seeing things that aren't there, they have to accept the very real possibility that the house is haunted. When they start remembering things that happened way before their time, they realize that they have to solve the mystery of what really happened in the house.

There were two things that were unexplained that I wish would have been tied up. One of them isn't that big of a deal, but the imaginary cat was never explained. I don't understand why or how he had any place in the story except for bringing Emma dead mice. This is a very fast paced book that I highly recommend. The paranormal aspect of the story was gripping.

I highly recommend this book. I hated having to put it down to work & sleep.

I read this book when I needed to read something simple and easy to follow (I was at a 3-day conference.) I enjoyed it, although I consider it a typical ghost story with no unexpected twists or unusual plot elements. Many questions remain unanswered, such as the woman in the trench coat, and the cat which is only seen by some individuals at some times. Most annoyingly, the characters often make huge leaps of logic which are not logical at all. The characters are likable, however, and the pace of the story keeps it moving. If you are in the mood for a straightforward ghost romance, this is your book. If I could give it 3 and 1/2 stars, I would.

After her adoptive father died Emma Beck goes to the town of Benina, South Carolina where she was born to find out about her biological mother. While she's there, she drives past an abandoned house and knows it is meant to be her home, it has to be, because it's been haunting her artwork since she was five years old.

With an old house comes problems that need to be dealt with, in comes Mike Ruhl, a local contractor. When Mike and Emma meet there is an instant attraction and it turns out the house isn't the only thing that has been haunting Emma's paintings. When strange things start happening Emma and Mike are drawn into the mysteries of the past and a web of lies in the present. They must try and keep history from repeating before it's too late.

I thought this was a pretty good story, not perfect of course, if for no other reason than who in their right mind would stay the night in a house they believed was haunted if they had any other option. Still, it captured me enough that I felt the need to finish it in one night and I could see myself rereading it one day.