Customer Reviews

Spring Enchantment (Haunting Hearts , No 2)

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

 

 

This is the book that made me huge fan of the Haunting Hearts romances. The humor was rollicking and the romance so very touching. The love between the young couple was wonderful but the affection and devotion of the ghost and his wife was the stuff dreams are made of. The excitement of locating the hidden room was very intense. This is one I would love seen made into a movie. It is great!

Christina Cordaire has gifted her readers with a wonderful cast of characters in "Spring Enchantment", Jared St. Legere, as the Fifth Earl of Mannerly, and resident ghost is magnificant as he trys to help Sir John Kent and Lady Anne Kent, realize how much they really need and love each other. Being helped along by Lady Annes delightful twin boys, Ms. Cordaire has managed to capture the true spirit of childern, and it would be interesting to return to Castle Caldon when Brandon, the Seventh Marquess of Kent is older, and in love , to find the ghosts back in the castle to help him claim the lady of his heart. Ms. Cordaires characters make the reader curious about their prior lives and what secrects they hold. Along with action written on every page, she entertwins, passion, humor, intrigue, to provide the readers with an enchanting love story. My great thanks to this wonderful writer for sharing her gift for writing with us.

From the back cover:

Jared St. Legere's ghost stood gazing out at the sea. He finally had the two unmarried people he needed. He had a suprising advantage in that he could talk to Lady Anne's twins. Perhaps they could even help him. He was happier than he'd been since before he'd been killed.

For the first time in over a century the ghost of Castle Caldon was hopeful. Not too hopeful, mind you, since Lady Anne and Sir John Kent seemed determined to thwart most attempts at companionship. But Jared St. Legere had to help those two mortals find a true, forever love so that he could be reunited with his ghostly beloved...

And my review:

Okay, the back cover is a little ambiguous, so I'll give a basic plot outline:

Jared St. Legere is a man who was wrongfully accused of treason and was murdered while trying to clear his name. He swore that he would find justice for himself, and so has been unable to rest since his death. His beloved wife swore that she would wait forever for him, and so she has also been left unable to rest until her husband's name is cleared. Both ghosts exist in Castle Caldon isolated from one another.

Enter Lady Anne and Sir John. Sir John has inherited Castle Caldon since the death of Lady Anne's husband, as well as guardian to Lady Anne's twin boys. The two end up living at the Castle, and Jared St. Legere's ghost is trying to get them together so that he can be freed to be with his wife. (Why finding romance for two mortals will help when what binds him to the earth is being accused of treason wasn't really very well explained.)

I thought this book started off quite well. It had an interesting premise and a whole cast of characters. Unfortunately, that was also part of the book's downfall. There were two many characters, and all were very briefly sketched. I never really felt like I knew the hero or the heroine. I actually like the twins more than the two main characters. I also liked the backstory tragic romance between Jared St. Legere and his wife more than the main story.

The author also liked to head-hop a lot. Most scenes were a mish-mash of everyone's thoughts. It wasn't just the hero or heroine's thoughts that the reader saw. It was everyone, from the cook to the butler chiming in. It was rather distracting and annoying at times.

I never felt the spark between the hero and heroine. Just because the writer says it's so doesn't mean that it works. I think that this would have been a really good book with some more character development and some better editing to clear up those jarring point-of-view switches.

One last thing that bothered me: the hero decides to train the twins to be soldiers, in spite of the heroine's (the twin's mother) objections. He even sneaks behind her back to do so. You may not agree with another parent, but you have no right to go sneaking behind their back and doing whatever you want to. I can't stand people who undermine a parent, no unless the child is being abused or neglected. Yes, I know the kids were named his wards, but still, this didn't sit right with me. Nor did encouraging the boys to lie to their mother.

Christina Cordaire also writes under the name Christina Kingston. I think a better (thought not outstanding) book by this author (sorry, no ghosts in it!) is Ride the Winter Wind. I think that with time and practice, this author will improve greatly. However, since it seems that she hasn't written anything since 2003, we may never get a chance to see that happen, which is a pity.

This is the book that made me huge fan of the Haunting Hearts romances. The humor was rollicking and the romance so very touching. The love between the young couple was wonderful but the affection and devotion of the ghost and his wife was the stuff dreams are made of. The excitement of locating the hidden room was very intense. This is one I would love seen made into a movie. It is great!