Customer Reviews

Writ on Water

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Okay, I like Jackson. She is always doing something different. She doesn't follow the herd. I loved the Goblins, what a howl. I wish that series hadn't ended. This time she is doing Gothic that is pure Goth. Take one heroine with a 'gift' of sight, and no idea what it means or how to control it, one really spooky graveyard, and one mean wicked granny, you have the makings of a super tale.

Choe has always feel different, alone, not normal, until she meets Rory Patrick. They shoot sparks off each other, but he doesn't really trust her too much. On the other hand, Rory is connect to her nightmares, so she is not too sure about him either. A murder happens (doesn't it generally in these sorts of stories) and naturally it points at Rory...so who do you trust?

Jackson delivers a delightfully spooky read, with a firm understanding of Gothic romances. Hope she does more in this style.

But couldn't we please have another Goblin, Ms. Jackson?

This isn't going to be much of a review: Thin, but something to read on a rainy day. Libraries, don't bother buying it for your collections; this isn't something people will be requesting by name in years to come.

Yes, it's atmospheric, but the plot is shakey. It's pretty easy to keep up with the main character and her love interest, but the rest of the cast of characters aren't drawn boldly enough to keep straight easily (if you're just breezing through this, as I was-- and this really IS the type of novel one breezes through). I did enjoy wallowing through cemeteries with the main character, and the photography element was an interesting touch, but when the plot's turning point is vegetation . . . ?

The year is 1998 and funerary art is the new chic, spurring a rise in graveyard robberies from New Orleans to Boston. Perhaps her upcoming assignment for Digital Memories had been the reason for Chloe Smith's horrific nightmare. Was the malevolent cemetery a vision of what was to come? Her grandmother, a mean spirited witch who had frightened Chloe since she was small, had always insisted that she had inherited "the sight".

Chloe's new assignment is to photograph the Patrick family cemetery at Riverview Plantation in Virginia. The photographs are to be entered into the national database in the event that theft should occur. Her first run in with the client's son Rory is less than genial. The client, MacGregor Patrick, however is charming if a bit obsessive about the family burial ground and his son's love life. He's determined to throw the two together.

The family cemetery holds no terrors for Chloe and she actually begins to enjoy her assignment. The monuments are a testament to old money and the finest art it could buy. Rory however would like to see the whole thing become taken over by the vegetation that would soon claim it if left untended. His father had not been the same since his mother had died. Rory views the old man's obsession as unhealthy. Still he assists Chloe when his own work at the reknowned Patrick Botanics allows. The attraction between them is undeniable.

The dreams begin anew when Rory's ne'er do well cousin Claude decides to pay the family a visit bringing along a friend who gives Chloe chills. Never before has she seen such malevolence in a man's eyes. She is sure she has looked into the face of evil and is stunned that no one else seems to notice. Thankfully the men are gone as abruptly as they had appeared.

All is well until she follows the family cat into the second graveyard - the unkempt, sad and uninviting slave burial ground that Chloe had been instinctively avoiding. A murder has been committed. Chloe has photographs that could help the police solve the case. It's clear that the Patricks are hiding something. Chloe must now decide whether to betray their trust and lose the affection of the two men she has come to love or listen to her heart. Can the truth and justice be two different things?

Wow, talk about a psychological paranormal thriller! Chloe's dilemma becomes one's own as the reader must decide whether or not she's done the right thing after all. -- Reviewed for PNR Reviews

Ok, I really need to stop reading Melanie Jackson books at night. For one, I can't put them down until I am finished and I end up reading all night long. Another thing, I am usually so spooked by the time that I finish them, I can't really sleep anyway. But what a ride!!! Melanie Jackson sets up a fantastic Gothic atmosphere. I felt as if I were pushing away the silken cobwebs away with Chloe as she walked through the graveyard. My heart was wildly beating as she found something truly sinister. I don't want to give away anything, but this is the paranormal suspense romance for the spring.

"HERE LIES ONE WHOSE NAME WAS WRIT IN WATER"
A self-composed epitaph from the tombstone of the poet John Keats, commissioned by his friend Joseph Severn after his death

The above quote is the perfect beginning for a book, the setting of which is partially supernatural, not paranormal. We are talking about a female photographer who has been hired to take photographs of the monuments in the family cemetery of a wealthy man who wants to keep everything secret from the outside world because most of the tombstones have been created by famous artists and thus are very valuable.

The story is told by the photographer (Chloe) who is quite intelligent and very skilled in her craft. The patriarch is a fascinating character and his handsome son even moreso. To make the story even more interesting, Chloe's hated Grandmother is a witch but her part in the story is not really that significant.

I have never been a Melanie Jackson fan, mostly because paranormal romance does not interest me, BUT this is more a mystery, and the paranormal is not pertinent in this story, although there is some romance, but the story doesn't rest upon that fact. This is a well-written mystery with a forward moving story, good development of the characters and if you are into cemeteries this book literally keeps you there more often than naught.

The male romantic interest is a Botanist so there is a lot of commentary about plants, but it is not overdone, just an added bonus as far as I'm concerned. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter by famous poets are so apropos, and apply beautifully to the ensuing chapter. It was a great read for me, and I don't find that many great reads in my searches.

In 1998 Chloe begins having nightmares involving a privately owned cemetery in Virginia that she is supposed to take pictures of. She is not surprised by what she dreams of as she inherited the gift of sight from her grandmother, a mean spirited witch.

However, Gran never bothered to teach Chloe how to interpret her visions so she feels isolated and alone. That is until the she meets the owner's son Rory Patrick as she is attracted to him and him to her although he does not trust the interloper while she wonders if he is the cause of her nasty dreams. As they fall in love in the midst of doubts, someone commits murder with the evidence targeting the Patrick clan.

WRIT ON WATER is an interesting paranormal romantic suspense thriller in which the fantasy elements and to an even lesser degree the whodunit is somewhat downplayed as the dysfunctional distrusting relationship between the lead pair is the focus of the plot. The story line focuses on Chloe and Rory, whose eccentric differences makes for a fine tale as neither trusts one another or the attraction and ultimately love they feel for each other. Readers will enjoy Melanie Jackson's fine tale of love between doubters.

Harriet Klausner