Ghost Moon: A Novel

by Karen Robards

Nine years after leaving in disgrace, Olivia Morrison is coming home again with her eight-year-old, Sara, to put things right with the Archer clan. But there is no welcome for the prodigal daughter at the lavish Louisiana estate.

Her stepcousin, Seth, once her only comfort, is icy, dangerously attractive — and engaged. Her formidable stepgrandfather collapses with a heart attack at the sight of her, gasping her dead mother’s name: “Selena!”

The bayou echoes with memories of her mother’s mysterious death. Suicide by drowning, they said. But Olivia’s terrifying nightmares suggest another story. She is determined to learn the truth, and to face a newly ignited passion for Seth, who is too close for comfort, despite his vows.

When a new danger threatens her and her daughter, Olivia must find the courage to confront her old demons ... and uncover a shocking secret buried in the long-forgotten past....

• ISBN10: 0440225078
• ISBN13: 9780440225072
• Publish Date: 9 October 2001 (first published 1 February 2000)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 24 November 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dell
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780440225072

Reviews

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



Olivia Morrison has been summoned home by her dear Aunt Callie. Aunt Callie is ill and Olivia's grandfather, Big John, is getting on in years. Olivia decides nine years away from the one place she knew as home is long enough. She and her daughter Sara go home to the LaAngelle Plantation she called home as a child. The last night she was in the house she and her stepcousin Seth had gotten into a heated battle. Afterwards, Olivia eloped and hadn't been back since.

Olivia doesn't get the welcome home reception she had expected. In fact her grandfather looks at her and has a heart attack on the spot. If it weren't for Aunt Callie Olivia would have gone back home. She realizes how far she has actually distanced herself and her daughter from her large extended family. Olivia makes an effort to get to know her family again. Shortly after she returns, Olivia starts to have nightmares of her mother's suicide and always from the perception of an onlooker by the lake. Voices tell her to run from the lake, to run and run far away.

Between the nightmares and her budding attraction to the man she always perceived as a cousin, Olivia has a lot on her plate. She acknowledges that she can't have feelings for Seth. After all, he's getting married to another woman in six weeks. Her nightmares bring her heart stopping fear at night and leave her wondering if her mother's suicide was even a suicide at all.

Oh my! For much of the book, there seem to be three major plot points going on. One takes place in the past and then there seem to be two in the present. Robards can write a stunning plot and I was glued to the book the whole time with a perplexed look on my face. The romance was a little off. It seemed like it took half of the book to find out that they were attracted to each other, another quarter of the book fighting that attraction and then the last quarter was split between the recognition of their love and the ending of the suspense plot.

This book was awesome as far as the suspense plot was concerned. At the end of the book, I was floored. I had a hunch of who the villain would be as far as relation to our heroine, Olivia. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that the last person I suspected was the bad guy. Believe me, up until the last chapter or two I had several choices to pick from. The ending was deliciously spine tingling. If you like romantic suspense and don't mind a heavy focus on the suspense and a lesser focus on the romance, you should make it a point to pick this book up.