The Widow Of Rose House

by Diana Biller

[EBookObsessed]

I intended to read a chapter or two to see if I had any interest and didn't put it down until I had finished the entire book.

The notorious Mrs. Webster has returned to New York and nothing is going to stop her from reclaiming her life -- not even a ghost.

Alda Rensslaer was seduced at 16 by Alain Webster. As a sheltered and unloved girl, she was the perfect naive target for Alain who was 14 years older. He ruined her and arranged their marriage so that he could have her money. After ten years of physical and emotional abuse, Alda got up the courage and enough money to leave him. He wouldn't have cared but then murmurs started about Alda's constant bruises, so Alain distracted everyone by starting rumors about orgies and affairs which gossip came out in the newspapers and he once again left Alda ruined by society's standards. After her husband's death, Alda returned to New York and purchased an abandoned property known as Leifdehuis or Love House.

Alda's plan is to return the House to its former grandeur, all the while she will be documenting and photographing the work and she will then publish a book to sell to the up and coming middle classes on decorating. She is even willing to tout that the book is written by the notorious Mrs. Webster if it will help her sales.

Alda only has one major obstacle to her plan. The workmen and most of the town believe that her house is haunted and they refuse to return to work. The only way to get them back to work is to convince them, by a reliable source, that there is no ghost.

Professor Samuel Morse of the Morse Family -- the first family of American science -- has been trying to get Alda to let him study her haunted house. She agrees to let me and his equipment in in hopes that he will fail to find a ghost and then can convince her workman to return, and if he does find a ghost, can he convince it to, you know, move on and out so she can get back to work.

I sat down to peruse a few chapters to see if I was interested and I was caught up in the story of Alda, and whether or not her house was haunted. Alda's a nice person. Her parents suck. As a young girl, she fell under the pretty spell of Alain, and his hot/cold romance antics left her desperate to please him. He abused her physically and mentally and the rumors that he spread about her still ruin her life long after his death. She also has her brother-in-law coming around and blackmailing her and mentally abusing her further. The ghost investigation takes up a portion of the story, but at least half is focused on the romance between Sam and Alda.

While the story itself was interesting, I have to confess my love (just like all the women in the book) for sweet Professor Sam Moore. Sam is the epitome of the absent-minded professor. He is brilliant and his mind goes many different directions at once, mostly on inventions or on Alda. If you read J.D. Robb's In Death series, he reminds me of a young Dennis Mira, adorable and flighty. He's like an adorable little puppy. All he wants is to study the ghost and spend time with Alda and invent more things. He doesn't care about the gossip and is frustrated because Alda won't let him into her life. At first, she is afraid. Alain and Sam are polar opposites and she knows this, but she was also fooled very badly by Alain. She is afraid to be vulnerable again to another man. Once she trust that Sam won't hurt her, Alda realizes that she doesn't want to drag him down with her, even if it hurts him, and he makes sad little puppy eyes at he

I loved the entire Moore family but unfortunately, there is no indication that we will be coming back to this family for more stories. I want more time with the Moores.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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