Tag: haunting

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How (Not) to Renovate a Haunted House

  1. Reading age 12 years and up 377 pages Publisher Delacorte Romance Publication date July 21, 2026

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this spooky Summerween romance, an amateur ghost hunter and a supernatural skeptic team up for a haunted home renovation project. But is their relationship the real fixer upper?

Amity Callaway is sick of being known as the weird girl. As annoyed as she is that her recently divorced mom just moved them across the country to the tiny, quirky town of Harlow’s Rest, Massachusetts, it could be the fresh start she needs.

Until Amity discovers their absolute disaster of a new house is supposedly haunted.

Theo Hargrave, amateur ghost hunter and son of the local general contractor, is a true believer. When he shows up on their property with his EMF reader in hand, Amity is ready to debunk all his theories. She’s definitely not staring at the small scar through his eyebrow or his ridiculously soft lips.

But even Amity can admit their home renovation is doomed. Nothing is going right, from the paint that refuses to dry to the fixtures that keep coming loose. So Amity and Theo strike a deal—his family’s construction expertise for her help investigating the house’s supernatural secrets. Even scarier than ghosts, though? Amity’s growing feelings for Theo.

MY THOUGHTS

Our plus sized fmc is anxiety ridden when her Mom tells her they’re moving away from all she knows and her best friends right before her senior years starts. Tired of feeling like the “weird one” she knows it’s not going to get any better when they move in the towns known haunted house.
When a known teenage ghost hunter turns up at her new house ready to prove it’s haunted this nonbeliever has to put a stop to it and prove him wrong once and for all.
He seems to always be around at her house though because her mom hires his dad for the renovation job on their house.
It was great seeing a lot of different groups/types of people represented in such a natural way.
The book moved along at a steady pace and did start to get spookier vibes towards the end.
Small town fun Summerween romance before the holiday kicks off.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

About the author

Jenny L. Howe first started scribbling stories into black-and-white composition notebooks with neon pink pens when she was in junior high and never really stopped. In college, she decided to turn her love of books into a career by pursuing a Ph.D. in literature, where she spent the next few years studying bizarre and entertaining medieval romances. Now, as a professor, she teaches courses in college writing, literature, and children’s media. When she’s not writing and teaching, Jenny spends her time buried under puzzle pieces, cross-stitching her favorite characters, and taking too many pictures of her rescue dogs, Tucker and Dale. The Make-Up Test is her debut novel.

Categories
historical fiction

Tempest at Annabel’s Lighthouse: (A Dual Timeline Gothic Mystery and Suspense Novel Set in a Small Town)

368 pages Bethany House Publishers April 01,2025 publication date

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1874, a battered woman awakens atop a forgotten gravesite by Lake Superior. Identified only by the locket around her neck inscribed with the name Rebecca, she seeks refuge with an elderly lighthouse keeper named Edgar. But as Rebecca struggles to remember who she is, she finds herself haunted by the lingering memories of Annabel, a mysterious woman who perished in the unforgiving waves of Lake Superior years earlier. With the spirit of Annabel seemingly reawakened, and an unknown adversary on the hunt to silence Rebecca once and for all, there is more at stake than just reclaiming her own memories. Rebecca must reclaim Annabel’s as well.

In the present day, author and researcher Shea Radclyffe escapes to the lighthouse outside a historic mining town in Michigan, seeking clarity about her failing marriage. Instantly drawn to the lighthouse’s landlord, Shea contends with the vengeful legend of Annabel’s ghost and a superstitious community that has buried the secrets surrounding a decade-old murder. As the secrets harbored around Annabel’s lighthouse unravel, Shea must navigate a fight of torn loyalty, self-discovery, and the haunting forces of love and a vengeance that should have drowned a century before.

MY THOUGHTS

Tempest at Annabel’s Lighthouse is another book by Jaime Jo Wright. This one doesn’t have the degree of creepiness some of the other books have but it’s just as good. This one has a slower build up than her previous books.


The locals keep the ghostly legend alive of the haunted lighthouse.
Taking place in two time periods this time slip takes place on the southern shores of Lake Superior.

The setting of the wild storms and crashing waves against the shores sets the book up for the perfect haunting story. Lighthouses are fascinating with many things both good and bad connected with them, ships coming in and rescues.


There are many secrets in both time periods and some unexpected family drama. When the story got going there were some very unexpected twists and turns that kept me reading late into the night, as it always is with the author’s books.

I love a lighthouse story, and this one kept my attention. I excitedly look forward to whatever the author will have out next.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House through Interviews & Reviews for my honest opinion.

MEET THE AUTHOR

aime Jo Wright, multi award-winning author–including the Christy and Daphne du Maurier awards–is a coffee-fueled and cat-fancier extraordinaire. She has entwined her life with the legendary Captain Hook, residing serenely in Wisconsin’s rural woodlands. Her literary vocation involves penning chilling Gothic tales, a baffling change from that of Austenites, with a strong preference to the master of dark, Edgar Allan Poe. Two mischievous urchins adorn their family, who keep their mother on her toes – providing an exhilarating amount chaos.

Visit her at: http://www.jaimewrightbooks.com and listen to her podcast MadLit Musings on your favorite podcast player or at http://www.madlitmusings.com

I hope you’re having a nice day. Thank you for stopping in.

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A haunting legend. An ominous curse. A search for a secret buried deep within the castle walls. The Vanishing at Castle Moreau By Jamie Jo Wright

384 pages Bethany House publisher April 4, 2023 publish date

About The Book

In 1870, orphaned Daisy François takes a position as housemaid at a Wisconsin castle to escape the horrors of her past life. There she finds a reclusive and eccentric Gothic authoress who hides tales more harrowing than the ones in her novels. As women disappear from the area and the eerie circumstances seem to parallel a local legend, Daisy is thrust into a web that could ultimately steal her sanity, if not her life.

In the present day, Cleo Clemmons is hired by the grandson of an American aristocratic family to help his grandmother face her hoarding in the dilapidated Castle Moreau. But when Cleo uncovers more than just the woman’s stash of collectibles, a century-old mystery and the dust of the old castle’s curse threaten to rise again . . . this time to leave no one alive to tell the sordid tale.

Award-winning author Jaime Jo Wright seamlessly weaves a dual-time tale of two women who must do all they can to seek the light amid the darkness shrouding Castle Moreau.

My Thoughts

This book kept me glued to it all afternoon. I wasn’t even aware of time passing and read it in one day! Incredibly atmospheric and creepy. The author definitely knows how to set up the story and keep your attention the whole way through. You keep reading and won’t want to miss a single word.
There are several time frames here, they have similar stories,the women, but yet different.
The women live in Castle Moreau. There are dreadful rumors, mysterious events that they must try to figure out. They feel as though they are losing their sanity as they start to doubt themselves and what they know. What secrets will be uncovered within the dust and despair of Castle Monteau? I was totally captivated and could not put this down.

Pub Date: 4 Apr 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Grab A Copy Here

About The Author

Jaime Jo Wright, multi award-winning author–including the Christy and Daphne du Maurier awards–is a coffee-fueled and cat-fancier extraordinaire. She has entwined her life with the legendary Captain Hook, residing serenely in Wisconsin’s rural woodlands. Her literary vocation involves penning chilling Gothic tales, a baffling change from that of Austenites, with a strong preference to the master of dark, Edgar Allan Poe. Two mischievous urchins adorn their family, who keep their mother on her toes – providing an exhilarating amount chaos.

Visit her at: http://www.jaimewrightbooks.com and listen to her podcast MadLit Musings on your favorite podcast player or at http://www.madlitmusings.com

Have an excellent day and thanks for stopping in today.