Hope Tarr

Extreme, Harlequin Blaze - 317

The Haunting

Jacalyn Boggs

I'm embarrassed to say that I really enjoyed this book. I mean it's a Harlequin for crying out loud! But let me tell you why I even read it and maybe you'll understand.

It's a historical love story that transverses time. It's the story of a couple from the civil war. He was wrongfully hung and now his ghost is knocking around her old attic for 150 years. She's reincarnated and has just moved in prior to starting her teaching job at the local university and runs into him. It is a story of reunited love crossing centuries.

OK, so it's a bit cheesy. Here's why I liked it.

It's set in my home town and was written by a local author. Only reason I snagged it from my mum (and probably the only reason she got it in the first place). Fredericksburg, VA claims to be the country's most historic city. It has been home to five US Presidents, signers of the Declaration of Independance lived here, it was the home of Alex Haley's ancestors (seriously Roots was set about a 20 minute drive from downtown), and it was home to half a dozen major battles during the Civil War. Now it's a 'burb of DC.

With historical romances loving the Civil War timeframe (why???? War is NOT pretty, it is NOT sexy, and it is NOT fun. And the Civil War was neighbour against neighbour and us burning our own towns, killing our own people, and etc.) I have never run across one set in Fredericksburg. Everyone focuses on Gettysburg and the like for the Civil War. Maybe it's the bloodbath that ensued in Fredericksburg? No one wants to touch on major bloodbath? Well anyway, about dang time si all I gotta say.

Fredericksburg is home to so many awesome ghost stories. So I liked that, too. I've read a ton of different ones. My best friend's house is haunted by a Civil War soldier. Trust me. 

So yeah, I love that this book pulled in a ghost story from town, that it hit on Fredericksburg during a very difficult time in our history. And best of all? The bulk of it was set in 2007 so the main character was hitting up places all over town. My biggest complaint? It was summer and this lady never went to Carl's for some ice cream? Please. Where was that? But I cheered when she went to Claibourne's and I stuck my tongue out at Hyperion (seriously how can a coffee shop screw up hot cocoa, no thanks!). I giggled at the awesome reference to our downtown library and this character even went to crazy Old Man Beck's bookstore next to the Visitor's Center! 

And there wasn't even that much sex, which I basically skipped over. I thought these books were mostly thinly veiled plots to get people in bed, but this one had a story. The character was damaged and found healing through her digging into the past of her house, her ghost, and her past life. It seemed more like the author went 'Oh yeah, this is a harlequin, better throw in a bed scene' and made these as after thoughts.

Hope Tarr should get out of the Harlequin business. This book should have been picked up by a non-Harlequin publisher. (I'd like to say reputable but there are people who adore Harlequin.) I'm not gonna become some Harlequin junkie, but if Hope Tarr writes another Fredericksburg book, I'd be willing to give it a go in a heartbeat! Seriously, I hope she gets out of the Harlequin business. She could do some great things with ghost love stories that don't need to be Harlequin.

The Haunting Extreme, Harlequin Blaze - 317

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