Release Date: June 19, 2017
Length: Novel (270 pages)
Genre: Contemporary/Paranormal M/M Romance
Cover Art: Maria Fanning
Links: Dreamspinner Press Amazon Goodreads
Blurb: When it rains, it pours. Not only has Larry Walls been evicted from his apartment, but his hours have also been cut at the department store where he works, leaving him facing homelessness.
Meanwhile, Bo Lansing, a total stranger to Larry, toils at a dead-end job as a fry cook while attending night classes to become a certified chef. When the school closes its doors without warning, leaving Bo in the lurch for thousands of dollars in tuition, his dream of becoming a chef is shattered and his financial troubles spiral.
Desperate for a new beginning, each man answers an ad for live-in help posted by a wealthy recluse, and wonder of wonders, they are both hired! Just as their lives begin to improve, a young Kumeyaay Indian named Jimmy Blackstone joins the workforce at the Stanhope mansion.
When Mr. Stanhope’s true reason for hiring the young men is discovered by one of the three, a fourth entity makes its presence known.
Greed.
With all these players vying for position in a game of intrigue orchestrated by one lonely old man and a mischievous ghost, can a simple thing like love ever hope to survive the fray?
Review:
3.5 Hearts rounded up. Trying to summarize this book in one sentence without spoilers is impossible… A love triangle meets Fantasy Island and is colored by shades of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir… which will all make sense once you’ve read it. The age of those references isn’t by accident. As much as I always enjoy John Inman’s writing, it always has an old-fashioned feel for me, and never more than in this story. From the wordsmithing, to the ghostly plot, to the nearly stereotypical, albeit positive, portrayal of the Native American character, the whole thing has a nostalgic 60s/70s feel.
I can’t say half of what I’d like without giving the whole thing away, but the “heroes” are all well done, with the exception of the flip of one character from hero to villain. I think it would have been a stronger story if that character had been more morally ambiguous and conflicted by his own motivations. Greed is part of being human and having him struggle, and ultimately fail, would have been more interesting, to me anyway.
The secondary characters of Roger, Mrs. Price and Jeremy, the ghost, are the heart of the story carrying the majority of the wit and humor Mr. Inman is known for. I wasn’t a huge fan of the omniscient narrator, at times it felt a lot like head hopping. I’d have been happy just having Roger and Larry’s perspectives on things, which would have helped me connect to the characters more emotionally, but overall, I really enjoyed this madcap ghost story, flaws and all.
The cover is quite nice, tho it doesn’t capture Larry’s bright red hair.
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