Friday 7 September 2012

Books Read: Lisa Kleypas - Dream Lake

Zoe Hoffman is as gentle and romantic as they come, and when she meets the startlingly handsome Alex Nolan, all her instincts tell her to run.  But something about him intrigues Zoe, so she encourages Alex to open his mind to the possibility that love isn't for the foolish.

Alex Nolan is about as bitter and cynical as they come, battling his demons with the help of a whiskey bottle, until he is visited by a mysterious ghost.  Has Alex finally crossed over the threshold to insanity?

The ghost doesn't know who he is, or why he is stuck in the Nolan's Victorian house.  All he knows is that he loved a girl once.  And Alex and Zoe hold the key to unlocking the mystery that keeps him trapped there. 


Having enjoyed reading the first two books in the Friday Harbor series by Lisa Kleypas, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor and Rainshadow Road, I was very happy when I received a copy of Dream Lake from Little Brown Book Group to review.

Alex, the youngest of the Nolan brother's, has been hitting the bottle even more than usual following his separation from wife Darcy so he thinks he's going mad when he starts seeing and hearing a ghost whilst doing renovation work at his brother Sam's house.  The ghost is that of a WWII pilot who doesn't know who he is and is surprised that Alex can actually see and hear him, he's also happy to find that now that he's got a human connection he can actually leave the house that he's been trapped in for years. 

Zoe moved back to the island when her marriage broke down and has been working as a cook at her cousin Justine's B&B and has been leading a very solitary life.

Alex and Zoe first meet when she brings some muffins to her friend Lucy who has been staying at Sam Nolan's house following an accident.  She later contacts him for a quote to renovate a house that she's bought to enable her to bring her Gran to the island as she wants to be able to look after her to pay her back for bringing her up as a child after both of her parents abandoned her.

There's an initial attraction between Alex and Zoe when they first meet but both of them have closed themselves off following the break ups of their previous relationships so are resistant to the pull of their feelings every time they meet.  Can they overcome these to enable them both to move on?

At first I was a bit bemused by the storyline of the ghost but the more I read the more I loved this quirky subplot and was intrigued to find out exactly who he was and what his connection was to the house.

This is another mystical romantic story from Ms Kleypas that once I started I could not put down.  I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Crystal Cove, which is due out early next year.

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