Dawn Fenton is a widow and trying to deal with her step-daughters fraught marriage. Into her life comes Jack Valance, a ghost from the past, no longer penniless but a Viscount. Getting to a place where they can be in a relationship will involve both of them trying hard to cope with a lot of issues.
It was a good read with character that made me want the relationship to work and some moments that had me at the edge of my seat. ( )

Dawn and Jack, in love as teens are reunited as adults in an effort to protect Dawn’s step-grandchild.

The blistering pace of the plot involving the grandchild doesn’t leave a lot of room for romance, still I liked Dawn and Jack’s chemistry even if I felt like their relationship, due to how many other things were going on in the story, was a little underdeveloped. There is a secondary romance, told over even fewer pages, that I think due to that heroine’s situation and her resilience, ended up leaving me more invested in their the happily ever after than in Jack and Dawn.

Communication issues, be it stolen letters, an inability to write letters, or Jack’s unwillingness to explain himself (he does eventually, but doles out answers in piecemeal fashion), had a tendency to hamper the otherwise page-turning quality of this book, as did moments where Dawn made some less than intelligent decisions (I understood that she was in distress, and therefore maybe not thinking altogether clearly, and there’s something to be said for a heroine taking action, but at the same time her actions mostly made for bigger problems rather than heroic solutions, rendering her a typical damsel in distress).

Yet despite the communication stuff and Dawn’s choices occasionally seeming contrived, I mostly found this entertaining, and I downright loved the section when Dawn first arrives at her step-daughter’s home, there was a deliciously creepy gothic novel vibe to it, and while the book didn’t sustain that level, that gothic novel feeling did crop up every so often, more so in relation to the villain than in the romance.

I received this through a giveaway. ( )