Review: Ghosts!  Angst!  Mystery!  Romance!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2013
What a book this is.  It kept me literally......enthralled.  I was captive to its content from page one!The main male character and master to SOMMERSGATE HOUSE (Douglas Ashton) - a very controlled man.  He's not over the top cold in nature but just keeps himself......to himself.  He reminded me of Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre who was a very 'feeling' man but just couldn't show the extreme emotions that were bottled inside.  At the beginning of the book Douglas Ashton is a very different man than the Douglas Ashton of the last regular chapter (epilogue aside).  It's an evolutionary process that at times seems slow but we readers are privy to a man coming into his own - so to speak.  Turns out, Douglas Ashton is a hard man who finds it in himself a willingness to open his heart and emotions to love.  During the first half (approximate guesstimate)  of the book I was not terribly in awe of him due to his inability to see the needs of the children to which he is given shared custody of.  Slowly.....the man's eyes are opened and this is because the female lead (Julia Fairfax) shows him - by example - how needy his nieces and nephew are.  There are very good reasons why Douglas is the hard, emotionless, and 'vacant' man, that he's become.  These reasons are all unfurled during this book and this reader was very much won-over by Douglas - by the end of the story.Julia Fairfax, for her part; a very complex woman.  She is a very loving and passionate woman who through the experience of a bad marriage has signed-off on marrying again.  Her heart however, is very much open to loving the children she is given partial custody of through the will left by her deceased brother and his beloved wife.  I adored that she was willing to give up everything in the USA and moves her life to where those children live - in order to make their young lives as balanced and happy as possible.  Unfortunately, and fortunately, she shares custody with Douglas Ashton - and for most of the first months in England......it's a very absent Douglas.  I thought Julia to be quite saintly, in that she did not bale-out on the children and high-tail it back to the United States.There is also Douglas's mother (Monique) who is a force to be feared, and endured.  Monique is a nasty woman -  a snob above snobs.  I hated how she treated the children, the servants, and Julia.  The woman seethed hatred from her very pores.  I couldn't find one good trait in the woman.  I would imagine Kristen Ashley had a blast writing Monique.The lot of supporting characters were simply that: characters!  Each one unique.  Each one loving in their own way.  Each one, necessary to the story.  Special mention......to Mrs. K.  Without her lifelong devotion to SOMMERSGATE HOUSE - the place would have fallen to ruins in more way than one.The children were wonderful, but terribly sad and very needy.  They'd lost their parents, the very anchors that rooted them to happiness and stability.  Enter Julia; their aunt.  Slowly, slowly........stability, and finally, happiness.....restored.  It is quite sad what these children had to endure before Auntie Julia, comes to live with them.  It is also quite lovely, how the children 'blossom' - after Julia is allowed into their hearts.Oh yes......the poor trapped ghosts of Lord Archibald Ashton (Archie), and his beloved wife Lady Ruby.  For much of the book they are very much present, but not so accounted for.  All they want is to be together and set free to live their eternity!The Epilogue was about the BEST this reader has ever......read.  VERY emotional.I recommend this book as highly as any.  It is written in-depth, and with a fine attention to descriptive detailing.  Thank you dear authoress.