Review: Pretty Woman with things that go bump in the night
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2013
I did enjoy this one, much more than I anticipated, but I think having read virtually all of Kristen Ashley's wonderful contemporary romances has somewhat diminished my ability to truly enjoy this style of haunted house story line from her.Basic synopsis - Cash hires Abby to pose as his pretend lover to help deal with his inheritance issues with Penmort Castle, his ancestral seat. Abby is a widow and has lost her entire family in recent years, Cash is a serial monogamist. Their coming together and their love story really is beautifully told and they truly do have enough issues between them to flesh out a full contemporary romance without all the hocus pocus stuff. It all seemed a tad extraneous.And the paranormal element in this story really took it from the sublime to the ridiculous and then onto the downright preposterous. I know this is the whole point to this series but the amazing romance between Cash and Abby and the whole haunted house thing really wasn't a good fit for me. I would much rather there had been a Scooby-Doo style henchman hiding under a dodgy ghost costume than the wailing banshee we actually ended up with although I confess to a little chuckle at all the veiled Winchester Brothers references.Don't get me wrong, I do love a good paranormal romance but that usually involves at least one of the main protagonists being a vampire or a shifter or an immortal of some form and takes place in an urban fantasy world. This was kind of like expecting to find the ghost of Elvis Presley knocking back a Fat Tire at Bubba's in Carnal. The ghost was just an out an out villain and there was no eerie haunting to scare me which is what I want in a haunted house story.Other than the hokey supernatural elements, there was a lot to enjoy in this story. I really liked Cash and Abby and their journey together. Cash is just glorious and right from the getgo put me in mind of Paisley's most gorgeous son, Gerard Butler.I loved the way he loved Abby, his fierce protectiveness, his realisation of his developing feelings and his eventual declaration. Abby is a sweetheart, emotionally vulnerable but very earnest and in no way she could she carry off the cold-hearted prostitute moniker she tried to label herself with.As with all KA books, we have a wonderful host of secondary characters - I had a particular fondness for Abby's cantankerous old mare of a neighbour, Mrs Truman. Scene stealer or what??Also, we have an absolute caricature of a Scotsman in Angus McPherson. I truly expected him at any minute to launch into "Hoots, Mon, there's a moose loose aboot this hoose!" He's a ghost buster with a `glamour cloak' to help protect him against things that go bump in the night (did I mention the preposterous?) and he sure ain't no Sam or Dean!!But, all in all, an enjoyable read. I would much rather it had just been straight forward contemporary romance/suspense but I probably will go on to eventually read the rest of the series.So 3 stars - Pretty Woman with things that go bump in the night!