Review: These Haunted Hearts: A Regency Ghost Romance by Anna Campbell
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
I will read anything by Anna Campbell. She writes beautiful and lyrical love stories that are very romantic. I haven’t read too many historical romances with a supernatural element to them—Katharine Ashe’s lovely Captive Bride comes to mind. However, when I enjoy an author’s writing style, I will read almost anything they write.Here there are two couples, Calista and Miles, about to be married, and Josiah and Isabella, ghosts in Calista’s family house. The shared link is a mysterious—I would say evil—Chinese bed that affects lovers and breeds distrust.Josiah Aston discovers he is dead and seeks Isabella Verey, his long lost bride, throughout the house but, when he finds her, she is horrified to see him as she believes he murdered her in 1749 on their wedding day. He in turn cannot believe that he did such a thing nor that she would believe that of him.In 1818, Calista Aston, Josiah’s descendant, is a sweet but unremarkable bluestocking who cannot believe that her handsome and kind fiancé, Miles, loves her enough to marry her. It is the eve before their wedding, and he tries to persuade her to anticipate their vows. She fears that his love will eventually fade but is too afraid to let Miles know her feelings; for his part, Miles suspects what she feels but can’t help but feel that she doesn’t love him enough to trust his love for her.The supernatural elements here are not scary in any way nor are they meant to be. There is always a melancholy overtone to ghost stories that feature romance; lost love and all that. And this story certainly feels melancholy but it was also hopeful and poignant. It is a nice juxtaposition of two couples from different generations both disturbed by a lack of trust on both sides; trust is the key to allowing love in.As an aside, this cover had the same models used (though a different pose) for Grace Burrowes’ novella, Morgan and Archer.A short and sweet dual love story with light supernatural elements.