Cordelia Manor Haunted Hearts
paranormal romance
self
10/25/24
Kindle
232
Amazon
Amazon Link: amazon
His inheritance may lead to his death, unless a magical caretaker can save them both.
Evan inherits a mysterious manor house that's filled with restless spirits and Cary is the manor’s magical caretaker charged with managing them.
When the two meet, they unwittingly become the target of one of the manor’s most vengeful ghosts.
Despite the dangers, a passionate and deep love blossoms between them. Will that love be enough to protect them as they unravel Cordelia Manor’s secrets, or will the past repeat itself, destroying them and all they’ve built together?
Review By Ulysses Dietz
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Amazon Link: amazon
Evan Garland is a young man who was raised poor but happy in Virginia, and suddenly finds himself the heir to a vast estate in Cordelia, Oregon. He seems to be someone who didn’t look around himself much, and is entirely unprepared for what happens to him. And that’s before the ghosts.
Cary Beacroft, on the other hand, is a local, a magic-wielding member of the local witches’ coven. He’s also the manager of the Cordelia Manor estate—a Gilded Age mansion turned into a boutique hotel and restaurant. Cary is all too prepared for the ghosts that haunt Cordelia Manor, but he is unprepared for their aggressive reaction to Evan’s arrival—and for Evan’s innocent cuteness.
The story is about these two young men, for sure; but it’s also about a dark family history that is the source of all the manor’s spiritual unrest.
Yet another layer comes from Evan’s guileless lack of awareness, which is possibly the result of a toxic relationship; although Evan appears to be unaware even of this. Cary Beacroft’s job is not simply to manage the ghost problem at Cordelia Manor, but to manage Evan.
The witch community in Cordelia links this book to another Adam Ridley series, the Witch Brother saga, set in another Oregon town. I really enjoyed the matter-of-factness of magic in this setting, and learning about the ways in which Cordelia’s magic-users deal with the town’s spiritual reality. The ghosts are complicated and—as we learn—potentially dangerous; but they’re also people, or at least the shades of people. Even when threatening, they deserve consideration. It’s a wonderfully benign and gentle approach to handling spirits—and that gentleness includes Evan, the heir to and target of all the haunted hearts.
I’d note that the end of this book strongly implies another one coming. It looks like we’ll see more of Evan and Cary, which is a good thing.