Havencross

By: Julie Daines

Narrated by: Luone Ingram

When a shocking scandal involving her father spreads through London society, Elaine Cardinham and her parents are forced to retreat to their country home in Cornwall for refuge. But Havencross is no sanctuary for Elaine. She is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her brother - and the heartbreak she left in her wake all those years ago.

It has been five long years since Gareth Kemp last saw Elaine - when she rejected his marriage proposal. Her reappearance convinces him of one thing: He has never stopped loving her. To put his feelings for her aside, he focuses his attention on the dangerous smuggling plaguing the Cornish coast. As Elaine attempts to run from her past, she ventures ever closer to a dangerous truth - and Gareth may be the only one who can save her from a deadly finish.

©2017 Covenant Communications, Inc. (P)2017 Julie Daines

Okay, but not great

This story had potential but fell short of solid execution in that it was too disjointed. The author loved the story of Camelot and tried to tie it into a story where it just didn't work. This book is a Victorian romance thriller and very clean which I loved. What I didn't like is the predictability of it and the heroine who was just plain awful. To be fair I guess she is what to expect from that era, but I had a hard time caring about her. The characters where flat and didn't develop much and outside of the hero it was hard to care about them. If the author had focused more on the characters and left Camelot out and stopped trying to tie this undeveloped thing in the book could have been much better. Overall it was okay, but nothing great and nothing I would recommend unless your aching for a simple, easy, predictable, boring proper romance.

Fun Story

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
When a shocking scandal involving her father spreads through London society, Elaine Cardinham and her parents are forced to retreat to their country home in Cornwall for refuge. But Havencross is no sanctuary for Elaine. She is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her brother—and the heartbreak she left in her wake all those years ago. It has been five long years since Gareth Kemp last saw Elaine—when she rejected his marriage proposal. Her reappearance convinces him of one thing: he has never stopped loving her. To put his feelings for her aside, he focuses his attention on the dangerous smuggling plaguing the Cornish coast. As Elaine attempts to run from her past, she ventures ever closer to a dangerous truth—and Gareth may be the only one who can save her from a deadly finish.

MY TAKE
I really enjoyed this story and loved the supernatural element that came with it. The characters were engaging, though I liked Gareth the best of the two love interests. She was too ready to go for the earl because he was an earl. She was also too gullible.

I figured out what would happen, but the supernatural part made for a nice twist.

Luone Ingram did a great job with the narration.

4 1/2 stars