Book Review: Inn At Last Chance

Author: Hope Ramsay
Title: Inn At Last Chance
Publisher: Grand  Central Publishing
Publish Date: April 29, 2014
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Book Blurb: Jenny Carpenter is the unrivaled pie-baking champion of Last Chance, South Carolina's annual Watermelon Festival and the town's unofficial spinster. With her dream of marriage and children on hold, she focuses on another dream, turning the local haunted house into a charming bed-and-breakfast. But her plans go off course when the home's former owner shows up on her doorstep on a dark and stormy night . . .

Mega-bestselling horror writer Gabriel Raintree is as mysterious and tortured as his heroes. His family's long-deserted mansion is just the inspiration he needs to finish his latest twisted tale, or so he thinks until he learns it's been sold. The new innkeeper proves to be as determined as she is kind, and soon Gabriel finds himself a paying guest in his own home. As Jenny and Gabe bring new passion to the old house, can she convince him to leave the ghosts of his past behind-and make Last Chance their first choice for a future together?

Review:  I generally enjoyed this book, but I wish the author would have done a little research before setting this to the publisher. Jenny drives a 12 year old Ford Fiesta and she lives in Last Chance, South Carolina.

Uh...if you wanted a Fiesta 12 years ago, you would have to have been living in the UK. Ford didn't bring that model to the US until Fall of 2010. I know this because I considered buying one when they first rolled off the line.

That bugged me, every time her car was mentioned.

But back to the story. Jenny is an old fashioned girl and Gabriel is a horror/thriller writer who used to own the home she is now turning into a B & B.

He isn't pleasant. In fact, he's downright unlikable through most of the story. It is hard to believe, sweet, mousy Jenny would even be interested in doing anything but hitting him with a frying pan.

But that isn't what kept me reading. It was the ghost story that kept me reading. I love a good ghost, and this one, who happened to be Gabe's brother, who was killed when he was 15, made the story. I loved all the old fashioned southern element's that Hope used to make this book feel like an episode of The Twilight Zone, with a touch of Harlequin Romance tossed in.

You have the southern bible thumpers out to get Gabe, because of what he writes, and the mentality that all women should be married. Oh and a little bit of Jane Eyre too..but you'll have to read the book to see how that figures in.

I had another big gripe with this book. Bear...and it is a bit of a spoiler....but I absolutely hate when author's kill of animals in their stories. It is usually ruins a good book for me, and it really did for me, because I was attached to Bear, who was in the story from pretty close to the beginning. Yup, killing pets is a deal breaker for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the spooky parts of the story. I loved Jenny and most of the townspeople, but the romance just didn't do it for me. There was no spark.

And just an aside, the cover really doesn't fit the story at all.

Rating: 3 flowers