Title: The Legacy of Hope House
Author: Dilys Xavier
Publication: 7 July 2019 - Lume Books
Format: Kindle ebook
When Anna Williams receives the letter, her whole world is turned upside down.
She’s due to inherit the manor house situated at the top of the valley, and dreams up ways to bring the old house back to life. But lawyer Mr James is mysteriously against her claiming Hope House, and the situation becomes more confusing when his gorgeous nephew Quentin turns up in town.
To make matters worse, Anna is plagued by strange dreams and past ghosts in the old house. What does Mr James want? And Anna must decide who she loves, her old friend David or the enigmatic Quentin Hale.
The Legacy of Hope House is a moving and mysterious romance, perfect for Austen fans.
Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff
The Amazon description sounded great. The "perfect for Austen fans" sucked me in. The thought of a moving gothic romance? Yep. I'm all over that.
To be completely honest, I debated giving up on this one several times. I grabbed it off of Kindle Unlimited because I was stuck at work with nothing to do for hours and had somehow left the book that I wanted to read at home. Out of curiosity I looked to see if it might be possible to complete the A to Z Authors for this year's Alphabet Soup and I'm only six authors shy. Now I'm five authors shy and a couple of hours have been wasted ... except for being able to cross another letter off the list. I even started to look for another X author and then noticed that the bottom of my screen said I only had just over an hour left of reading time.
It was one of the longest hours of my life.
So, Anna inherited Hope House from her father's brother who had been estranged from her family so she never knew him or even heard about him until his death. According to her mother, Hope House was "nothing but a great big responsibility, a pile of neglected bricks and mortar." Even her lawyer urged her to take the money, give the estate to the National Trust and call it a day.
Of course, she refused since it had been in her family for centuries and she wanted to turn it into a hotel. Granted, in spite of her business degree, she had no real experience in renovations or starting a business or running a business once it got started or .... life, in general.
More often than not Anna comes across as an immature brat. She doesn't listen to anyone but her equally flighty friends and the hot guy contractor (well, hot guy son of a contractor) -- all of whom seem to think that she can do it all.
Remember the lawyer who wanted her to give up the estate? He's stereotypical smarmy with way too much knowledge and interest in the whole history of Hope House and then, suddenly, his super hot nephew comes along to stay at the hotel before it's even open? Not at all suspicious. Unless, of course, you have common sense which Anna definitely lacks.
My hopes for a moving gothic romance? Well, I was moved several times ... to go look for something else to read. Then there's the falling apart manor house full of old portraits with eyes that appear to follow you around ... and some dreamish ghost bits that made one think that her flightiness was probably inherited from her father's side of the family ... and I suppose that could cover the gothic part. Romance? School-girl ridiculousness with a few too many "girlish giggle"s. Just ... no.
I don't think I'll ever understand the claim for it to be perfect for Austen fans. They could, I suppose, be talking about someone other than Jane .... but I really doubt it. I think I feel slightly less literate now.
Just ... no. Not even for an Alphabet Soup Challenge.
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