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Ghost Horse: A Gothic Romance
Though the impetuous Chloe Morgan arrives at the Graylord Pastures (a horse farm in northwestern Illinois along the Mississippi River) welcomed as the new summer tutor, she in reality is there for her own purposes. Her best friend, Dawn Reed, who was home-schooling Nissa Graylord before Chloe, disappeared into the night nearly a month ago. A letter saying she was eloping cut short any police investigation, but didn't satisfy Chloe. She and Dawn were fostered together for several years, so they're like sisters. Dawn would never disappear on her, not like her father had.
As Chloe settles in at Graylord Farms, she first suspects Nissa's father Damian Graylord of having something to do with her friend's disappearance. But he's everything to his daughter that her father wasn't to her and he's everything she could want in a man. But will he want her when he learns that she's been lying to him about her reasons for taking the job?
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
2 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Rosemoor
200 books156 followersWith 100 novels and more than seven million books in print, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Patricia Rosemoor is fascinated with "dangerous love" – combining romance with danger. She has written various forms of romantic and paranormal romantic thrillers, bringing a different mix of thrills and chills to her stories.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 8, 2009
Chloe Morgan moves into Graylord Pastures as a summer tutor for the thirteen-year old Nissa. But Chloe’s intentions are not entirely "pure". She’s in Galena, Illinois, to discover the truth about the disappearance of Nissa’s former tutor, Chloe’s foster sister, Dawn.
Dawn’s disappeared a month ago, leaving a note that she was eloping, but Chloe is more than doubtful. No matter the happiness and elation, Dawn would’ve contacted her. Which never happened. So, suspecting foul play, Chloe took the position of Nissa’s tutor, suspecting everyone around her, even her attractively mysterious employer, Damian Graylord.
This story was a bit over the top for me. There was just too much of everything crammed in those 253 pages. I know the author strived for a mysterious, chilling and thrilling tale, but using every single trick in the "how to write a suspense novel" overdid it.
We have the almost gothic atmosphere of mist-shrouded house, pastures, and dangerously steep bluffs (where a horse fell to his death). There’s the ghost of the dead horse, leading the heroine to small clues as to what the truth might be. We have a missing (presumed dead) ex-mistress of the house, a cheating, lying, materialistic "bitca" that made her husband’s life living hell (too Rebecca-ish for me). There’s a missing (presumed eloped and happily married) summer tutor. The heroine is involved in three suspicious incidents that almost cost her life (she’s pushed into the wall and looses consciousness, she’s almost run over in town, she suffers from monoxide poisoning). There’s a hidden treasure in rough-cut diamonds somewhere in the house, which is littered with several secret passageways that could explain the odd noises in the attic. Then there’s the sour-faced, downright hostile toward the heroine, housekeeper (again too similar to Rebecca). And of course, the mysterious, intriguing, dark and handsome Damian Graylord that might have had something to do with the "disappearance" of both his ex-wife and the former tutor.
Sorry, but Damian Graylord didn’t come through as the mysterious, intriguing, dark, and handsome leading man for me, but more along the lines of a schizophrenic, close-mouthed, brooding a-hole with the need for some serious anger-management sessions.
And the heroine was just plain silly. Not yet in the TSTL territory, but definitely borderline. She suspected everyone, even the man that made her tingle. Sheesh. Honey, you just don’t sleep with a guy you suspect might be a murderer. It just isn’t done! I just couldn’t stand the chit.
Also, the constant change of narrative point of view was bothersome at best, horrendous at worst. The jumping from first-person to third-person and back was confusing, tiresome, and just provided a further more reason as to why this story sucked.
Oh, and the villain could be spotted from a mile away. Dissapointing.
Dawn’s disappeared a month ago, leaving a note that she was eloping, but Chloe is more than doubtful. No matter the happiness and elation, Dawn would’ve contacted her. Which never happened. So, suspecting foul play, Chloe took the position of Nissa’s tutor, suspecting everyone around her, even her attractively mysterious employer, Damian Graylord.
This story was a bit over the top for me. There was just too much of everything crammed in those 253 pages. I know the author strived for a mysterious, chilling and thrilling tale, but using every single trick in the "how to write a suspense novel" overdid it.
We have the almost gothic atmosphere of mist-shrouded house, pastures, and dangerously steep bluffs (where a horse fell to his death). There’s the ghost of the dead horse, leading the heroine to small clues as to what the truth might be. We have a missing (presumed dead) ex-mistress of the house, a cheating, lying, materialistic "bitca" that made her husband’s life living hell (too Rebecca-ish for me). There’s a missing (presumed eloped and happily married) summer tutor. The heroine is involved in three suspicious incidents that almost cost her life (she’s pushed into the wall and looses consciousness, she’s almost run over in town, she suffers from monoxide poisoning). There’s a hidden treasure in rough-cut diamonds somewhere in the house, which is littered with several secret passageways that could explain the odd noises in the attic. Then there’s the sour-faced, downright hostile toward the heroine, housekeeper (again too similar to Rebecca). And of course, the mysterious, intriguing, dark and handsome Damian Graylord that might have had something to do with the "disappearance" of both his ex-wife and the former tutor.
Sorry, but Damian Graylord didn’t come through as the mysterious, intriguing, dark, and handsome leading man for me, but more along the lines of a schizophrenic, close-mouthed, brooding a-hole with the need for some serious anger-management sessions.
And the heroine was just plain silly. Not yet in the TSTL territory, but definitely borderline. She suspected everyone, even the man that made her tingle. Sheesh. Honey, you just don’t sleep with a guy you suspect might be a murderer. It just isn’t done! I just couldn’t stand the chit.
Also, the constant change of narrative point of view was bothersome at best, horrendous at worst. The jumping from first-person to third-person and back was confusing, tiresome, and just provided a further more reason as to why this story sucked.
Oh, and the villain could be spotted from a mile away. Dissapointing.
April 22, 2022
What an extraordinary romantically suspenseful story. Thoroughly enjoyable with a hint of the paranormal. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.
April 29, 2022
Ghost Horse by Patricia Rosemoor is described as a Gothic romance. It takes place here in the United States, near the Mississippi River. Chloe was a schoolteacher and now it was summer break. The perfect time to go south and try to figure out what happened to her friend, Dawn, who had disappeared while home schooling a you g woman named, Nissa. It's a complicated back-story. Let's just say that the father's name is Damian and he is VERY attractive. Nissa is a girl who needs someone to love her. Her father does, but he doesn't show it as much as he should. Her mother is gone: supposedly a divorce but Nissa is sure she's dead. The housekeeper, Mrs. Avery is dour and unpleasant and the rambling old house needs lots of work. Chloe can hear noises above her head in the attic, but she is not allowed (Mrs. Ayers) to venture up there to see what is going on. On a walk Chloe sees a horse, a beautiful white stallion, but she's told there are none like that in the neighborhood. When she goes back to check, she can find no hoof prints. No evidence. Things just get stranger and stranger for Chloe until she is ready to flee and write off her search for Dawn.
It is funny how things can get in one's head when one is anticipating something dire. There are lots of storms, and lots of people who aren't exactly who they seem to be. Chloe is not the only one who has seen the horse, Nissa has, too. Plus, one night she sees her mother. Was she a ghost or was she here? Damian has plenty of people working against him. No wonder he doesn't smile much. He's also not much of a communicator. No surprise there. It is kind of a lovely story if one takes it in parts. It is also just a little haunting. So many bad things have happened. Can it all turn around? Not if they don't start talking to each other.
I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Ghost Horse by Dangerous Love Publishing through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #dangerouslovepublishing #patriciarosemoor #ghosthorse
It is funny how things can get in one's head when one is anticipating something dire. There are lots of storms, and lots of people who aren't exactly who they seem to be. Chloe is not the only one who has seen the horse, Nissa has, too. Plus, one night she sees her mother. Was she a ghost or was she here? Damian has plenty of people working against him. No wonder he doesn't smile much. He's also not much of a communicator. No surprise there. It is kind of a lovely story if one takes it in parts. It is also just a little haunting. So many bad things have happened. Can it all turn around? Not if they don't start talking to each other.
I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Ghost Horse by Dangerous Love Publishing through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #dangerouslovepublishing #patriciarosemoor #ghosthorse
May 8, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. The prologue got right into the action and was so vivid. All the characters were well written and I could not figure out who the villain was the whole book. So many characters seemed to have motive but I kept changing my mind on who it could be. To me that's the sign of a good book. I don't like scary books and this book had its scary moments but not enough to give me nightmares.
April 20, 2022
Based on the title and cover, I was expecting a fun, easy to read horse-based mystery with romance. It barely delivered on the romance, and somehow the mystery and other elements as well. And none of it was gothic.
'Ghost Horse' is a bland, unexciting read that also lacks proper editing. Multiple instances of incorrect character names. The romance was awkwardly written, and sparse. And extremely unsexy. The attempts at mystery, at which character is 'the bad guy'...well, all the characters are so one-note and forgettable that it was hard to decide which individual was worse.
Oh, and definitely skip if you know anything about horses, breeding, or care about the accuracy of said content. This book had me whispering aloud 'that's not how that works' and 'no' every time horses were mentioned...and they're only a major plot point and element of the book. I annotate my books as I read, and one of my notes says "I have ridden horses for 20 years, what does this even mean".
'Ghost Horse' is a bland, unexciting read that also lacks proper editing. Multiple instances of incorrect character names. The romance was awkwardly written, and sparse. And extremely unsexy. The attempts at mystery, at which character is 'the bad guy'...well, all the characters are so one-note and forgettable that it was hard to decide which individual was worse.
Oh, and definitely skip if you know anything about horses, breeding, or care about the accuracy of said content. This book had me whispering aloud 'that's not how that works' and 'no' every time horses were mentioned...and they're only a major plot point and element of the book. I annotate my books as I read, and one of my notes says "I have ridden horses for 20 years, what does this even mean".
October 20, 2018
Actual Rating: 2.5 Stars
September 12, 2019
I really enjoyed the information about horses. Good story.
October 25, 2022
I got to read this book thanks to NetGalley and I wasn’t a fan of this book. I liked it at the beginning but when I realized this book happens in the span of a week, it didn’t make sense to me. So much bad stuff happens to the main character and yet no one really raises an eyebrow even though it’s back to back stuff. Also the thing with the family diamonds and how they get found at the end of the book I thought was so dumb. This had the Instant love trope which I’m not a fan of and at the half way point of this book it really started to drag for me. Overall just wasn’t a fan and as a horse person the stuff that happened with the horses didn’t make much sense and felt as very much an afterthought.
July 1, 2022
This was a pretty fantastic book! I loved all the various elements added in (paranormal, murder, spice, horses)
I will say the way the POV would switch got me confused a few times, and also a handful of editorial misses, otherwise I loved it, certainly a highlight read for me this year!
I will say the way the POV would switch got me confused a few times, and also a handful of editorial misses, otherwise I loved it, certainly a highlight read for me this year!
May 16, 2010
This book was exciting right great. It had everything romance, danger, and a touch of the supernatural!
July 14, 2012
Wow! This book was an amazing read. It had just the right amount of romance, horses and suspense. This has become my favorite book!
August 2, 2013
Very good suspenseful story.
August 3, 2022
3.5 Stars
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews