Haunting Flame

by Janice Bennett

When Captain Anthony, Lord Lambeth, returns from the Peninsular War, he is crippled in both body and spirit. He has just inherited an estate in desperate need of repairs and no money to make them. He can't stomach making the marriage of convenience his family urges on him, avoiding it by vowing to fulfill a promise to his dying friend to look after his impoverished little sister-by marrying her.The lively Calpurnia Rycroft has worshipped Tony since they were children and is appalled by his depression. She agrees to an engagement to give him time to recover-though it will break her heart when he eventually marries someone more suitable.The ring he gives her turns icy on her hand and a ghostly flame emerges from it. Callie realizes the ghost wants something from her, but is it revenge or help? The search is on to find the answers, but as Tony's spirits improve, Callie sees her chance of love slipping away.

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2010

About the author

Janice Bennett never intended to be a writer, but with B.A. degrees in anthropology and classical civilizations and an M.A. in folklore and mythology, what choice did she have? Her first jobs included the usual abc's—archaeologist, bookkeeper and college craft instructor. Then, on a whim, she submitted her first novel, a Regency, and life took on a fascinating new twist.
Several books later, she began presenting work-shops, teaching novel writing at a community college, serving as a writing panel member at WorldCons...then became an editor. So far, she has written twenty-six novels and more than twenty novellas and received a number of awards, including two Lifetime Achievement awards from Romantic Times/Rave Reviews.
In her spare time, she spins wool (and pet hair), knits, crochets, weaves, and quilts. She lives in a rural town with her husband, never enough cats, a huge dog, an organic garden—and a computer she swears runs on chocolate chips, not silicon ones, which explains a lot about her.
www.janicebennettbooks.com

Reviews

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute paranormal. I would classify it more a YA.

[Erica-Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I don't read Romance novels, so this was a bit of an anomaly for me as a reading choice. I do like historical novels, however, and I'm a fan of Jane Austin, of course. The nice surprise about "Haunting Flame" is that it draws heavily on period-correct details and dialogue (a bit too much at times--it gets ridiculously steeped in period-era colloquialisms that not even Jane used!), and that the characters are actually very engaging. There's not as much of that annoying "she hated him but was inexplicably drawn to him" nonsense that plagued all romance novels of the 1970s-90s. The genre has grown-up a bit and seems to be catering to literary and book club readers who like a nice escape every once in a while. The other thing about this book is that it's part of a really specific genre, as the genres of Romance have been sub-categoried to the extreme now: Regency Suspense Romance. This means there is a little mystery afoot, and some nice Gothic elements as well.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A romantic ghost story -- an English aristocrat, trying to save an estate that had been run into ruin by his dead brother, engaged to an old childhood friend, their discovery of the family ghost that takes them on adventure after adventure, a dowager Countess that is far more wiley than is credited, a widowed sister-in-law who is in love with a penniless nare-do-well,==all good stuff for a really good read. I have not given this more stars because I wanted it to be longer, but it was a fun story, well-written, good characters, well-developed dialogue. Janice Bennett manages the writing task with aplomb.

[Karen Tuttle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good mix

Loved the combination of romance with a touch of ghostly suspense and mystery. Loved the characters and personalities of the main participants. Laughed a little and smiled a lot. A great fun read I will probably enjoy several more times.