What do you think?
Rate this book
A Ghost of a Chance
After spending her final years preventing a marriage between her daughter Daphne and the notorious Marquess Lindley, Isadora Harkwell, now a ghost, can only save her soul by coordinating the match
329 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 20, 2023
Mildly silly and completely enjoyable.
February 14, 2023
Foolishly naïve, the heroine made the mistake of believing that the hero could have married her for love. She may not be beautiful but what else would interest a man like him? Then she is devastated when the morning after their wedding, he leaves her without word-after secretly arguing with her mother. Now, a few months later, she is alone and still hurt by his betrayal even though she tries to convince herself otherwise. The hero married the heroine for Ash Park, the estate her grandfather stole from his grandfather all those years ago. Between their families is years of bitterness and betrayal and the hero promised his father on his death bed to someone own Ash Park again and the hero found that means via the heroine. But the day after the wedding the heroine's mother- be in for pride, revenge or for noble motives, she vows that he'll never truly own the estate after he's used her daughter in such a manner. Now, unbeknownst to him, he's being haunted by his stepmother who's been sent back to right past wrongs. She interferes with his life and is the spark that sees her daughter storm Ash Park demanding an annulment.
The hero is stunned by her arrival, especially when another woman has taken residence in his house again his will. And when she demands a void of their marriage, the panic of losing his estate makes him act. He vows to court his wife, to make her love him. Even though he doesn't believe in love and certainly has no delusions of being capable of such emotion, his little wife does and that's all that matters. He is cunning and tricky. He uses her kindness and gentle soul to his own gain and when he finds himself feelings strange tenderness towards her, he brushes it off. Eventually he wears her down. It's in her nature to forgive and her feelings toward her cold and unfeeling husband make it hard for her to resist his charms. But after they consummate their marriage, she is crushed to find him in his mistress's bedchamber. She flees and vows never to give in to him again. The hero was led astray by his unknown ghost who pranked him into going to the countesses chambers that night but it was his pride that kept him from going after his wife. His stubbornness knew no bounds. He refused to beg for forgiveness when he didn't cheat and he refused to admit to himself that when he hears of his wife's popularity in London he travels to her in jealousy rather than his reputation.
He was a cold character and even though some of the story was written via his perspective, I could never really be sure of his true motives. But this fit because he did spend the book lying to himself and denying any notion of loving his wife. In fact, he only realized his love, truly realized it, when the heroine was on her death bed at the end after being shot. The rest of the time he was an antihero, I'd say because he used the heroine's gentleness against her. He played her and lied to her through the book with very little in the way of guilt. I struggled to like him as a person as a result, regardless of the good deeds he's done. I also struggled to understand the heroine on a woman to woman level. She was just too easily persuaded to surrender her dignity and happiness just because her husband was a charmer when he wanted something. She was just too sweet and forgiving. As far as plot goes, I thought it was a bit staggered. There was the main characters story about forgiveness and old grudges and then their was the villains search of treasure. The two didn't really mesh together well and I was a bit confused by the end. Regardless, I enjoyed the story as a whole
The hero is stunned by her arrival, especially when another woman has taken residence in his house again his will. And when she demands a void of their marriage, the panic of losing his estate makes him act. He vows to court his wife, to make her love him. Even though he doesn't believe in love and certainly has no delusions of being capable of such emotion, his little wife does and that's all that matters. He is cunning and tricky. He uses her kindness and gentle soul to his own gain and when he finds himself feelings strange tenderness towards her, he brushes it off. Eventually he wears her down. It's in her nature to forgive and her feelings toward her cold and unfeeling husband make it hard for her to resist his charms. But after they consummate their marriage, she is crushed to find him in his mistress's bedchamber. She flees and vows never to give in to him again. The hero was led astray by his unknown ghost who pranked him into going to the countesses chambers that night but it was his pride that kept him from going after his wife. His stubbornness knew no bounds. He refused to beg for forgiveness when he didn't cheat and he refused to admit to himself that when he hears of his wife's popularity in London he travels to her in jealousy rather than his reputation.
He was a cold character and even though some of the story was written via his perspective, I could never really be sure of his true motives. But this fit because he did spend the book lying to himself and denying any notion of loving his wife. In fact, he only realized his love, truly realized it, when the heroine was on her death bed at the end after being shot. The rest of the time he was an antihero, I'd say because he used the heroine's gentleness against her. He played her and lied to her through the book with very little in the way of guilt. I struggled to like him as a person as a result, regardless of the good deeds he's done. I also struggled to understand the heroine on a woman to woman level. She was just too easily persuaded to surrender her dignity and happiness just because her husband was a charmer when he wanted something. She was just too sweet and forgiving. As far as plot goes, I thought it was a bit staggered. There was the main characters story about forgiveness and old grudges and then their was the villains search of treasure. The two didn't really mesh together well and I was a bit confused by the end. Regardless, I enjoyed the story as a whole
March 30, 2012
I guess this was an OK book. I just could not find a way to love it.
Idadora, Mother/ghostly mother-in-law, does everything she can to stop her daughter's wedding. After running the minutes old husband off, she drops dead at the breakfast feast. Flash forward three months and the groom is finally getting what he wants from this marriage, a piece of property with a guest he did not bargain for. Isadora has been given a chance to redeem herself and get into Heaven. She has to do the unthinkable and set right her last wrong.
Once things get rolling, trust becomes the main issue and with ghosts, fake-ghost and a long family history of hating each other the newlyweds have a lot of issues to resolve.
Idadora, Mother/ghostly mother-in-law, does everything she can to stop her daughter's wedding. After running the minutes old husband off, she drops dead at the breakfast feast. Flash forward three months and the groom is finally getting what he wants from this marriage, a piece of property with a guest he did not bargain for. Isadora has been given a chance to redeem herself and get into Heaven. She has to do the unthinkable and set right her last wrong.
Once things get rolling, trust becomes the main issue and with ghosts, fake-ghost and a long family history of hating each other the newlyweds have a lot of issues to resolve.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2015
This was a lot fun to read. A hostile ghostly mother-in-law, miscommunications, feuds...all add to a delightful historical romance. The future mother-in-law tries to prevent the wedding. Failing at that, she tries to ruin the marriage before it even gets properly started. Suddenly she finds herself on the 'other side' and has to correct the wrongs she committed. Hmmm...how to accomplish that, while continuing to 'punish' her live son-in-law. Read it and find out if she succeeds. A fun laugh out loud read.
December 11, 2008
Merely cute. I can't see wanting to reread it at all.
November 27, 2009
So good! I love the books where the woman is plain but the man falls in love with her anyways because she is a strong personality. And, of course, where he saves her life in the end.
August 23, 2017
Dead mother has to reconcile her daughter and son-in-law. Interesting characters and some very funny dialogue.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews