My categories here are "ballpark" categories - it's more "man out of time" than "time travel" and I'm not really sure what the distinction between a ghost and a phantom is but he's not dead so he's not a ghost.

Anyway.

This story is actually really interesting and quite unique. There were definitely moments that I found poorly executed - some moments where the author used an exclamation point in dialogue (that almost never works), and then there were all these side characters who were like Nora Roberts-style secondary characters with their own arcs that weren't poorly executed, but I guess I just didn't expect them to be there so it felt kind of weird. There is a secondary love story that was missing some development - in the final moments of the conflict our main character keeps seeing the "intimacy" of the secondary characters that was never really established - but overall I liked all the characters and the story was just really cool. No other way to put it. I would have liked more of a focus on the main characters solving the problems, but the world-building and concept of this was very intriguing.

It takes place in St. Augustine. Kinda. As someone who lives near it, I didn't really buy the description of it - bamboo growing on an island seems a stretch. > okay but now I've looked it up and we do have a native bamboo. Weird. Anyway, I would have liked a slightly stronger sense of place in the island and in the castle itself. But what really got me into this at the start was that it had original Beauty and the Beast style enchanted castle qualities - creature comforts appearing in midair - and that element was really neat. It just got bogged down in story and building up the rest of the books in the series, so I think what would have been an excellent somewhat standalone story lost some complexity due to trying to stretch it into a series.

Long rambling review. Whatever.

That's it, I give up. I realize I am never gonna finish this book. It was a bore and a chore to read. The book follows several different people with the main heroine being Alexa. Normally I don't mind following different characters but it should add interest not bore me to death. Whatever is happening in a scene with a character sounds like it should be interesting but it just was not. There was no rush of intense feeling or just plain interest in what's going on for me. Sometimes characters would pop up without an explanation of who they are and what's really going on in their current scene. Yeah I can tell they will have a lot to do with what takes place eventually but their boring and i'm impatient to find out what drives them. There was something about the protagonist Alexa that I didn't connect with that I couldn't put my finger on until the last page I read. I think Alexa was suppose to be portrayed as a genuine, responsible workaholic but instead, I got arrogance. Being in her head eventually got really annoying. She sees herself as the savior and the victim, the only one keeping everything from falling apart. Even when she thinks of Damon it's more like he's going to be a good investment and if he want's anything from her then he's just using her. Damon has been stuck in the same place for three centuries and he has all the right to want to be free. I was interested in unraveling the plot at the end but not enough to force myself to finish. Too many annoying things about this book is tumbling over in my head so I digress.

I wasn't drawn into the story completely until about 75% into the book. Before that, I could have stopped reading and had no regrets.
In the end, I enjoyed the story. I just wish it had taken off much sooner.

This was a good read, and it definitely captured my interest. There were a few noticeable spelling errors in my kindle edition, but otherwise I liked, and I even bought the next two books in the series! :)

Don't let short and very vague blurb fool you. This is a great book. When hotel hieress inherits a supposedly haunted castle her eyes see big dollar signs. A new hotel, with potentially a ghostly twist. She would never expect the rumors to be true. When she inadvertently releases a phantom from a gypsy enclave that disappeared 200 plus years ago, she's not quite sure what to think....other than "damn, he's hot." But Alexa's surprises aren't over yet. Damon isn't quite free yet, and together they must find a way to break the curse. Throw in a jealous step-brother and fueding secret society and you have all sorts of excitement.


Alexa and Damon's romance was quick and to the point, they both had things to figure out but they never really let it get int he way of their feelings for each other. Lots of little twists and turns, with some comic relief curtesy of Dante the kitty, I had a hard time putting the book down to sleep at night.

DNF at about 25%. Ok, I have to say it. I really hate these charcters. They don't really have any redeeming qualities and quite frankly I'm done with them. I don't find the mystery of the curse all that interesting and I don't care enough about these guys (

Spoiler

I mean, who just leaves someone wounded and in pain for escape unless you really, really hate them? And even then, I mean come on! And they both did it! That makes them assholes in my book, particularly when there isn't a life-threatening reason why you must try to leave right then. Sheez. Plus, half the things these guys say and do otherwise just make me want to laugh. And not in a good way. Plus, I'm all for insta-sex, but it's got to have some reason for god's sake! I kinda want to bitch-slap Alexa... that's how much that scene irritated me. And then she went and tried to flee right then after refusing to earlier... Yeah, I'm just done.

). Spoiler rant! Still, I have better things to do with my time than talk about, and definitely better things to do than finish reading this book. I just don't see the appeal.