My only quibble comes at the end, when too many things happen and there is parallel story running simultaneously that got me into disbelief quickly. The couple is compelling, complex and interesting whole people. The characters are well-developed and interesting. Suffice it to say, this story leaves the concrete world and heads somewhere else. Nora Roberts demonstrates authority on the process of restoration which was interesting. There is a lot of ghost activity, flashbacks and paranormal events. First, the story is somewhat complex as the characters from the past are highly correlated to the characters in the present. As a male reader of mostly history/nonfiction and detective/thriller novels, this had some excellent elements to get me engaged. Embodied in this was a parallel story at the turn of the century involving a murder in this home and various spirits (ghosts) that were active in this long-abandoned plantation home, and the obligatory love story, both past and present and very connected. It sounded interesting to me, a Boston attorney comes to bayou area outside New Orleans buying a huge Southern mansion and doing the restoration/renovation mostly himself, rebounding from a broken engagement and finding love. This novel came up in one of Audible’ s special sales. Only the companionship of the alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall - a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief - sensations not his own, but those of a stranger.

But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream.ĭetermined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. All he knew was that ever since he saw Manet Hall, he'd been enchanted - and obsessed - with it.

Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans.

Midnight bayou