Whispers on the Wind
Whispers on the Wind by Donna Fletcher is part
of the Haunting Hearts series published by
Jove/Putnam
Berkley and IMHO has the best looking hunk on
the front cover out of the whole series to date.
Pity that the picture is not good enough to get
a clear view of him :-)
Belinda "Billie" Latham has inherited an English estate in Cornwall and the novel opens as she returns from across the ocean to claim her inheritance, complete with the authentic ghost of the late Maximillian Radborne who was drowned at sea.
Warned by the villagers Billie tries to ignore their stories of the ghost at the manor and refuses to take refuge with the local vicar. Billie first sights the house through a storm, a storm the villagers say was similar to the one that was raging on the night of Maximillian's death. It is therefore only fitting that her first night should also be the night she first meets her resident ghost.
Maximillian makes his presence felt immediately. When Billie stands up to him he announces that he will be staying in his room and sleeping in his bed. And that Billie is welcome to join him.
Able to stand up to a mere ghost, the seductive Maximillian is another matter and his offer is met with Billie passing out in a dead faint.
In the light of the next morning Billie is not so sure that the ghost was not merely her imagination and she sets about settling into the role of the new lady of the manor and becomes acquainted with the local residents, including the shy vicar, John Bosworth.
But Billie soon realises that her ghost was not just a figment conjured up in her own mind as Max returns each night and begins his seduction of the new owner of his house.
Soon Billie is caught between the two men. Should she choose the shy vicar who pays court to her or the rakish ghost who delights in putting down her other beau while seducing her completely.
To make matters worse it is soon apparent that although the villagers delight in telling tales of the ghost only Billie can see and hear him as he interrupts her conversations with the vicar and spies on her throughout the estate on which he is bound to remain in.
And so Billie makes the only decision she can knowing that one of the two men will be hurt.
A brilliant book with a great twist that took me almost completely by surprise. I finished this book and then started flicking back through looking for all the clues that both Billie and myself had failed to notice.
A great book and very funny, when I re-read this book a couple of months later it was just as good. There were so many clues I had missed in my first reading.
RATING : 
(if you need an explanation of the hearts ratings see
my homepage)
Visit Donna Fletcher's Website
Also by Donna Fletcher : Wedding Spell, Magical Moments, The Buccaneer, Playing Cupid and Rebellious Bride.
Links to online stores