"Hero ends family curse, when he opens the door to love"
Scottish Highlands 1899 When Cassandra Kinross's father discovered that his eldest
daughter was studying to become a witch, his solution was
to ship her off to America to become the bride of Colin
MacPherson, a man certain to keep the girl in line. Small
chance of that! Upon meeting, Cassandra was sure that she
would never love the man, and had the gall to tell him so.
Colin was certain that he could bend the simple country
lass to his will, but as the wedding day approached he
became more and more frustrated with his stubborn fiancée.
Finally, with the ceremony at hand, Cassandra had shouted
down the house, promising to publicly deny the man should
he have the nerve to go through with the ceremony. Proud,
and unbearably angry, Colin planted her a facer, and shoved
her into a third floor closet, where he sealed her in
behind a double wall of bricks, leaving her to her fate. Bold to the end, Cassandra had had the last word. With her
last breaths she uttered a curse to be visited upon not
only Colin, but every future MacPherson male. They would
have no luck with women until she herself should find her
own true love. Colin had only seen her one time more. It
had been the moment she had realized what she had become.
No longer corporeal, she had fallen through the walls that
had confined her body. The sight had eventually driven the
Colin mad. He had boarded up the lovely Victorian mansion,
locking it up in a trust which would prevent its use until
a century had passed. New Jersey - One hundred years later The day had finally come when Randall MacPherson could
inhabit his inheritance. From childhood Rand had coveted
his great uncle's stately home. He had snuck into the
dilapidated mansion several times as a boy, and had dreamed
of the day he could restore it to its former glory and call
it his own. At long last he could enter through the front
door. Now the president of his own construction firm, he
was about to make his dream a reality. Cassandra is furious that someone has disturbed her peace.
It mattered not that the handsome man, intent on violating
her space, was the grown-up version of sweet-faced boy who
had
broken her lonely existence years earlier, She would give
no quarter. The house belonged to her, and her alone. Colin
had deeded the house to her on the day their wedding would
to have taken place. She was not about to share her home
with anyone, let alone a MacPherson. Her attempts to
frighten Rand away, however, only serve to intrigue him. He
was different. Not only could he see her, he could hear her
thoughts in his mind, and from every indication it appeared
that the man intended to cherish his ghost as much as he
did his new home. When Rand discovers Cassandra's human remains in the
upstairs closet he is horrified at the implication that one
of his own had murdered her in cold blood. She was unlike
any woman he'd ever known, special, and he was determined
to make things up to her spirit in anyway that he could. It did not take Cassandra long to realize that Rand was
nothing like his great uncle. She even began to feel guilt
that perhaps her hastily spoken curse might have been the
reason this attractive man, in the prime of his life, had
never found happiness with the woman of his dreams. But as
it became apparent that her form was becoming more
substantial with passing each day in his presence, she
began to wonder if a long last the curse was finally coming
to an end. Could Rand be her one true love? Would he ever
be able to love her if he learned the entire truth about
her past? I have loved this particular scenario, ever since I read
STARDUST OF YESTERDAY by Lynn Kurland more than half a
decade ago. Using a ghost as a lead character presents
quite a few challenges and is rarely attempted. Ms. McCoy
not only rises to the challenge, leading Rand and Cassandra
through a labyrinth of emotion and revelation, but leaves
the reader with an inspirational, feel good ending that
will make them want to read YOU'RE THE ONE again and
again. Copyright © 2002
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted November 7, 2002
|
