⭐⭐⭐ Was I hooked by that book? Yes. Sweet, low-key romance manages to blossom despite ghosts, creepy hauntings, and a wicked curse.

When Sonya MacTavish inherits the huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine, she has no idea that the house is haunted. The footsteps she hears at night, the doors slamming, the music playing, are not figments of her imagination. In her dreams she sees glimpses of the past. In the present she finds portraits of brides. And when she has visions of an antique mirror, she is drawn to it, sensing it holds dark family secrets. Then one night the mirror appears and Sonya glides through this looking glass, into the past, and sees a bride murdered on her wedding day, the circle of gold torn from her finger. It is a scene that will play out again and again, a centuries-old curse that must be broken, and a puzzle she must solve if there is any hope of breaking the curse.

MY THOUGHTS

The Mirror picked up where Inheritance ended. Sonya and Chloe were truly making a life for themselves there, not just trying to survive Hester Dobbs. There were more emotional encounters with the brides and other characters from the past and that was a very interesting way of telling the family’s history. The spurned ghost continued in her disturbing attempts to intimidate our heroes. But so far, Sonya and Chloe, with Trey and Owen, haven’t done much to actively break the curse. Everything has been more like a fact-finding mission.

The romance part of the story was still mostly centered around Sonya and Trey, and I really enjoyed those two together. Chloe and Owen happened kind of quietly in the background. I did like Chloe’s take-charge attitude.

Most of the events were driven by dialogue, which were sometimes harder to keep my attention on. The story line moved at a steady pace, but maybe a bit on the slower side. And the author skillfully weaved ordinary life with the suspense that kept me invested enough to continue.

There is a third book to come and I am very curious to find out how they finally best the curse. Overall, this book covered Sonya’s integration into the community and her personal development quite well, but not much happened on the curse front.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Were you hooked by that book? Let me know in the comments below.

Genre: Romance, Suspense
Published: November 19, 2024
Sensuality Rating: Warm
Series: Book 2 of The Lost Bride Trilogy
Other books in the series: Inheritance