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amy_wolfe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
ssejig's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Nina Linden has gone through it in the last few years: cheating husband who took her to the cleaners. She is trying to rebuild her gardening services. To that end, she accepted a job where she has to live on a private island for weeks to help get it in order. It seems that everyone else who has previously held the position has left quickly.
Cindy Ellis runs a cleaning/organizational service. She has become the go-to person for the rich and elite. She knows one of the other people on the boat out the island, Jake. He took her on a date years ago and then ghosted her. And now he's pretending he doesn't know her. But he is one of the people on the island, along with his best friend Deacon, the tech mogul whose family owns the island and the man financing the renovations.
This is a bit of an adventure with dual romances, a madcap cousin, ghosts/reincarnations/something that causes visions, an ancient mystery, and Nina's ex-boss who isn't quite sane and is trying to sabotage her new business.
Cindy Ellis runs a cleaning/organizational service. She has become the go-to person for the rich and elite. She knows one of the other people on the boat out the island, Jake. He took her on a date years ago and then ghosted her. And now he's pretending he doesn't know her. But he is one of the people on the island, along with his best friend Deacon, the tech mogul whose family owns the island and the man financing the renovations.
This is a bit of an adventure with dual romances, a madcap cousin, ghosts/reincarnations/something that causes visions, an ancient mystery, and Nina's ex-boss who isn't quite sane and is trying to sabotage her new business.
mountie9's review against another edition
5.0
Sometimes books just come in your life at the perfect time. I was feeling rather down and this just turned my frown upside down. It is just a delightful confection, filled with wacky characters, snarky fun dialogue, and well it mentions Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so what is not to love. The storyline is fast paced and fun and you just don't want to put the thing down. It was like a bright ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.Going to grab me a few more of her books asap, forgot how much I enjoyed her books.
Only negative thing is I totally forgot to bookmark my favourite quotes so no quotes for you today.
Only negative thing is I totally forgot to bookmark my favourite quotes so no quotes for you today.
funsizelibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Fun novel. Told from multiple points of view (five main characters plus three ghosts), it somehow never gets confusing. Light romance, humor, and quirky characters - my kind of book!
kimmypete1's review against another edition
4.0
Check out this review and more at On the Wings of Books
* I have so much love for Molly Harper's books I don't even know where to begin. Her books never fail to make me laugh or have a good time while reading them.
* Better Homes and Hauntings is a standalone, and while I love Harper's series I'm also glad it's a standalone. There aren't enough of those these days.
* Deacon is the owner of the Whitney estate and determined to remodel it, despite the rumors of ghosts and hires out people and pays an obscene amount of money to get them to stay on the premises. No one hired really believes that things will happen and all our motivated to keep the job, even if things do start happening.
* As usual with Molly Harper we have a unique cast of characters and I loved them all. Nina is fun sarcastic and determined to fix things, Deacon doesn't want to believe that the house is haunted, Jake is on the same page as Deacon with the house being haunted, Cindy is no nonsense and Dotty is a little flightly, but completely likeable.
* Things start happening almost immediately, but of course everyone chalks it up to being tired or sore or whatever, until the first big incident occurs that has them freaked out. There is all kinds of ghosts shenanigans going on and I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't consider this a scary read by any means, but there were a few times where the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I really enjoyed how the haunting worked out and how everyone was involved.
* There are two romances going on in Better Homes and Hauntings but Harper doesn't spend a lot of time on them, in fact they take a backseat to all the ghost stuff, which I enjoyed.
* The one things that I wanted more from Better Homes and Hauntings was character development. For most of the book the characters changed so little and then all of a sudden at the end things changed. This didn't take too much away from the enjoyment though as the plot and humor kept me going!
Overall I really enjoyed Better Homes and Hauntings and if you like funny ghost stories or any of Molly Harper's other books you should give this one a try!
What I Thought...
* I have so much love for Molly Harper's books I don't even know where to begin. Her books never fail to make me laugh or have a good time while reading them.
* Better Homes and Hauntings is a standalone, and while I love Harper's series I'm also glad it's a standalone. There aren't enough of those these days.
* Deacon is the owner of the Whitney estate and determined to remodel it, despite the rumors of ghosts and hires out people and pays an obscene amount of money to get them to stay on the premises. No one hired really believes that things will happen and all our motivated to keep the job, even if things do start happening.
* As usual with Molly Harper we have a unique cast of characters and I loved them all. Nina is fun sarcastic and determined to fix things, Deacon doesn't want to believe that the house is haunted, Jake is on the same page as Deacon with the house being haunted, Cindy is no nonsense and Dotty is a little flightly, but completely likeable.
* Things start happening almost immediately, but of course everyone chalks it up to being tired or sore or whatever, until the first big incident occurs that has them freaked out. There is all kinds of ghosts shenanigans going on and I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't consider this a scary read by any means, but there were a few times where the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I really enjoyed how the haunting worked out and how everyone was involved.
* There are two romances going on in Better Homes and Hauntings but Harper doesn't spend a lot of time on them, in fact they take a backseat to all the ghost stuff, which I enjoyed.
* The one things that I wanted more from Better Homes and Hauntings was character development. For most of the book the characters changed so little and then all of a sudden at the end things changed. This didn't take too much away from the enjoyment though as the plot and humor kept me going!
Overall I really enjoyed Better Homes and Hauntings and if you like funny ghost stories or any of Molly Harper's other books you should give this one a try!
opheliajblack's review against another edition
4.0
Please note; my star rating on any book is completely subjective and limited to the label for each star.
1 Star I didn’t like it
2 Stars It was okay
3 Stars I liked it
4 Stars I really liked it
5 Stars It was amazing!
If I do actually have something to say about a book other than what my enjoyment factor was, I will write a review and share my thoughts. If I say I didn’t like a book but there wasn’t anything about it that I thought needed to be shared, then that’s it, I just didn’t like it.
If you’d like to start a discussion about a book or you’d like an actual review, ask any question you like and I’ll be happy to try and comply/respond.
Additional note; I do not feed the trolls. If you don’t have something constructive to say, or if you can’t say it in a respectful way, you won’t get a response from me. Ever.
1 Star I didn’t like it
2 Stars It was okay
3 Stars I liked it
4 Stars I really liked it
5 Stars It was amazing!
If I do actually have something to say about a book other than what my enjoyment factor was, I will write a review and share my thoughts. If I say I didn’t like a book but there wasn’t anything about it that I thought needed to be shared, then that’s it, I just didn’t like it.
If you’d like to start a discussion about a book or you’d like an actual review, ask any question you like and I’ll be happy to try and comply/respond.
Additional note; I do not feed the trolls. If you don’t have something constructive to say, or if you can’t say it in a respectful way, you won’t get a response from me. Ever.
elawder's review against another edition
5.0
This was a really interesting stand alone by my fav audible author Molly Harper.
The main thing I wasn’t expecting with this one was the pov. It wasn’t dual narration—it was like quadruple narration. While some might be confused by this, I thought it was fun!
I really liked the relationship between Nina and Deacon. They were both nerdy and shy, but the chemistry was spicy.
I was a little more iffy on Cindy and Jake’s relationship. I didn’t like that Jake didn’t remember her and then didn’t have a good excuse for it. But it was a cute second chance romance.
Dottie was a super fun side character. I was worried I was going to be annoyed with her. But she was needed for all the couples so they could get over their own stubbornness.
The paranormal aspect was different than I’ve read before. I thought it was fun and on brand with Molly Harper’s fun universe!
5/5
The main thing I wasn’t expecting with this one was the pov. It wasn’t dual narration—it was like quadruple narration. While some might be confused by this, I thought it was fun!
I really liked the relationship between Nina and Deacon. They were both nerdy and shy, but the chemistry was spicy.
I was a little more iffy on Cindy and Jake’s relationship. I didn’t like that Jake didn’t remember her and then didn’t have a good excuse for it. But it was a cute second chance romance.
Dottie was a super fun side character. I was worried I was going to be annoyed with her. But she was needed for all the couples so they could get over their own stubbornness.
The paranormal aspect was different than I’ve read before. I thought it was fun and on brand with Molly Harper’s fun universe!
5/5
redhairedashreads's review
4.0
Rating: 4 stars - It was really good
Nina Linden accepts a landscaping job on a private island off the New England coast. She sees this as a chance to rebuild her failing business and get away from her stalker. She doesn’t expect to find herself falling for her boss, or for the house to be haunted.
This was a very enjoyable ghost mystery. I was not expecting to get so hooked on this story that I actually wanted to be at work so I could finish it. Nina was a great heroine. Being on the island allows her to find herself again and embrace the inner strength that has got her through a lot of rough times. Deacon is a software billionaire who is also very geeky and awkward. I really loved him and his flirting with Nina.
The story also bounced between three other characters: Cindy is the cleaner and organizer, Jake is the architect, and Dotty is Deacon’s cousin who is writing a book about their grandparents, and the houses' history. I enjoyed all three of these character’s POV’s because it provided a fuller picture of what this haunted house was doing to them. Also, I enjoyed Cindy and Jake’s relationship, especially their banter.
These four characters had a wonderful friendship that really blossomed as the story went on. They worked together to uncover the truth about Deacon's grandparents and the house they lived in. I really enjoyed the ghost aspect of this book because the spirits haunted everyone differently. It definitely made for a very unique ghost mystery that I will not forget anytime soon.
Overall, this was a wonderful paranormal ghost mystery. My only complaint is that the POV changes were not always clear, at least in audiobook format, so there were a few times I was confused by what was going on, at least until someone’s name was mentioned.
Trigger Warnings: stalking, sabotaging of jobs, attempted murder, flashbacks of Catherine’s murder
You can also find my reviews at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
Nina Linden accepts a landscaping job on a private island off the New England coast. She sees this as a chance to rebuild her failing business and get away from her stalker. She doesn’t expect to find herself falling for her boss, or for the house to be haunted.
This was a very enjoyable ghost mystery. I was not expecting to get so hooked on this story that I actually wanted to be at work so I could finish it. Nina was a great heroine. Being on the island allows her to find herself again and embrace the inner strength that has got her through a lot of rough times. Deacon is a software billionaire who is also very geeky and awkward. I really loved him and his flirting with Nina.
The story also bounced between three other characters: Cindy is the cleaner and organizer, Jake is the architect, and Dotty is Deacon’s cousin who is writing a book about their grandparents, and the houses' history. I enjoyed all three of these character’s POV’s because it provided a fuller picture of what this haunted house was doing to them. Also, I enjoyed Cindy and Jake’s relationship, especially their banter.
These four characters had a wonderful friendship that really blossomed as the story went on. They worked together to uncover the truth about Deacon's grandparents and the house they lived in. I really enjoyed the ghost aspect of this book because the spirits haunted everyone differently. It definitely made for a very unique ghost mystery that I will not forget anytime soon.
Overall, this was a wonderful paranormal ghost mystery. My only complaint is that the POV changes were not always clear, at least in audiobook format, so there were a few times I was confused by what was going on, at least until someone’s name was mentioned.
Trigger Warnings: stalking, sabotaging of jobs, attempted murder, flashbacks of Catherine’s murder
You can also find my reviews at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
slc333's review against another edition
3.0
Light enjoyable romance with a touch of paranormal through the addition of the ghosts haunting the island. While Deacon & Nina are likeable enough I found it hard to become really emeshed in their story as there were too many POVs - we had Nina, Deacon, Jake, Cindy and Dotty. By spending time in everyone's head I didn't really have a chance to bond with any one particular character. The 'mystery' of what happened in the past was not particularly complex and to me it was obvious that