Romance

Lisa Kleypas nos transporta de nuevo a los hermosos parajes de Friday Harbor, esta vez para contarnos la historia de Zoë, la dueña de una posada que lo tiene todo pero ha renunciado al amor. Aunque es una mujer atractiva y romántica, Zoë Hoffman ha sufrido tanto en el pasado que ya no quiere entregar su corazón a nadie. Y mucho menos a Alex Nolan.Alex es el más atormentado de los hermanos Nolan. Bebe para mantener a raya a los demonios que lo acechan y no es que haya renunciado al amor, sino que directamente no cree en él. Zoë y Alex son como el agua y el aceite, como el hielo y el fuego, como el sol y la sombra. Pero a veces basta un tenue rayo de luz para ahuyentar la oscuridad.

Very very boring and dry book.No chemistry, no intrigue. Nothing worth reading. Whole series was extremely boring ( )

Alex Nolan is haunted by the legacy of his childhood growing up with alchoholic parents. He's also recently started being haunted by a literal ghost who can't remember who he is or why he's there but seems to be tied to Alex. While grappling with whether he's actually cracking up, Alex meets Zoe Hoffman who is the complete opposite of Alex. He knows the best thing for her is to keep himself far away from her but her sparkling personality and general aura of love and kindness may be too much for him to resist.

Meh. I usually enjoy Lisa Kleypas's novels but this one fell flat for me. The slight paranormal aspect to the novel here isn't particularly compelling and while I liked Zoe, I didn't care much about Alex. In this case, the predictability of the novel wasn't reassuring as it often is in romance novels, but rather mildly irritating. I also didn't care much about the hints of what lies ahead in the next novel in the series for one of the secondary characters in this novel. Not recommended. ( )

Dream Lake
4.5 Stars

A simply wonderful story with engaging characters and some truly heart-breaking moments.

Several reviewers dislike the inclusion of a ghost in the book, however, as a fan of ghosts and ghost stories, not only did this not bother me in the slightest but it added an extra layer of meaning to both the primary and secondary romances. Another enjoyable aspect of the plot are the allusions to Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook and the film Simply Irresistible - both of which make my list of all time favorite romance movies.

While the first two installments in the series are fun reads, neither managed to knock my socks off. Dream Lake, in contrast, hit all the right buttons from the ghost's heart wrenching story of love lost and found to the tortured hero in need of love and redemption.

Alex is a damaged man with a tortured past and a difficult lifestyle. He has steeled himself against loving and being loved but his softer side is slowly revealed through his relationship with the ghost and the parallels in their back stories as well as in his almost palpable passion for Zoe.

Zoe is a sweet and gentle heroine, the exact counterpoint to Alex's hardness, which makes their intense chemistry and emotional bond even stronger.

Highly recommended for fans of Lisa Kleypas and those in need of a sweet and charming story. ( )