Review: The After House

The After House
by Michael Phillip Cash
Romance/Suspense
Amazon  /  Goodreads

Plot Summary:

Remy Galway and her daughter Olivia are rebuilding their life after a failed marriage in a 300 year old cottage in historic Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Little do they know, another occupant is lurking in the haven of their own home. Will the After House be their shelter or their tomb?

Award winning author Michael Phillip Cash adds The After House to his growing list of titles. Within two years, this prolific writer has published eight novels and four screenplays. When not writing, he loves being with his wife and two children exploring the small villages along the North Shore of Long Island.

Review:

With that cover and the tantalizing summary, I had high hopes for this book.  Even after I realized it wasn't supposed to be a scary story, I was prepared for a good romance/suspense read.  But for me this book was just completely bland.  A nice story, with nice characters that don't really jump off the page.  The writing was bland as well, with many parts just a string of descriptive backstory for the characters.  This is a short read, which is a point in this book's favor, but there really isn't much in plot development.  There's a danger to Remy that seems to come from nowhere, and a mystery about the ghost that really isn't much of a mystery.  I was just disappointed by most of this story.

I also felt the lack of a believable reason for why the ghost can do so many things in the story.  The plot really trades on the abilities that ghosts are said to have and does not expound on it.  The same goes for the romance which is insta-love explained as the meeting of 'kindreds'.    This is a book that I felt could have been so much more, but was sadly lacking in many aspects.

I did feel like there was some similarity with the old film 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' which didn't really compare very well since I think that is a terrific movie.

I received this book from the publisher or author for a fair and honest review.  I was not compensated for this review.