Book Review: The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

 

Widow of Rose House

by Diana Biller

Once again I was searching our Overdrive catalog for anything with a “Gothic” theme to read for my book club in October when The Widow of Rose House caught my attention.

Alva Webster is planning to restore a Hyde Park mansion in 1875 New York. Unfortunately, her dilapidated mansion comes with a ghost, or so the people she hires to do the work believe. Professor Sam Moore also seems to believe it.

This seemed a like a light gothic romance, a ghost story when I picked it up, but as the story progressed I found something more. The story seemed deceptively simple at first. Outcast widow and brilliant scientist meet. There’s an attraction. Plus, she has a haunted house and he is very interested in those. He has created some of the first ghost hunting equipment that can sense electrical currents. (I have no idea whether what she wrote regarding the equipment is plausible in the least, but it seemed plausible enough for me to suspend disbelief.)

The writing was simple and quick moving. To be honest, the romance moved a little too quick for me, but that may be my only quibble with this story. I’m never exactly sure how much we writers end up applying modern sensibilities to older times and, vice versa, how much we cleanse the past of its’ grit and reality.

As I read, some deeper themes came to light. Alva left her first husband before he died, because he was abusive. Sometimes things like this are glossed over – the character is known to have left because of it but then they just soldier on, the worst over. In this story, though, that abusive past has had a deep and lasting impact on the character. It affects the character and her reactions to a good man, Professor Sam Moore, and the ghost in the house.

Sam is a little bit too good to be true, idealized hero, everything a woman could look for – gorgeous, a genius, and wants to fight for the woman he has fallen head over heels for, but also willing to step back and let her take the lead. He’s lovely but there’s not much reality there.

This is a solid romance with a fun but sad ghost story, that offers an interesting read, not too complicated. It has some very witty repartee between the characters. It is sexually explicit but that is confined to a couple episodes if you prefer to skip over them. It was a quick, easy read between heavier material for me.

I was impressed with this first book from Diana Biller and would definitely read future books from her.