Melanie Robertson-King

In Author Melanie Robertson-King’s latest novel, IT HAPPENED ON DUFFERIN TERRACE, I met a cast of characters that I will not soon forget. Each one has special needs that touched my heart and had me hoping that life would turn out right for them.
First, there’s Serenity Layne, a business lady, whose boss gives her a new assignment to visit the department store chain, Jonathans, and study each store. She is to see which ones are doing well and which ones are not. If she does a good job, she might get a raise, a promotion, or even a partnership. Who could refuse a deal like that?
Enter a dog, a man, and a boy and her whole life changes, even more so than just the possibility of a better job.
The author has created delightful characters that are so real, they might be your next-door neighbors. I found myself crossing my fingers that all would work out for Serenity and also for her new friends. I cannot resist a loveable dog. Or a ten-year-old boy. You have to love them.
IT HAPPENED ON DUFFERIN TERRACE is a gentle story, with what I had hoped was a happy ending. And then…Melanie Robertson-King throws in a big, big, question that changes everything. At least in my mind. Now, when does the next book come out?… (meer)

Jessica couldn't believe the price she bought Hillcrest House in Angel Falls for. Perhaps the haunted rumours is a reason for a cheap price and ownership changes over the years. Rumors suggest that the house is haunted by the original owners, the Hargraves. When Jessica arrives at the house, she is shocked by its decrepit state and is devistated that she has to spend more money than she anticipated on repairs to the house.

Jessica sees apparitions and experiences things that are a little more than just a bump in the night. She can hear voices and laughing children coming from one of the rooms. A room on the second level has its own secrets to share. Luckily she has the local policeman Alain to confide in. They have an instant attraction to each other and so begins a love affair.

I liked the book, it doesn't take long to get under way. I found that the characters lacked depth and it would of been good if more time had been taken to establish them. To have a bit more background and more interactions between Jessica and Alain leading up to them dating. One minute they are strangers and the next they are going on a date. After they had known each other a few minutes, Alain is saying that he knows how stubborn she is and how he liked that about her. I don't understand how he would of gathered that so quickly. They had only spoken a few words and the next thing Jessica is fantasying about making love to him on the patio under the moonlight and Alain is thinking about the L word. This all seemed to happen very quickly without building any depth between them. I assume at some points weeks or days had gone by and they had spoken and the attraction had grown, but none of this is mentioned in the story.

Jessica is a lot braver than I would be in her situation. At one point she has a pretty scary interaction with a spirit (I won't go into details as I don't want to do a spoiler) but after her incident and her taking a few minutes to calm down, she is in the kitchen cooking dinner and humming to music. I would of not been so calm. I enjoyed the mystery and intrigue as the story made its way to the end, however I thought it ended a little abruptly. Perhaps this is to make way for another book in the series? I do hope so as I would like to know what happened with what Jessica had found.

I won a copy from Librarything for an honest review in exchange for a copy of the book. I got a copy for my kindle.
My Blog:https://reaviewallaboutit.blogspot.com.au/2017/11/book-review-secret-of-hillcrest-house.html… (meer)

Warning: Full of graphic scenes, swear words, and too much drinking.

I don't know what to say. I've been so disappointed with this book. It was full of phrases. What kind of book is made up of phrases? There has to be sentences, full sentences that run along together, that support each other, that make the plot make sense.
And some of the phrases made no sense. Like “End of.” What in the world does "end of" mean?

The correlation between the sentences were so weak. We're following the characters in the car, and suddenly something comes about their being in bed in the morning? Okay, perhaps the character was thinking about when he woke up, but the way it's written, it sounds like he's suddenly back in bed.

The story was set in Scotland, so the author tried to make the people talk the way they do over there in the UK. But boy was it terrible. It was like trying to put on an English accent when you're American and aren't quite skilled at putting on accents. On top of that, the author used mostly slang words through the whole book. Bloke? Shag? Telly?

Don't be silly! That is not how the people talk, unless, they're the street or slum people.

And suddenly, she decided that to make it complete, she threw in "lass" and "lads" once. It didn't make a difference. It didn't make it sound any more genuine.

To make it worse, the plot stunk. I've never been so ticked off with a book. I don't know how this found its way into my ARC pile.… (meer)