Alice Alfonsi

The heroine is known to be such a stern, damaged and stubborn woman despite her youth. Her childhood wasn't the greatest. Seeing her mother die at a young age from suicide, seeing her father treat her with the cold shoulder and neglect-these have molded her into a person who feels insecure about herself, like it was something she did to make her mother leave her and her father treat her so harshly. Then, later in life the man she thought she was madly in love with cheated on her. All these show more experiences have made the heroine the ay she is-much to the displeasure of any man thinking about getting involved with her. The one good memory from her childhood was living with her aunt down in New Orleans in a beautiful old house full of history and roses. Now that house has been left to her with her aunts passing and she doesn't hesitate to up route from her apartment in New York and start a new life down south. But the paradise she remembered isn't what she finds now. The house is is complete disarray and in desperate need of renovations and the heroine has very little in the way of money to see them done correctly. Also, the house seems to come with a few ghosts-not that the heroine believes in such things. She meets the hero on the property the first day and is comically stunned by just how gorgeous the man is with all his muscles and broad chest. They unfortunately don't get off to the best start and the hero takes acceptation to the heroine's abrupt attitude and the heroine is scared off by the level of desire she has for the well known playboy. But, regardless of their rocky first meeting, the hero is captivated by the seeming tortured woman. He likes a challenge, and the heroine sure is a challenge. He wants her in his bed. Not forever mind you, he's not into commitment, but he wants her as his lover for as long as he wants-something he makes clear to the heroine. On the flip side, bruised by her previous boyfriend, the heroine has in mind exactly what she wants in her perfect man. And as it happens, the beautiful handyman hasn't nothing on that list. So, she pushes him away. She spurs his advances in favor of the 'obvious' choice. Throughout the story the heroine was stubborn, ignorant and childish with every single encounter she had with the hero. She always found a way to make the typically easy going Cajun man irritated or offended by her suspensions or her-lets call it her New York attitude. She was by far the most frustrating, the most stupid, the most.... I can't describe how much she made me want to smack her. I wanted to leap through the pages and throttle her so badly. She just could not accept that she found the perfect man and he was right in front of her. Granted, he did say at the start quite plainly that he was not the settling down type, but regardless, he changed his mind quickly enough I felt and he fell in love with her! She opened up to him about her insecurities, her regrets and her relationships. He was the first person she called when the ghosts frightened her and he can running not hesitation. He was beautiful with that accent that made me turn to goo. But despite all these things, it wasn't until the very end when the heroine truly surrendered to her feelings and gave in before she lost the man who loved her. The hero in turn had the patience of a saint and despite a few hiccups here and there, he remained calm and easy going. Using his Cajun charm to slowly woo the head strong northerner and boy was his job cut out for him. I enjoyed their chemistry and the spooky hauntings and thought this was a very lovely book. show less

In the first story, Raven has to show her best buds what it really means to be friends. In the second, she goes to a Yoga retreat with her mother just to meet her favorite pop star.
It's rather obvious that these are adaptations of TV shows. They have the usual two plot lines and three act structure. However, the author does a nice job of describing the slapstick and working around the visuals a TV show depends on. The two stories have a nice message, especially the first one. It is nice to show more see the lead character being the good friend rather than the one who has to learn the lesson for a change. The second story is more just farce, but amusing farce nonetheless.
While not high literature, this book is fun. They are worthwhile additions to any elementary school library, and some middle school library. Sometimes the kids just need something amusing. show less

Ever since her father died, the heroine has been bombarded by her tyrant of a step aunt into becoming someone she is not. The snobbish woman wants the heroine to act like her class but all she wants to do is sail on the ocean she once shared with her beloved father. An heiress to a tidy fortune but unable to access the funds until her thirtieth birthday, the heroine is completely under her controlling aunts power. So, she decides to run away. She flees to a hidden secret cottage she found show more one day and vows to fix the place up and restore it to it's original glory. Life is perfect. And then she realizes that place is haunted. The ghost in fact rescues her from drowning in a particularly bad storm but that doesn't mean he wants her anywhere near his home. He tries to scare her away but the heroine is less than frightened by his lack luster threats than she is of losing control of her life again. And despite the captains bluster, he too is drawn to the mortal woman who has crashed his reprieve from the sea. They strike a bargain to co-exist in peace and soon they develop a deep friendship, bonding over their respective love for the ocean and sailing. For a time, life is good. The hero knows a taste of peace after 140 years of being invisible to the humans around him as well as knowing a females touch. It is the sea that rules him and its in the ocean where he can become corporal and feel like a whole man again. But then their happiness is shattered. Another ghost, the man responsible for murdering the hero returns to destroys their little world, showing the hero that he can't protect the woman he loves as a man should be able to. And when they find themselves once again in the eye of a nasty storm, the heroine is thrown overboard and almost dies. The her is able to save her but in the process, she is returned to her family whom convince her that her experience with the ghostly captain was all in her head. 10 Years later and after plenty of counselling and medicine, they have succeeded in breaking her spirit. She is no longer the fiery woman she once was but still dreams of the captain plague her. Then she sees the man's portrait and everything comes rushing back. She breaks from her controlling family, stops taking the pills that turn her into a robot and returns to the little cottage in the secret cove. There she is stunned to one again be face to face with the ghost she fell in love with all those years ago and though he returns her love 10 fold the obstacles in front of them still remain and however can a mortal woman and a ghost ever be together? This book wasn't one of my favorites. There were things that I just didn't like about it. First off, I found the plot to be haphazardly tossed together with a peek-a-boo villains and sometimes dull storyline. Secondly, I found the heroine to be whiny, clingy and nothing at all like the feisty woman she's portrayed to be in the beginning. Instead of standing up to her problems, she runs away. And later, even after she realizes her captain is real and she's not crazy, she still always her controlling family to pressure her into their way of life. She felt like a really immature girl and even the hero himself noted how naïve and young she truly was. Now besides for the pointers I've made above, I must point out the fact that there were aspects I did enjoy. I liked the hero when he demanded the heroine to tell her family to shove off. I laughed a bit at that. I also liked the fact that the hero was not the over the top tormented spirt. He had humor and a easy going nature despite his predicament. I guess it's a bit easier to be a ghost when taking a girl out on the water he can actually touch her like a mortal man. Even though only the heroine can see and hear him-but she was practically throwing herself at him at any chance anyway so he didn't have to work that hard. Over all it was an okay book but not one I'm likely to read again any time soon. show less

A lot has changed in both their lives since they last saw each other as teenagers but the hero and heroine suddenly finds themselves tossed together again. Her family once owned the hotel the hero manages and she's returned to it for her sisters wedding. She doesn't receive the warm welcome she imaged she's get from her old love instead he's cold, distant and bitter. Inside, he'd always felt less than deserving for the love of the rich girl and no one believed that he loved her for her, but show more instead for her money. This is because the heroine is described as being very plain and boring in appearance. Their reunion instantly sparks back old feelings that never really went away and with the help of the 2 meddlesome in house ghost, they are forced to rehash the past. The heroine is divorced but in order to keep her job as a Martha Stewart like figure, she must keep up the farce of a happy marriage. She basically lives a lie. She's unhappy, divorced and has none of her 200 million inheritance left after her asshole of an ex husband lost it all. The hero, a retired military soldier, has lost all of his lighthearted personality that she used to know. He really is like a robot is most things but never when it comes to her. Despite using everything in his power to appear distant, he can't help but argue with her and kiss her, though he knows it's so wrong of him to. When he finds out her secret, he begins to have hope of their reconciliation and it's from there that they start their affair. But soon they are discovered and their relationship is put on major strain when the heroine panics at the thought of losing her career and distance herself from him. I genially disliked the heroine at that point because it broke my heart to read about the hero's pain. I think she was cowardly and weak to do what she did but, true to form, she fixed her wrongs and they got back together.The book takes place for the majority over a 3 day period but It's believable to think that they fell in love that quickly because they were already in love with each other. This was a nice story but nothing special about it. Nothing stood out to me as overly interesting and the plot was horrible predicable. show less