Stuck In Shangri-La

The sad news that her Uncle Hecuba (Horry) Willikins had passed away came at a good time, Darcie Reed’s boss was unfortunately chasing her around his desk. She quit her job, packed her stuff and headed out to Uncle Horry’s estate (affectionately called ‘Shangri-La’). Saying goodbye to the last of her relatives was going to be hard enough, but the reading of the will made things worse. Finding out that she had to live with her ex-fiancé Cameron Pierce, a picky spoiled cat named Lucky and a cranky possessive housekeeper, Lily for one month if she wanted to get her inheritance was bad enough, but then a long lost Uncle Edwin (who Darc never even knew about), along with his girlfriend Pookie and then the ghost of Uncle Horry all show more showed up to make things feel even more like a circus. Listening to the ribbit-ribbit of the frog statues is enough to driver Darc and Cam crazy, but maybe not back together as Uncle Horry obviously was trying to do with his strange will request.

Cute, funny and a bit naughty. Hearing (reading) about the intimacies of the older generation is at times weird, but can be funny. I typically like to see the initial ‘falling in love’, but this one had enough of the back story to show that they really hadn’t done the ‘falling’ the first time they were together - they jumped in and then she ran out. Good characters interactions, like between the ghost of Horry and Lucky the cat. I am not a big fan of Darcie, but Cam was open minded and funny and was able to carry the story. On a side note, I have to like any book with so many references to ‘Young Frankenstein’, that has to be one of my favorite movies. show less

Darcie's Uncle Horry had always been rather eccentric, from his pretty pink Victorian home right down to his multitude of ribbiting frog lawn ornaments. In spite of this knowledge, Darcie had never thought that when Horry died that it would throw her own life into chaos. Now, in order to keep her uncle's beloved Shagri-La home from his half brother, Darcie has to live for the next month not only with his monstrous feline, but also with her too cute ex-fiancée, Cameron.

This was kind of a cutesy contemporary romance with a little bit of a ghost story thrown in. I think my favorite character had to have been the ever frisky, Lucky. I will say that I found the ghost story part to be a great add in because if this story had just been the show more go between with the two main characters, I'd certainly have given it up. As it is, this was a pretty fun read, especially about 2/3rds of the way in and the plot picked up. I did really enjoy the memorial service with all of Horry's toys! Although I probably won't pick up other novels by this author on my own, this is only because contemporaries don't have a huge appeal for me and not because of any fault in the author's writing, which was really pretty good. show less