Return to Tradd Street

Karen White

Book - 2014

"Melanie is only going through the motions of living since refusing Jack's marriage proposal. She misses him desperately, but her broken heart is the least of her problems. Despite an insistence that she can raise their child alone, Melanie is completely unprepared for motherhood, and she struggles to complete renovations on her house on Tradd Street before the baby arrives. When Melanie is roused one night by the sound of a ghostly infant crying, she chooses to ignore it. She simply does not have the energy to deal with one more crisis. That is, until the remains of a newborn buried in an old christening gown are found hidden in the foundation of her house. As the hauntings on Tradd Street slowly become more violent, Melanie deci...des to find out what caused the baby's untimely death, uncovering the love, loss, and betrayal that color the house's history--and threaten her claim of ownership. But can she seek Jack's help without risking her heart? For in revealing the secrets of the past, Melanie also awakens the malevolent presence that has tried to keep the truth hidden for decades..."--

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Subjects
Genres
Ghost stories
Romance fiction
Published
New York, New York : New American Library [2014]
Language
English
Main Author
Karen White (-)
Physical Description
321 pages ; 21 cm
ISBN
9780451240590
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Melanie Middleton is 40, single, and pregnant. She hates old houses, and she hates Jack Trenholm, the father of her baby. She doesn't fit into any of her clothes, and her housekeeper and Jack's teenage daughter, Nola, are conspiring to get her to eat more flax and fiber. The historic house she inherited in Charleston, South Carolina, is haunted, and now some distant relatives of the previous owner have come to contest her right to live there. Then she discovers a 100-year-old infant skeleton in her backyard and a crib in the attic that matches one in Charleston's history museum. Things get weirder from there, but Melanie is used to it; she and her mother have been communing with the dead for years. Madcap paranormal, historical mystery, and small-town romance complete with all the requisite quirky side characters collide in the latest and apparently final installment in White's Tradd Street series. To enjoy its ­southern charm and romantic angst to the fullest, readers will want to start at the beginning of the series, with The House on Tradd Street (2008).--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

Over the course of a few short years, psychic realtor Melanie Middleton has come to love the home she unexpectedly inherited from a descendant of the storied Vanderhorst family, who trace their lineage in Charleston, SC, well into the past and whose secrets go back almost as far. At first reluctant to accept the exorbitant gift, a now pregnant Melanie works vigorously to restore her home in anticipation of the birth of her child. In the process, she unearths the remains of a baby buried in the foundation, seemingly for well over a century. With the discovery, a hostile presence that means to do Melanie harm has also awakened. Melanie has stumbled across other dead bodies and unraveled ghostly mysteries in the past, with her boyfriend, mystery author Jack Trenholm. Although the pair are currently on shaky ground, Melanie will need Jack's help to identity the dead child and the accompanying ghost and uncover long-hidden truths and right a wrong, even if it means putting her ownership claims on the line. Verdict This fourth and final installment of the "Tradd Street" series (after The Strangers on Montagu Street) holds up well as a stand-alone novel. Still, readers will want to check out the previous titles to trace the development of the relationship between Melanie and Jack, to see how Melanie bonded with Jack's teenage daughter, and also how she reconnected with her own mother, who abandoned her when she was a child and shares her psychic abilities.-Natasha Grant, New York (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Realtor and psychic Melanie Middleton is facing single motherhood in a haunted house she refuses to admit she loves, but it seems her pregnancy has awakened some malevolent feelings in at least one of the ghosts who shares her home. Mellie is sinking a fortune into her inherited mansion in Charleston, S.C., while trying to convince herself that she hates old houses. Newly pregnant, she has broken up with the father, Jack, a local best-selling novelist, since he won't tell her he loves her. Mellie is reconciled to single motherhood and has a posse of people around her to help, including her until-recently estranged parents, her best friend, and Jack's teenage daughter, Nola. Mellie shares an ability to see and interact with ghosts with her mother, which comes in handy when an infant's skeleton is found in the foundation during renovation work, an event that seems to awaken violent intentions in at least one of the many ghosts who live in her historic home. Working with the circle of friends and colleagues who've helped her solve ghostly mysteries before, Mellie races to untangle the complicated secrets of the past and the tragic story behind the tiny buried body, since the poltergeist's capacity for violence is escalating, threatening Mellie and her child. As she works through the web of past residents of the house, Mellie also finds herself confronting some personal demons, and revisiting relationships with friends, family and Jack, even while their research may uncover truths that threaten her claim on the house that she's fallen in love with. In this installment of White's Tradd Street series, there's nothing groundbreaking or surprising. White is a good writer and carries an intriguing story smoothly forward, combining a number of complex psychic, historical and romantic elements. Mellie can get tiresome (eat a doughnut, already!); the romantic he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not arc becomes annoying; and the historical mystery is somewhat convoluted, but overall, the book is an interesting, engaging read. More of the same from White and protagonist Mellie, which will please fans immensely.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.