The Ruby Ghost

by June Calvin

DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS

Penelope Jones is a young woman of reduced means, eager to give her family one less mouth to feed. Seeking a position as governess for the Silverthorne family, she is put off by James Betterton - Lord Silverthorne's notoriously rakish cousin - around whom her unsullied reputation will certainly be at risk. Then she is startled to see a painting of Silverthorne Castle - the exact image that has haunted her dreams since childhood. Still, Penny cannot let some handsome, well-fed roisterer - or some eerily coincidental dream - place her future at risk....

Penny decides to accept the position, hoping to help Lady Silverthorne, who is being haunted by ghosts identical to those in Penelope's dreams. Though she doesn't believe in such things, Penny has to agree that something out of the ordinary is happening at the castle. There are ghosts indeed, and they seem to want to bestow on her a great treasure that a dangerous man intends to steal. James Betterton wants to protect Penny. Bust first he must convince her to forget her fears about his past reputation...and to accept his love.

Genres: Romance, Regency, Traditional Regency, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Ghosts, Clean Romance

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 3, 2006

About the author

June Calvin has been married to her one and only since 1962; they have one grown son, Craig. When not writing she loves to make candles, crochet, or watch birds. She has been a teacher, secretary, P.R. person, museum educator, antique dealer, newspaper reporter, and teacher again, before discovering the world of Regency romance. Finally realizing what she wanted to be when she grew up, she wrote The Baron and the Bookseller, which won the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart award in 1993.

Reviews

[Spazfungus]

I knew before reading this book that it is the 4th book in series. Since I haven't read the previous books, I have no idea if they explain Aunt Agatha's venomous actions. Frankly she was a very prominent, very annoying side character that not only adds nothing but distracts from the story. She also got a much better ending than her disagreeableness deserves. The other issue I had was the overly contrived ending tension of "he can't love me because it LOOKS like I deceived him." But since neither the hero nor the reader get a sense of the heroine doing anything even vaguely deceiving, it just makes the heroine seems overly silly and rather dim-witted, sigh, and she started out so well.

*
*
*
****Spoiler Summary****
*
*
*

Penelope dreams of Lady Winifred and jewels. James, helping Allison find a governess, eventually realizes Penelope and Allison are haunted by same ghosts. Penelope, sent to Silverthorne to stop hauntings, understands Welsh, realizes she is oldest decedent of Lady Winifred, thus jewels belong to her, Agatha accuses her of scamming, Allison doesn't care, just wants to sleep. Penelope's sister Susan arrives with her wife-beating debt-ridden husband Montrose, forces Penelope to sign away jewels for Susan's freedom. They get jewels from ghosts, Montrose steals them before agreed time, dies, Susan isn't blood relation, Penelope gets jewels, marries James, ghosts attend wedding.

[Englishrose]

I knew when reading this that there was a previous book, but it's okay. I still liked it, even standing on its own. I enjoy ghost stories so long as I don't get scared. The story is intriguing, both the story of the ghosts and the story of the live-action characters. There are some good plot twists. On the romance end, there are some really enjoyable scenes. Good story, all in all.

http://cleanromancereviews.blogspot.com

[Kaitlin]

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one, but I ended up really enjoying it. I loved the atmosphere and the way the romance was mixed in with the spooky plot. It had that perfect feeling of “okay, I’ll just read one more chapter” and then suddenly it’s way later than it should be 😂.

I really enjoyed the characters and their chemistry, and there were definitely moments where I found myself getting completely caught up in what was happening and other times where their romance seemed to drag on. I also loved the mystery aspect because I was constantly trying to work out where things were heading.

[Erica]

I thought this was delightful! The pacing was great. I did get a little confused jumping back and forth between points of view occasionally. I, also, was a little lost on the sister story towards the end. I’m still not sure who was lying and when. I definitely got caught up and invested as the love story evolved. I hope there’s more to come!

[WhatShouldIRead]

I appreciate the humor the author incorporated into the story and liked the characters involved. Have to say this took way too long to read for so short a book and I found myself reading in bits and spurts which hindered the flow of the story for me. Still, I'm glad I picked it up as it was a sweet story with a happily ever after ending, which is never a bad thing.

[Rachel]

I enjoyed this book! It was VERY clean. Only one kiss at the very end. There were some ghosts and jewels. It was well written and I enjoyed it.

[Kathy * Bookworm Nation]

This was okay. I finally just skimmed the last few chapters to get it done.

[Rebecca]

I read this sometime in middle or high school (4 stars), and I decided to read it again. I enjoy it as a short read.

[Donna Hatch]

Cute with a dash of paranormal.